24.313
aham vedmi suko vetti
vyaso vetti na vetti va
bhaktya bhagavatam grahyam
na buddhya na ca tikaya
SYNONYMS
aham—I (Lord Siva); vedmi—know; sukah—Sukadeva Gosvami; vetti—knows; vyasah—Vyasadeva; vetti—knows; na vetti va—or may not know; bhaktya—by devotional service (executed in nine different processes); bhagavatam—the Bhagavata Purana (called Paramahamsa-samhita, the text or treatise readable by the topmost transcendentalists); grahyam—to be accepted; na—not; buddhya—by so-called intelligence or experimental knowledge; na—nor; ca—also; tikaya—by imaginary commentary “(Lord Siva said,) ’I may know; Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva, may know; and Vyasadeva may know or may not know the Srimad Bhagavatam.
On the whole, Srimad-Bhagavatam, the spotless Purana, can be learned only through devotional service, not by material intelligence, speculative methods or imaginary commentaries.’ ”
PURPORT
Devotional service includes nine processes, beginning with hearing, chanting and remembering the activities of Lord Visnu.
Only one who has taken to devotional service can understand Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the spotless Purana for a transcendentalist (paramahamsa).
So-called commentaries are useless for this purpose.
According to the Vedic injunction: yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau.
All Vedic literatures maintain that Srimad-Bhagavatam has to be learned from the person bhagavata, and to understand it one has to engage in pure devotional service.
Srimad-Bhagavatam cannot be understood by so-called erudite scholars or grammarians.
One who has developed pure Krsna consciousness and has served the pure devotee, the spiritual master, can understand Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Others cannot.