Srimad Bhagavatam – 2.2.37 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | May 24, 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-Caitanya
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 2 Chapter 2 Verse 37.
ŚB 2.2.37
पिबन्ति ये भगवत आत्मन: सतां
कथामृतं श्रवणपुटेषु सम्भृतम् ।
पुनन्ति ते विषयविदूषिताशयं
व्रजन्ति तच्चरणसरोरुहान्तिकम् ॥ ३७ ॥
pibanti ye bhagavata ātmanaḥ satāṁ
kathāmṛtaṁ śravaṇa-puṭeṣu sambhṛtam
punanti te viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṁ
vrajanti tac-caraṇa-saroruhāntikam
Synonyms
pibanti — who drink; ye — those; bhagavataḥ — of the Personality of Godhead; ātmanaḥ — of the most dear; satām — of devotees; kathā-amṛtam — the nectar of the messages; śravaṇa-puṭeṣu — within the earholes; sambhṛtam — fully filled; punanti — purify; te — their; viṣaya — material enjoyment; vidūṣita-āśayam — polluted aim of life; vrajanti — do go back; tat — the Lord’s; caraṇa — feet; saroruha-antikam — near the lotus.
Translation
Those who drink through aural reception, fully filled with the nectarean message of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the beloved of the devotees, purify the polluted aim of life known as material enjoyment and thus go back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of Him [the Personality of Godhead].
Purport
The sufferings of human society are due to a polluted aim of life, namely lording it over the material resources. The more human society engages in the exploitation of undeveloped material resources for sense gratification, the more it will be entrapped by the illusory, material energy of the Lord, and thus the distress of the world will be intensified instead of diminished. The human necessities of life are fully supplied by the Lord in the shape of food grains, milk, fruit, wood, stone, sugar, silk, jewels, cotton, salt, water, vegetables, etc., in sufficient quantity to feed and care for the human race of the world as well as the living beings on each and every planet within the universe. The supply source is complete, and only a little energy by the human being is required to get his necessities into the proper channel. There is no need of machines and tools or huge steel plants for artificially creating comforts of life. Life is never made comfortable by artificial needs, but by plain living and high thinking. The highest perfectional thinking for human society is suggested here by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, namely, sufficiently hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For men in this Age of Kali, when they have lost the perfect vision of life, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the torchlight by which to see the real path. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has commented on the kathāmṛtam mentioned in this verse and has indicated Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be the nectarean message of the Personality of Godhead. By sufficient hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the polluted aim of life, namely lording it over matter, will subside, and the people in general in all parts of the world will be able to live a peaceful life of knowledge and bliss.
For a pure devotee of the Lord, any topics in relation with His name, fame, quality, entourage, etc., are all pleasing, and because such topics have been approved by great devotees like Nārada, Hanumān, Nanda Mahārāja and other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, certainly such messages are transcendental and pleasing to the heart and soul.
And by the constant hearing of the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā, and later of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one is assured herein by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that he will reach the Personality of Godhead and render Him transcendental loving service in the spiritual planet of the name Goloka Vṛndāvana, which resembles a huge lotus flower.
Thus by the process of bhakti-yoga, directly accepted, as suggested in this verse, by sufficient hearing of the transcendental message of the Lord, the material contamination is directly eliminated without one’s attempting to contemplate the impersonal virāṭ conception of the Lord. And by practicing bhakti-yoga, if the performer is not purified from the material contamination, he must be a pseudodevotee. For such an imposter there is no remedy for being freed from material entanglement.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Canto, Second Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “The Lord in the Heart.”
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse gives a nice conclusion to this chapter. The main subject of this chapter was the yogi meditating on the universal form. Then, Sukadeva Goswami switched the topic and said something – better than that is to just worship the Supreme Lord with devotion. And he specifically mentioned hearing, kirtan, and remembering. So we’ll see that often in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the process of hearing is emphasized. And we see in the previous purport, Srila Prabhupad also said that hearing is the first step in devotional service. And of course, the whole idea of Bhagavatam is, you should hear Bhagavatam, that is also hearing [Laughs].
