Srimad Bhagavatham of Sri Krishnadvaipayana Vyasa: Vol-4 (An Old & Rare Book)

PREFACE This is the last volume of our project containing XI and XII Skandhas of the Srimad Bhagavatam of Sri Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. This Skandha although incidentally starts with the Providential act of disposing of the Yadavas, the essential lessons of the Nava Yogindras (mystic devotees) which followed with the most crowning wisdom imparted by the Lord Himself to His most favourite devotee Sri Uddhava is the acme of the context. In the Nava Yogindra Upakh vana we get clear exposition about the Yuga dharma and it dearly states Who is the God to be worshipped in this most confused yuga of Kali and the method of worship thereof.

This episode of the Nava Yogindra is dealt with in four chapters, from the second to the fifth and forms one of the most illuminating sections of the Bhagavatam. After the fulfilment of His mission Lord Sri Krishna when desired to leave this world for His Eternal Abode: Brahma alongwith gods, rishis and others came to Dwarakā to receive the command of Sri Krishna for carrying out their assigned duties and also to be blessed by His benediction. They extolled Him with hymns couched in charming. words, pregnant with essential philosophical wisdom.

For the fulfilment of the Lord's mission some demi-gods took place in the very persons of certain Yadavas, as they were the In-charge of certain affairs of the world and therefore for sending them to their respective places and to make the Yadavas, His Own men disappear with their bodies, without the notice of the mortal beings, the Lord when just makes the preparation to proceed to Prabhasa that is, before taking what is known as 'Maushala-Leela' finding the preparations of the Yadavas for their journey to Prabhasa Sri Uddhava, the constant and most faithful follower of Sri Krishna met the Lord in seclusion and paid Him obeisance in all humility and prayed the Lord to im part divine lesson in the way by which man can attain to his final beatitude viz. summum bonum of life. The twenty-three chapters beginning from the 7th and ending with the 29th deal with the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Sri Uddhava and which is commonly known as"Uddhava Gita'.

In all these a through survey of the entire field of religion and philosophy is solicited with a view to establish ing supremacy, without any ambiguity, of the unalloyed devotion. By the bye, herein is thoroughly refuted, the ways of life of the people who live for gross material enjoyment and also the man's endeavour for Vedic ritualis. tic performances is critically criticised. God Sri Krishna proclaimed that the Vedic ritualism and its provision of enjoyment here and hereafter are meant only to attract the childishly sense-bound man to the Vedic way of life and gradually make him to transcend the mundanity by leading him to the path of devotion-only the means to overcome the domination of the gunas of prakriti is the true import of the Vedas. Herein supreme importance is given to the constant association with holy devotees (sat-sanga), which assiduously lifts oneself from the plane of mundanity to the plane of Transcendence; whereas spiritual downfall is sure if even incidentally one falls a prey to lustful propensities. For an aspirant better to embrace death than to fall a prey to any woman, or even to associate himself with womanised man. In the spiritual life, worse than anything is the infatuation for gratification of lust in union with opposite sex.

**Contents and Sample Pages**