Vyasadev's Gift (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 1 November 2020, part 3

When Gurudev was in Australia in 1992, he gave one lecture. I have got the Bengali translation of that lecture and was proof reading it today. It is a very nice lecture, I want to tell you about it.

One day, Narad Goswami came to Vyasadev and chastised him, "What you have given is not sufficient! You have distributed so many things, but you have mixed everything like kichuri. You must give bhakti-yoga properly!" Vedavyas said, "But I have given bhakti-yoga in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, in Garud Puran, Agni Purana, Padma Purana, Mahabharata, etc. I have already explained everything." Narad Goswami said, "Yes, you have given everything, but you have made a kichuri or hodge-podge of it—you have mixed everything together. Nobody can understand the taste of each item." Then, Vedavyas became shy, "What should I do now, Prabhu?" And Narad Goswami told him four slokas from which the whole of Srimad Bhagavatam evolved. When Vedavyas wrote Srimad Bhagavatam, he was very pleased with it.

Then, Vedavyas thought, "Who can distribute these things to the world? I have already explained everything about jnana-yoga, bhakti-yoga, karma-yoga, etc., so if I give exclusive bhakti-yoga now, nobody will believe me. I must find a person who will be able to distribute it properly."

(Aham vedmi, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. Lord Siva said, "I know it, Sukadev knows it, and Vyasa may or may not know it." You have heard this quote many times.)

So, Vedavyas started searching who can distribute Srimad Bhagavatam. In the end, he remembered Sukadev Goswami, "Yes! He is the best, the perfect person! He can distribute exclusive devotion without any karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, etc." For example, there are many conceptions presented in Srimad Bhagavad-gita—there is devotion mixed with jnana-yoga, karma-yoga, sankhya-yoga, etc.; and Vyasadev wanted Sukadev to give pure devotion to this mundane world. Sukadev was the right person for this—his position was very high.

You know, Sukadev Goswami stayed in his mother's womb for twelve years and did not want to come out. He was a perfect siddha-mahapurush and has full knowledge of all Vedas. Everybody saw that he was not coming out from his mother's womb, and everybody, including Vyasadev, was amazed. One day, Vyasadev asked the child in the mother's womb,

"Why are you not coming out of your mother's womb? Come out! Come out!"

The child said from the womb, "No, I will not! I will not come out, I will stay here."

"Why are you not coming out?"

"Because I know if I come out, then illusory environment will attack me. I know maya is very powerful, she attacks so many jiva souls. So, I will not come out."

Then, some great scholars came there and suggested, "Vyasadev, you have the power to stop maya's work for five minutes. Why do you not try it?" Then, they asked Sukadev, "Listen, if we stop maya's work for five minutes, is it sufficient for you to come out? Will you come out then?" Sukadev replied, "Yes! If you do it, I will come out." Then, Vyasadev agreed and did that. As soon as Sukadev Goswami came out of his mother's womb, he ran away! Have you ever seen anything like this? Your baby comes out from your womb and flees!

Sukadev Goswami ran away to the forest. His father went after him, he kept calling out to him, "Wait! Wait! Please wait!" But Sukadev had no attachment to his parents or anybody else in this world—he had no attachment to the illusory environment. At that time, Sukadev Goswami was twelve years old.

So, when Vyasadev decided that this Sukadev was the fittest person to distribute Bhagavatam, he began searching for him. He would sometimes see him walking ahead and hurry up to catch up with him. Sometimes, they would pass some place where ladies bathed. This took place in the Himalayas, and because it often rained there and it was hard to dry clothes, the ladies would keep their clothes under a tree and bathe naked in some secluded place. Once, Sukadev Goswami and Vyasadev were passing one such place. When the ladies saw Sukadev Goswami, they did not get shy because, although he was a young boy, they saw he had no sense—he did not see anything in this world. Sukadev simply walked wherever Krishna took him. Such was his character. He did not see who is male, who is female, he had no eyes to see anything mundane. However, when these same ladies saw Vyasadev (who was an old man with a twelve-foot-long beard), they immediately got shy and covered their bodies with some clothes.

Vyasadev understood that he could find Sukadev, but Sukadev would not agree to listen to him. So, he decided to trick Sukadev Goswami. He found some woodcutter boys and taught them some slokas from Srimad Bhagavatam, such as:

nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad
bhavausadhach chhrotra-mano-'bhiramat
ka uttamasloka-gunanuvadat
puman virajyeta vina pasughnat

"Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the parampara system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?"

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.1.4)

He taught them three-four slokas like this. Then, the woodcutter boys told those slokas to Sukadev Goswami, and Sukadev Goswami was very impressed, "I have never heard such slokas before!" He asked the boys, "Where have you got these slokas from? Who told you them?" The boys explained, "We have got them from Srila Vyasadev." "Where is he?" They told Sukadev that Vyasadev lived in his Badarikashram on the bank of the Saraswati River, and Sukadev Goswami at once went there.

Sukadev came to Vyasadev and said, "I have got to hear this sloka from one woodcutter boy. Please give me this kind of knowledge. I feel much attraction to hear this sloka."

That is how Vyasadev got what he wanted—it was his desire to teach his son, and now he could do that. So, Vyasadev taught everything to Sukadev Goswami, and Sukadev Goswami was very pleased. After that, Vyasadev started waiting again, "Only Sukadev Goswami can distribute this Srimad Bhagavatam, nobody else except him can do it. But how will he do it?..."

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