6
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
features, but the Supreme Personality knows everything about both His external and internal features.
The words  janmādy asya  suggest that the source of all production, maintenance or destruction is the same supreme conscious person. Even in our present experience we can know that nothing is generated from inert matter, but inert matter can be generated from the living entity. For instance, by contact with the living entity, the material body develops into a working machine. Men with a poor fund of knowledge mistake the bodily machinery to be the living being, but the fact is that the living being is the basis of the bodily machine. The bodily machine is useless as soon as the living spark is away from it. Similarly, the original source of all material energy is the Supreme Person. This fact is expressed in all the Vedic literatures, and all the exponents of spiritual science have accepted this truth. The living force is called  Brahman , and one of the greatest  ācāryas  (teachers), namely Śrīpāda Saṅkarācārya, has preached that Brahman is substance whereas the cosmic world is category. The original source of all energies is the living force, and He is logically accepted as the Supreme Person. He is therefore conscious of everything past, present and future, and also of each and every corner of His manifestations, both material and spiritual. An imperfect living being does not even know what is happening within his own personal body. He eats his food but does not know how this food is transformed into energy or how it sustains his body. When a living being is perfect, he is aware of everything that happens, and since the Supreme Person is all-perfect, it is quite natural that He knows everything in all detail. Consequently the perfect personality is addressed in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  as Vāsudeva, or one who lives everywhere in full consciousness and in full possession of His complete energy. All of this is clearly explained in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , and the reader has ample opportunity to study this critically.
In the modern age Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu preached the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  by practical demonstration. It is easier to penetrate into the topics of the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  through the medium of Śrī Caitanya's causeless mercy. Therefore a short sketch of His life and precepts is inserted herein to help the reader understand the real merit of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam .
It is imperative that one learn the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  from the person  Bhāgavatam . The person  Bhāgavatam  is one whose very life is  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  in practice. Since Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is both Bhagavān and  Bhāgavatam  in person and in sound. Therefore His process of approaching the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam