Å›rÄ«mad-bhÄgavatÄrthÄnÄm
ÄsvÄdo rasikaiḥ saha
sajÄtÄ«yÄÅ›aye snigdhe
sÄdhau saá¹…gaḥ svato vare

 Å›rÄ«mad-bhÄgavata - of the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam; arthÄnÄm - of the meanings; ÄsvÄdaḥ - enjoying the taste; rasikaiḥ saha - with the devotees; sa-jÄtÄ«ya - similar; ÄÅ›aye - endowed with a desire; snigdhe - advanced in devotional affection; sÄdhau - with a devotee; saá¹…gaḥ - association; svataḥ - for one's self; vare - better.


Text

“ ‘One should taste the meaning of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam in the association of pure devotees, and one should associate with the devotees who are more advanced than oneself and who are endowed with a similar type of affection for the Lord.

Purport

The words sajÄtÄ«yÄÅ›aye snigdhe sÄdhau saá¹…gaḥ svato vare are very important. One should not associate with professional BhÄgavatam reciters. A professional BhÄgavatam reciter is one who is not in the disciplic succession or one who has no taste for bhakti-yoga. Simply on the strength of grammatical knowledge and word jugglery, professional reciters maintain their bodies and their desires for sense gratification by reading ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. One should also avoid those who are averse to Lord Viṣṇu and His devotees, those who are MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s, those who offend the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, those who simply dress as Vaiṣṇavas or so-called gosvÄmÄ«s, and those who make a business by selling Vedic mantras and reciting ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam to maintain their families. One should not try to understand ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam from such materialistic people. According to the Vedic injunctions, yasya deve parÄ bhaktiḥ. The ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam can be recited only by one who has unflinching faith in the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, the spiritual master. One should try to understand ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam from the spiritual master. The Vedic injunction states, bhaktyÄ bhÄgavataá¹ grÄhyaá¹ na buddhyÄ na ca á¹­Ä«kayÄ. One has to understand ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam through the process of devotional service and by hearing the recitation of a pure devotee. These are the injunctions of the Vedic literature — Å›ruti and smá¹›ti. Those who are not in the disciplic succession and who are not pure devotees cannot understand the real mysterious objective of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and ÅšrÄ«mad Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ.