SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 2

The king asked: 'How did Nârada, being instructed by Lord Brahmâ, o brahmin, explain the modes and their transcendence, and whom did he explain it to?

King Parîkshit inquired from S'ukadeva Gosvâmî: How did Nârada Muni, whose hearers are as fortunate as those instructed by Lord Brahmâ, explain the transcendental qualities of the Lord, who is without material qualities, and before whom did he speak? (Vedabase)

Text 2

This I wish to understand o best one: what is the reality of those in the Absolute of the truth of the Lord who is so full of wonderful potencies and whose narrations are so beneficial to all the worlds?

The King said: I wish to know. Narrations concerning the Lord, who possesses wonderful potencies, are certainly auspicious for living beings in all planets. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Please continue speaking, o you of great fortune, so that I, about to leave my body, freed from material association, may put my thoughts to the Supreme of the soul, Lord S'rî Krishna.

O greatly fortunate S'ukadeva Gosvâmî, please continue narrating S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam so that I can place my mind upon the Supreme Soul, Lord Krishna, and, being completely freed from material qualities, thus relinquish this body. (Vedabase)

Text 4

Those who with faith, regularly take to the matter and as well seriously endure in the endeavor, will after not too long a time see the Supreme Lord appear in their hearts.

Persons who hear S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead S'rî Krishna manifested in their hearts within a short time. (Vedabase)

Text 5

Thus receiving it through their ears from the love of their own liberation, this lotus [the Bhâgavatam] of Krishna cleanses the lower qualities like the waters of autumn do.

The sound incarnation of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Soul [i.e. S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam], enters into the heart of a self-realized devotee, sits on the lotus flower of his loving relationship, and thus cleanses the dust of material association, such as lust, anger and hankering. Thus it acts like autumnal rains upon pools of muddy water. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Once being cleansed will the person, who took to the shelter of Krishna's feet, never give up that liberation, just like a traveler, who going through the miseries of life, will never give up his home [see also B.G. 5: 17; 8: 16; 8: 21-28; 9: 3; 15: 3-4; 15: 6].

A pure devotee of the Lord whose heart has once been cleansed by the process of devotional service never relinquishes the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, for they fully satisfy him, as a traveler is satisfied at home after a troubled journey. (Vedabase)

Text 7

As it is not a question of being material, o brahmin, can you, as you may know from your good self, tell me whether the living being in the undertaking comes to the body accidentally or of some cause?

O learned brâhmana, the transcendental spirit soul is different from the material body. Does he acquire the body accidentally or by some cause? Will you kindly explain this, for it is known to you. (Vedabase)

Text 8

If He is in possession of the lotusflower of this world, that as it were sprouted from His abdomen, then what is the difference between the Original Person to the measure of this extent [of the Virâth Rûpa] and the situation that one speaks of with the many different embodiments?

If the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whose abdomen the lotus stem sprouted, is possessed of a gigantic body according to His own caliber and measurement, then what is the specific difference between the body of the Lord and those of common living entities? (Vedabase)

Text 9

How could he who was not born from matter himself and who gave life to all the ones born with a material body, through His mercy see His Form while being born from the lotusflower of the navel?

Brahmâ, who was not born of a material source but of the lotus flower coming out of the navel abdomen of the Lord, is the creator of all those who are materially born. Of course, by the grace of the Lord, Brahmâ was able to see the form of the Lord. (Vedabase)

Text 10

And also [how can it be that] He as the Original Person maintaining, creating and annihilating the material worlds remains untouched by His own external energy while resting as the Lord of all energies in the heart of everyone?

Please also explain the Personality of Godhead, who lies in every heart as the Supersoul, and as the Lord of all energies, but is untouched by His external energy. (Vedabase)

Text 11

Before I heard you discuss the different worlds with their governors as the different parts of the body of the Original Person, so what [can you tell] about those governors that by the different systems are the different parts of Him?

O learned brâhmana, it was formerly explained that all the planets of the universe with their respective governors are situated in the different parts of the gigantic body of the virâth-purusha. I have also heard that the different planetary systems are supposed to be in the gigantic body of the virâth-purusha. But what is their actual position? Will you please explain that? (Vedabase)

Text 12

And what about the day of Brahmâ [a kalpa] and the periods between them [vikalpas], as also what to say about the time measuring what one calls the past, future and present - and how about the lifespan allotted to embodied beings?

Also please explain the duration of time between creation and annihilation, and that of other subsidiary creations, as well as the nature of time, indicated by the sound of past, present and future. Also, please explain the duration and measurement of life of the different living beings known as the demigods, the human beings, etc., in different planets of the universe. (Vedabase)

Text 13

O purest of the twice born, what may be the beginning of time and what about the way it, in terms of one's karma, is experienced as being short or long?

O purest of the brâhmanas, please also explain the cause of the different durations of time, both short and long, as well as the beginning of time, following the course of action. (Vedabase)

Text 14

Then again to what extent is one taken over by accruing [karma] to the different modes of nature in the different life forms which are also certainly the result of one's desire.

Then again, kindly describe how the proportionate accumulation of the reactions resulting from the different modes of material nature act upon the desiring living being, promoting or degrading him among the different species of life, beginning from the demigods down to the most insignificant creatures. (Vedabase)

Text 15

Please describe to us how life underneath the earth, in the four quarters of heaven, in the sky, on the planets and about the stars, on the hills, in the rivers, the seas and on the islands comes about and what are their inhabitants?

