(7/13) Origin of Bhagavatam (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bankura Temple Anniversary Festival,
26 January 2021, part 7
Translated from Bengali

What I have been telling you today are the words of Srimad Bhagavatam, and I have printed a small book about the history of Srimad Bhagavatam’s appearance in this world. It is based on a lecture delivered by my Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, in Australia, and I translated it into Bengali. Sripad Sajjan Maharaj takes these small books and distributes one hundred copies a day in Kolkata. He does puja, offers bhoga, takes prasadam and then goes to the Diamond Plaza or the market every day to distribute books. Many take prasadam at noon and go to sleep, but he goes out and returns only in the evening. Every day one hundred books are distributed. He gives people a book and collects some money – somebody gives one rupee, somebody gives ten rupees, somebody gives fifty rupees (people give as much as they want to). So, this one book we published contains the history of how Srimad Bhagavatam appeared.

Many people say, ‘Bhagavatam says this’, ‘Bhagavatam says that’, but who wrote this book? When we print books, we always write the author’s name, but Bhagavatam has no author. One day, sixty thousand rishis heard this Bhagavatam from Suta Goswami at Naimisaranya, and this is how Bhagavatam was first written down, but where did this Bhagavatam come from? Who did Suta Goswami hear it from? He heard it from Sukadev Goswami when he spoke Bhagavatam to Pariksit Maharaj. Please listen carefully to what I am going to tell you.

How did Srimad Bhagavatam appear? Who wrote Srimad Bhagavad-gita?

Devotee: It existed before, nobody wrote it. The Lord says in Gita, ‘This yoga existed before, and I am telling it to you now.’

Yes, it is true, but how did the book appear?

Devotee: Vyasadev wrote it down.

Yes, correct. Vyasadev wrote all Vedas, Agni Purana, Garuda Purana, Srimad Bhagavad-gita and many other scriptures. He is the author of all principal scriptures. We sing in one of the kirtans,

কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ,
ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি ।
নারদ হৈতে ব্যাস, মধ্ব কহে ব্যাস-দাস,
পূর্ণপ্রজ্ঞ পদ্মনাভ গতি ॥

krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha,
brahma haite naradera mati
narada haite vyasa, madhva kahe vyasa-dasa,
purnaprajna padmanabha gati

‘Through Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma became disposed towards Krishna’s service. Then, through Lord Brahma, Narad Goswami developed devotional mood. After Narad Goswami, the line continues through Srila Vyasadev and then through his servant Srila Madhvacharya, who is also known as Purnaprajna and who is the refuge of his disciple Sri Padmanabha Tirtha.’

(Sri Guru-Parampara kirtan)

Narad Goswami is Vyasadev’s guru. Having written all the scriptures, Vyasadev felt disturbed in his mind. Although he had written so many scriptures (Vedas, Puranas, etc.), he felt no happiness. Then, Narad Muni came to his ashram in Badarikasram, and Vyasadev told him about his situation. Narad Muni said, ‘How can you feel happiness? You have composed so many scriptures, but you have turned it into a hotchpotch!’ When we serve people rice, dal, subji, chutney, sweet rice, they always mash each preparation with rice by hand and take them separately – people do not eat mixing everything together. If you mix everything and eat it like that, you will get some taste, but you will not feel the taste of each preparation. So, Narad Goswami continued, ‘You have composed so many things, you even wrote Bhagavad-gita, but when you wrote it all, you mixed devotion with other things (karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankhya-yoga and every other possible kind of yoga)! You have made a hotchpotch! Write a scripture where only devotion will be presented.’

Vyasadev agreed. Then, wondering who will be able to present this exclusive devotional scripture in this world, Vyasadev remembered Sukadev Goswami…

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Remembering Guru-Varga
2) Sacrifice For Preaching
3) Loving Interactions
4) A Hole In Surrender
5) Have a Heart For the Temple
6) Power of Service
7) Origin of Bhagavatam (1)
8) Origin of Bhagavatam (2)
9) Origin of Bhagavatam (3)
10) Lacking or Slacking?
11) Feeling Hungry?
12) Main Target
13) Determination and Surrender