Mysteries of the Vedas

The explanation of the Sankhya philosophy in the Srimad Bhagavatam encompasses eight of the final chapters of the third canto. In these chapters, Lord Kapila offers an incredibly detailed explanation about the universe, the goal of life, and the process of devotional service, the very means to achieve this goal. Lord Kapila explains our existence in this material world, as well as details about th...

📎 Main topics: - The Vaishnava schools - Nimbārkacarya meets Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu - Ramanujacarya - Visistadvaita-vada (specific monism, non-dualism with distinctions, or purified monism) - The three wishes of Yamunacarya - The Visistadvaita philosophy - Madhvacarya - Suddha-dvaita (purified dualism) The Vaishnava schools - Sankaracarya spoke the truth, but not the whole truth. He hinted at th...

Meeting with Vyasadeva - Srila Madhvacarya appears in the Gaudyia Vaishnava disciplic succession as a disciple of Vyasadeva. How this can be if he appeared on the planet thousands of years after Vyasadeva compiled the Vedas? - He was able to personally meet Vyasadeva in Badrinath (his hermitage in the Himalayas). - There is the earthly Badrinath, a place in the Himalayas where anyone can go, and t...

📎 Main topics in this episode: - The evolution of spiritual understanding - Lord Buddha - Sunyavada (nihilism) Who is Siddhartha? His philosophy Rejecting the Vedas Nirvana Buddha, the avatar - Sankaracarya - Advaita-Vedanta (non-dualism) Who is Sankaracarya? Life and teachings The Advaita philosophy What is Brahman? Why he did that? An example Mayavada The most horrible philosophy The main ideas...

📎 Main topics in this episode: - Applying the six levels of thinking to the study of the sastras 1) Memorizing 2) Understanding 3) Practical application 4) Thinking and analyzing 5) Evaluation 6) Hypotheses - Why is it useful to study the Vedanta-sutra? - The Bhaktivedanta Bhasya The main ideas: - Applying the six levels of thinking to the study of the sastras. - An idea that is prevalent in mode...

Before narrating the explanation given by Lord Kapila in the Sankhya philosophy, Maitreya described the family life of Kardama Muni and Devahuti in chapters 3.23 and 3.24. One may question why Srimad Bhagavatam describes their family life, instead of focusing on the teachings of Lord Kapila, but the obvious answer is that Bhagavatam describes it because that’s not less important. The family life o...

Before, it was mentioned that “Hearing that her grandson would be a great devotee and that her sons would be killed by Kṛṣṇa, Diti was highly pleased in mind.” At the same time, however, Diti was afraid of the disturbances her sons would cause, and thus she delayed their delivery as long as possible, keeping them for 100 years inside her womb. One reason for that was selfless: she wanted to spare...

At the end of the previous chapter, the narration returned to Suta Goswami speaking to Śaunaka Ṛṣi and the other sages in Naimiṣāraṇya. Actually, the whole Bhagavatam is spoken by him, it is just that during the narration the focus changes to Sukadeva Goswami and Maharaja Pariksit, Maitreya and Vidura, or other speakers in different parts of the text. It’s also important to remember that a few cha...

After hearing about the creation of Brahma in the previous chapter, culminating with the creation of the Manus, Vidura asks to hear more about the descendants of Svāyambhuva Manu. Most of the narrations of the Srimad Bhagavatam revolve around the genealogical tree that started with Brahma and his sons. This succession started at the beginning of the current day, with the creation of the universe,...

In chapter 6, Maitreya described the process of creation from the point of view of the Lord, explaining how the Lord participates in the process of creation. Although in reality the Lord never gets in contact with the material energy, remaining aloof, still He participates in every step of creation through His different energies. In the classical Indian systems of philosophy, two common ideas abou...

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...