O best of the brâmanas, please also describe how the creation of the globes throughout the universe, the four directions of the heavens, the sky, the planets, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, the seas and the islands, as well as their different kinds of inhabitants, takes place. (Vedabase)

Text 16

What is the extent and measure of the outer space universe and the inner space, and what are their divisions? And what is the character and action of the great souls and the vocations and age-groups of society?

Also, please describe the inner and outer space of the universe by specific divisions, as well as the character and activities of the great souls, and also the characteristics of the different classifications of the castes and orders of social life. (Vedabase)

Text 17

What are the different ages, how long do they take and what is their nature and which incarnation of the Lord performs what kind of wonderful activities in each and every age?

Please explain all the different ages in the duration of the creation, and also the duration of such ages. Also tell me about the different activities of the different incarnations of the Lord in different ages. (Vedabase)

Text 18:

What are the specific religious affiliations of human society in general and what are the duties of the three classes [labor, trade and intellect] and their administration [the fourth class], as also, what would the obligations be to people in distress?

Please also explain what may generally be the common religious affiliations of human society, as well as their specific occupational duties in religion, the classification of the social orders as well as the administrative royal orders, and the religious principles for one who may be in distress. (Vedabase)

Text 19:

And what is the number of elements of creation and what are their characteristics and interaction? What are the rules and regulations of the devotional practice to the Original Person in the cultivation of yoga and what are the different spiritual methods leading thereto?

Kindly explain all about the elementary principles of creation, the number of such elementary principles, their causes, and their development, and also the process of devotional service and the method of mystic powers. (Vedabase)

Text 20:

What are the opulences of the yogamaster, where do they lead to, how do the yogis detach from the astral body and what is the transcendental knowledge found in the religiosity about the historical accounts and the vedic stories?

What are the opulences of the great mystics, and what is their ultimate realization? How does the perfect mystic become detached from the subtle astral body? What is the basic knowledge of the Vedic literatures, including the branches of history and the supplementary Purânas? (Vedabase)

Text 21:

What is the specific order of all those transient living beings and how does it end? What are the good deeds, rituals and also the regulative principles concerning the religion, the means of existence and the pleasing of the senses?

Please explain unto me how the living beings are generated, how they are maintained, and how they are annihilated. Tell me also of the advantages and disadvantages of discharging devotional service unto the Lord. What are the Vedic rituals and injunctions of the supplementary Vedic rites, and what are the procedures of religion, economic development and sense satisfaction? (Vedabase)

Text 22:

How do all those who either live in union with the Lord or go against Him come about and what is the conditioning of the ones liberated as also that of the ones that live undetermined?

Please also explain how, merged in the body of the Lord, living beings are created, and how the infidels appear in the world. Also please explain how the unconditioned living entities exist. (Vedabase)

Text 23:

As surely as the independent Supreme Lord enjoys His pastimes from His own inner potency, He, correctly, gives them up just the same, to the external of His capacity remaining a witness as the Almighty.

The independent Personality of Godhead enjoys His pastimes by His internal potency and at the time of annihilation gives them up to the external potency, and He remains a witness to it all. (Vedabase)

Text 24:

About all this and more that I didn't ask you, o fortunate one, I've been wondering from the beginning. Please explain in accordance with the truth, o great sage, what you want to tell me with us all having fallen at your feet.

O great sage, representative of the Lord, kindly satisfy my inquisitiveness in all that I have inquired from you and all that I may not have inquired from you from the very beginning of my questionings. Since I am a soul surrendered unto you, please impart full knowledge in this connection. (Vedabase)

Text 25:

Surely in these matters of factual knowing are you as good as Brahmâ originating directly from the Lord, while others are only following to custom after what of borrowed knowledge could be said.

O great sage, you are as good as Brahmâ, the original living being. Others follow custom only, as followed by the previous philosophical speculators. (Vedabase)

Text 26:

I never get tired, o brahmin, of drinking, in hunger of my fasting, of the nectar of the Infallible flowing from the ocean of your speech'."

O learned brâhmana, because of my drinking the nectar of the message of the infallible Personality of Godhead, which is flowing down from the ocean of your speeches, I do not feel any sort of exhaustion due to my fasting. (Vedabase)

Text 27:

Sûta Gosvâmî said: "He [S'ukadeva] thus being questioned by the king on topics of the highest truth like these, was, as the instrument of the Creator, very pleased in meeting this servant of Vishnu.

Sûta Gosvâmî said: Thus S'ukadeva Gosvâmî, being invited by Mahârâja Parîkshit to speak on topics of the Lord S'rî Krishna with the devotees, was very much pleased. (Vedabase)

Text 28:

He said that this purâna in pursuance of the Vedas called the Bhâgavatam, was spoken by the Supreme Lord to Lord Brahmâ at the beginning of the first of his days.

He began to reply to the inquiries of Mahârâja Parîkshit by saying that the science of the Personality of Godhead was spoken first by the Lord Himself to Brahmâ when he was first born. S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam is the supplementary Vedic literature, and it is just in pursuance of the Vedas. (Vedabase)

Text 29:

He then prepared himself to describe in full whatever the king, the best of the dynasty of Pându, all asked in his, from the beginning to the end, continuing inquiries."

He also prepared himself to reply to all that King Parîkshit had inquired from him. Mahârâja Parîkshit was the best in the dynasty of the Pândus, and thus he was able to ask the right questions from the right person. (Vedabase)