Srimad Bhagavatam emphasizes a lot on shravanam (listening) and says that just listening to katha can help one seek Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and nothing else is needed. In the 5th sloka of chapter 8 in Canto 2 of Srimad Bhagavatam, Parikshith says that Sri Krishna enters our hearts through the holes of our ears and cleans our heart of all its impurities and erases our mind of any negativities.
We have 11 indriyas or sense organs. In these, we have 5 jnana indriyas. These are the 5 organs of perception, through which we see, listen, smell, taste, and touch things. We can get inputs from every one of these jnana indriyas, and they shape our thoughts, which shape us. So it is very important to make sure we engage our sense organs in a positive way, so that we can also think positively. For example, when we see an image of a God, it can trigger a chain of thoughts. His flute can remind us of Venu geetam, the parrot of Madhuri Sakhi can remind us of a Madhurageetham of our Guru Maharaj, “nI vaLarkkum kiLiyAy nAn Aga vENDum – rAdhE” – in which Sri Guruji prays to Sri Radha Rani saying, “I want to become the parrot in your hands, I want to learn Bhagavan nama from you and if you ask me to chant Krishna, I will not just chant Krishna, but also chant Radhe Krishna.” This can also trigger the sequence of thoughts. So Srimad Bhagavatam emphasizes on listening, or using the jnana indriya of our ears.
Our Guru Maharaj says that is as if when you go to a satsang, you receive all the prasadam in your ears, and that is the sole purpose for them. Every other organ can be technically closed in some way, if you choose to. Eyes can be closed tight, the mouth can be shut, you can choose to not touch something, you can hold your breath to not smell. But for your ears, you cannot close them naturally. Sri Guruji says that this is because Bhagavan has designed them like this so that even if we happen to hear a little bit of katha or Nama, we will still get the phala (result) and Bhagavan will enter into us through these ears.
Our Guru Maharaj illustrates this with two beautiful kathas. The first one involves two close friends Ram and Shyam. Ram is a diabetic who has a habit of ignoring his doctor’s advice. One day, Ram was sleeping in his house all by himself, with all the doors locked. As he hadn’t had his food in the morning, his body went into a low sugar mode and he became unconscious. If he continued to be in this state for some more time, it could turn dangerous for Ram. At that time, Shyam decides to come over to Ram’s house. Hearing no answer to his knocks, he knows something is wrong and frantically tries to get into the house. Finally, he climbs into the one open window on the top floor where Ram is sleeping and finding Ram unconscious, saves him. Our Guru Maharaj says – we are like that Ram, who is unconscious, who does not realize we have a great friend like Shyam and absolutely no one else who could save him. We don’t realize that Bhagavan is our Atma Bandhu, our best friend. We don’t know what is good for us and as we lie unconscious, Bhagavan finds his way to save us by entering through the one window that can’t be closed, which is our ears. He enters into our heart through our ears. Bhagavan completely washes our mind and when there is no dirt left, He sits in our heart.
