Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.19.5 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Dec 30, 2025
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 5.
ŚB 1.19.5
अथो विहायेमममुं च लोकं
विमर्शितौ हेयतया पुरस्तात् ।
कृष्णाङ्घ्रिसेवामधिमन्यमान
उपाविशत् प्रायममर्त्यनद्याम् ॥ ५ ॥
atho vihāyemam amuṁ ca lokaṁ
vimarśitau heyatayā purastāt
kṛṣṇāṅghri-sevām adhimanyamāna
upāviśat prāyam amartya-nadyām
Synonyms
atho — thus; vihāya — giving up; imam — this; amum — and the next; ca — also; lokam — planets; vimarśitau — all of them being judged; heyatayā — because of inferiority; purastāt — hereinbefore; kṛṣṇa-aṅghri — the lotus feet of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa; sevām — transcendental loving service; adhimanyamānaḥ — one who thinks of the greatest of all achievements; upāviśat — sat down firmly; prāyam — for fasting; amartya-nadyām — on the bank of the transcendental river (the Ganges or the Yamunā).
Translation
Mahārāja Parīkṣit sat down firmly on the banks of the Ganges to concentrate his mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, rejecting all other practices of self-realization, because transcendental loving service to Kṛṣṇa is the greatest achievement, superseding all other methods.
Purport
For a devotee like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, none of the material planets, even the topmost Brahmaloka, is as desirable as Goloka Vṛndāvana, the abode of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the primeval Lord and original Personality of Godhead. This earth is one of the innumerable material planets within the universe, and there are innumerable universes also within the compass of the mahat-tattva. The devotees are told by the Lord and His representatives, the spiritual masters or ācāryas, that not one of the planets within all the innumerable universes is suitable for the residential purposes of a devotee. The devotee always desires to go back home, back to Godhead, just to become one of the associates of the Lord in the capacity of servitor, friend, parent or conjugal lover of the Lord, either in one of the innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets or in Goloka Vṛndāvana, the planet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. All these planets are eternally situated in the spiritual sky, the paravyoma, which is on the other side of the Causal Ocean within the mahat-tattva. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was already aware of all this information due to his accumulated piety and birth in a high family of devotees, Vaiṣṇavas, and thus he was not at all interested in the material planets. Modern scientists are very eager to reach the moon by material arrangements, but they cannot conceive of the highest planet of this universe. But a devotee like Mahārāja Parīkṣit does not care a fig for the moon or, for that matter, any of the material planets. So when he was assured of his death on a fixed date, he became more determined in the transcendental loving service of Lord Kṛṣṇa by complete fasting on the bank of the transcendental river Yamunā, which flows down by the capital of Hastināpura (in the Delhi state). Both the Ganges and the Yamunā are amartyā (transcendental) rivers, and the Yamunā is still more sanctified for the following reasons.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, this is a description of Maharaj’s decision after hearing the curse of the Brahmana’s son. So he accepted the curse, and so he sat down to wait for the snake bird to come and bite him. And he also was fasting. And he did so on the bank of the Yamuna. And what was he thinking of? He was thinking of service to Krishna’s Lotus Feet. So this was natural for a great devotee like Pariksit Maharaj.
We see that, in general, in the Varanashrama system, they follow karma yoga. And to get the people to follow the rules, then they give them many enticements. By following all the rules of karma yoga, you can go to Svarga Loka. Or you can go higher than that, you can go to all the way up to Brahma Loka. And why would the person want to go there? Because there’s greater and greater enjoyment. And because this is what karma yoga does, give you a material goal, we see often in Bhagavatam, karma yoga gets rejected. Once we reject material world, then we have two options: One can practice Jnana and get liberation. Or one can do bhakti and attain service to the Lotus Feet of Krishna. Both are considered superior to karma yoga. But bhakti yoga is superior to Jnana yoga. Realization of Bhagavan is superior to realization of Brahman.
So these are, of course, simple facts for devotees and everybody accepts, but it is very difficult for many other people to accept that. So they will say, we go to the Upanishads, it’s talking about impersonal Brahman as the goal, liberation as the goal. If one goes to the karma kanda section of the Vedas, which is quite huge, it says Svarga Loka is eternal, you go there. So, it requires a special person with good intelligence, with great faith to take shelter of bhakti yoga and attain Krishna. So we see, Pariksit was a great devotee, so, naturally, he chose Lotus Feet of Krishna over everything else.
Of course, we see when Pariksit sat down on the bank of the river, fasting, then a whole great number of sages gathered. And he asked them, what should I do now that I’m dying? So, they all gave different answers, but not about surrender to Krishna. In other words, some of the sages recommended karma yoga, go to Svarga Loka or Brahma Loka, some sages go for liberation. Of course, we see here that actually Pariksit Maharaj didn’t have to ask the question because he was already a devotee of Krishna. However, he asked the question just to show how most people in this world are confused. And even if we go to great sages, they all have different opinions. Of course, this is not surprising because we see the Vedas themselves give many opinions. So that is why we cannot just accept Vedic scriptures and say that’s finished, no, we have to see the conclusion of the Vedic scriptures. Of course, it is very difficult to get the conclusion because the Vedas are difficult to understand and huge.
