22 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 1
completely freed from material desires (nivrtta-tarsaih). Everyone
within this material world, beginning from Brahma down to the insig-
nificant ant, is full of material desires for sense enjoyment, and everyone
is busy in sense gratification, but when thus engaged one cannot fully
understand the value of krsna-kathd, either in the form of Bhagavad-
gita or in Srimad-Bhagavatam.

If we hear the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from
liberated persons, this hearing will certainly free us from the bondage of
material activities, but hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam spoken by a profes-
sional reciter cannot actually help us achieve liberation. Krsna-kathd is
very simple. In Bhagavad-gita it is said that Krsna is the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead. As He Himself explains, mattah parataram ndanyat
kifcid asti dhanafjaya: “‘O Arjuna, there is no truth superior to Me.”
(Bg. 7.7) Simply by understanding this fact—that Krsna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead—one can become a liberated person. But, es-
pecially in this age, because people are interested in hearing Bhagavad-
gita from unscrupulous persons who depart from the simple presentation
of Bhagavad-gita and distort it for their personal satisfaction, they fail to
derive the real benefit. There are big scholars, politicians, philosophers
and scientists who speak on Bhagavad-gita in their own polluted way,
and people in general hear from them, being uninterested in hearing the
glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from a devotee. A devotee
is one who has no other motive for reciting Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-
Bhagavatam than to serve the Lord. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has
therefore advised us to hear the glories of the Lord from a realized per-
son (bhdgavata paro diya bhdgavata sthane). Unless one is personally a
realized soul in the science of Krsna consciousness, a neophyte should not
approach him to hear about the Lord, for this is strictly forbidden by
Srila Sandtana Gosvami, who quotes from the Padma Purana:

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
pitam hari-kathamrtam
Sravanam naiva kartavyam
sarpocchistam yatha payah
One should avoid hearing from a person not situated in Vaisnava
behavior. A Vaisnava is nivrtta-trsna; that is, he has no material pur-
