Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.19.25 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Jan 28, 2026
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 19 Verse 25.
ŚB 1.19.25
तत्राभवद्भगवान् व्यासपुत्रो
यदृच्छया गामटमानोऽनपेक्ष: ।
अलक्ष्यलिङ्गो निजलाभतुष्टो
वृतश्च बालैरवधूतवेष: ॥ २५ ॥
tatrābhavad bhagavān vyāsa-putro
yadṛcchayā gām aṭamāno ’napekṣaḥ
alakṣya-liṅgo nija-lābha-tuṣṭo
vṛtaś ca bālair avadhūta-veṣaḥ
Synonyms
tatra — there; abhavat — appeared; bhagavān — powerful; vyāsa-putraḥ — son of Vyāsadeva; yadṛcchayā — as one desires; gām — the earth; aṭamānaḥ — while traveling; anapekṣaḥ — disinterested; alakṣya — unmanifested; liṅgaḥ — symptoms; nija-lābha — self-realized; tuṣṭaḥ — satisfied; vṛtaḥ — surrounded; ca — and; bālaiḥ — by children; avadhūta — neglected by others; veṣaḥ — dressed.
Translation
At that moment there appeared the powerful son of Vyāsadeva, who traveled over the earth disinterested and satisfied with himself. He did not manifest any symptoms of belonging to any social order or status of life. He was surrounded with women and children, and he dressed as if others had neglected him.
Purport
The word bhagavān is sometimes used in relation with some of the great devotees of the Lord, like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Such liberated souls are disinterested in the affairs of this material world because they are self-satisfied by the great achievements of devotional service. As explained before, Śukadeva Gosvāmī never accepted any formal spiritual master, nor did he undergo any formal reformatory performances. His father, Vyāsadeva, was his natural spiritual master because Śukadeva Gosvāmī heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from him. After this, he became completely self-satisfied. Thus he was not dependent on any formal process. The formal processes are necessary for those who are expected to reach the stage of complete liberation, but Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī was already in that status by the grace of his father. As a young boy he was expected to be properly dressed, but he went about naked and was uninterested in social customs. He was neglected by the general populace, and inquisitive boys and women surrounded him as if he were a madman. He thus appears on the scene while traveling on the earth of his own accord. It appears that upon the inquiry of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the great sages were not unanimous in their decision as to what was to be done. For spiritual salvation there were many prescriptions according to the different modes of different persons. But the ultimate aim of life is to attain the highest perfectional stage of devotional service to the Lord. As doctors differ, so also sages differ in their different prescriptions. While such things were going on, the great and powerful son of Vyāsadeva appeared on the scene.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here we have a description of the entrance of Sukadeva Goswami. And he is addressed as Bhagavan but as Prabhupad explains in the purport, sometimes Bhagavan does not refer to Krishna and refers to a great devotee. So of course if we were to take the normal definition of Bhagavan as having six qualities that no Jiva has and etc. then we have to assume that Sukadeva Goswami is Supreme Lord. So that would be the literal interpretation but this is contrary to what we also know about difference between Jivas and Supreme Lord. And thus we have to understand that here Bhagavan does not indicate Supreme Lord, it indicates a person with great qualities, Bhagavan, the literal meaning. Of course we can say that is also a literal meaning. But usually in the Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita this word is used to indicate Supreme Lord, not anyone else.
So how do we decide that this is a different meaning of the word. So just from this verse itself we cannot know. So if we go to the whole of Bhagavatam then we understand difference between Bhagavan and Jiva, difference between Krishna and other forms of Bhagavan, so we have to take the meaning according to the context.