Of course, Vedavyasa took some precautions and he divided the Vedas into four instead of one, so it became a little bit smaller for each division and then he assigned his disciples to take charge and pass on the knowledge with the proper conclusions. However, to make the meaning clearer, then he wrote Mahabharata and the Puranas. But even then, he was not satisfied. He also wrote the Brahma Sutras to give the meaning of the Upanishads. Still, he was not satisfied. So finally, by the inspiration of Narada Muni, he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam. So, this is the conclusion of the Vedas, of the Mahabharata and the Puranas and the Brahma Sutras. So, instead of having to read all those different books to come to the conclusion, we just have to read Srimad Bhagavatam.
So, we’ll see in Bhagavatam, Vedavyasa presents Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Astanga Yoga and Bhakti Yoga, he doesn’t just say Bhakti Yoga, he gives all these other descriptions. He also describes all the planets for enjoyment in the material world. He also speaks about Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. But in explaining all this, he doesn’t say it’s all equal, do anything, no, he says they’re not equal. So, he says Bhakti Yoga is the best because it gives the highest goal. And the highest goal is not Brahma Loka or Svarga Loka, it is not Brahman, but it is Bhagavan. However, Bhagavatam goes a little bit further than that even.
So, it says you do Bhakti Yoga, and you realize Bhagavan, that’s the highest goal. But Bhagavan is one, but He has many forms. And thus, in this first canto, we have a description of many forms of the Supreme Lord, including Hayagriva, and Varaha, and Matsya, Kurma, Narasimha. And if you do Bhakti Yoga, you can attain any of these different forms of Bhagavan, and that’s perfect. But in listing all the different forms of Bhagavan, which are all preferable to Brahman or Karma Yoga, Krishna is singled out as Svayam Bhagavan.
So, in other words, within the first canto itself, Vyasadeva has pointed out that Bhagavan is the highest realization. And we can attain Bhagavan realization through Bhakti Yoga and nothing else. But also in the first canto, there he says, among the forms of Bhagavan, Krishna is the ultimate form. He is also attained by Bhakti. And though all the forms of Bhagavan are one and therefore they are all equal, at the same time, they are not equal. Krishna is called Bhagavan Svayam, He is in the topmost position. And this is pointed out by Acharyas, that one statement is the theme of the whole Bhagavatam. And if any other statement is made in the Bhagavatam, then somebody else is supreme, it gets rejected, because this is the main statement. So, a person, a devotee, who can ultimately choose the worship of Krishna, then he is considered to be ultimately the best. So we get that good fortune of choosing Krishna, if we get to read Bhagavatam. And thus Bhagavatam is considered to be the best scripture for the people of Kali Yuga.
We see here that Pariksit Maharaj naturally chose Krishna over everything else. He is not just a devotee choosing Bhagavan, but he also chose Krishna, so he is an exceptional devotee. So, therefore, why did he have to ask the sages, what should I do? So, it is something like Arjuna telling Krishna, what should I do in the battle of Kurukshetra? And ultimately, it is to teach the other people. Everybody is confused, so they need proper knowledge. So, Arjuna surrendered to Krishna. So he accepted him as Guru. That is, Siksha Guru. And here we see, after all the different sages give different opinions, Pariksit Maharaj accepted Sukadeva Goswami as his Guru. And what did he teach him? Bhagavatam.
So, this is the first canto of the 19th chapter, after this, then Sukadeva Goswami begins to speak, that becomes the Bhagavatam. But as we see here, right here, Pariksit had already chosen Krishna as the ultimate goal. And thus, everything else was useless. So, it says in the first line, he gave up this world and the next world. So this world means he gave up kingdom, everything else. And generally, next world means, you go get another body in Svarga Loka or somewhere, give that up also. Of course, he also gave up Brahman. And this is all considered here to be what ‘heyatayā’, heya means very despicable, useless. So why? Because serving the Lotus Feet of Krishna is much more blissful. So he had natural attraction for service to Krishna. And to serve Krishna eternally in the spiritual world is better than staying in the material world. So then he thought, better I leave quickly. So he simply sat on the bank of the Yamuna and he waited for the snake to come and bite him. But as well as doing that, he fasted. So why did he fast? He fasted so he would not be distracted. He could concentrate on remembering Krishna.
So, of course, I just later said that the question is asked, well, if he is fasting, then he will get hungry, that will be distracting. The answer is, the sweetness of the topics of Krishna is so satisfying, one forgets hunger and thirst. So, his action here is glorification of the process of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam. And attaining the highest goal, which is service to Krishna’s Lotus Feet.
Hare Krsna!