TEXT 1 व्यास उवाच
इति सम्प्रश्र्नसंहॄष्टो विप्राणां रौमहष॔णिः।
प्रतिपूज्य वचस्तेषां प्रवक्तुमुपचक्रमे॥१॥
TRANSLATION
"Ugrasrava [Suta Gosvami], the son of Romaharsana, being pleased with the questions of the brahmanas, thanked them and attempted to reply."
PURPORT
The sages of Naimisaranya asked Suta Gosvami six questions, and do he in answering them one by one.
TEXT 2 सूत उवाच
यं प्रव्रजन्तमनुपेतकृत्यं
द्वैपायनो विरहकातर आजुहाव।
पुत्रेति तन्मयतया तरवोऽभिनेदु-
स्तं सव॔भूतहृदयं मुनिमानतोऽस्मि॥२॥
TRANSLATION
"Srila Suta Gosvami said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto that great sage[Sukadeva Gosvami] who can enter the hearts of all. When he went away to take up the renounced order of life [sannyasa], leaving home without undergoing the sacred thread ceremony, his father, Vyasadeva, cried out to him, "Oh, my son!" Indeed, only trees echoed in response to the begrieved father."
PURPORT
The institution of varna and asrama presecibes many regulative duties to be observed by its followers. Such duties enjoin that a candidate willing to study the Vedas must approach a bonafide spiritual master and request acceptance as his disciple. The sacred thread is the sign of those who are competent to study the Vedas from the acarya or the bonafide spiritual master.
Sri Sukadeva Gosvami did not undergo such a purification ceremony because he was a liberated soul from his very birth.
Generally, a man is born as an ordinary being, and by the purificatory processes he is born for the second time. When he sees a new light and seeks direction for spiritual progress, he approaches a spiritual master to instruct him in the Vedas. The spiritual master accepts only the sincere inquirer as his disciple and gives him the sacred thread.
In this way a man becomes twice-born, or a dvija. After qualifying as a dvija one may study the Vedas, and after becoming well versed in the Vedas one becomes a vipra.
A vipra or a qualified brahmana thus realizes the Absolute and makes further progress in spiritual life until he reaches the Vaisanva stage. The Vaisanva stage is the postgraduate status of a brahmana. A progressive brahmana must necessarily become a Vaisnava, for a Vaisnava is a self-realized, learned brahmana.
Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was a Vaisnava from the beginning, therefore, there was no need for him to undergo all the process of the varnasrama institution. Ultimately the aim of varnasrama-dharama is to turn a crude man into a pure devotee of the Lord, or a Vaisnava.
Anyone, therefore, who becomes a Vaisnava accepted by the first-class Vaisnava or uttama-addhikari Vaisnava is already considered a brahmana, regardless of his birth or past deeds.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted this principle and recognized Srila Haridasa Thakur as the acarya of the holy name, although Thakur Haridasa appeared in a Mohammedan family.
In conclusion, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was born a Vaisnava, and therefore, brahminism was included in him. He did not have to undergo any ceremonies. Any low born person-be he a Kirata, Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkhasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, Khasadi or even lower-can be delivered to the highest transcendental position by the mercy of Vaisnava.
Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was the spiritual master of Sri Suta Gosvami, and therefore he offers his respectful obeisances unto him before he begins his answers to the questions of the sages of Naimisaranya.
TEXT 3
यः स्वानुभावमखिलश्रुतिसारमेक-
मध्यात्मदीपमतितितीष॔तां तमोऽन्धम् ।
संसारिणां करूणयाऽऽह पुराणगुह्मं
तं व्याससूनुमुपयामि गुरूं मुनीनाम्॥३॥
TRANSLATION
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto him[Suka], the spiritual master of all sages, the son of Vyasadeva, who out of his great compassion for those gross materialists who struggle to cross over the darkest regions of material existance, spoke this Purana[supplement to the Vedas], the cream of Vedic knowledge, after having personally assimilated it by experience."
PURPORT
In this prayer, Srila Suta Gosvami practically summarizes the complete introduction of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the natural supplementary commentary on the Vedanta-sutras. The Vedanta-sutras or the Brahma-sutras were compiled by Vyasadeva with aview to presenting just the cream of Vedic knowledge.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the natural commentary on this cream. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was a thoroughly realized master of the Vedanta-sutra, and consequently he also personally realized the commentary, Srimad-Bhagavatam.
And just to show his boundless mercy upon bewildered materialistic men who want to cross completely over nescience, he recited for the first time this confidential knowledge.
There is no point in arguing that a materialistic man can be happy. No materialistic creature-be he the great Brahma or an insignificant ant-can be happy. Everyone tries to make a permanent plan for happiness, but everyone is baffled by the laws of material nature. Therefore the materialistic world is called the darkest region of God's creation.
Yet the unhappy materialists can get out of it simply by desiring to get out. Unfortunately they are so foolish that they do not want to escape. Therefore they are compared to the camel who relishes thorny twigs because he likes the taste of the twigs mixed with blood.
He does not realize that it is his own blood and that his tongue is being cut by the thorns. Similarly, to the materialist his own blood is as sweet as honey, and although he is always harassed by his own material creations, he does not wish to escape.
Such materialists are called karmis. Out of hundreds of thousands of karmis, only a few may feel tired of material engagement and desire to get out of the labyrinth. Such intelligent persons are called jnanis.
The Vedanta-sutra is directed to such jnanis. But Srila Vyasadeva, being the incarnation of the Supreme Lord, could forsee the misuse of the Vedanta-sutra by unscrupulous men, and, therefore, he personally suplemented the Vedanta-sutra with the Bhagavata Purana.
It is clearly said that this Bhagavatam is the original commentary on the Brahma-sutras. Srila Vyasadeva also instructed the Bhagavatam to his own son, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, who was already at the liberated stage of transcendence. Srila Sukadeva realized it personally and then expalined it.
By the mercy of Srila Sukadeva, the Bhagavat-Vedanta-sutra is available for all those sincere souls who want to get out of material existence.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the one unrivalled commentary on Vedanta-sutra. Sripada Sankaracarya intentionally did not touch it because he knew that it would be difficult for him to surpass the natural commentary. He wrote his Sariraka-bhasya, and his so-called floowers deprecared the Bhagavatam as some "new" presentation.
One should not be misled by such propaganda directed against the Bhagavatm by the Mayavada school. From this introductory sloka, the beginning student should know that Srimad-Bhagavatam is the only transcendental literature meant for those who are paramahamsas and completely freed from the material disease called malice.
The Mayavadis are envious of the Personality of Godhead despite Sripada Sankaracarya's admission that Narayana, the Personality of Godhead, is above the material creation. The envious Mayavadi cannot have access to the Bhagavatam, but those who are really anxious to get out of this material existence may take shelter of this Bhagavatam because it is uttered by the liberated Srila Sukadeva Gosvami. It is the transcendental torchlight by which one can see perfectly the transcendental Absolute Truth realized as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan.