20250823 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.19.33

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.19.33

sūta uvāca
iti kauṣāravākhyātām
āśrutya bhagavat-kathām
kṣattānandaṁ paraṁ lebhe
mahā-bhāgavato dvija

Translation: Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī continued: My dear brāhmaṇa, Kṣattā [Vidura] the great devotee of the Lord achieved transcendental bliss by hearing the narration of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the authoritative source of the sage Kauṣārava [Maitreya], and he was very pleased.

Purport: If anyone wants to derive transcendental pleasure by hearing the pastimes of the Lord, he must hear from the authoritative source, as explained here. Maitreya heard the narration from his bona fide spiritual master, and Vidura also heard from Maitreya. One becomes an authority simply by presenting whatever he has heard from his spiritual master, and one who does not accept a bona fide spiritual master cannot be an authority. This is clearly explained here. If one wants to have transcendental pleasure, he must find a person with authority. It is also stated in the Bhāgavatam that simply by hearing from an authoritative source, with the ear and the heart, one can relish the pastimes of the Lord; otherwise it is not possible. Sanātana Gosvāmī, therefore, has especially warned that one should not hear anything about the personality of the Lord from the lips of a nondevotee. Nondevotees are considered to be like serpents; as milk is poisoned by a serpent’s touch, so, although the narration of the pastimes of the Lord is as pure as milk, when administered by serpentlike nondevotees it becomes poisonous. Not only does it have no effect in transcendental pleasure, but it is dangerous also. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned that no description of the pastimes of the Lord should be heard from the Māyāvāda, or impersonalist, school. He has clearly said, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa: if anyone hears the Māyāvādīs’ interpretation of the pastimes of the Lord, or their interpretation of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or any other Vedic literature, then he is doomed. Once one is associated with impersonalists, he can never understand the personal feature of the Lord and His transcendental pastimes.

Sūta Gosvāmī was speaking to the sages headed by Śaunaka, and therefore he addressed them in this verse as dvija, twice-born. The sages assembled in Naimiṣāraṇya hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Sūta Gosvāmī were all brāhmaṇas, but to acquire the qualifications of a brāhmaṇa is not everything. Merely to be twice-born is not perfection. Perfection is attained when one hears the pastimes and activities of the Lord from a bona fide source.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: I believe there are 3000 devotees here from 24-Parganasa and 700 devotees from Midnapore, from Gītā Study Course and I welcome all of them. I wanted to go and meet them but was in the middle of meetings and when it was over I heard that you had all come here today.

This verse and purport contains many important instructions. I hope you will all understand. So, Vidura heard from Maitreya Muni and he heard all the transcendental activities of Lord Varāha and was relishing transcendental bliss hearing this. So, we get bliss if we hear from the authoritative person. In Chennai, there was a Māyāvādī giving a lecture, many people were there and people were coming out from the program and His Holiness Bhānu Mahārāja asked them, “So what did the Swami say?” The person that he asked said, “I am just an ordinary person, what will I understand, a  great Swami, he was speaking! I could not understand anything! The Swamiji is so learned and my God, I could understand nothing!” So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he spoke in such a way that he was understood. But the person was fortunate because if he had understood the Māyāvādī, it would have been worse! Māyāvādīs, in many ways they describe Kṛṣṇa in different ways and mistaken styles. So we have the guru-paramparā system, and we have to hear from the previous spiritual master. Whatever he says, that must be repeated exactly. No speculation is allowed. If anyone says, I think, maybe, then they are not authoritative.

Someone came up to me and asked, “My wife is expecting and she is three months pregnant, when can I start to announce it?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said that as a sannyāsī I should not delve so much into gṛhastha matters. So I did not speculate, I told him, “I am a sannyāsī, I don’t know.”

So, our area is things we hear from our spiritual master. It is stated that we should hear from a bona fide spiritual master. If a person has not heard from a bona fide spiritual master, then we should not hear from such persons. Actually, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura one day, went to hear a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class by Devānanda Paṇḍita and Devānanda Paṇḍita was describing the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in his own way… But Śrīvāsa had read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam many times, therefore when he heard the verses of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he started crying in ecstasy. But Devānanda Paṇḍita was explaining in his own way. But because Devānanda was not a devotee, nobody cried normally. So, some of the students of Devānanda Paṇḍita, they thought that Śrīvāsa was a crazy guy and they picked him and threw him out.

