Bhagavat Saptaha

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Bhagavat Saptaha

 

> > Then Shrila Prabhupada told Jasomatinandan prabhu,"so why don't you

> > speak?".I was little puzzled because I always

> > heard and read that SP was against Saptaha ,so I said "Bhagavat

> > saptaha?".He said,"Yes. if people want to hear saptaha, we can tell them

> > the right thing. He is misleading them.so you speak and tell them the

> > right philosophy."

 

Also Shrila Prabhupada himself decided to conduct Bhagavat-Saptahs in

London:

 

"I shall remain in London through the month of August for holding Bhagavata

Sapta discourses in various quarters of the city in Hindi and English

languages." (Letter to: Gurudasa, Yamuna, London, 3 August, 1972)

 

Isvara Prabhu wrote:

 

> Another point is after hearing

> the real Bhagavat-saptaha, the hearer becomes free from all material

> contamination and becomes free from material existence. Srila Prabhupada

> emphasizes again and again in his purports to the Srimad Bhagavatam that

> there must be purity of the speakers and the hearers.

 

This has to be the case not only for Bhagavata-saptaha but for any lecture

delivered on the Bhagavata-philosophy anywhere in the world.

 

> Practically all the

> Bhagavat-saptaha reciters I have seen are merely interested in impressing

> the audience with their learning of Bhagavatam.

 

In the commentary of the acharyas to Bhakti-rasmamrita-sinduh, it is pointed

out that one should not read many scriptures just for quoting them in

lectures or to give lectures for showing off one erudition on the subject

etc. One should do both these activities only for his personal purification

and to spiritually benefit others. So if the speaker or hearers are not

fully pure, it is okay but they should have ulterior or duplicitous motives

for speaking and hearing. They should genuinely want to please Guru and

Gauranga. Then the Saptahas will have some spiritual potency. It is

impossible for the hearers to become fully realized before hearing

Bhagavatam because hearing Bhagavatam is THE way to do so. One can read

Prabhupada's purport to the SB verse: nivritta tarsair upagiyamanad

bhavaushadac chotra..

 

Shrila Prabhupada condemned the professional recitation of saptahas done by

non-devotee scholar or shastris who are interested only in money, name and

reputation and who used this process to fill their bellies.

 

In the Padma Purana, the whole process for the Bhagavata-Saptaha-Gyana-Yajna

(th exact phrase is mentioned) is mentioned which is to be conducted for

7-days from sunrise to sunset daily. This requires a lot of conditions and

rules to be followed for it's proper execution, which is practically

impossible nowadays.

 

Thus what can be done (Shrila as Prabhupada suggested to Jasomatinandan

Prabhu) is to just call it Bhagavata-Saptaha and give an opportunity for

people to come and hear Bhagavatam for 7-days so that they wil feel

spiritually enlightened and purified. It is just like attending 2 or 3

Bhagavatam classes daily for 7-days. The word Bhagavat-Saptah automatically

arouses faith ahd devotion in the people. So this word can be used. But it

is not the above Gyana-Yajna as mentioned in Padma Purana. One may say that

it is cheating the people. But I would say that if the end result is that

they will end up hearing the pure nectar of the Bhagavatam for 7 days (7 x 3

= 21 hours) from a sincere and genuine follower of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu

then it is transcendental cheating. If I do one satsanga program once in a

week at a place, people there will hear only 4 to 6 hours of katha in a

month. Whereas in a Bhagavata-Saptaha, they directly hear 21 hours (minimum)

which is equal to 4 months of preaching. And most of them attend the Saptaha

for all the days because they are afraid of missing anything. And they come

from far off places. One's spiritual advancement is directly related to how

much krsna-katha one is able to hear on a regular basis.

 

So why not use this Bhagavat Saptah for preaching the mission of Lord

Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Like Prabhupada glorified Lord Gauranga as the

personification of Bhagavatam in the 1st canto intro and described His

pastimes which are the practical demonstration of the Bhagavatam, we can use

this Bhagavat-Saptah to introduce the name and pastimes of Lord

Nitai-Gauranga in the Bhagavata Saptahs or do a Chaitanya-Bhagavat Saptahs

for eg. Lord Gauranga, who is non-different than Lords Radha-Krsna, is

ultimately also the tenth ashraya-tattva (summum bonum) of the Bhagavatam.

So He should be glorified thro the Bhagavat Saptahas. Then one can do

millions of such Bhagavat Saptahas. This is humble opinion. Any comments are

welcome.

 

Daso'smi, Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna Sadhu.