188
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 3]
tatra kīrtayato viprā viprarṣer bhūri-tejasaḥ aham cādhyagamam tatra niviṣṭas tad anugrahāt so'ham vaḥ śrāvayiṣyāmi yathādhītam yathāmati
tatra—there; kīrtayataḥ—while reciting; viprāḥ—O brāhmaṇas; viprarṣeḥ—from the great brāhmaṇa rṣi; bhūri—greatly; tejasaḥ—powerful; aham—I; ca—also; adhyagamam—could understand; tatra—in that meeting; niviṣṭaḥ—being perfectly attentive; tat-anugrahāt—by his mercy; saḥ—that very thing; aham—I; vaḥ—unto you; śrāvayiṣyāmi—shall let you hear; yathādhītam yathāmati—as far as my realization.
TRANSLATION
O learned brāhmaṇas, when Śukadeva Gosvāmī recited Bhāgavatam there [in the presence of Emperor Parīkṣit], by his mercy I heard this from that great and powerful sage with rapt attention. Now I shall try to make you hear the very same thing as I learned it from him and as I have realized it.
PURPORT
One can certainly see directly the presence of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the pages of  Bhāgavatam  if one has heard it from a self-realized great soul like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One cannot, however, learn  Bhāgavatam  from a bogus hired reciter whose aim of life is to earn some money out of such recitation and employ the earning in sex indulgence. No one can learn  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  who is associated with persons engaged in sex life. That is the secret of learning  Bhāgavatam . Nor can one learn  Bhāgavatam  from one who interprets the text by his mundane scholarship. One has to learn  Bhāgavatam  from the representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī and no one else, if one at all wants to see Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the pages. That is the process, and there is no alternative. Sūta Gosvāmī is a bona fide representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī because he wants to present the message which he had received from the great learned  brāhmaṇa . Śukadeva Gosvāmī also presented  Bhāgavatam  as he heard it from his great father, and so also Sūta Gosvāmī is presenting  Bhāgavatam  as he had heard it from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Simple hearing is not all; one must realize the text with proper