One day Lord Caitanya saw Devānanda Paṇḍita and criticized him publicly for his non-devotee understanding. So, at first Devānanda Paṇḍita was offended, but later he was preached to by the devotees, and he realized his mistake. He begged forgiveness from Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and became a devotee! So, we have a Gauḍīya Maṭha in Navadvīpa city called Śrī Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. They were saying that Devānanda Paṇḍita was in that area. And there they also have the Deity of Varāhadeva. In this world, a boar or pig is generally considered a lowly animal. But when the Supreme Personality of Godhead takes the form of a boar, it is in pure goodness! In one of the previous verses, it says that this is the original boar, and other boars were made from His image.

Now, the Lord  has unlimited number of forms, and He decides what form He will take for different līlās! So, the Lord is sat-cit-ānanda – He is transcendental. In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9) it says: janma karma ca me divyam – the Lord’s birth and activities are divine, transcendental. So, one time Lord Brahma sneezed, “Achu!” A little thing came out of his nose. But it was a miniature boar. And He was running around here and there in circles and became bigger and bigger. He became so big that He could lift the earth up! So how the Lord comes, what He does, it is all unprecedented!

So one of the nine islands of Navadvīpa is called Koladvīpa. Kola is another name for Varāha. And in this world, at this spot, Lord Varāha put His hind leg and hit Hiraṇyākṣa whereby Hiraṇyākṣa was killed. So His hind leg was put on Navadvīpa dhāma in Koladvīpa. So if one hears the Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Vedic scriptures from the mouth of a Māyāvādī, he will be doomed, meaning he will totally destroyed!

So we want all the first initiated devotees to also be second initiated. Second initiated is also called dvija or twice born. Now Śrīla Prabhupāda said that many people we see are second initiated but they don’t know so much of the philosophy. That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda said that to get second initiation one should have the Bhakti-śāstrī degree. Now, the BBT in Mumbai has made an app called ‘Transcend App’. And this app has many books, almost all the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, whatever languages it is there. They also have in the app the audio books. If someone does not know, to read and write, they can hear. I can read and write but after I got the stroke some 17 years ago, I am not able to write properly and therefore, I have given the tests orally for the degrees. So I got my Bhakti-vedānta degree. And now I am taking the test for the Bhakti-Sārvabhauma. I hope that all the devotees present here will study the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda very well. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he wanted the Bhakti-vedānta title to be passed on. So the Bhakti-vedānta degree is the 12 cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the previous degrees comprise of the Bhagavad-gītā and many other small books. Bhakti-vaibhava has Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam first six cantos’ study.

Anyway, Vidura was hearing this pastime of Varāhadeva and he was feeling bliss! Someone was telling me that Mahāvatāra Narasiṁha is a movie in which there is the fight between Varāhadeva and Hiraṇyākṣa shown. I did not see it yet!

So we want all the devotees to be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious!

Any questions or comments?

Question: You said in your lecture that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu criticized Devānanda Paṇḍita publicly. So Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, if you could explain this.

Jayapatākā Swami: Because Devānanda Paṇḍita had offended Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura had experienced bliss thinking about the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and started crying, but the students of Devānanda Paṇḍita not understanding his bliss, had thrown him out. So, Devānanda Paṇḍita was an offender at the lotus feet of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. One of Lord Caitanya’s names is Mahāprabhu. And He instructs us, He is playing the part of guru. That is why He criticizes Devānanda Paṇḍita. He praises some devotees, He criticizes other devotees.

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you!

After Class Zoom darśana

Jayapatākā Swami: May you all get the blessing of Pañca-tattva. All of you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! Associate with Kṛṣṇa. In the Boar līlā, Hiraṇyākṣa was touched by Lord Boar and killed. Normally, when one dies, they lose their body luster, but Hiraṇyākṣa was touched by the Lord so, he was still effulgent after being killed. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you can be blissful. All blessings! Kṛṣṇe matir astu!