So, of course, we hear through the ears. As I mentioned yesterday, the process of bhakti does not stop the senses or reject the senses, rather it engages the senses. And this is defined as the process of sadhana bhakti. So, and the first process was shravana – hearing. So, what is the sense for hearing? It’s the ear. So, in this particular verse, it starts out by saying, you drink the sweet topics of the Lord. Normally we don’t drink with the ear, we drink with our mouth. But here, you drink with the holes in the ear. So, in other verses, the ears are compared to cups or vessels. And you take the nectar in that vessel and it goes inside your ear. Of course, we hear so many things every day, but we’re hearing here the sweet topics of the Lord.
And what’s the effect of this? – It purifies. And it takes away all of the material contamination. Of course, we can say the same about any type of bhakti, hearing, chanting, remembering, etc. It all destroys material life, material attraction, etc. However, this is the first way in which all of this material contamination is destroyed. And once we get some start in destroying that, then we can practice the other angas of Bhakti. And then, of course, the final result is not just to destroy your material desires, but to attain the lotus feet of the Lord. And, of course, attaining the lotus feet is not simply you get close to the feet and that’s the end. Just as we say you attain Vaikuntha or Goloka, that’s not the end also. So, attaining the lotus feet, then we serve the Lord. So, when we hear these expressions, this devotee saw the Lord or he attained the spiritual world, etc. It doesn’t mean simply that. It means he goes there, he sees the Lord and he serves the Lord. So, there are many ways we can do that in Bhakti, this is the first process.
And then the second process is Kirtan. Which means chanting about the Lord, the names of the Lord, pastimes of the Lord, etc. And following that we have remembering. So, we have a combination of hearing with the ear, Kirtan with the voice, and remembering with the mind. It is often said that the process of Kirtan contains all three. And of course, we can say the same thing about hearing. To hear has to go in your mind, You have to remember something [Laughs]. But of course, in hearing, you are not at the same time glorifying, you are doing one thing. But in the process of Kirtan, simultaneously you are hearing and you are also remembering.
Of course, we know that Lord Caitanya has put emphasis upon Kirtan. But we also see, for instance, when he was in Puri, He would always be listening to Srimad Bhagavatam [Not clear]. So, in spite of the fact he says ‘Hari nama eva Kevalam’ – just do the holy name. He contradicted that and he also heard. So, by saying only the holy name, he is emphasizing the holy name as most important. But he also performs the other Angas of Bhakti. And they all reinforce each other.
So, in Brhad Bhagavatamrta, there is a debate, so to speak, conversation. And the inhabitants of Tapoloka are all involved in meditation. So, then there is the controversy. Meditation on the Lord is more important than chanting his name [Laughs]. But the conclusion is that one is equal to the other. By chanting the name, you increase your power of remembering the Lord. By remembering the Lord, you increase the quality of your chanting. So, similarly with hearing and kirtan, they reinforce each other. So, we emphasize the hearing process because through hearing, we get knowledge. And that knowledge helps us perform Bhakti with purity. And it’s with pure Bhakti, that we get Prema. So, in that way, the hearing process assists the chanting process. Of course, we can also say the opposite, that we hear Bhagavatam. But we don’t just hear, we have to hear with devotion. So, to help us maintain that devotion, then we also do kirtan. And as well doing kirtan, with that devotion, we can read or hear effectively.
And of course, any of the Angas of Bhakti can be done as the principal Anga. And that is illustrated in the Nectar of Devotion, where Rupa Goswami points out that in the nine types of devotional service, each particular devotee emphasizes one aspect of devotional service, and he got perfection. So, Pariksit got his perfection through hearing Bhagavatam. Sukadeva got his perfection through kirtan of Bhagavatam. Prahlad got his perfection through smaranam, remembering. So, that’s their prominent process, but that doesn’t mean they discarded every other process. So, though Pariksit heard, he also chanted, he also did deity worship, he also did sadhu sanga, etc.
