Mysteries of the Vedas

After hearing about the prayers of Brahma and the blessings he received from the Lord, Vidhura wanted to know about the subsequent creations of Brahma: “Śrī Vidura said: O great sage, please let me know how Brahmā, the grandfather of the planetary inhabitants, created the bodies of the living entities from his own body and mind after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (SB 3....

In the previous part, we studied the detailed description of the universal time Maitreya gives in chapter 3.11. Now, after describing the effects of kāla, Maitreya continues his description, narrating the creation of Brahma in more detail. “Śrī Maitreya said: O learned Vidura, so far I have explained to you the glories of the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His feature of kāla. Now y...

The 13th chapter starts with Vidura inquiring about the activities of Svāyambhuva Manu and Śatarūpā. In the last verses of the previous chapters, their activities were described in summary, and now Vidura wants to know in detail. The appearance of Svāyambhuva Manu is an important event in the creation of the universe because it marks the start of the first manvantara. There are 14 manus in a day o...

In the previous chapter, Maitreya narrated the pastime of Lord Varaha, combining details of the two appearances of the Lord. He mentioned that the Lord fought with the demon while lifting the Earth (which happened at his second appearance), and Vidura became desirous of hearing more details about this pastime: “Śrī Vidura said: O chief amongst the great sages, I have heard by disciplic succession...

At the end of chapter 15, the four Kumaras offered prayers to the Lord when He appeared at the gate. Now, in chapter 16 the Lord answers to them and offers a solution for the situation. Jaya and Vijaya are eternal servitors of the Lord, but at the same time, they committed a mistake in stopping the sages. The Lord understood that the essence of the problem was that the Kumaras were anxious to see...

At the end of the second canto, Śaunaka Ṛṣi asked Suta Goswami about the activities of Vidhura after leaving the palace, being offended by Duryodhana. Suta Goswami answers that Pariksit Maharaja asked the same question to Sukadeva Goswami after hearing the explanation of the Catuh-sloki Bhagavatam given in chapter 2.10, and thus proceeds in narrating it. The third and fourth cantos of the Srimad B...

In chapter 3.2, Uddhava begins a description of Krsna’s pastimes, starting with His childhood pastimes and continuing into the pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill and his pastimes with the Gopis. Now, he continues with His pastimes out of Vrindavana. Krsna went to Mathura and killed Kamsa to save his parents, Vasudeva and Devaki who he was imprisoning. Kamsa was so powerful that even demigods were...

Chapter 3.5 narrates how Lord Maha-Vishnu created the five basic material elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth), as well as their properties (sound, touch, form, taste, and smell) and the predominating deities of these elements. The function of these deities is to assist the Lord in the creation of the universe, and they were eager to do so, however, seeing themselves incapable of creating...

In the previous chapters, Brahma described the process of creation, described the glories of the Lord, and revealed that devotional service unto Him is the ultimate goal of life. In the end, he asked Narada Muni to expand this description and teach it to others. This is a very ancient conversation that happened at the beginning of the day of Brahma, more than two billion years ago. Since then, Nar...

In verse 2.9.30, after submitting his questions, Brahma prayed to the Lord that all his work of creation would not give birth to pride. In answer to this, the Lord recommended Him to just follow the conclusion of the four verses, practicing devotional service and fixing his mind unto Him. “O Brahmā, just follow this conclusion by fixed concentration of mind, and no pride will disturb you, neither...

After Pariksit Maharaja presented his questions before Sukadeva Goswami, the great sage started to reply. In the first canto, Suta Goswami answers the questions of Saunaka Rishi, while in the second canto, the Same Suta Goswami narrates the conversation between Sukadeva Goswami and Maharaja Pariksit. In the first canto, Vyasadeva started his recitation with the words “oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya”...

At the end of each day of Brahma, the universe is partially destroyed and has to be recreated at the beginning of the next day. From the scriptures, we learn that although Brahma is very powerful, he is a living being, just like us. The soul inside the body of Brahma is not different from the soul in the body of an ant. How come Brahma can be so powerful to the extent of creating an entire univers...

To answer the questions of Maharaja Pariksit, Sukadeva Goswami goes back in time, to the beginning of the current day of Brahma, and narrates an ancient conversation between Narada Muni and Lord Brahma that describes the creation of the universe, and debunks the idea that everything appears by chance. Everything has a cause, just like the cause of a car is the car factory, the cause of the univers...

