Srimad-Bhagavatam Overview-Canto 1, Chapter 1

The subject of a scripture is usually described first. Therefore Srila Veda

Vyasadeva, the compiler of the Srimad Bhagavatam, describes r Krishna,
the subject of Srimad Bhagavatam, in the first verse.
Srila Vyasadevas very first words state that Krishna is God--om namo
bhagavate vasudevaya. He then explains why Krishna is God by describing
the characteristics that distinguish Him from anyone else. Krishna is described
as janmady asya yato (from whom all manifested universes are manifested,
sustained and destroyed), itaratas carthesv abhijnah (who directly and
indirectly knows everything), svarat (who is fully independent), and tene
brahma hrda ya adi kavaye who taught Vedic Knowledge to the first created
being, Lord Brahma), all characteristics which can only be ascribed to God. He
therefore concludes param satyam dhimahi- we should meditate on r
Krishna who is the Supreme Absolute Truth. 1
1

1 Speaking the truth may not always convey the truth. For example, an
inexperienced young devotee of Krishna may enthusiastically tell his parents
that he ultimately has no relationship with them because they are not the
bodies, but spirit souls. He has certainly spoken the truth, but has failed to
make the truth understood. His parents now think that Krishna-consciousness
is a cult which denies fellowship and family, which certainly is not the truth.
A spiritual teacher is thus careful that his lessons are not only true, but
understood as truth. For this reason great acaryas may even present certain
truths indirectly, or relavitistically, to philosophically or culturally immature
audiences.
For example, because souls in this world by nature are envious of God and
thus revolted by His form, many of the Vedic literatures, such as the
Upanishads, describe God in an impersonal way to help avert the conditioned
souls attention from matter to transcendence.
Similarly, when Vyasadeva compiled the Vedas he was hestitant to directly
present the highest truth of devotional service, because people in the world
are naturally materialistic and only act religiously for selfish reasons. He thus
deliberately avoided extensively glorifying the Supreme Lord and promoting
the practice of pure devotional service.
Nonetheless, he was chastised by His spiritual master, for improperly using his
valuable time in giving more importance to the engagements of religiosity,
economic development, sense gratification and salvation, than the superior
engagement of devotional service, especially as the people in Kali Yuga are
short-lived and by an indirect process may never get around to the goal of
directly glorifying Krishna.
Narada therefore rebuked his disciple: You have not actually broadcast the
sublime and spotless glories of the Personality of Godhead. That philosophy
which does not satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord is considered
worthless.

After describing r Krishna in the first verse, Srila Vyasadeva describes

Srimad-Bhagavatam in the next verse. He informs us that it is the greatest of
all scriptures, because any objective other than pure devotional service is
completely rejected (dharmah projjhita kaitavah). It is therefore for pure souls
who are free from envy (nirmatsaranam satam).
It is also a superior scripture because by knowledge of pure devotional service
one becomes free from all material miseries (tapa-trayonmulanam), it is
compiled by the great sage Vyasadeva in the maturity of his realization
(maha-muni-krte), its message submissively heard manifests the Supreme
Lord in the heart without delay (susrusubhis tat-ksanat).
In the third verse Srila Vyasadeva glorifies the Srimad Bhagavatam as not only
completely pure, but the ripened fruit of all Vedic Literature (nigama-kalpataror galitam phalama), because spiritual rasa is described, and can be
experienced, in Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is especially nectarean having
emanated from the lips of Sukadeva Goswami. Srila Vyasadeva therefore
invites mankind, but especially those that are experts and connoseurs of this
knowledge (rasika bhuvi bhavakah) to taste the special sweetness of the
Srimad Bhagavatam. (vs.1-3)
Srila Vyasadeva begins to narrate the story of the Srimad-Bhagvatam as it was
spoken for the third time at the holy place of Naimasaranya. 2 Before the great
As a result of Sti Naradas instructions, Vyasadeva went to his asrama, fixed
his mind in devotional service, and wrote the Srimad-Bhagavatam in the
maturity of his realization
As he had been chastised by his spiritual master, Sri Narada, for not directly
and sufficiently glorifying the Supreme Lord, he boldly begins this next treatise
by clearly asserting the identity of the origin of creation- om namo bhagavate
vasudevaya, Lord Krishna, the son of Vasudeva, is the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
Srila Prabhupada appreciates Vyasadevas boldness in so directly indentifying
the Supreme Truth at the beginning of the Srimad Bhagavatam:
It is natural that a philosophical mind wants to know about the origin of
creation. At night he sees the stars in the sky, and he naturally speculates
about their inhabitants. Such inquiries are natural for man because man has a
developed consciousness which is higher than that of the animals. The author
of Srimad Bhagavatam gives a direct answer to such inquiries. He says that
Lord Sri Krishna is the origin of all creations. (Italics added) SB 1.1.1 Purport.
Thus the significance of the boldness of the first words of Srimad Bhagavatam
is very much connected to the history of the books composition.
2

