Srimad Bhagavatam – 2.3.16 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Jun 6, 2026
ŚB 2.3.16
वैयासकिश्च भगवान् वासुदेवपरायण: ।
उरुगायगुणोदारा: सतां स्युर्हि समागमे ॥ १६ ॥
vaiyāsakiś ca bhagavān
vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ
urugāya-guṇodārāḥ
satāṁ syur hi samāgame
Synonyms
vaiyāsakiḥ — the son of Vyāsadeva; ca — also; bhagavān — full in transcendental knowledge; vāsudeva — Lord Kṛṣṇa; parāyaṇaḥ — attached to; urugāya — of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by great philosophers; guṇa-udārāḥ — great qualities; satām — of the devotees; syuḥ — must have been; hi — as a matter of fact; samāgame — by the presence of.
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vyāsadeva, was also full in transcendental knowledge and was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva. So there must have been discussion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified by great philosophers and in the company of great devotees.
Purport
The word satām is very important in this verse. Satām means the pure devotees, who have no other desire than to serve the Lord. Only in the association of such devotees are the transcendental glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa properly discussed. It is said by the Lord that His topics are all full of spiritual significance, and once one properly hears about Him in the association of the satām, certainly one senses the great potency and so automatically attains to the devotional stage of life. As already described, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great devotee of the Lord from his very birth, and so was Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Both of them were on the same level, although it appeared that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great king accustomed to royal facilities whereas Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a typical renouncer of the world, so much so that he did not even put a cloth on his body. Superficially, Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Śukadeva Gosvāmī might seem to be opposites, but basically they were both unalloyed, pure devotees of the Lord. When such devotees are assembled together, there can be no topics save discussions of the glories of the Lord, or bhakti-yoga. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, when there were talks between the Lord and His devotee Arjuna, there could not be any topic other than bhakti-yoga, however the mundane scholars may speculate on it in their own ways. The use of the word ca after vaiyāsakiḥ suggests, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, that both Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit were of the same category, settled long before, although one was playing the part of the master and the other the disciple. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is the center of the topics, the word vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ, or “devotee of Vāsudeva,” suggests devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the common aim. Although there were many others who assembled at the place where Mahārāja Parīkṣit was fasting, the natural conclusion is that there was no topic other than the glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa, because the principal speaker was Śukadeva Gosvāmī and the chief audience was Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as it was spoken and heard by two principal devotees of the Lord, is only for the glorification of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse glorifies the activities of the devotees. Bhagavad-Gita also describes what do the devotees do. They gather together and they converse about the Supreme Lord. Of course, there are many spiritual topics. But, as Bhagavatam concludes, ultimately the topic should be Krishna. And particularly because this was a conversation between Sukadeva Goswami and Parikshit Maharaj, both of whom were described previously as great devotees, naturally the topic must be Krishna. So this discussion between the devotees is considered very important.
I’ve said before that we have scripture, but then the scripture is spoken by devotees and it is heard by devotees. And the whole procedure in Bhagavatam is that, one person speaks, another listens. In fact, we find in the cover [Laughs], there is speaking and listening. So we see within the Bhagavatam, of course, it’s not always Sukadeva speaking to Parikshit directly, but he’s telling a story, and within that, then we have other sages speaking to other devotees. But this is not just in Bhagavatam, we’ll find it in all the Puranas. And if we go back to the Vedas and Upanishads, we’ll find the same system. So the transmission of knowledge is from one person to another.
Of course, in ancient times, we can think that, well, that was the only way that knowledge could be transmitted, because they didn’t have books, they didn’t have recording devices, then they have to speak it. It’s the only way it gets transmitted. And we see before Kali Yuga, this was how knowledge was always transmitted, orally from one person to another. So this, of course, is one system, another way, you can record it somehow or other, and it could be transmitted that way. But that didn’t happen until Kali Yuga. So Kali Yuga is a more degraded age. So we cannot say that, well, finally we recorded the Vedas, that’s an advancement. No, it’s a degradation [Laughs]. So for millions of years, it goes on like this with very advanced people, and we come to a degraded Kali Yuga. Then, out of necessity, they have to write everything down. So it’s not an advancement [Laughs]. But we can say it’s a necessity because people do not have the proper minds anymore. But we see even Vedavyas himself, when he divided up the Vedas, that he carefully taught it to certain of his disciples, and they carried on that line orally again.
