SB 1.18.15
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 15
- tan no bhavān vai bhagavat-pradhāno
- mahattamaikānta-parāyaṇasya
- harer udāraṁ caritaṁ viśuddhaṁ
- śuśrūṣatāṁ no vitanotu vidvan
SYNONYMS
tat — therefore; naḥ — of us; bhavān — your good self; vai — certainly; bhagavat — in relation with the Personality of Godhead; pradhānaḥ — chiefly; mahat-tama — the greatest of all greats; ekānta — exclusively; parāyaṇasya — of the shelter; hareḥ — of the Lord; udāram — impartial; caritam — activities; viśuddham — transcendental; śuśrūṣatām — those who are receptive; naḥ — ourselves; vitanotu — kindly describe; vidvan — O learned one.
TRANSLATION
O Sūta Gosvāmī, you are a learned and pure devotee of the Lord because the Personality of Godhead is your chief object of service. Therefore please describe to us the pastimes of the Lord, which are above all material conception, for we are anxious to receive such messages.
PURPORT
The speaker on the transcendental activities of the Lord should have only one object of worship and service, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And the audience for such topics should be anxious to hear about Him. When such a combination is possible, namely a qualified speaker and a qualified audience, it is then and there very much congenial to continue discourses on the Transcendence. Professional speakers and a materially absorbed audience cannot derive real benefit from such discourses. Professional speakers make a show of Bhāgavata-saptāha for the sake of family maintenance, and the materially disposed audience hears such discourses of Bhāgavata-saptāha for some material benefit, namely religiosity, wealth, gratification of the senses, or liberation. Such Bhāgavatam discourses are not purified from the contamination of the material qualities. But the discourses between the saints of Naimiṣāraṇya and Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī are on the transcendental level. There is no motive for material gain. In such discourses, unlimited transcendental pleasure is relished both by the audience and by the speaker, and therefore they can continue the topics for many thousands of years. Now Bhāgavata-saptāhas are held for seven days only, and after finishing the show, both the audience and the speaker become engaged in material activities as usual. They can do so because the speaker is not bhagavat-pradhāna and the audience is not śuśrūṣatām, as explained above.