So this verse describes the nature of Sukadeva Goswami. He was wandering over the earth. He was completely indifferent to everyone and everything. His real qualities were hidden, ‘alakṣya’. And he was satisfied with his own attainment, so he wasn’t dependent on anyone else. So this describes a person very spiritually advanced that has no attachment to anything in the material world. Of course we can say well, then he was an ‘Atmarama’, he was just absorbed in Brahman. So that can be the meaning of ‘nija-lābha-tuṣṭo’, satisfied with his own attainment of Brahman. However if we look at the context of the previous chapters where Sukadeva Goswami was ‘Atmarama’ but he heard Bhagavatam from Vyasadeva and then he became a great devotee. And of course what he is going to speak to Pariksit Maharaj is his own realization of Krishna as ‘Svayam Bhagavan’. So therefore it must mean he was satisfied with his attainment of Prema. So, he was in the highest realization and he also hid that realization. Such that he was not surrounded by great sages who were praising him, he was surrounded by women and children who were making fun of him. Particularly because he was dressed very uniquely, he was ‘avadhūta-veṣaḥ’, dressed like a mad man. Which means he was dressed in rags or he was not dressed at all. So therefore, from material point of view he looked like a mad man. But this was external appearance.
Of course those who are advanced can recognize another person who is spiritually advanced in spite of what he looks like externally. And this was of course what the great sages recognized that he was actually a very exalted personality. So, he was very unique type of devotee. So Prabhupad in the purport says he was so self-satisfied in realizing Krishna that he didn’t even accept a spiritual master, no Guru. But then Prabhupad says well, he had a natural spiritual master, Vedavyasa, who taught him Bhagavatam, so therefore he had a Siksha Guru. So of course father was highly qualified and son was also very qualified. Prabhupad mentions of course he was not dependent on any formal process because of his high realization. But then he says that for others who are not so spiritually developed then they need some formal processes. Of course if you are very advanced then you wouldn’t need those processes. So, in this way we see that Sukadeva Goswami was on highest level of spiritual realization. Therefore he can teach the highest knowledge, the highest truth.
Prabhupad mentions at the end of the purport that there were many great sages there but they cannot really agree on what was the highest goal. So how was that possible since they were great sages and they all followed the Vedas? So, the nature of the Vedas and of course scriptures in general is they say many things. They give many goals and they give many processes. And those who are at one level, they will get attracted to one process and those who are at another level, will get attracted to another process. So some of the sages get attracted to karma yoga and karma kanda, so they follow that process because it’s in the Vedas. Others are more qualified, they become attracted to Jnana yoga and Brahman. Others become attracted to Yoga. And others become attracted to Bhakti yoga and Prema.
So, are they less intelligent that some of them are going to go for karma yoga and some for Jnana and they don’t see the highest goal? What’s wrong with them? So dull headed? And the answer is they are differently qualified and therefore their vision is somewhat limited to their qualification. And though they see other statements in scripture that may contradict that particular goal, they are not so much interested or attracted to those things. So why is it like that? Because they are all individuals and they are all differently qualified. So we can say that according to their qualification, their vision of scripture and their taste is somewhat limited.
In Brhad Bhagavatamrta, Sanatana Goswami says well, most of the people are on the lowest level, therefore we have so many scriptures on karma and karma kanda. Less people are qualified by sattva and detachments so there are less scriptures on Jnana yoga and Astanga yoga. Less people are qualified with faith in pure bhakti so there are less scriptures on pure bhakti. So we cannot judge what is the highest truth based on number of scriptures.
Similarly, the argument goes well, Krishna is not mentioned much in the Vedas, maybe there is one or two mentions of Krishna in the Vedas, therefore how can He be called the highest form of God? But if you look closely, you see in the Srutis as part of the Vedas, Upanishads we have the Gopala Tapani Upanishad, all about Krishna and we have Krishna Upanishad, all about Krishna. And of course, then we have the arguments given by Jiva Goswami in Tattva Sandarbha. So we have all these scriptures, so many Vedas, so many Puranas, we have Mahabharata, Ramayana, Pancharatra Sastra and Smriti Sastras, we have too many scriptures.
And even Vedavyasa he wrote Mahabharata, he wrote Vedanta Sutras and of course he compiled the Vedas and gave it to his disciples. And he wrote the Puranas for, as described here, people are differently qualified, people in Tamo guna, he wrote six Puranas, people in Rajo guna, he gave six Puranas, people in Sattva guna, he wrote six Puranas. Then after he had written all this he was feeling somewhat dissatisfied. And that is when Narada Muni came and he said yes, you should be dissatisfied because writing all these things is this big confusion for everybody in Kali Yuga. So the highest truth is there, you should make that very very clear to everyone and reject everything else. So what does that mean? You should simply describe Krishna as the only object of worship, He is the highest object of worship. Finish, that’s all, everything else gets rejected. Therefore Bhagavatam is the conclusion of the Vedas and Vedanta Sutra and Upanishads and Smriti Sastras and Puranas and Itihasas. And thus whatever is stated in Bhagavatam has more strength than what is said anywhere else.
Now we see that different scriptures say different things so there’s going to be contradictions. And that is because the scriptures are speaking to people with different qualifications so they make different types of statements. So, karma scriptures say go to Svargaloka, it’s eternal, that’s the only goal. Jnana scriptures say that is false, that’s all temporary, Brahman is eternal, go for Brahman. So, depending on the scripture we’re going to end up with a different goal and a different process. So therefore, Vedavyasa was told by Narada Muni to write the final conclusion to everything that Krishna is the supreme object of worship, you approach him with Bhakti, finished, and therefore everything else gets discarded.
Of course, then the objection is well, how can we reject the Vedas, the Vedas are absolute, non-different from the Supreme Lord. And the answer is, ultimately, the Vedas’ ultimate goal is surrender to Krishna also, but people don’t know that. So in other words, Bhagavatam is not saying something contradictory to other scriptures, it’s only pulling out the essence of what’s in the Vedas, what’s in the Upanishads, what’s in the Brahma Sutras, what’s in the Smriti Sastras, what’s in the Puranas, what’s in the Mahabharata and Ramayana, pulling out the final essence. So, therefore, he’s proclaiming what’s the highest form of the highest truth and all the other statements are secondary to that. So for that reason, our Acharyas usually resort to quoting from Bhagavatam, they don’t bother with other things. But just to show that there’s no contradiction to Vedas and Upanishads etc., they will sometimes quote them. So in any case, finally, Bhagavatam gives the final conclusion. And why? Because it shows what is the highest perfectional stage of devotional service.
Prabhupad mentions about doctors, they all may give different remedies for sickness according to their expertise. So they all give different suggestions and Sukadeva Goswami is the best doctor. So he gives the best medicine to cure everything. So because this is in the highest position, then other things get rejected. So that may seem shocking to people, but Bhagavad Gita says the same thing, ‘sarva-dharmān parityajya’. So even in the Bhagavatam, ‘tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ’, it says giving up your ‘Sva Dharma’ as a Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sudra, Brahmana, all your rules and regulations, give them all up. So that may seem very astonishing, how we can give up Dharma. And why? Because we have the highest Dharma.
So for normal people doing Karma Yoga, yes, Dharma is the highest thing. But then Bhagavatam says, if you have faith in the topics of Krishna, if you have faith in pure Bhakti, you can give all that up. So in that sense, Bhagavatam is quite a revolutionary scripture. And of course, Lord Chaitanya, he appeared, and he was even more revolutionary. So, Bhakti is there, worship of Krishna is there, he says that even give all that up, just chant the holy name of Krishna, that’s the highest worship. So there it says, ‘harer nāma harer nāma, harer nāmaiva kevalam’, only the holy name, only the holy name, only the holy name, give up everything else. So even the other Vaishnavas may be shocked by that. And definitely they were, because not only he created a spiritual revolution, he also created a social revolution. By saying only the holy name, then he actually implied that all concepts of Varna and Ashrama were also to be overlooked. And we see that most of the other Sampradayas, the Vaishnava Sampradayas were also strongly rooted in identity of Varna and Ashrama. And then Bhagavatam says, if you chant the holy name once, you’re better than a Brahmana, so it’s very revolutionary. Of course that’s there in the scripture, but nobody really instituted it very much, so then Lord Chaitanya came and then he began to institute that.
And thus we have Lord Chaitanya elevating Haridasa Thakur to the highest position, he’s the Acharya for Nama. We have so many other devotees and many of them Brahmanas come from Brahmana families like Advaita Acharya and others, but he makes Haridasa Thakur, the Namacharya, who has no Varna at all.
