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The following excerpt is from The Hidden Glory of India by Steven J. Rosen (Jaico Publishing House) 

 Before You Buy the Book

The Shrimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), or simply the Bhagavatam, has often been called the Bible of the Vaishnavas. A vast and encyclopedic work, the Bhagavatam surveys a broad spectrum of knowledge, including history, psychology, politics, cosmology, metaphysics, and theology.

The 19^th century American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson once exalted the Bhagavatam as a book to be read “on one’s knees.”

Vaisnavas teach that the profound revelation of the Bhagavatam was originally given by God to Brahma, the first created being, at the dawn of creation. Brahma conveyed the essence of this knowledge to Narada, and Narada passed it on to Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedic literature. Vyasa’s place in the historical dissemination of “primordial knowledge” is significant. He is said to have divided the eternal wisdom of the Veda into four distinct sections. He then summarized the essence of Vedic knowledge into aphorisms known as the Vedanta-sutras. Vyasa, however, felt some despondency – in his entire compilation and summarization of the Vedic literature, he had neglected to focus truly on the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. This was confirmed by his spiritual master, Narada, who told him that he (Vyasa) would be satisfied only if he would directly describe the name, fame, form, and activities of Krishna, the Personality of Godhead.

Heeding the advice of his guru, Vyasa compiled the Shrimad Bhagavatam – the “mature fruit of the Vedic tree of knowledge,” the “king of books,” the “spotless Purana” – as a natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutras.

There were three subsequent retellings that enhanced the sweet flavor of the Bhagavatam. The first of these occurred at Badarikashrama, high in the Himalayas. Vyasa was the speaker, and his son, Shukadeva, was the chief recipient. The second time the Bhagavatam was recited, Shukadeva was the speaker. Adding to what he had heard from his father, he recited the Bhagavatam to Maharaj Parikshit, a great king who had been cursed to die within seven days. Finally, the third retelling of the Bhagavatam took place in the forest of Naimisharanya (on the banks of the Gomati at modern Nimsar in Uttar Pradesh). Here, 60,000 sages, headed by the saint Shri Shaunaka Rishi, assembled to hear the knowledge of the Bhagavatam from Suta Goswami, a sage who had listened well when Shukadeva revealed the Bhagavatam to Maharaj Parikshit. It is the sum total of these three revelations that make up the Bhagavatam as we know it today.

No other Purana has been summarized in as many forms or commented upon with such vitality. In addition to Shridhara Swami, one of its most important commentators, Viraraghava Acharya wrote a significant commentary on it too.

Sanatan Goswami, one of Shri Chaitanya’s most distinguished followers, is said to have studied the Bhagavatam before meeting his master. However, after learning the sacred text from Mahaprabhu personally, he wrote one of his most memorable works, the Brihad Bhagavatamrita, a condensation of the entire Bhagavatam in story form. Other works by Rupa Goswami and Jiva Goswami, Sanatan’s illustrious successors, also focus on the Bhagavatam. Most recently, the exhaustive commentary of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has made the Bhagavatam clear and accessible for the modern world.

From The Hidden Glory of India by Steven J. Rosen (Jaico Publishing House) 

 Before You Buy the Book