Question: In the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam, events are described of Suta Goswami speaking at Naimisaranya and this is after Vyasadev had spoken Bhagavatam to Sukadev. So, how is it that Vyasadev was aware of the events at Naimisaranya?
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: So many sittings of Bhagavatam took place. First, Narad came and gave instruction by way of a ten sloka outline. He told Vyasadev, «Meditate on it and give it out to the public. Elucidate these principles. Elucidate; otherwise, what you have given so far will be all fruitless.» So, Vyas took only those ten slokas, those ten verses. He meditated and wrote the principal Bhagavatam in a short way. He gave, «That is revered Brahma, the highest quarter, the Krishna conception of Godhead, and that lila is very sweet. That is nothing of this side in maya, but that plane is full of transcendental, sweet Pastimes.» Vyasadev managed to call his son, Sukadev, and in Badarik Ashram he taught him: «Although my inclination was towards this nondifferentiated Brahma conception, my father managed to teach me this lila of Bhagavan Krishna. Today, I shall talk about that to you in this great assembly.»
So, Sukadev received Srimad Bhagavatam from Vyasadev. Previously, Narad gave it to Vyasadev, and Vyas composed it in elaboration and taught it to Sukadev; this was the second recitation. The third was when Sukadev delivered lectures with his remarks to the great assembly of scholars in Sukratal.
When Sukadev gave the lecture, there was one Suta Goswami who was a very sharp hearing man, sruti-dhara. Sruti-dhara is one who having only once heard something keeps it in his memory, and Suta, having those qualities, was present in that meeting. The fourth sitting was in Naimisaranya where the rsis, apprehending the black march of Kali-yuga, commenced and engaged themselves in a one-thousand-year campaign, yajna. Finding Suta Goswami, they told, «We have got much leisure in the evening to hear about the Absolute, and we heard that you, Suta, were present in that mysterious and famous assembly where Sukadev gave his lecture about Bhagavatam, and you memorised it. We request that you deliver by way of lecture to us that Bhagavatam.» Suta Goswami accepted their proposal, and that was the last sitting in the form of regular evening lectures. Sixty thousand or so rsis, the scholars and performers of sacrifices, assembled to hear from him. It was after this sitting that Vyasadev took the whole thing and compiled it in book form and let it loose on the public.
Question: What is that Sukratal that you mentioned just now?
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Sukratal is a small district of Uttar Pradesh just opposite Vibhukuti, a little far off from the Ganges, where there was the place of Maharaj Pariksit. When Pariksit was sure to die, he came to live in that place near the Ganges, and there the third assembly took place. Perhaps it was from Suka that the name Sukratal has now come, and by that name this place is known to the public.
Question: Was Vyasadev present at Naimisaranya when Suta spoke?
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: No, he was not present in the meeting, but he got information. He was a yogi. Vyasadev was such a yogi that he could understand and feel whatever is happening anywhere. In this way, the whole battle story in Mahabharata has been described by him. How it is possible? Not only that but he was a yogi of such higher class that he could transfer his yoga-sakti to Sanjaya who, inspired by that potency, could also feel that battle. He could observe so many things simultaneously — what one is saying to another, what weapon one is throwing to another — all these things Sanjaya could see simultaneously, and he is relating the whole thing to Dhrtarastra by the grace of Vyasadev. Vyasadev is able to see many things simultaneously in his yoga, developed consciousness.
Once, one gentleman told me that Einstein in his last days was asked by his wife, «What invention are you searching now?» He replied, «If I am successful in this campaign of my research, then you will be able to see me wherever I am. Wherever I shall be, you shall be able to see and feel me. That plane I am going to try to invent.» That was Einstein’s last tendency according to one gentleman, though I don’t know how far it is true.
Many devotees are also said to realise such a position that from a separate place they can detect when a dog is entering within a particular temple in Vrndavan. He is feeling, «Oh, a dog is entering there.» When our plane of consciousness, our conscious seat, is not disturbed by any self-produced thought, when it is clear, then when any wave carrying any news strikes it, it can feel that: «This is happening somewhere else, and the wave has come to touch the aerial of my consciousness.» When our conscious seat is very clear, any wave that arises to touch it, any fact that arises in our plane of thinking, that cannot but be an actual fact. But when self-produced prejudices have covered the conscious seat, then we cannot detect such things; the plane of our consciousness cannot be read. But when that is cleared, any incident happening anywhere sends some wave to every ‘receiver’, and each can understand, «Oh, such thing is happening!» Useless thoughts and false thoughts do not arise in his mind. Whatever is happening is sending some wave. His mind is so clear that he detects that event. He reads his mind, he feels it, and he says, «Oh, this is happening here and that is happening there.» It may be considered something like that.
But this is a kind of siddhi, mystic power. A true Vaisnava avoids all these things, but automatically it may come to someone, and sometimes they may disclose this fact. Otherwise, they avoid all these things. They do not want miracles. They are eager to find out the miracle of the centre, the central miracle. They are busy to search for the miracle of miracles, and so these side issues they neglect. They are all-attentive to find out the main problem. Their cent-per-cent energy is engaged for that, concentrated, without caring for these things.
