avatīrya yador vamśe
bhagavÄn bhÅ«ta-bhÄvanaḥ
ká¹›tavÄn yÄni viÅ›vÄtmÄ
tÄni no vada vistarÄt
avatÄ«rya - after descending; yadoḥ vamÅ›e - in the dynasty of Yadu; bhagavÄn - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; bhÅ«ta-bhÄvanaḥ - who is the cause of the cosmic manifestation; ká¹›tavÄn - executed; yÄni - whatever (activities); viÅ›va-ÄtmÄ - the Supersoul of the entire universe; tÄni - all of those (activities); naḥ - unto us; vada - kindly say; vistarÄt - elaborately.
The Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the cause of the cosmic manifestation, appeared in the dynasty of Yadu. Please tell me elaborately about His glorious activities and character, from the beginning to the end of His life.
In this verse the words ká¹›tavÄn yÄni indicate that all the different activities Kṛṣṇa performed while present on earth are beneficial to human society. If religionists, philosophers and people in general simply hear the activities of Kṛṣṇa, they will be liberated. We have described several times that there are two kinds of kṛṣṇa-kathÄ, represented by Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, spoken personally by Kṛṣṇa about Himself, and ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, spoken by Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« about the glories of Kṛṣṇa. Anyone who becomes even slightly interested in kṛṣṇa-kathÄ is liberated. KÄ«rtanÄd eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saá¹…gaḥ paraá¹ vrajet (BhÄg. 12.3.51). Simply by chanting or repeating kṛṣṇa-kathÄ, one is liberated from the contamination of Kali-yuga. Caitanya MahÄprabhu therefore advised, yÄre dekha, tÄre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeÅ›a (Cc. Madhya 7.128). This is the mission of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: to hear about Kṛṣṇa and thus be liberated from material bondage.
