Nārada’s Instructions to Vyāsadeva Regarding Śrīmad Bhāgavata

This chapter contains forty verses that describe the conversation between Śrī Nārada and Śrī Vyāsa. The opening verse is spoken by Sūta Gosvāmī, who related to the assembly of sages how Nārada spoke after suddenly appearing in Vyāsa’s hermitage. In verses 2–4, Nārada inquired with a hint of irony as to Vyāsa’s well-being. Nārada remarked that although Vyāsa had benefited humanity by writing the Mahābhārata, which explains the meaning of the Vedas, he did not seem content at heart. In verses 5–7, Vyāsa admitted that Nārada’s observations about him were perfectly correct. He then asked him to pinpoint the cause of his dissatisfaction, noting that Nārada was eminently qualified to do so, since he was able to penetrate the hearts of all beings.

The chapter’s remaining thirty-three verses are all spoken by Śrī Nārada. In verses 8–22, Nārada responded directly to Vyāsa’s inquiry. The essence of his reply is that Vyāsa had not explicitly established the truth and glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He had given more prominence to dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa as the primary goals of human life. Whatever instructions he had given on bhakti were inextricably mixed with karma and jñāna. Moreover, he had legitimized people’s attachment for reprehensible self-interested actions (jugupsita-kāmya-karma) by prescribing such actions in the name of dharma.

Nārada emphasized that this would confuse people and lead them astray from pure bhakti. His conclusion was that without bhakti, no other achievements can offer complete satisfaction to the self, and thus they are ultimately devoid of intrinsic value. Taking all of this into consideration, Nārada then implored Vyāsa to recount the glories of Bhagavān, reminding him that he (Vyāsa) was a partial manifestation of Bhagavān, who had appeared in this world for the benefit and illumination of humanity.

To illustrate the transformative power of bhakti, Nārada narrated the story of his past life. In verses 23–31, he described the progressive stages of bhakti that he himself had experienced and that Vyāsa would later elaborate on in the text of Śrīmad Bhāgavata. The process begins with service to highly elevated souls (mahat-sevā) and culminates in the direct revelation of Bhagavān and His potencies. Nārada thus determined bhakti, or action undertaken exclusively for the pleasure of Bhagavān, as the cure for bondage to conditional action.

In verse 37, Nārada disclosed to Vyāsa the mantra that bestows complete vision (samyak-darśana) of Bhagavān in His fourfold manifestation (catur-vyūha). By meditating upon and worshiping Bhagavān through this mantra, Nārada was blessed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa with the immediate intuition of Him, His majestic opulences, and divine love for Him. The chapter ends with Nārada once again requesting Vyāsa to describe the glories of Bhagavān, which is the only means to extinguish the miseries of material existence for the benefit of suffering humanity.

All Verses

  1. Verse 1Śrī Sūta said: Thereafter, the highly celebrated divine seer [Śrī Nārada], who was seated comfortably, holding a vīṇā in his hand, spoke with the hint of a smile to the brāhmaṇa sage [Vyāsa], who was sitting at his side.
  2. Verse 2Śrī Nārada said: O highly fortunate one, O son of Parāśara [Vyāsa], is your physiological self, or indeed, your psychological self satisfied [or not], by its respective physical and mental engagements?
  3. Verse 3Whatever you inquired into has been fully realized [and practically applied] by you, for you have compiled the extraordinarily wonderful Mahābhārata, which is filled with deliberations on all the primary goals of human life.
  4. Verse 4Moreover, you have also inquired into and attained that which is known as the eternal Brahman, and yet, O illustrious one, you lament for yourself as if having failed to attain your objective. [What is the cause of this?]
  5. Verse 5Śrī Vyāsa said: Whatever you have said about me is certainly the case, yet my self is not completely satisfied. So, I ask you [O Nārada], who are born from the body of the self-born [Brahmā] and thus of unfathomable wisdom, what is the root cause of my dissatisfaction, which is hidden from me?
  6. Verse 6You, the same one [who is renowned as the foremost of all enlightened beings], know all that is concealed because you have worshiped the primordial Supreme Person (Purāṇa Puruṣa) — the Immanent Regulator of cause and effect — who evolves, sustains, and dissolves the cosmos by His mere intent through the agency of the three guṇas, yet doing so without contacting them directly.
  7. Verse 7Like the all-seeing sun, you wander throughout the three worlds, and like the vital life current, you enter within all living beings as a witness of the faculty of intellection. Therefore, please comprehensively determine the defect in me, who am deeply immersed in the transcendent Brahman, by mastery of the highest yoga-dharma, and intellectually grounded in the descendent Brahman [the Vedas], by study and religious vows.
  8. Verse 8Śrī Nārada said: The immaculate glories of Bhagavān have been virtually unmentioned by you. I consider as deficient any philosophical view (darśana) from which Bhagavān derives no pleasure.
  9. Verse 9O foremost of sages, you have certainly not extensively described the glory of Bhagavān Vāsudeva [Kṛṣṇa] in the same primary manner as you have repeatedly proclaimed even the four [inferior] goals of human life [puruṣārthas], namely, conventional religious duty (dharma), prosperity (artha), fulfillment of desire (kāma), and liberation (mokṣa) [as well as the means of their attainment (tat-sādhanāni)].
  10. Verse 10The paramahaṁsas consider that speech as a place of pilgrimage for crows, which, although composed of extraordinary words, has never proclaimed the glory of Bhagavān Hari, which purifies the world. The swan-like devotional mystics of enlightened mind, whose abode is the all-attractive [Supreme Brahman], do not delight in such speech.
  11. Verse 11[On the other hand,] even if grammatically defective, that linguistic composition in which each verse contains the names that are imprinted with the glory of the Limitless One [Bhagavān], destroys the sins of humanity, since these are the names that saintly devotees hear, recite, and sing.
  12. Verse 12Even the awareness that pertains to the state of freedom from conditional action [i.e., to Brahman] and that is free from all taints, is inadequately illuminating if devoid of devotional affect (bhāva) for Bhagavān Acyuta [Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. What then can be said of motivated action [kāmya-karma], which is always inauspicious, or even of unmotivated action [akāmya-karma], when not offered to Bhagavān?
  13. Verse 13Therefore, O greatly fortunate [Vyāsa], since you are of infallible vision, pure in glory, established in truth, and of firm vows, you should continuously recollect — through transcognitive awareness (samādhi) — the divine acts of Bhagavān, who performs extraordinary feats, doing so for the liberation of all living beings from material bondage.
  14. Verse 14The mind of one whose vision is diverted from the divine acts of Bhagavān Urukrama and which is thus unsettled by the names and forms arising out of his intent to speak about some other topic in a disparate manner, can never obtain a firm standing anywhere at all, like a boat tossed by the wind.
  15. Verse 15It was a great impropriety on your part to prescribe reprehensible actions in the name of religion for people who are already naturally predisposed to such actions. On the strength of your instructions, the common person, having determined this alone as primary dharma, will not heed any prohibition of such motivated actions.
  16. Verse 16Only a person of highly refined discernment, who is uninvolved with worldly action, is eligible to directly experience the absolute bliss of this Omnipresent, Unlimited Transcendence [Bhagavān]. [This, however, is not the case for the undiscerning.] Therefore, kindly disclose the divine acts of Bhagavān for those who are bodily identified and thus propelled to action by the guṇas.
  17. Verse 17Has inauspiciousness ever befallen a person, in whatever circumstance he might find himself, who, having abandoned his prescribed socio-religious duty, becomes devoted to the lotus feet of Bhagavān Hari, even if, thereafter, while still in an immature stage, he should meet with death or somehow fall away from such bhajana? On the other hand, what value is gained through adherence to prescribed duty alone by those who fail to worship Bhagavān?
  18. Verse 18A person of awakened discrimination should strive for that goal alone which is unattainable by living beings who wander from the highest plane of material existence down to inanimate life forms. On the other hand, mundane happiness is obtainable everywhere on the basis of previous karma due to the imperceptible flow of time, just as misery is so obtained [even without endeavoring for it].
  19. Verse 19My dear [Vyāsa], a person who is a servant of Bhagavān Mukunda [Kṛṣṇa] certainly never reenters worldly existence like others, at any time and in whatever manner. On remembering anew his having mentally embraced the lotus feet of Bhagavān Mukunda, he would never wish to give them up, since such a person has been taken hold of by their unique aesthetic relishability.