The narration of the Srimad-Bhagavatam at Naimasaranya is its third

recitation
in its present form, although the Srimad-Bhagavatam is an eternal scripture
and was manifest previously in other forms, such as its manifestation in four

sages at Naimasaranya begin their inquiries from the speaker of the Srimad
Bhagavatam, Suta Goswami, they glorify him; he is freed from vice, knows
sastra, and can also explain them having realized them (6) Suta Goswami is
also conversant with the teachings of Vyasadeva and all systems of physical
and metaphysical knowledge. (7) Foremost, he is a simple-hearted (saumya)
and submissive (snigdhasya) disciple of his spiritual masters. (8) (vs.4-8)
The sages begin posing their questions. 3 As people in Kali-yuga are neither
qualified, nor live long enough, to achieve success in spiritual life by going
gradually through the Vedas, those born in Kali yuga must focus on the
ultimate goal of life from the very beginning of their practice. Therefore the
first question the sages ask Suta Goswami is to delineate the ultimate good,(9)
To substantiate their question the great sages describe how difficult the of Kali
is for self-realization. (10) In a similiar vein of thought to their first question,
that is considering that all the divisions of the scriptures will take many years
to learn, the sages ask Suta Goswami to describe the essence of the
scriptures (question 2) (11) They next ask the purpose of Krishnas appearance
(question 3) and express their eagerness to hear about his incarnations. (1213) (vs. 9-12)
The sages glorify hearing about the Lord and associating with his devotee. (1416) They request Suta to explain how the Lord interacts with the material
world as his purusavatars (lilaya dadhatah kalah). (question 4) and to describe
verses at the beginning of creation, when it was spoken by Lord Krishna to
Lord Brahma.
The first manifestation of Srimad Bhagavatam in twelve cantos was by
Vyasadeva who composed the Srimad Bhagavatam as a commentary on the
Vedanta-Sutra.
Vyasadeva taught the Bhagavatam to his son Sri Sukadeva Goswami who
spoke it for the second time on the bank of the Yamuna to Maharaj Pariksit
where all the worlds great sages also assembled to hear it.
Suta Goswami was among those sages. He heard it and realized it and spoke it
for the third time at Naimasaranya.
3

1. What is the ultimate benefit for mankind? (SB 1.1.9) (Answer SB 1.2.6)
2. What is the essence of all the scriptures? (SB 1.1.11) (Answer SB 1.2.)
3. For what purpose did Krishna appear? (SB 1.1.12)b
4. Describe how the Lord as the Purusavatars interacts with the material
world? (SB 1.1.17) (Answer SB 1.2.30-34) note: It is unclear why this verse
refers to how the Purusa avataras interact with the material world and why
this is question four instead of verse 13.
5. Explain about the lila-avatars. (SB 1.1.18) (Answer SB 1.31-25)
6. Now that Sri Krsna has departed for His abode, by whom religious principles
are presently protected. (SB 1.1.23) (Answer SB 1.1.43)
r the third time at Naimasaranya.

the lilavatars (question 5). (17-18) 4 The sages express their enthusiasm about
hearing the Lords pastimes and are impelled to glorify Krishna themselves.
(19-20) (vs.14-20)
After describing that the age of Kali has already begun and after expressing
their great fortune for having met Suta Goswami, the sages ask a final
question: Now that Sri Krsna, the Absolute Truth, the master of all mystic
powers, has departed for His abode, please tell us by whom religious principles
are presently protected. (vs.21-23)

Additional possible comments:

What does it mean that Krishna is directly and indirectly conscious of
everything. Give an example?
Describe how the philosophy of acintya bheda bheda frees one from material
miseries in relation to the statement in text two that such truth uproots the
three fold miseries page 55.

4. Srila Prabhupada describes an interesting analogy in Text 17 to expose the

low grade happiness derived from sense-gratification. The material creations
are manifested for some time as perverted shadows of the spiritual kingdom
and can be likened to cinemas. They attract people of less intelligent caliber
who are attracted by false things.
The pleasure of the material creation is compared to the pleasure of going to
a cinema, because both offer pleasure which is to be enjoyed vicariously. A
person who watches cinema enjoys heroic or romantic deeds only by the thrill
of identification with the protaganist of a movie. It is a cheap pleasure because
in real life the audience doesnt actually enjoy beautiful women, or the
accolades of heroism, but only the fantasy of pleasure which an expert drama
or cinema is capable of invoking.
As eternal servants of Krishna, the sense of controlling and enjoying can only
be fulfilled in the illusion of identifying with the transformation of his field of
activity, the body. Material pleasure is thus not something of the real self, but
a fantasy which Krishnas illusory potency invokes by causing us to identify
with the false, or external self, the body. In other words, like the cheap, or
false, pleasure of a movie, material pleasure is just not an accomplishment of
the self, but the souls fantasy, and as any fantasy, it is just not the same as
the pleasure of real life.