The second katha is that of Raskhan, a great bhagavata who belonged to Sri Vallabha Sampradhaya. Sri Vallabhacharya was the contemprary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,who established the most beautiful path to celebrate and worship Bhagavan, called Pushti Marga. He had many great sadhus as his disciples. There were totally 8 of them who were called as Ashta dasas in Vallabha sampradhaya. Out of these, four of them were direct disciples of Sri Vallabacharya and four of them were the disciples of Sri Vittalanatha who was the son of Sri Vallabacharya. Raskhan was a business man. He was a jeweler by profession who did not belong to our Sanatana Dharma. He was a collector of rare gems, which he would sell to his wealthy clients. One day, he happened to be in the possession of a very rare and large diamond. He was excited to have the opportunity to offer it to his top clients, who he was sure would pay a large sum of money to acquire it. He decided that he should not waste any time and went to his first client’s place. The client’s wife came outside and said that her husband had gone to the temple. He thought – maybe this client is not lucky today, and went to his second client. It was the same story there, the client had gone to the temple. So this was the case with all his clients, everyone seemed to have gone to the temple to attend the same event. Raskhan, if nothing, was a persistent businessman. He thought, if my clients are all assembled at one place, maybe it is easier to bring this diamond to the temple and offer it for sale there. So, he too went to the temple. There was a big tent and 1000s of people were sitting and listening to someone speak. Raskhan had no idea, but the great Mahatma, Sri Vittalanath Gowswami was doing Srimad Bhagavatam katha. Sri Vittalanath Goswami was telling the Venugeetham part of the 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. He was describing Sri Krishna’s lovely form in the sloka –
barhApidam naTavaravapuh karNayoh karNikaram
bibhrad vAsah kanaka-kapisham vaijayantIm cha mAlAm
randhrAn veNor adhara-sudhayA pUrayan gopa-vrndaih
vrndAraNyam svapadaramaNam prAvishad gIta kIrtih
Sri Vittalanatha Goswami was describing Sri Krishna with lotus-like eyes, sitting under a banyan tree on the banks of Yamuna, with His legs crossed, His peethambara shining, adorned with peacock feathers. Krishna was playing beautiful venu ganam from His flute. As Sri Vittalanatha Goswami described Sri Krishna as the dark blue-hued Neela Bala, everyone who was in the satsang, including Raskhan, was absolutely mesmerized. Raskhan, who had never heard of Srimad Bhagavatam or about Krishna, was completely lost in the beauty of Sri Krishna. He dropped the jewel box with the large diamond that he was trying to sell, and started running towards the stage to Sri Vittalanath Goswami. He asked the Mahatma where he could meet this beautiful boy that he had just described. Sri Vittalanatha Goswami said, “You can find him in Brindavan”. Immediately, Raskhan traveled to Brindavan. He went to each house there and asked, “Where can I find this blue-hued boy adorned with peacock feathers and yellow peethambara who plays the flute – where can I find this Neela Bala?” The divine people of Brindavan understood Raskhan’s state. They told him to go to the top of Govardhana hill, to Srinathji’s temple, and that he would find Neela Bala there.
By the time Raskhan reached Srinathji’s temple, it was already a few days since he left Delhi to come to Brindavan, and with his search for Neela Bala, he had not eaten, slept or bathed; he looked completely disheveled. The priests at Srinathji’s temple would not allow him inside in this state. Meanwhile, Raskhan kept remembering Goswami ji’s pravachan – Hadn’t he said that Neela Bala comes out with his friends to graze cows? Maybe, Neela Bala would come out any time. Thus thinking, he kept waiting outside waiting for Neela Bala, without food or sleep or anything else. At this time, Sri Vittalanatha Goswami returned from Delhi back to Srinathji’s temple. As he entered, the priests told him about the madman who had been outside waiting to see Neela Bala. Goswamiji went to meet him and understood that it was the same person who had asked him where he could meet Neela Bala during his pravachan.
Sri Vittalanatha Goswamiji understood Raskhan’s state of divine bhava from listening to Sri Krishna’s description, and believed he was the ideal bhakta to get Sri Krishna’s divine darshan. He immediately tooks Raskhan past all the priests and into the temple. There, as the curtain opened, Raskhan had the darshan of Srinathji as Krishna in the same form, as Neela Bala, as described by Goswamiji.
Raskhan went on to become a great disciple of Sri Vittalanatha Goswami and has sung several beautiful songs on Sri Krishna and Sri Radha Devi.
That is the beauty of listening to Srimad Bhagavata Katha. Our Guruji says, you don’t have to even listen to Bhagavatha Katha – the moment you even desire to listen to it, Bhagavan himself will enter your heart and purify it. That is the beauty of Srimad Bhagavatam.
By Srinidhi Vijay Nenmeni, 13 yrs, Alpharetta, GA Based on Sri Poornimaji’s Kishora Bhagavatam sessions
