srimadbhagavatham-slokas 2,3and 5

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The second sloka refers to the anubanDha chathushtayam. That is, a

granTHa or written work must have four requisites, namely,granTHa, the

name of the work, vishaya, the subject matter,aDHikAri, one who is

qualified to read and understand it and phala , the fruit of the

endeavour.The second sloka runs thus:

 

dharmO prOjjitha kaithavO athra paramO nirmathsarANAm sathAm vEdhyam

vasthavamathra vasthu sivadham thApathrayOnmoolanam

 

srimadbhAgavathE mahAmunikrthE kim vA paraih eesvarah sadhyO

hrdhyavaruDHyathE krthibhih susrooshubhisthathkshaNAth

 

In this srimadbhAgavatha the highest dharma, without deceit, has been

expounded by the great sage(Vyasa) for the sake of the good souls who

are devoid of meanness. The object to be cognised through this is that

which is the reality, which gives auspicious results and which roots out

the thApathraya, the three kinds of duhkha. The Lord is established

immediately in the heart of those who are meritorious and desire to

listen to Bhagavatha and hence what more can be achieved than this!

 

Here the granTha is specified by name as Srimadbhagavatha.The subject

matter is denoted as paramO dharmah,the highest dharma. This does not

mean that Bhagavatha teaches the dharma alone which it definitely does,

but this should be understood in the sense of the answer of Bhishma to

yudhishtira who asked him 'ko dharmassarvadharmANAm paramah,'which is

the highest dharma of all.Bhishma replies that 'Esha mE sarvadharmANAm

dharmO aDhikathamO mathah, "this is the dharma which is highest in my

opinion" and he elaborates on that.

 

Here the word ‘sarvadhrmAnaam’ implies the four kinds of

dharma laid out in the sastras.

 

1. aihika dharma, the actions pertaining to the life in this world. This

includes the natural duties of a householder.

 

2.Amushmika dharma, those performed for the welfare in the life- after,

like the yajnas, sacrificial rites, dhAna, acts of charity, done for

attaining heaven or better life in the next birth.

 

3. The actions that are undertaken in order to attain salvation , by

those who are free from attachment, through yoga and meditation.

 

4. The path of devotion, through acts of love towards the Lord like

kirtana, smarana and padasEvana, singing His names thinking about Him ad

worshipping Him.

 

 

 

The last dharma is extolled by Bhishma as the supreme

dharma. Lord Krishna has specified the same in the Gita by the

charamasloka, ‘SarvadharmAn parithyajya mAmEkam saranam

vraja.’ Bhishma says ‘ yadbhakthyA pundareekAksham

sthavairarchEth narah esha dharmassanAthanah,’ the worship of

the Lotus eyed Lord is the age old dharma. This is Adhikyena abhimatham,

considered the greatest because it can be done without depending on

anything or anybody and without disturbing others.

 

 

 

The adhikarithva, the qualification for the seeker to approach this

grantha is denoted by the words nirmathsara, those who do not cavil,

sathah, good, krthee , one who has done meritorious deeds as otherwise

he will not have the propensity to listen or read such works and

susrooshuh,(srothum icchuh) one who wishes to hear the Bhagavatha. The

phala of hearing this is given as 'eesvarah hrdhi sadhyah avaruDHyathE,'

the Lord being established in the heart immediately.

 

 

 

The third sloka refers to the narrator of Bhagavatha, that is

Shukhabrahmam, and it is very beautiful.

 

 

 

NigamakalpatharOh galitham phalam

 

shukamukhAthadbhuthadhravasamyutham

 

pibatha bhAgavatham rasamAlayam

 

muhurahO rasikA bhuvi bhAvukAh

 

 

 

Oh connoisseurs of the world! you who understand the nuances of tastes,

drink again and again, the nectar-like juice of this fruit from the

wish-fulfilling tree called veda nigamakalpatharu, which fell, galitham

from the mouth of the parrot ,shukamukhAth (shuka denotes a parrot as

well as shukabrahma maharshi, who was supposed to have the face of a

parrot)

 

 

 

To acquire the desire of listening to Bhagavatha requires

poorvajanmapunya and it removes all the other desires because it

consists only of dharma in the form of Isvara aradhana, which, when done

with the desire of other things is called kaithava, deceitful, while

doing that only for pleasing the Lord is prOjjithakaithavadharma, a

dharma devoid of deceit as made out in the previous sloka.

 

 

 

Bhagavatha is compared to the fruit that fell out of the mouth of shuka,

the parrot,and came from the nigamakalpatharu, the tree that fulfills

all desires ,that is veda.This fruit is full of rasa, juice,and the

rasikas, connoisseurs who are bhavukas, discerning,are invited to drink

the juice again and again, muhurmuhuh till they merge with the Lord.The

fruit which was at the tree veda, hard to get, became easy to reach

because it fell from the shukamukha. The juice is

adbhuthadhravasamyutham, being paramAnandha eva rasah, the supreme bliss

of Brahman.This has reference to the upanishadic statement 'rasO vai

sah,' and rasam hyEvAyam labdhvaAnandheebhavathi.' Brahman is the

essence of all beings attaining whom one becomes blissful.

 

 

 

 

 

The fourth sloka describes the circumstances under which the

Bhagavthapurana is related by the soothapouranika to the sages assembled

in Namisaranya.

 

 

 

naimishE animishakshEthrE rshayah sounakaAdhayah

 

sathram svargAya lOkAya sahasra samam Asatha

 

 

 

Tha sage sounaka and others did sathra yaga for thousand years to attain

the world desired even by the denizens of heaven in The land of

naimisaranya .where the Lord is abiding with unblinking eyes.

 

 

 

In NaimisaraNya is where the Lord is present in the form of forest or

aranya and He is animisha , not blinking His eyes,directing His glance

unceasingly there. The word naimisa means nemih seeryathe yathra, the

wheel of mind released by the creator is blunted here.The edge of mind

is compared to a wheel. This means that the karma which makes the mind

revolve in samsara will be blunted or stopped.The reason as to why this

happens is that here the Lord is directing His glances permanently not

even blinking His eyes.The word svargAya lOkAya means the world which is

extolled in svarga, svrgE geeyathe ithi, meaning the paramapadha or

Moksha.

 

 

 

After this the story begins.