So, of course Lord Chaitanya was very revolutionary, but still we’ll see within the Gaudiya Sampradaya, there’s still some hesitation. And thus generally the Gurus were the Brahmanas. And this started the Goswami lines of Diksha. Of course, others were still criticizing, saying, oh this Gaudiya Sampradaya, they don’t really respect Varnas properly, or whatever, so they’re not very qualified. So then Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur became even bolder. So he says anyone who seriously chants the holy name once even, he’s better than a Brahmana, says fine, okay, my devotees are chanting Hare Krishna, they’re qualified, they’re also Pancharatrika initiated, and so he gave them Brahman threads and Brahma Gayatri mantras, which was unheard before, nobody did that before at that time.
So we see in this way that based on Bhagavatam, which is the highest process, other rules are there, we may follow them, but we may not also follow them. But of course, even Bhagavatam is not contradicting the other sastras, if we look very closely in all the other scriptures, then we’ll find there is room for doing that. Now of course, it may be difficult to find out what is the actual truth, what is the actual proper conduct. And we may not come to the truth just by even looking at scripture. We’ll have to see the conduct of the devotees, past and present, we’ll also have to have some type of realization, then we can come to a proper conclusion.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, in the verse third line, we see nija-lābha-tuṣṭo. Normally this is like atmarama. Okay. But Sukadeva Goswami is not atmarama because he was atmarama before. After hearing, he became devotee. So, we cannot, how can we use this word nija-lābha-tuṣṭo. Means it’s for own satisfaction we can say. But devotees not for own satisfaction, they do everything for Krishna. It’s a different.
So, literally it means satisfied with his own attainment. First he had atma attainment. So, he was atmarama. By hearing Bhagavatam, he became great devotee of Krishna. So, not only he is thinking of Krishna, he had the highest level of prema for Krishna. So, naturally he was satisfied with that.
2.) Like the word alakṣya, not visible we can say or hidden. But see, before speaking the sages with Sukadeva Goswami. He was like an avaduta vesha, like a mad man but how do they recognize him that he is a great personality?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Who?
Devotee: These sages and Parikshit all others. Because he didn’t speak with them. Simply by seeing Sukadeva Goswami, they recognized him, oh he is a great personality.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, from externals most people cannot recognize. Those who are more mature in their knowledge, they will understand, we don’t care about externals what he looks like whatever, we have to judge internals. Those who are very advanced can also recognize a very advanced devotee. So, the person may not speak but judging from his external appearance and then from his actions etc and of course in his presence, then they can understand something of his level of spiritual advancement. But they have to be very advanced to do that. And thus, it is said that even devotees may not be able to recognize a person in prema. So, only another person in prema [Laughs] can recognize the other person in prema [Laughs].
3.) Bharat Maharaj was also, he was also like a mad man. He was also roaming here and there, no one recognized him but unless he met with Rahugana. After speaking only Rahugana recognized him, oh, he is a great personality. But here we see, almost like him, Sukadeva Goswami was wandering everywhere and he is satisfied because of prema. But both personalities are almost the same. But here Bharat Maharaj, after speaking Rahugana recognized him but here Sukadeva Goswami without speaking, they recognized him, oh he is great because unless one is in prema, you are saying that one cannot recognize the other is in prema or not.
In the case of Jada Bharat then we don’t know who he met before that. Did he meet great sages or not? May be he didn’t. We don’t know. We know that he was employed by his brothers [Laughs] to be like a scarecrow. The dacoits tried to kill him and then he was just wandering around. Well, we don’t know his other history and then finally he was caught and made into the palanquin carrier and they didn’t recognize him either [Laughs].
4.) Maharaj, you made a very insightful point that when people fix their goals accordingly they evaluate the statements of the scriptures and they give relatively, they give different importance. Can we apply the same thing to Srila Prabhupad’s teachings. Prabhupad talks about pure devotional service. He talks about other things also. And when certain devotees, their mind is fixed on, I am sure everybody’s mind is fixed on achieving prema but how? So, like we have statements about varnashram. Devotees come that you know, at the end Prabhupad said there is one regret that I have that, I could not establish varnashram. So, the point is Prabhupad talks about so many subjects. But is it that certain devotees have fixed their mind on certain things, so they give more importance to certain statements and not to the others?
So, because we are not on the highest level of bhakti, then, when we read scriptures and we read the statements of Prabhupad, there may be some fault of interpreting according to our own perspective. Now of course, within bhakti itself, there is a latitude for choice. Just as Lord Caitanya says highest goal is Radha Krishna prema. But not everybody may be interested in madhurya rasa. So, that’s allowed [Laughs]. But whatever we do, we should make sure that the main principles that are enunciated in Bhagavatam are not contradicted. And it was said in Bhagavad Gita also, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66], not that we are deliberately rejecting everything else but we don’t take it on the same level at all. So, these statements in Bhagavatam are also Prabhupad’s words because he translated Bhagavatam [Laughs]. So, these are actually stronger than all the other statements and letters and conversations even [Laughs].
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, when we speak about pure devotional service, we prefer like, not to do shraddham, tarpanam etc. But at the same time, we also prefer astrology to calculate not for everything, for a basic, calculating marriage time or seeing auspicious time etc. If we prefer astrology and samskaras, why not we prefer shraddam and tarpanam?
So, in the shraddhas, you have to worship the pitras and whatever [Laughs]. So, technically, we don’t want to worship devatas or pitras etc. So, the way you can do that is therefore, offer the pitras Krishna prasadam [Laughs]. Of course, as I mentioned the other day, the best atonement is nama sankirtana [Laughs]. It’s much easier [Laughs].
6.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, we heard in today’s class that, Vedavyasa was instructed to write Srimad Bhagavatam, so that people were getting confused with many vedas and other things. So, conclusive truth in Srimad Bhagavatam. But then we have also heard that Bhagavatam itself is like Mohini murti. So, that would increase the confusion rather than resolving.
So, everything requires qualification. So, to read scripture also requires qualification. To read the vedas, you cannot be a sudra or an outcaste. You have to be trivarna. So, no restriction on Bhagavad Gita or puranas, you can be any varna or no varna. Then Vedavyasa wrote some puranas for people in tamoguna, some for rajoguna, some for sattvaguna. So, according to your likes and your qualification, you do different worships. But then, because that’s also confusing, he wrote Bhagavatam and telling everybody to worship Krishna, no matter what your guna, no matter what your varna or no varna. However, there’s still qualification [Laughs]. So, faith. Don’t preach to the faithless [Laughs]. So, the faithless cannot read Bhagavatam and get the right answer. So, if you have this faith in the Supreme Lord, you have faith in the bhakti scriptures and you read Bhagavatam and of course, you then you follow the devotees, you follow the Acharyas, you can get the right meaning. And if you don’t have that faith, then you get all sorts of other meanings.
7.) Why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never wrote a commentary on vedanta sutra to establish achintya bheda abheda tattva?
Well, Lord Caitanya didn’t write much. The only thing ascribed to Him is sikshastaka. But He empowered His Goswamis and others to write scriptures. So, he’s talking particularly about Brahma Sutras?
Devotee: Yes, Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. So, vedanta sutras, the Bhagavatam itself is considered to be the natural commentary on vedanta sutras. In fact, there is someone who has actually taken each sutra, the vedanta sutra, and equated it with [Laughs] some verse in the Bhagavatam [Laughs].
8.) In what way, generally, a disciple gets Krishna prema from uttama adhikari?
Well, if someone is in prema, he has extraordinary power to raise a person with any background up to the prema level. Of course, we have cases that, you can get siddhi spontaneously or very suddenly through a devotee, a very advanced devotee in prema, or the Supreme Lord. So, that may be through seeing him, is it you get prema [Laughs]? Or through some words he may speak? But then, normally, they say that the normal process is you go through sadhana. In which case, that prema bhakta would give you some instructions to do sadhana properly and then you get up to prema.
Hare Krishna.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupad ki jai!!!