So, of course, as I said, eventually they recorded and wrote everything down. But still, they put restrictions on it. Even if the Vedas are there written down, you can’t just go to the library and get the Vedas and read them. You have to have the proper qualification. So to read the Vedas, then you have to take Upanayanam, which is your Vedic Diksha, then you’re qualified to begin studying the Vedas. But what did you do? You had to go to a Gurukul, and what happened? There, somebody is teaching you the Vedas. So that tradition continued, in spite of the fact that things were written down. But we can say, well, that’s because those texts were handwritten and not available everywhere. So therefore, most people do not have books. So therefore, again, there is a necessity that they transmitted orally.
So we find 500 years ago even, with Lord Caitanya, some works were not available. Brahma samhita that he discovered, but that was the only copy he saw [Laughs]. And nobody else had a copy of it. And he had to copy it out of hand and take it back to Puri. That’s how it got preserved. Otherwise, that would have disappeared also. So somehow, even 500 years ago, copies of everything were not available to everybody. Still, we have the great Acharyas, who were great scholars, and they had so much knowledge of so many Puranas and Smritis and Vedas and Upanishads, etc. How could they do that when there were no libraries or anything? No books available, no bookstores. So even then, we have to assume, they just heard everything [Laughs]. So that was the situation.
But then of course, after that, then they brought in the printing press, and then things became more commonly available. And as far as spiritual publications, then, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was very enthusiastic to have things printed, so he had his own printing presses. So, in this manner, then the printed scriptures became available to everybody. Well, of course, we say everybody, but not everybody reads everything, so therefore, only some people get to read Bhagavatam [Laughs]. But Bhagavatam becomes a way of preaching, because we can distribute Bhagavatam to people.
But then we can ask the question, well, if we’re doing that, then why do we have to have a speaker and a listener anymore? Somebody says, he reads Bhagavatam, finished. Of course we can say, well, they don’t understand the text, so they need some person to explain. But Srila Prabhupad took great care to explain everything, so we have explanation as well as the text, so therefore, people should not be confused. But of course, even if we have that, we see people still become confused [Laughs]. Apart from that, we know that, the scripture has a potency to it. But that potency is conveyed when somebody speaks it ! And thus, we always have this process of somebody speaks, somebody listens. This is the process of shravana. Of course, shravana is a devotional process, but in the modern days, we say, well, what about studying scripture from a book? Is that a process also? So, they could have included another word like study – adhyapana, etc., but they didn’t. And one reason is that shravana obviously means, you have to hear, so somebody has to speak it, so therefore, still the emphasis is put upon, somebody speaking.
Furthermore, though Bhagavatam is the essence of all scriptures, at the same time, still, there is qualification necessary. So Bhagavatam is like Mohini avatar. The demons do not get any nectar. They can read the whole Bhagavatam, they can read Prabhupad’s purport, but still, they don’t practice bhakti. So, it is not only because they are not so intelligent, some are very intelligent, but Bhagavatam itself bewilders them. So, they don’t get the real meaning. So, as Mohini stole the nectar from the demons and gave it to the devatas, Bhagavatam gives the nectar to the devotees. So, if we hear Bhagavatam from a devotee, then we get that nectar.
Of course, the speaker is qualified, then he can give you the meaning. The listener has to be qualified by being a devotee. And then we get the ideal condition for the transmission of that knowledge. And that ideal condition is represented by Sukadeva Goswami and Pariksit. So, when Sukadeva Goswami spoke Bhagavatam, it became sweeter. And Pariksit Maharaj was a great devotee, he received that nectar with all of its sweetness. And thus he found no inconvenience of not taking water or taking any food at all for seven days, because he was getting the nectar of Bhagavatam. So, Bhagavatam is open for everybody, but nevertheless, we get the real nectar when we have this ideal condition.
