in brief
Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu said,
“Thus one’s relationship with the Lord, activities in devotional service, and the attainment of the highest goal of life, love of Godhead, are the subject matters of Çrémad Bhägavatam. “
Çré Caitanya-caritämåta, Madhya 25.131
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé, the greatest philosopher of all time, has already given the top, most excellent ever possible analysis of the Çrémad Bhägavatam; it is sheer impudence if someone thinks he can explain this subject better than the Äcärya. Here, just for the sake of easier understanding, Çrémad Bhägavatam’s form will be depicted very briefly. It is like a sample of beauty…a drop from the ocean, which gives us faith that one day, by the inconceivable mercy of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, the whole blissful realm will be revealed to us. As we study analytically we will see that sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana are harmoniously spread everywhere, and if one of them is predominant in some cantos and chapters it is always related harmoniously—balanced—with the others…All three are everywhere, all-pervading, and are mutually inclusive. They are eternally inseparable, as the parts of Kåñëa’s body are inseparable. Even the ten Puränic topics are, in the same way, proportionally placed at specific places in perfect balance, and are in dynamic oneness.
Examples will be given of the flow of the three moods in the body of Çrémad Bhägavatam on the scale of His cantos – and particularly inside canto one, which comprehends sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana in precisely the same sequence as the complete Book. With the first three maìgaläcaraëa-çloké of Bhägavatam (beginning with the bottomless 1.1.1), and with the seed-verses that are the catuù- çloké (called acintya-bhedäbheda-lakñaëam)—that demonstrate the inconceivable oneness and difference of these three features of Kåñëa—the supremacy of the Queen of Bhakti will be established from the beginning till the end of this presentation.
How Çrémad Bhägavatam Is Composed:
From the 1st to the 5th canto — Kåñëa’s lotus feet, thighs and waist are the Sambandha This is Kåñëa as Madana-mohana
From the 6th to the 9th canto — Kåñëa’s chest, hands, shoulders and neck are the Abhidheya. This is Kåñëa as Govinda-ji
From the 10th to the 12th canto — Kåñëa’s smiling face, hair and top-ornaments are the Prayojana. This is Kåñëa as Gopénätha.
Brief Overview
From the basic teachings of Bhagavad-gétä to the apogees of vipralambha-prema, the 1st canto contains the whole beautiful harmony that shines through the entire transcendental form of Çrémad Bhägavatam. The 2nd canto is technically known as visarga, but along with the bloom of Universal forms, it views at length all ways to perfection and, above all, grants the essence of pure devotion and the catuù-çloké. The first and second cantos respectively form the under and upper parts of Kåñëa’s tender lotus feet …Only after seeing them may someone be able to perceive further. Up to the 5th canto (i.e. from His lotus feet to His elegant waist), Kåñëa employs the same natural way of leading the jéva as He does in the Bhagavad-gétä: first through analytical study, i.e. säìkhya, up to canto 3’s teachings of Kapiladeva; then through karma-mimäàsä and karma-miçra-bhakti, embodied by the lives of Prajäpati, Dhruva and Pracinabarhisat in canto 4; and then from jïäna to astanga-yoga to full renunciation in canto 5’s description of the lives of Priyavrata, Åñabhadeva, Jaòa Bharata and their teachings. For those who have studied Bhagavad-gétä, this will be very easy to understand because
Kåñëa leads in the same direction, and the narration follows naturally the pattern of His perfect logic that is the same divine ladder – unshakably establishing the absolute supremacy of Bhakti at every single step within these 100 chapters known as sambandha .
So abhidheya really begins to flow after canto 5, and at the same time in each successive canto—the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th—the glimpses of prayojana are becoming more and more tangible. Kåñëa’s intimate personal features gradually, smoothly overcome the general concept of God. The 5th canto ends with eleven chapters describing Kåñëa’s Universal form. In the 6th—His beautiful compassionate heart—He sends His messengers to save Ajämila, protects Indra, welcomes home Hayagréva and Våträsura, and gives His darçana as Saìkarñaëa. In the 7th canto, His arms, He appears as Nåsiàhadeva to personally protect His dear Prahläda, thus even further disclosing His concern and affection for His devotees. In the 8th canto, His lotus hands, there appears a festival of stunning appearances by Him—as Kurma, Sahasraçérñä and Matsya… Flying on Garuòa, He brings to life the demigods and demons, and together with them personally, He grabs Väsuki for churning the milk ocean; He accepts Lakñmé as His wife and later appears in response to the pure prayers of Mother Aditi. And on top of all this, He accepts two irresistibly sweet and beautiful forms—Mohiné and Vämana, defeating the pride of the three worlds and Lakñmé Herself. Canto 9 is His neck…He appears as Rämacandra. This part is considered the edge of Vrindavana, where loving exchanges are still overshadowed by dharma; but very soon, in canto 10, the sweetness of intimate love will completely defeat the mood of awe and reverence, and the lotus flower of Kåñëa’s beautiful face, with His most charming smile, will unfold and blossom fully! In the 11th, His intelligence, all the topics are systematized; and in 12th, the top of His head, rest the final conclusions and the ornaments of glorification for He and His devotees.
Sambandha-abhidheya-prayojana is in constant flow because these three loving moods are never static, but are waves in a whirlpool of love for the Divine Couple. Therefore the above description is general and very simplistic; something can be easily acknowledged in our minds. But on a deeper level, these three mellows flow like waves…surging in bigger and smaller circles inside the body of Çrémad Bhägavatam.
If the goal of churning the ocean of prema is prayojana, then prayojana is the cream of the wave at its top; sambandha is its base, and abhidheya is its rise. In each and every canto are many circles of these three moods, and the peaks, or culminations of waves, are marked by the Golden Line. This will be described later… Now let us contemplate how, in a very similar way, sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana flow within the first canto, and in the depth of verses of the maìgaläcaraëa and the catuù-çloké.
First Canto
In the very beginning, the first three Maìgaläcaraëa verses establish these three principles; then the whole canto by its chapters, expresses their aspects in the same perfect harmony and sequence. They are then fully imbibed on the scale of the entire body of Çrémad Bhägavatam as shaped by its cantos. Consequently, as cantos 1-5 are predominantly sambandha, 6-9 are abhidheya, and 10-12 are prayojana, so in the first canto, chapters 1-5 are predominantly sambandha, 6-9 are abhidheya, and chapters 10 through the end are prayojana.
Maìgaläcaraëa verses
“…Çrémad Bhägavatam opens with three maìgaläcaraëa verses composed by Çréla Vyäsadeva. The first verse reveals the connection (sambandha ) of everything in creation to its source, the Supreme Brahman Personality of Godhead Çré Kåñëa. The second verse initiates glorification of the Bhägavatam alone among all scriptures. Bhägavatam is further glorified in the second Maìgaläcaraëam verse because it makes the vastu sivadam (the auspicious substance of reality that is the true subject matter of Vedic literature) realizable; the proof of such transcendental realization being the mitigation of the threefold miseries of material life. The Bhägavatam is composed by none less than Godhead Himself in His literary incarnation as Çréla Vyäsadeva at the mature height of his spiritual wisdom. This second verse encourages humanity to take up hearing Çrémad Bhägavatam, boldly declaring that it alone obviates all other Vedic literature. This verse is clearly the abhidheya feature of the maìgaläcaraëam. Verse 3 closes the maìgaläcaraëam by describing the prayojana achieved by hearing Çrémad Bhägavatam. This particularly applies to hearers who are already liberated souls (as was the speaker, Çréla Çukadeva Gosvämé).”
Suhotra Swami
