इदं भागवतं नाम पुराणं ब्रह्मसम्मितम् । उत्तमश्लोकचरितं चकार भगवानृषि: । नि:श्रेयसाय लोकस्य धन्यं स्वस्त्ययनं महत् ॥ ४०॥

idaá¹ bhÄgavataá¹ nÄma
purÄṇaá¹ brahma-sammitam
uttama-Å›loka-caritaá¹
cakÄra bhagavÄn ṛṣiḥ
niḥśreyasÄya lokasya
dhanyaá¹ svasty-ayanaá¹ mahat

 idam - this; bhÄgavatam - book containing the narration of the Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees; nÄma - of the name; purÄṇam - supplementary to the Vedas; brahma-sammitam - incarnation of Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa; uttama-Å›loka - of the Personality of Godhead; caritam - activities; cakÄra - compiled; bhagavÄn - incarnation of the Personality of Godhead; á¹›á¹£iḥ - ÅšrÄ« VyÄsadeva; niḥśreyasÄya - for the ultimate good; lokasya - of all people; dhanyam - fully successful; svasti-ayanam - all-blissful; mahat - all-perfect.


Text

This ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam is the literary incarnation of God, and it is compiled by ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva, the incarnation of God. It is meant for the ultimate good of all people, and it is all-successful, all-blissful and all-perfect.

Purport

Lord ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu declared that ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam is the spotless sound representation of all Vedic knowledge and history. There are selected histories of great devotees who are in direct contact with the Personality of Godhead. ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam is the literary incarnation of Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa and is therefore nondifferent from Him. ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam should be worshiped as respectfully as we worship the Lord. Thereby we can derive the ultimate blessings of the Lord through its careful and patient study. As God is all light, all bliss and all perfection, so also is ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. We can have all the transcendental light of the Supreme Brahman, ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa, from the recitation of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, provided it is received through the medium of the transparent spiritual master. Lord Caitanya’s private secretary ÅšrÄ«la SvarÅ«pa DÄmodara GosvÄmÄ« advised all intending visitors who came to see the Lord at PurÄ« to make a study of the BhÄgavatam from the person BhÄgavatam. Person BhÄgavatam is the self-realized bona fide spiritual master, and through him only can one understand the lessons of BhÄgavatam in order to receive the desired result. One can derive from the study of the BhÄgavatam all benefits that are possible to be derived from the personal presence of the Lord. It carries with it all the transcendental blessings of Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa that we can expect from His personal contact.