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Divinity and Divine Service
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he likes the taste of the twigs mixed with blood. He does not realize that it is his own blood and that his tongue is being cut by the thorns. Similarly, to the materialist his own blood is as sweet as honey, and although he is always harassed by his own material creations, he does not wish to escape. Such materialists are called  karmīs . Out of hundreds of thousands of  karmīs , only a few may feel tired of material engagement and desire to get out of the labyrinth. Such intelligent persons are called  jñānīs . The  Vedānta-sūtra  is directed to such  jñānīs . But Śrīla Vyāsadeva, being the incarnation of the Supreme Lord, could foresee the misuse of the  Vedānta-sūtra  by unscrupulous men, and, therefore, he personally supplemented the  Vedānta-sūtra  with the  Bhāgavata Purāna . It is clearly said that this  Bhāgavatam  is the original commentary on the  Brahma-sūtras . Śrīla Vyāsadeva also instructed the  Bhāgavatam  to his own son, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was already at the liberated stage of transcendence. Śrīla Śukadeva realized it personally and then explained it. By the mercy of Śrīla Śukadeva, the  Bhāgavat-Vedānta-sūtra  is available for all those sincere souls who want to get out of material existence.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is the one unrivalled commentary on  Vedānta-sūtra . Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya intentionally did not touch it because he knew that it would be difficult for him to surpass the natural commentary. He wrote his  Śārīraka-bhāṣya , and his so-called followers deprecated the  Bhāgavatam  as some “new” presentation. One should not be misled by such propaganda directed against the  Bhāgavatam  by the Māyāvāda school. From this introductory  śloka , the beginning student should know that  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is the only transcendental literature meant for those who are  paramahaṁsas  and completely freed from the material disease called malice. The Māyāvādīs are envious of the Personality of Godhead despite Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya’s admission that Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is above the material creation. The envious Māyāvādī cannot have access to the  Bhāgavatam , but those who are really anxious to get out of this material existence may take shelter of this  Bhāgavatam  because it is uttered by the liberated Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. It is the transcendental torchlight by which one can see perfectly the transcendental Absolute Truth realized as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.
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नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् । देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं नतो जयमुदीरयेत् ॥ ४ ॥