So, ofcourse, Vedas or any scriptures is made up of words. Words are material sounds. However the scripture tell us that, it looks like that, but actually scriptural sounds and words are not ordinary sounds, they are spiritual sounds. So, how do we know the difference? The materialist hears it, or he hears from a materialistic person, he hears material sound. So, it is said, if you hear Hari-katha, which is spiritual, from a non-Vaishnava, it becomes poison. It is no longer Amrita. It is the opposite [Laughs]. Amrita gives life, poison kills you [Laughs]. So, the same scripture spoken by a devotee, then that gives nectar. That gives life. So, the words are always there. It is always written down also nowadays, but we have to have the proper delivery. So, in this way, the delivery of that spiritual knowledge of scripture is necessary, and it is necessary with these conditions.
As I said, the words are ultimately spiritual, but you have to have some qualification to get the spiritual essence. So, spiritual means, ultimately, they come from the Lord’s Svarupa Shakti, and the spiritual world is internal energy. It is not part of this prakriti at all. So, it is non-different from the Supreme Lord. So, as part of that Svarupa Shakti, we have the spiritual dhaam, we have all the devotees, we have all the rasas, etc. And we have the scriptures. So, definitely, that scripture from the spiritual world needs some qualification in order to get access. So, we need qualified speaker, we need qualified listener – two qualifications. And then we get transmission of knowledge.
We see, Sukhadev had the knowledge, he got it from Vedavyas. But he didn’t speak it to anybody. And finally, he spoke it to Parikshit Maharaj. Why? Because he was a qualified person. Therefore, he was enthusiastic to speak. The reason for this is, Parikshit Maharaj was a qualified person. Therefore, Sukhadev Goswami was enthusiastic to speak. We saw that Jadabaratha was also silent, then suddenly, he spoke to the King Raghugana [Laughs]. So we need the qualification of the listener, qualification of the speaker, then we get the real meaning of scripture.
Hare Krsna !
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, you explained that, previously, this knowledge was like a Shruti. People used to hear from someone. In Kali Yuga, and because of this age is very degraded, so, all we are getting in the form of books, but still people are not able to understand it. But the question is that, Maharaj, although this knowledge was there before also, and now also, but now knowledge is more accessible than previously. So then how can we say that it is degraded age ? Because it is more accessible right now. Although, we don’t have qualified person to hear or to speak the knowledge.
So, it is degraded in the sense that, they cannot simply hear it and get the correct message. So now you also need, additionally to the hearing, you also need the written word. But we should not think that because we have the written word, that takes the place of hearing. So ultimately, words are words. We look at them and then we get material connotations, etc. So, we can’t pull out the spiritual essence. So, just as I said, the non-Vaishnava speaks spiritual literatures, Hari-katha, etc. It comes out as poison. So, very difficult to get the actual access, even by hearing or even by reading.
Now, because we have the words written down, we also have the commentaries. So, to explain it to us nicely, we get some chance of getting something from the written word. And the more devotion we have, the more we can get out of that. But still, if we also have a speaker to deliver it, and then you have your devotion, we get even better results.
2.) Maharaj, unless one reaches the stage of Prema, the devotee still has some kind of anarthas. But we see that when the devotee gives a class, there is still less chance of purification for the audience.
So, as I said, the non-Vaishnava delivers scripture, it’s poison. If he’s not a non-Vaishnava, but he’s not a Vaishnava, then it’s kind of neutral [Laughs]. And if he’s a little bit of a devotee, then you get a little more. So, according to the level of advancement, of course, then you get more nectar. So, in scripture, we have classifications of devotee, Kanishita, Madhyama, Uttama, etc., and Nishtha, Ruchi, Asakthi, Bhava, Prema.
So, this somehow indicates the greater or lesser amount of Bhakti, or greater or lesser amount of anarthas. But within all the devotees, they have some of that Bhakti Shakti. Of course, the more advanced you are, the more Shakti you have. So, they’re all capable of delivering that Shakti, or that mercy to others, to the degree that they have something. So, therefore, all the devotees, not the Kanishitas, but the Madhyamas, they can preach, and they can get some effect from that.
3.) Maharaj, you are saying that, if the devotee has a devotion, he can preach, or he can bring transformation to the audience. Similarly, if he has anarthas, that also may affect the audience. So, that means that audience is getting both results, both anarthas as well as Bhakti.
