Skip to main content

MY EXPERIENCE WITH SRIMAD-BHAGVATAM


 
Just completed a series of classes from the first canto of Srimad-Bhagvatam. We started these classes on April 15 and ended on September 28. Every day two classes of 30 minutes each, with few days gap in between. Total - 237 classes to be precise. My heart is filled with so much gratitude for being given this opportunity to speak from this great literature and complete the first canto. The experience is overwhelming. This will definitely be one my the biggest achievements, which I will cherish throughout my life. I am feeling so blessed that I feel, even if death comes to me at this point, there is no problem. My life has become perfect, that I have had the opportunity to read and speak from this great literature.

Srila Prabhupada always said, "My purports are my spiritual ecstasies". Reading and speaking everyday, from every word of his purport has made me appreciate the truth behind Srila Prabhupada's statement. If one wants to experience ecstasy, one need not go very far, one has to just open the pages of Srimad-Bhagvatam and dive into the nectar pouring out from the purports of Srila Prabhupada. It's that easy. Srila Prabhupada was such a genius, such a compassionate soul and such an empowered representative of Lord Krishna. You can genuinely feel his love and compassion in every word of his purport. My appreciation and love for Srila Prabhupada has grown a million times after completing discussing from Srimad-Bhagvatam.

As King Parikshit desires towards the end of the first canto, to keep hearing more and more of Srimad-Bhagvatam, my desire also towards the end of the first canto is to keep discussing from this great literature and thus complete the remaining 11 cantos. I will end this blog with the prayer of King Parikshit which appears in Srimad-Bhagvatam 1.19.15 -

tam mopayatam pratiyantu vipra
ganga ca devi dhrta-cittam ise
dvijopasrstah kuhakas taksako va
dasatv alam gayata visnu-gathah


"O brahmanas, just accept me as a completely surrendered soul, and let mother Ganges, the representative of the Lord, also accept me in that way, for I have already taken the lotus feet of the Lord into my heart. Let the snake-bird — or whatever magical thing the brahmana created — bite me at once. I only desire that you all continue singing the deeds of Lord Visnu."

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE BREATHING BELLOWS

Every morning when I wake up and notice my breathing and observe my chest swelling up and down being pumped with air, I invariably remember a verse from the Srimad-bhagvatam which states that our breathing is like the breathing of the bellows of a blacksmith. Both the bellow and our body is made of leather. The bellow may feel that it is breathing on it's own and is fully independent but, it does not know that as soon as the blacksmith stops pumping air in it, it will stop breathing and lay lifeless. Similarly, we may be proud of our breathing and our life and may feel fully independent but, we don't realise that as soon as God decides to stop pumping air into our system, our body will stop breathing and lay lifeless.  What is there to be proud of when we don't even have control over our breath?  We should be grateful to God for giving us the wonderful opportunity and gift to breathe and live. And, the way we express that gratitude is by using ...

FAULT OF FINDING FAULT

" When faults in others misguide and delude you – have patience, introspect, find faults in yourself. Know that others cannot harm you unless you harm yourself. " - Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur One time when Jesus was in Jerusalem, he saw some people chasing a prostitute and trying to stone her to death. When Jesus stopped them and asked them why they were doing so. They replied that it is mentioned in the laws of the scriptures that one who commits adultery must be stoned to death. They said that they had caught her red handed and were just following the law. When they asked Jesus his opinion he replied, "Yes, you can very much stone this lady to death but one who hasn't sinned in his life can cast the stone on her." One by one, everyone put down the stone in their hands and quietly walked away. This lady fell at the feet of Jesus and surrendered to him. Jesus told this lady to not commit sin again and walked away.  The compassion of Jesus ...

THE POWER OF OBEISANCES

Offering obeisances to the Supreme Lord in His deity form may superficially look like a very small and a simple activity. But, it is one one of the very important and significant aspect of Bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna stresses the importance of offering obeisances to Him in one of the most important verse of the Bhagvat-gita in chapter 9, verse 34. "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ" "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me." - Bhagvat-gita 9.34 This verse comes exactly in the middle of Bhagvat-gita making it all the more important. Not only that, this is the only verse that appears almost as it is, again towards the end of the eighteenth chapter of Bhagvat-gita as follows - "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ...