8.36
caitanya-nitaira yate janiye mahima
yate jani krsna-bhakti-siddhantera sima
SYNONYMS
caitanya-nitaira—of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu; yate—in which; janiye—one can know; mahima—all glories; yate—in which; jani—I can understand; krsna-bhakti—of devotion to Lord Krsna; siddhantera—of the conclusion; sima—limit.
By reading Sri Caitanya-mangala one can understand all the glories and truths of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda and come to the ultimate conclusion of devotional service to Lord Krsna.
PURPORT
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the authoritative reference book from which to understand devotional service, but because it is very elaborate, few men can understand its purpose.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is the original commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, which is called nyaya-prasthana.
It was written to enable one to understand the Absolute Truth through infallible logic and argument, and therefore its natural commentary, Srimad-Bhagavatam, is extremely elaborate.
Professional reciters have created the impression that Srimad-Bhagavatam deals only with Krsna’s rasa-lila, although Krsna’s rasa-lila is described only in the Tenth Canto (chapters 29-35).
They have in this way presented Krsna to the Western world as a great woman-hunter, and therefore we sometimes have to deal with such misconceptions in preaching.
Another difficulty in understanding Srimad-Bhagavatam is that the professional reciters have introduced bhagavata-saptaha, or seven-day readings of the Bhagavatam.
They want to finish Srimad-Bhagavatam in a week, although it is so sublime that even one verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam, if properly explained, cannot be completed in three months.
Under these circumstances, it is a great aid for the common man to read Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura’s Caitanya-bhagavata, for thus he can actually understand devotional service, Krsna, Lord Caitanya and Nityananda.
Srila Rupa Gosvami has said:
sruti-smrti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate “Devotional service to the Lord that ignores the authorized Vedic scriptures like the Upanisads, Puranas, Narada-pancaratra, etc., is simply an unnecessary disturbance in society.” Due to misunderstanding Srimad-Bhagavatam, people are misled regarding the science of Krsna.
However, by reading Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura’s book one can very easily understand this science.