Well, depending on the strength of anarthas, then of course we can say, yes, it can influence.
But, if we were to insist on perfection, then we say that only the person in prema can preach, and that’s also ridiculous [Laughs]. And the problem with the person in prema, he doesn’t preach. So, that is why it’s said that the Madhyama devotee who is not in prema, maybe he’s up to bhava, then he’s the main preacher.
But then we can also logically conclude that the more advanced the devotee is, before bhava or whatever, then the better preacher he is.
4.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, we heard that Sukhadev speaking and Parikshit listening. Sukhadev also got knowledge from his father. And Parikshit listened, but he didn’t speak to anyone. How can we understand that Maharaj? He didn’t speak to anyone. He did not transform his knowledge to anyone.
Well, the difficulty was, he died in seven days [Laughs]. So, after he got Bhagavatam, he disappeared [Laughs]. So, this is a particular circumstance, where he couldn’t do any preaching.
Devotee: Maharaj, regarding this, I also heard that Parikshit spoke Brahad–Bhagavatamrta to Uttara.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh yeah, somehow he managed to do something to his mother.
5.) Maharaj, Parikshit again came in Kali Yuga, some incarnation like that ?
No [Laughs].
6.) Maharaj, we see ‘guhyam akhyati prachati’, like among equals, like we share in confidence and revealing one’s heart. Sometimes and some things we cannot share with our seniors can be shared among equals. So how much we can reveal or how much we can hear from them? This is like, if someone is opening up in one sense, the other person is complaining about a Vaishnava. So in a equal perspective, what is the limit one should hear from the other person?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: We should hear from people who complain about Vaishnavas, he is an offender ?
Devotee: Among equals, if one shares to other person, sometimes it seems that he is complaining about a Vaishnava, opening up, sharing. So in that case, what is the limit one can hear? What should be the standard ?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What ? Hearing the complaints?
Devotee: Yes Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, of course, in Nectar of Devotion, it says, if you hear someone that commits an offense, then you have to not hear about it, you go away or whatever, you avoid it, you prevent them, whatever you can do.
We associate in order to advance in devotional service. And just as here, the discussion is positive, it’s about the glories of Krishna and his devotees. So, if we see negative things, then that of course is not going to help our advancement.
7.) Maharaj, how do we take our spiritual master’s instructions seriously? Like, spiritual master includes higher authorities and our guiding devotees also. So, we have some lethargy, like, but we see Prabhupada’s disciples, just Prabhupada would have given one instruction, they were holding that instruction and committing towards it. Example : Your Holiness also. So, how do we take our spiritual master instructions seriously ?
Of course, a spiritual master can give many instructions. But the ultimate goal of all the instructions is so, to give you advancement in devotional service, you can attain Krishna. So, that is also explained by Vishnawatha Chakravarti in the commentary on ‘vyavasāyātmikā buddhi’. So, one should have unwavering intelligence. So, therefore he says that you should take the order of the Guru as your life sustaining medicine. So, you don’t deviate from that instruction and your intelligence is not deviated.
But then he says, that instruction is to attain the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna [Laughs]. So, whatever order he gives, we should relate it to that, your advancement towards Krishna.
8.) Maharaj, spiritual master or guiding gurus give many instructions. Our ultimate is to achieve the lotus feet of Krishna. But what happens sometimes, to fulfill the secondary instructions, we miss the primary instruction. Sometimes, because spiritual master has different projects, he gives this and that and he engages disciples. But ultimately, it is to achieve the lotus feet of Krishna. But sometimes, to fulfill the desire, we forget the primary one.
Well, we should never separate the secondary instructions from the primary instructions. If we do, then it becomes rather materialistic in some cases. So, if I establish a project, but it is not for going to Krishna, then what does it mean [Laughs]? It is useless [Laughs]. So, everything should be related to that goal. And if it is not, then we are actually misunderstanding the function of guru himself.
Devotee: I remember once, Srila Prabhupad said, ‘first seva, then samadhi’. But people are trying to get samadhi without seva. So, I don’t think it works.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, of course, what is seva? Seva is leading to the goal, so it can’t be separated. So, if it becomes separated from the goal, then it also becomes material. So, Prabhupad said distribute books. But if you distribute books and you don’t read them, and you are not a devotee, then it is useless [Laughs].
