144
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 3]
are discussed by devotees, such literatures cannot be relished by the higher class of men. So the conclusion is that the Lord is not impersonal in the ultimate issue. He is the Supreme Person, and He has His different activities. He is the leader of all living entities, and He descends at His will and by His personal energy to reclaim the fallen souls, playing exactly like the social, political or religious leaders. Because such roles ultimately culminate in the discussion of topics of the Lord, all such preliminary topics are also transcendental. That is the way of spiritualizing the civic activities of human society. Men have inclinations for studying history and many other mundane literatures, stories, fiction, dramas, magazines, newspapers, etc., so let them be dovetailed with the transcendental service of the Lord, and all of them will turn to the topics relished by all devotees. The propaganda that the Lord is impersonal, that He has no activity, and that He is a dumb stone without any name and form has encouraged people to become godless, faithless demons, and the more they deviate from the transcendental activities of the Lord, the more they become accustomed to mundane activities that only clear their path to hell instead of return them home, back to Godhead.*  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  begins from the history of the Pāṇḍavas (with necessary politics and social activities), and yet  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is said to be the  Pāramhaṁsa-saṁhitā , or the Vedic literature meant for the topmost transcendentalist, and in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ,  paramjñāna , highest transcendental knowledge, is described. Pure devotees of the Lord are all  paramahaṁsas , and they are like the swans, who know the art of sucking milk out of a mixture of milk and water.
TEXT 15
स वै भागवतो राजा पाण्डवेयो महारथः । बालक्रीडनकैः क्रीडन् कृष्णक्रीडां य आददे ॥१५॥
*Even fifty years ago, the social structure of all Indians was so arranged that they would not read any literature which was not connected with the activities of the Lord. They would not play any drama which was not connected with the Lord. They would not organize a fair or ceremony which was not connected with the Lord. Nor would they visit a place which was not holy and sanctified by the pastimes of the Lord. Therefore even the common man in the village would talk about  Rāmāyaṇa  and  Mahābhārata ,  Gītā  and  Bhāgavatam , even from his very childhood. But by the influence of the age of Kali, they have been dragged to the civilization of the dogs and hogs, laboring for bread without any sense of transcendental knowledge.