  20. Verse 20This cosmos is indeed just like Bhagavān, yet He is distinct from it, being that from which the sustenance, dissolution, and evolution of the world come about. You yourself certainly know all this, yet I have pointed it out to you merely as an indication [of the complete truth].
  21. Verse 21O [Vyāsa] of infallible vision, through self-reflection, you should know yourself to be a partial manifestation of the Supreme Puruṣa, the Immanent Self of all creation, and, although unborn, as having taken birth for the benefit of the world. Therefore, you should describe in detail the magnificent acts of [Śrī Kṛṣṇa], whose majesty is supreme above all.
  22. Verse 22Recounting the attributes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is glorified in eloquent verses, is indeed declared by realized mystic poets as the unceasing [eternal] fruit of a human being’s penances, study of the Vedas, sacrificial performance, recitation of the Vedic hymns, cultivation of wisdom, and charity.
  23. Verse 23O muni, in the previous evolutionary cycle, in my past birth, I was born from a certain maidservant of brāhmaṇas who were learned in the Vedas. Although only a small boy, I was engaged in the service of yogīs who wished to stay in one place for the duration of the rainy season.
  24. Verse 24Although equally disposed toward all, those sages bestowed grace upon me, a young boy, who was completely free from frivolity, disciplined, disinterested in play, obedient, frugal in speech, and intent on serving.
  25. Verse 25With the permission of the twice-born brāhmaṇas, I once ate the remnants of whatever food was left on their plates, and by doing so, all my defilements were removed. Being thus engaged in their service, I became pure in mind, and a heartfelt attraction arose in me for their dharma [of bhakti] alone.
  26. Verse 26My dear [Vyāsa], in that assembly, every day, by the grace of the sages, I heard the mind-captivating narrations of Śrī Kṛṣṇa being sung by them. While attentively listening to each word with the śraddhā born to me [of its own accord], an attraction arose within me for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose stories are so delightful for everyone to hear.
  27. Verse 27O great sage, at that time, on the awakening of attraction for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose stories are so delightful to hear, unobstructed discriminating wisdom appeared to me. By that wisdom, I was able to see [in that very moment] this individuated gross and subtle body as superimposed by His deluding potency on me, who am transcendental to phenomenality and of the conscious nature of Brahman.
  28. Verse 28In this manner [having directly intuited the pure self], as a consequence of hearing at every available moment throughout the two seasons of autumn and the monsoon, the spotless glories of Hari [Śrī Kṛṣṇa] being sung by the sages, who were all great souls, resolute bhakti, which dispels the qualitative influences of rajas and tamas pertaining to the empirical self, manifested in the core of my heart.
  29. Verse 29-30Unto me, a young boy, who had become thus [filled with prema-bhakti], who was affectionate, humble, freed from sin, established in firm faith, disciplined, and engaged in their service, those sages, who were graciously disposed toward the meek, when about to depart, compassionately disclosed that most confidential knowledge [of Śrīmad Bhāgavata, concerning the mystery of prema-bhakti alone], which was spoken by Bhagavān Himself.
  30. Verse 31By that [most confidential knowledge of Śrīmad Bhāgavata], I understood the manifest influence of the [intrinsic and extrinsic] potencies of Bhagavān Vāsudeva [Śrī Kṛṣṇa], the very ground of all creation, by the realization of which, living beings attain His transcendental abode.
  31. Verse 32O Brahman [Vyāsa], action that is offered to Paramātmā, or to Bhagavān, or to Brahman, has been clearly indicated [by those who have realized the conclusion of scripture] to be the cure for the threefold miseries of material existence.
  32. Verse 33O virtuous one, that very substance by which some particular disease is produced for living beings certainly cannot cure that disease. If, however, that substance is infused with, or transformed by, some other substance and then taken as medicine, it can definitely do so.
  33. Verse 34In the same manner, all actions performed by human beings are the causes of the perpetuation of material existence. Yet, those very actions, if offered [without any material motive] to the Supreme Absolute, become capable of destroying the very essence of the bondage to action.
  34. Verse 35Knowledge that is intimately connected with bhakti-yoga is certainly an inevitable result of unconditional action performed in this world for the pleasure of Bhagavān.
  35. Verse 36When people perform actions according to the instructions of Bhagavān, they constantly utter and reflect upon the names and qualities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
  36. Verse 37Oṁ! Obeisances unto You, Bhagavān [in Your quadruple manifestation (catur-vyūha)]. Let us meditate on You, offering internal obeisances unto Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and Saṅkarṣaṇa.
  37. Verse 38One who worships the presiding deity of sacrifice, whose form consists of mantra, and yet who is devoid of material form, by uttering the names of the above four Divinities, is endowed with complete vision.
  38. Verse 39O brāhmaṇa, knowing that this instruction of His was carefully adhered to by me, Keśava bestowed upon me [first] immediate intuition of Him, then His majestic power, and finally divine love for Him.
  39. Verse 40O Vyāsa, whose knowledge of the Vedas is without limit, you too should describe the glory of the Omnipotent, Omnipresent Lord (Vibhu), by which the quest for enlightenment of those who are wise finally reaches its end. They [the wise] do not recognize any other means of extinguishing the torment of those who are repeatedly oppressed by the miseries of material existence.