So, all of the Angas of Bhakti are effective to give us Prema. However, in Kali Yuga, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has shown that the main process is Nama Sankirtan. And all the other processes assist that. So, similarly, in Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami gives 64 Angas, and then he selects 5 as most important. So, in those 5, we have Kirtan, and Shravanam, and Sadhu Sangha, and Deity Worship, and Living in the Holy Dham. So they are all very powerful, but of course then the emphasis is put upon Nama Sankirtan. So, we should always remember that hierarchy of what is most important. So we have a hierarchy within Bhakti itself, and Nama Sankirtana at the top. So, what to speak then of introducing other processes like Karma Yoga, Varnashrama, Jnana or Ashtanga Yoga ? – They must be very secondary. So, we must always remember the most important elements in spite of the fact that in various places, we have statements to say something else. So, of course, we can learn all of this by seeing the example of our Acharyas.
Okay, Hare Krsna !
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj, see you are giving an example of like, you know, that each person is, you know, doing different kind of anga of bhakti like Parikshit was sravanam and Sukadeva was kirtanam. So, can you also say that, you know, we also have Srimad Bhagavatam and other literatures, it’s we can say that hearing, the purpose of hearing is that because it is mentioned that harer namaiva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21], means chanting holy name, that means the purpose of all these scriptures is to chant, is to make the person to chant. Can you also say the same way?
Well, of course, scripture has three topics, sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana. Within the abhidheya, we have karma yoga, jnana yoga, ashtanga yoga, bhakti yoga, and within bhakti yoga, then we have kirtan, sravana, etc, all abhidheya. And then, Nama Sankirtana is the number one abhidheya. But, scripture also gives us the sambandha, or the philosophy. That’s also very important, because without the philosophy, we cannot establish a method. Based on the philosophy, we establish a goal. And only after we establish a goal, we can establish a method to get to the goal. We can’t have a method with no goal [Laughs]. So, the basic knowledge is necessary in order to first fix what the goal is.
So, of course, the nature of the name is even without any knowledge and without any goal, you get effect. Other processes you cannot do accidentally, you need knowledge to do karma yoga, jnana yoga, or ashtanga yoga. You simply chant the name like Ajamila and you get effect [Laughs]. Of course, even the effect you don’t know, Ajamila didn’t know the effect either what was happening [Laughs]. But that type of chanting with no knowledge doesn’t give us the highest goal, it gives some effect, but not the highest goal. So, the scriptures first supply us with the necessary knowledge so we can determine the goal, so we can get the process properly. And that is why, though the Bhagavatam ultimately is about prema and Krishna and His pastimes in Vrindavan, we have a lot of sambandha.
So we have several cantos dedicated to describing material nature and production of material worlds and production by Lord Brahma of all the planetary systems etc. and the bodies of the living entities, all that is prakriti, matter. Why all this concentration on prakriti aspects? Because that’s what everybody sees everyday. So, the whole process of describing that is to show that, it’s the Lord who is in control of that everything, all of that. And we have the jivas who take material bodies and go about their activities within the material world kalpa after kalpa. So, all of this discussion is there to give us what is the ultimate goal, what is Supreme [Laughs]. So, once we define that Supreme Lord, then we define jiva’s relationship with Him. So, all of that we get through hearing.
2.) Maharaj, see in this verse, two things are mentioned. One is primary and secondary. The primary is tat-carana-saroruhāntikam and secondary is viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṁ. Okay, two things. But my question is that, see when someone hears about the Lord, how does he become free from the contamination?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: By hearing?
