Text 131]
Rāmānanda Rāya Instructs Pradyumna Miśra
185
SYNONYMS
tāra —his;  duḥkha dekhi —observing the unhappiness;  svarūpa —Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī;  sadaya-hṛdaya —very kindhearted;  upadeśa kailā —gave instruction;  tāre —unto him;  yaiche —so that;  hita —benefit;  haya —there can be.
TRANSLATION
Seeing the poet's unhappiness, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who was naturally very kindhearted, advised him so that he could derive some benefit.
TEXT 131
“যাহ, ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে । একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে ॥ ১৩১ ॥
“yāha, bhāgavata paḍa vaiṣṇavera sthāne ekānta āśraya kara caitanya-caraṇe
SYNONYMS
yāha —just go;  bhāgavata paḍa —read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam;  vaiṣṇavera sthāne —from a self-realized Vaiṣṇava;  ekānta āśraya kara —fully surrender;  caitanya-caraṇe —at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
TRANSLATION
“If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,” he said, “you must approach a self-realized Vaiṣṇava and hear from him. You can do this when you have completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”
PURPORT
Herein Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī instructs the poet from Bengal to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a pure Vaiṣṇava and learn from him. In India especially, there is now a class of professional  Bhāgavatam  readers whose means of livelihood is to go from village to village, town to town, reading  Bhāgavatam  and collecting  dakṣiṇa , or rewards, in the form of money or goods, like umbrellas, cloth and fruit. Thus there is now a system of  Bhāgavata  business, with recitations called  Bhāgavata-saptāha  that continue for one week, although this is not mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nowhere does Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam say that the  Bhāgavatam  should be heard for one week from professionals. Rather, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17) says:  śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ . One should regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a self-realized Vaiṣṇava. By such hearing, one becomes pious.  Hṛdy antaḥstho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt-satām . As one