AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada commented..
“So if we read the Vedic literature, and you get full knowledge, and the essence of Vedic literature is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, A-B-C-D. This Bhagavad-gītā is the A-B-C-D of knowledge. This is entrance examination, matriculation examination, school-leaving examination. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata is graduate. When you become graduate in spiritual knowledge, then you can understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And when you have passed your Bachelor degree, when you are postgraduate, that study is Śrī-Caitanya-caritāmṛta.”
In a further conversation he makes the point who the Bhagavatam is for , it’s for those who have given up envy of God..
Prof. Hopkins: I’m not thinking so much of the specific cantos as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a whole. Is that, for you, as you see it, more important than Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: No, Bhagavad-gītāis the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prof. Hopkins: So you would see the two related to each other.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If one can understand Bhagavad-gītā, then he becomes a bona fide student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prof. Hopkins: Oh.
Prabhupāda: Because in the… You have read Bhagavad-gītā?
Prof. Hopkins: Oh, yes. I have.
Prabhupāda: So Bhagavad-gītā,last instruction is, sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66] = “You give up all kinds of occupation and just surrender unto Me.” If one can take it very seriously, understand, then he can enter into the study of Bhāgavatam. The Bhāgavatambegins from the point where Kṛṣṇa left Bhagavad-gītā. So He advised that “You surrender to Me,” and Bhāgavata begins, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi [SB 1.1.1] = “I am worshiping the Supreme Truth.” And next verse is, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ‘tra [SB 1.1.2] = “All cheating type of religious system is rejected.” So this is rather revolting. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66] = “Give up all kinds of religious system, just surrender to Me.” And from that point Bhāgavata begins, “All cheating type of religious system is rejected.”
It is meant for the paramahaṁsa. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ. Those who are envious, for them is not Bhāgavata. So any materialistic person, he is envious. So it is not meant for the materialistic person. Those who are spiritually advanced, one who has understood that “I am not this body, I am spirit soul. My direct connection is with God, therefore my only business is to serve God,” one who has come to this conclusion, he is called paramahaṁsa. Haṁsa means swan. A swan, it has got a quality that if you give the swan to drink milk mixed with water, she will drink the milk and reject the water. She has got the capacity. [chuckles] So paramahaṁsa means one who has taken the essence of the existence, Absolute Truth, he is called paramahaṁsa.
In the Caitanya Caritamrita in his conversations with Ramananda Raya Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu takes us through all the paths and brings us to its ultimate conclusion.
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