srimadbhagavatham-slokas 2,3 and 4

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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.