Being present inside each universe as Gabodakasayi Vishnu and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, the Lord is the foundation upon which the whole material creation rests. Everything is created and maintained by His energy. The Lord is thus called the virat-purusha, the enjoyer of the cosmic manifestation, since everything is generated from His energy, and ultimately everything exists to satisfy Him. Because the...

Chapter 12 reveals more details about the birth of Maharaja Pariksit. Certainly, he was born in the most uncommon circumstances, having to face the danger of an atomic explosion while still in the womb, and having the personal darshan of the Lord, who personally appeared just to save him. As revealed later, on SB 3.3.17, the body of Maharaja Pariksit had been burned by the Brahmastra, but it was r...

Arjuna is the constant companion of Krsna. Every time Krsna appears in some universe of this material world, Arjuna appears with Him. They are always together. In the Bhagavad-Gita, when Arjuna asks Krsna how could he have spoken the Bhagavad-Gita to Vivasvan, millions of years ago, Krsna answers that Arjuna was also present when this happened, but he had forgotten, while He still remembered. “The...

Chronologically, the age of Kali began just after the battle of Kuruksetra, but its effects were been checked due to the presence of Krsna. As soon as Krsna left, the effects of the age of Kali manifested, which was noticed by Maharaja Yudhisthira. However, when Pariksit ascended to the throne he decided to fight with Kali, checking his influence. In his purport, Srila Prabhupada connects the root...

As long as Pariksit was on the planet, there was no chance Kali could flourish. However, at the same time, Kali-yuga is part of the universal cosmic order. The degradation of Kali-yuga creates an opportunity for the most degraded souls, who don’t have enough pious merits to take birth in other eras, to take birth and have the opportunity of receiving the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Another f...

In most of this course, we will be studying two or three chapters per lesson, as far as possible trying to cover an entire topic on each section. However, we are going slowly for now because these are foundational chapters that have a lot of important information, and more or less summarize the contents of the whole Srimad Bhagavatam. Just like the second chapter gives a concise description of the...

The Srimad Bhagavatam started with Saunaka Rishi asking questions to Suta Goswami. He wanted to know about the ultimate goal for all people, the essence of all scriptures, the pastimes of the Lord, and the shelter for people living in Kali-yuga. During the course of the answers of Suta Goswami, it became clear that the answer to all these questions is the same: The Srimad Bhagavatam. Saunaka Rishi...

At the end of chapter 6, Narada Muni leaves after instructing Vyasadeva. Chapter 7 starts with Śaunaka Ṛṣi inquiring about what happened after that. What did he do after receiving these instructions from his spiritual master? Indirectly, Śaunaka Ṛṣi is asking how the Srimad Bhagavatam was compiled. Suta Goswami answers by describing the meditation of Vyasadeva before starting his work in compiling...

Bhismadeva was defeated by Arjuna and Srikandi during the 10th day of the battle of Kuruksetra. Dozens of arrows transpassed his body, but he landed in such a way that the arrows supported the weight of his body, and he didn’t touch the ground. It looked like he was lying on a bed of arrows. Later, at his request, Arjuna added three arrows under his head, that served as a pillow. Any regular perso...

In the second part of the course, we studied the six questions the sages asked Sukadeva Goswami and their answers. The six questions were: 1- What is the ultimate good for people? A: Loving, unmotivated, and uninterrupted devotional service to the Lord. (1.2.6) 2- What is the essence of the scriptures? A: The process of devotional service is the essence. There is nothing superior. By practicing de...

Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of the Vedas In the first part, we discussed how we can obtain perfect knowledge, and how the Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of all the Vedas. If one has time, he may gradually study all Vedic literature, starting from the four Vedas, then the Mahabharata, the Upanisads, all the Puranas, etc. However, people of our age, who have limited attention and short...

Srila Prabhupada and other Vaishnava acaryas before him put great emphasis on the study of the Srimad Bhagavatam as an essential part of our spiritual practice. On his purport to SB 1.3.43, for example, Srila Prabhupada wrote: “Both the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are like torchbearers for the blind people of this age. In other words, if men in this age of Kali want to see the real lig...