Question: Srila Sridhar Maharaj, when Sukadev was asked to speak Srimad Bhagavatam, he was in the presence of his Guru, Vyasadev, and Param Guru, Narad. So, how is it that he took the exalted seat of the vyasasan in the presence of his Guru and Param Guru?
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Sukadev was not asked to speak Bhagavatam, only Pariksit Maharaj prayed, «What should be the duty of a man who is surely going to die very soon? How should I utilise my energy that it may help me after death? Certain death is approaching towards me, and so how can I utilise my time best?»
So many rsis, authorities of different departments, were recommending to him differently, and he was perplexed. He told, «You give some unanimous verdict to me. I have no time, so please you give some unanimous instruction.» At that time by chance, Sukadev arrived there at the meeting. Sukadev was a man of fable; many had heard about him, about this peculiar realised soul. «He is a boy of sixteen, but he has got no feeling about this world which is so charming to all of us. We are trying our hardest, our best, to get out of the entanglement of this charming world, but we find that we fail at every step. However, that boy, Sukadev, has crossed the line of maya and always is in continuous conception of the conscious world. He is quite ignoring these material things, and he does not even find the necessity of a cloth around his waist. Even he has got no distinction in his mental eye as to whether one is a woman or a man. He is so highly and firmly established in pure spiritual conception that even the beautiful girls do not feel any necessity to cover the parts of their body.»
He was like a fable to the gathered sages. So, when Sukadev appeared, they all rose in honour of him. Sukadev is not caring for anything there, and when he entered, all the rsis told to Pariksit Maharaj: «Maharaj, you are very fortunate; this mahatma, whom we all seek to have darsan of, has come. You please ask your question to him. We are all eager to hear something from his lips.» So, they all unanimously put Sukadev in the presidential chair. They all took their seats, and Pariksit asked him, «I am just approaching certain death, so what is my duty? How should my duty be couched in order that I can have my highest benefit in the least span of time?»
Sukadev began to answer, and everyone there in pin-drop silence began to listen to his words. His words were coming unquestionably as the Absolute Truth and were unanimously accepted by all. Present in that assembly were all the big scholars who had come to give some consolation to Pariksit Maharaj: «You are such a good Maharaj with good administration. You are unparalleled as well as a lover, respecter, and protector of the brahminical yajna, faith, etc. Despite all these qualifications, you have been thrown a curse from that same side of the brahman section, and that is a very lamentable thing.» In this way, almost all the leaders of all different schools of philosophy came to give consolation to Maharaj Pariksit. It was in that well-represented assembly that Sukadev was to speak.
Narad and Vyasadev knew well that, «What we are trying to inaugurate, which seemed to be a very narrow and bigoted thing, when Sukadev will speak this Bhagavatam, he will give it in a very extensive way and with the widest colour.»
Narad expressed, «I gave ten poems as ten outlines to Vyasadev, and he elaborately taught that to Sukadev. Sukadev has got some extensive credit and honour amongst all the types of scholars. Coming in that broad view and percolated by his Brahma conception, we are eager to see how this elaborated Srimad Bhagavatam shall be delivered to this world retaining its transcendental characteristic. In order to do away with any mundane misconception, it must pass through Sukadev; otherwise, people may think this to be mundane. He has got the broadest conception of view, and his qualification is admitted from all sides.»
Narad and Vyasadev were present and eagerly waiting. Happily, they tasted how through Brahma-jnan, through the widest touch, this Krishna-lila, which seems to be of very limited and narrow things, passes through to be widely accepted. All these gentlemen for seven days attended this meeting, and they all listened with such eagerness.
Sukadev told, «From my father, from my dear affectionate father, I have learned these things.» And giving warning to the audience he told, «You all know that I have no bigoted conception about religion.
«The broadest conception of religion I possess, and I am famous for that. I have got contact with the Brahma. Brahma means the biggest, the greatest plane — the higher, widest plane. I am already settled in that consciousness, so what I say, don’t take it as mundane happenings of this limited world, but it is coming from the other side. That is beyond Brahmaloka and has attracted me. I have got no charm for anything of this mundane world. I am well established in the transcendental world. I shall give delivery to you all of what attracted me and what I have noted and studied, and that is fully transcendental. With this warning, I give delivery of all these things, of Krishna-lila. You should take it that Krishna’s Pastimes are broader, wider, higher, and deeper things in the transcendental world. You must take it like that.» Now and again giving this warning, Sukadev is delivering the whole thing, and Narad and Vyasadev are reflecting: «Yes, we are successful!»
In his introduction to Srimad Bhagavatam, Vyasadev has written there, «Originally this Srimad Bhagavatam is a very good thing, but still its beauty is enhanced by the commentary that has come from the mouth of Sukadev. The Bhagavat knowledge modified and ornamented by the knowledge of Sukadev has got a wider view, and that universal truth will be easy for all sections of the religious school to accept.»
So, knowingly, it was that the Guru and Param Guru of Sukadev were present there. They knew the future and could understand that this recitation would occur, and also out of sympathy for Maharaj Pariksit, they came. They did not come by chance.