Devotee: So, we have to see all instructions of Guru in relation to the primary instruction of attaining Radha and Krishna ?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, we have to see it like that, but we can’t separate them.
9.) Maharaj, thank you for the wonderful class. You said, scripture has potency to it, and the potency is conveyed when somebody speaks it. We often hear online sessions or zoom sessions where the speaker is somewhere, and the listener is somewhere, it does not really transforms the heart so much. Because in this modern time, things are becoming all like online and hearing from… So, does it have the same effect?
It’s just like the books or the commentaries, they do have an effect. But then we also have to ask, you could also hear Prabhupada lectures. But if you have a choice, hear a Prabhupada lecture, or attend a lecture of Prabhupada in person, which would you do? Why? If you have a lecture, then you can hear everything in detail, and you can look at the different camera, and you can get close up. If you are in the lecture, maybe in the back. But nevertheless, the personal one has some potency to it.
So, the Zoom and all these internet things are conveniences for preaching, and they are helpful. But we cannot base the preaching solely on that. And we find even a business.. Yes, they use Zoom and all these things, but still, they have direct meetings also [Laughs].
10.) Thank you, Maharaj. Maharaj, you said, Shravanam is devotional process. So, is studying the scripture also comes in devotional process?
So, we don’t see it mentioned separately. But nevertheless, we do see that devotees study [Laughs]. So, even the Goswamis, they studied scriptures also. So, that’s usually class under Shravanam. And it’s class under Shravanam, just to show that ultimately, it cannot be done independently.
11.) Maharaj, as you said, depending upon their level of devotion, that impression, even the listener will carry, or it gets transformed. So, now, from the perspective of the listener, So, if listener starts differentiating that, oh, I have to listen only from this speaker, or this particular speaker, or if the speaker is not there, then probably not attending the Bhagavatam. It’s a kind of offense. So, how should we get rid of that mentality as well? And at the same time, being careful that the anartha of the speaker does not get affected to us.
So, we should take every opportunity for devotional service and not avoid it. At the same time, we should hear attentively. And if we detect some anartha, then we can separate that from the instructions. So, we hear, we also hear with intelligence.
12.) Maharaj, if a particular preacher who is able to reach more masses of people, and able to preach them, means he has more devotion than other preachers?
We cannot always use numbers to judge the advancement of a devotee. Numbers means what? They may not be very qualified people. They may be attracted not to spiritual things, but material things. We find in the modern world, people become attracted to so many things. And people have so many followers on, you know, internet and Facebook and whatever like that. They may have millions of followers, but in person, there is zero. So, we cannot always judge the potency of a person, the spiritual potency, by simply numbers of followers.
13.) Maharaj, thank you so much for the wonderful class. Maharaj, you mentioned that in order to derive nectar from Srimad Bhagavatam, one needs to be qualified. What are the qualifications? Because in my case, we are following 4 regulative principles, we are chanting 16 rounds, and is this the qualification or is it the attitude with which we approach Bhagavatam?
So, the ultimate qualification is simply faith. Which means you have faith in the words of scripture. What scripture is saying is true. We don’t doubt it. Then you can begin hearing Bhagavatam, and you accept the words. And if one is qualified with that faith, one may not be practicing bhakti or whatever, but one is still qualified to hear. But as we advance in bhakti and our faith also increases, then our ability to understand Bhagavatam and appreciate its spiritual impact becomes more and more.
So when Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his devotees are listening to Bhagavatam in Puri, they are hearing something different, from what we hear [Laughs]. But according to your level, then you can appreciate more and more.
14.) Hare Krsna Maharaj. Now at this age, we all are hearing is Srimad Bhagavatam by using electronic devices. In those days, in Naimi saranya, in front of Sukhadeva Goswami, there were innumerable sages sat around and the area is very huge. But in which device was Sukhadeva Goswami spoken Srimad Bhagavatam? How that message is transmitted or transformed to all those sages? Please, enlighten this Maharaj.
So they didn’t have microphones. Nevertheless, they could all hear. So this indicates their power of hearing was superior to our power of hearing.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!! HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad Ki Jai !!