Sūta Gosvāmī said: Thus the sage amongst the gods [Nārada], comfortably seated and ap parently smiling, addressed the ṛṣi amongst the brāhmaṇas [Vedavyāsa] (1).
Addressing Vyāsadeva, the son of Parāśara, Nārada inquired: Are you satisfied by identifying with the body or the mind as ob jects of selfrealization? (2) Your inquiries were full and your studies were also well fulfilled, and there is no doubt that you have prepared a great and wonderful work, the Mahābhārata, which is full of all kinds of Vedic sequences elaborately explained (3).You have fully delin eated the subject of impersonal Brahman as well as the knowledge derived therefrom. Why should you be despondent in spite of all this, thinking that you are undone, my dear prabhu? (4)
Śrī Vyāsadeva said: All you have said about me is perfectly correct. Despite all this, I am not pacified. I therefore question you about the root cause of my dissatisfaction, for you are a man of unlimited knowledge due to your be ing the offspring of one [Brahmā] who is self born [without mundane father and mother] (5).My lord! Everything that is mysterious is known to you because you worship the creator and destroyer of the material world and the maintainer of the spiritual world, the original Personality of Godhead, who is transcendental to the three modes of material nature (6). Like the sun, Your Goodness can travel everywhere in the three worlds, and like the air you can pen etrate the internal region of everyone. As such, you are as good as the all pervasive Supersoul. Please, therefore, find out the deficiency in me, despite my being absorbed in transcendence under disciplinary regulations and vows (7).
Śrī Nārada said: 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 (8). Although, great sage, you have very broadly described the four principles beginning with re ligious performances, you have not described the glories of the Supreme Personality, Vāsudeva (9).Those words which do not de scribe the glories of the Lord, who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcen dental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there (10). On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcenden tal glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc, of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a differ ent creation, full of transcendental words di rected toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world’s misdirected civi lization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thor oughly honest (11).
Knowledge of self realiza tion, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by na ture, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord? (12) O Vyāsadeva, your vision is completely perfect. Your good fame is spotless. You are firm in vow and situated in truthfulness. And thus you can think of the pas times of the Lord in trance for the liberation of the people in general from all material bondage (13). Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts, with different forms, names and results, to agi tate the mind, as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place (14).
The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of re ligion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. Because they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activi ties in the name of religion and will hardly care for prohibitions (15). The Supreme Lord is un limited. Only a very expert personality, retired from the activities of material happiness, de serves to understand this knowledge of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so well sit uated, due to material attachment, should be shown the ways of transcendental realization, by Your Goodness, through descriptions of the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord (16). One who has forsaken his material occu pations to engage in the devotional service of the Lord may sometimes fall down while in an immature stage, yet there is no danger of his being unsuccessful. On the other hand, a non devotee, though fully engaged in occupational duties, does not gain anything (17).
Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purpose ful end which is not obtainable even by wan dering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we ob tain miseries even though we do not desire them (18).My dear Vyāsa, even though a devo tee of Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes falls down some how or other, he certainly does not undergo ma terial existence like others [fruitive workers, etc.] because a person who has once relished the taste of the lotus feet of the Lord can do nothing but remember that ecstasy again and again (19). The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only has this cosmic manifestation emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation. Your good self knows all about this. I have given only a synopsis(20).
Your Goodness has perfect vi sion. You yourself can know the Supersoul Per sonality of Godhead because you are present as the plenary portion of the Lord. Although you are birthless, you have appeared on this earth for the wellbeing of all people. Please, there fore, describe the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa more vividly (21). Learned circles have posi tively concluded that the infallible purpose of the advancement of knowledge, namely auster ities, study of the Vedas, sacrifice, chanting of hymns and charity, culminates in the transcen dental descriptions of the Lord, who is defined in choice poetry (22).
O Muni, in the last millennium I was born as the son of a certain maidservant engaged in the service of brāhmaṇas who were following the principles of Vedānta. When they were living together during the four months of the rainy season, I was engaged in their personal service (23). Although they were impartial by nature, those followers of the Vedānta blessed me with their causeless mercy. As far as I was con cerned, I was self controlled and had no attach ment for sports, even though I was a boy. In ad dition, I was not naughty, and I did not speak more than required (24). Once only, by their permission, I took the remnants of their food, and by so doing all my sins were at once eradi cated. Thus being engaged, I became purified in heart, and at that time the very nature of the transcendentalist became attractive to me (25).
O Vyāsadeva, in that association and by the mercy of those great Vedāntists, I could hear them describe the attractive activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And thus listening attentively, my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead in creased at every step (26). O great sage, as soon as I got a taste of the Personality of Godhead, my attention to hear of the Lord was unflinch ing. And as my taste developed, I could realize that it was only in my ignorance that I had ac cepted gross and subtle coverings, for both the Lord and I are transcendental (27).
Thus during two seasons the rainy season and autumn I had the opportunity to hear these greatsouled sages constantly chant the unadulterated glories of the Lord Hari. As the flow of my devotional service began, the coverings of the modes of passion and ignorance vanished (28). I was very much attached to those sages. I was gentle in behavior, and all my sins were eradicated in their service. In my heart I had strong faith in them. I had subjugated the senses, and I was strictly following them with body and mind (29). As they were leaving, those bhak tivedāntas, who are very kind to poorhearted souls, instructed me in that most confidential subject which is instructed by the Personality of Godhead Himself (30). By that confidential knowledge, I could understand clearly the in fluence of the energy of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the cre ator, maintainer and annihilator of everything. By knowing that, one can return to Him and personally meet Him (31).
O Brāhmaṇa Vyāsadeva, it is decided by the learned that the best remedial measure for re moving all troubles and miseries is to dedicate one’s activities to the service of the Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead [Śrī Kṛṣṇa] (32).O good soul, does not a thing, applied therapeu tically, cure a disease which was caused by that very same thing? (33) Thus when all a man’s activities are dedicated to the service of the Lord, those very activities which caused his perpetual bondage become the destroyer of the tree of work (34). Whatever work is done here in this life for the satisfaction of the mission of the Lord is called bhaktiyoga, or transcendental loving service to the Lord, and what is called knowledge becomes a concomitant factor (35).While performing duties according to the order of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one constantly remembers Him, His names and His qualities (36). Let us all chant the glories of Vāsudeva along with His plenary expansions Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa (37).
Thus he is the actual seer who worships, in the form of transcendental sound representation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, who has no material form (38). O brāhmaṇa, thus by the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa I was endowed first with the transcen dental knowledge of the Lord as inculcated in the confidential parts of the Vedas, then with the spiritual opulences, and then with His inti mate loving service (39). Please, therefore, de scribe the almighty Lord’s activities which you have learned by your vast knowledge of the Ve das, for that will satisfy the hankerings of great learned men and at the same time mitigate the miseries of the masses of common people who are always suffering from material pangs. In deed, there is no other way to get out of such miseries (40).
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