Devotee: Yeah, by hearing.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Of course, we say bhakti itself is, first symptom is kleśa-ghnī, destruction of all suffering, karmas, desires, etc. And we see in the case of Ajamila, all of his karmas, all of his vasanas got immediately destroyed when he said the name Narayana. All of this happens because any anga of bhakti, hearing, chanting or whatever is ultimately the swarup shakti of Krishna. The other processes of jnana and yoga and karma are material shakti. So, the only way we get to Krishna in the spiritual world is by the spiritual energy, not by any material energy. So, that spiritual energy of bhakti destroys all of the material contamination and gets us to the engagement in the spiritual world.
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, you said any one of the processes will lead to prema. So, smaranam, nididhyasana, can it happen straight from chanting, straight from kirtanam? How can one think of the Lord without knowing about the Lord? So, just by chanting, can one have this smaranam? If he is bypassing the hearing process Maharaj.
Of course, people in the material world, they may have some exposure, they hear the word Krishna. They read about it in their elementary school textbook or something. So, they know something Krishna is a Dasavatara or Krishna is some devata or whatever. So, if they chant the name with no conceptions, at least they can get free of all their karmas, as Ajamila did. If we are carrying some idea in that name, that the name means this, the name means that, and it is a mistaken idea, then this pollutes the potency. So thus, in one sense, chanting accidentally we are not thinking any intentions is better than [Laughs] chanting intentionally and having wrong intentions [Laughs]. So we have, you know, tamo-guna bhakti, rajo-guna bhakti, sattva-guna bhakti all influenced by the gunas. You can chant the name and you get some material results.
4.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Why the jnana yoga is called as speculative knowledge?
We call it speculative knowledge in the sense that it involves anumana and tarka, which means logical ability. So even anumana or logic is not completely dismissed by the Vaishnavas, we can use it as long as it follows the conclusion of scripture. But where the logic is used to support some opinion of what scripture is, independent of the real meaning of scripture, then it becomes useless. So in that sense it becomes speculative.
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, please enlighten in this matter regarding the process of hearing. Hearing is the main goal to achieve prema. But the devotee, when he is engaged in hearing, at that time automatically they fall into the drowsy mood like sleeping mood. But the same devotee, when he is engaged in other process like chanting, dancing or honoring prasadam, at that time they are enjoying that process. But the same devotee, when he is going for hearing process, at that time the jiva is automatically getting drowsy. What is the reason Maharaj?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, we also have devotees who go to sleep when they are doing their japa.
Devotees: [Laughter].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So that’s called loya. And this is one of the inattentions that we have. So we have inattention in chanting the holy name, we have inattention in hearing or inattention in any process. And all of that is due to our material contamination. So of course, we can remove that contamination by the process of bhakti itself. But it also takes effort. So we don’t put the effort into it, then the anartha remains.
6.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, it is said in the scriptures that Nama Sankirtana is the best. But in Bhagavad Gita we see repeatedly Krishna is emphasizing on smaranam, anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram [Bg 8.5], man-manā bhava mad-bhakto [Bg. 9.34], mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha [Bg 7.1]. So mostly He speaks about give your mind to me, you remember me. So how do we understand this Maharaj?
Of course also in Nectar of Devotion, it says, what are the two main principles? Always remember the Lord, never forget Him. At the same time Lord Caitanya says main process is kirtana. And as I mentioned already that smaranam and kirtana reinforce each other. So smaranam may be difficult for people, so if they do kirtana then it becomes easier. So it says in scripture in glorifying the name, kirtana, chanting the name of the Lord is the best punya, it’s the best purification, it’s also the best meditation, it’s the best smaranam [Laughs]. So when Krishna says remember me, then how do we remember Him? Chant His name.
7.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, between hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and self-study, svadhyaya of Bhagavatam, which should be given more importance? Kindly clarify.
Well, when we use the word sravanam as one of the angas of bhakti, it also includes study. In fact, if you look under the angas of bhakti, you don’t find study there at all [Laughs]. So under hearing comes the study of Bhagavatam.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!