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원문 2

다르마 쁘로지히따-까이따보 '뜨라 빠라모 니르맛사라남 사땀 dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
베댬 바스따밤 아뜨라 바스뚜 시바담 따빠-뜨라욘물라남 vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
스리맏-바가바떼 마하-무니-끄리떼 낌 바 빠라이르 이스바라하 śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
사됴 흐리댜바루댜떼 '뜨라 끄리띠비 슈슈루슈비스 땃-끄샤낫 sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

다르마하 — 종교성; 쁘로지히따 — 완전히 거부하다; 까이따바하 — 결실적 동기에 의해 가려진; 아뜨라 — 이러한 사실에서; 빠라마하 — 가장 높은; 니르맛사라남 — 가슴이 백퍼센트 순수한; 사땀 — 헌애자들; 베댬 — 이해할 수 있는; 바스따밤 — 실제적; 아뜨라 — 이러한 사실에서; 바스뚜 — 본질; 시바담 — 복지; 따빠-뜨라야 — 세 겹의 고통; 운물라남 — 뿌리째 뽑는 원인이 되는; 스리맛 — 아름다운; 바가바떼 — 바가바따 뿌라나; 마하-무니 — 위대한 성자(비아사데바); 끄릿떼 — 편집한;  — 무엇이;  — 필요; 빠라이히 — 다른; 이스바라하 — 지고한 주; 사댜하 — 즉시; 흐리디 — 가슴속에; 아바루댜떼 — 꽉 차다; 아뜨라 — 이러한 사실에서; 끄리띠비히 — 경건한 사람들에 의해; 슈슈루슈비히 — 문화로; 땃-끄샤낫 — 지체없이.

물질적 동기가 있는 모든 종교적 행위를 완전히 거부하며 이 바가바따 뿌라나는 가슴이 완전히 순수한 헌애자들이 이해할 수 있는 가장 높은 진리를 내세웁니다. 최고의 진리는 모든 이의 복지를 위해 환영과 구별되는 실제입니다. 그러한 진리는 세 겹의 고통을 뿌리째 뽑습니다. 이 아름다운 바가바땀은 위대한 성자 비아사데바가 원숙한 나이에 편집한 것으로 그 자체로 신을 깨닫는 데 충분합니다. 다른 경전이 무슨 필요가 있겠습니까? 바가바땀의 메시지를 주의 깊게, 그리고 순종적으로 듣자마자 이 지식의 문화로, 지고한 주가 인간의 가슴 속에 확립됩니다.

Religion includes four primary subjects, namely pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses, and finally liberation from material bondage. Irreligious life is a barbarous condition. Indeed, human life begins when religion begins. Eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating are the four principles of animal life. These are common both to animals and to human beings. But religion is the extra function of the human being. Without religion, human life is no better than animal life. Therefore, in human societies there is some form of religion which aims at self-realization and which makes reference to man’s eternal relationship with God.

In the lower stages of human civilization, there is always competition to lord it over the material nature or, in other words, there is a continuous rivalry to satisfy the senses. Driven by such consciousness, man turns to religion. He thus performs pious activities or religious functions in order to gain something material. But if such material gains are obtainable in other ways, then so-called religion is neglected. This is the situation in modern civilization. Man is thriving economically, so at present he is not very interested in religion. Churches, mosques or temples are now practically vacant. Men are more interested in factories, shops, and cinemas than in religious places which were erected by their forefathers. This practically proves that religion is performed for some economic gains. Economic gains are needed for sense gratification. Often when one is baffled in the pursuit of sense gratification, he takes to salvation and tries to become one with the Supreme Lord. Consequently, all these states are simply different types of sense gratification.

In the Vedas, the above-mentioned four activities are prescribed in the regulative way so that there will not be any undue competition for sense gratification. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is transcendental to all these sense gratificatory activities. It is purely transcendental literature which can be understood only by the pure devotees of the Lord who are transcendental to competitive sense gratification. In the material world there is keen competition between animal and animal, man and man, community and community, nation and nation. But the devotees of the Lord rise above such competitions. They do not compete with the materialist because they are on the path back to Godhead where life is eternal and blissful. Such transcendentalists are nonenvious and pure in heart. In the material world, everyone is envious of everyone else, and therefore there is competition. But the transcendental devotees of the Lord are not only free from material envy, but are well-wishers to everyone, and they strive to establish a competitionless society with God in the center. The contemporary socialist’s conception of a competitionless society is artificial because in the socialist state there is competition for the post of dictator. From the point of view of the Vedas or from the point of view of common human activities, sense gratification is the basis of material life. There are three paths mentioned in the Vedas. One involves fruitive activities to gain promotion to better planets. Another involves worshiping different demigods for promotion to the planets of the demigods, and another involves realizing the Absolute Truth and His impersonal feature and becoming one with Him.

The impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the highest. Above the impersonal feature is the Paramātmā feature, and above this is the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, or Bhagavān. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives information about the Absolute Truth in His personal feature. It is higher than impersonalist literatures and higher than the jñāna-kāṇḍa division of the Vedas. It is even higher than the karma-kāṇḍa division, and even higher than the upāsanā-kāṇḍa division, because it recommends the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the karma-kāṇḍa, there is competition to reach heavenly planets for better sense gratification, and there is similar competition in the jñāna-kāṇḍa and the upāsanā-kāṇḍa. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is superior to all of these because it aims at the Supreme Truth, which is the substance or the root of all categories. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam one can come to know the substance as well as the categories. The substance is the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord, and all emanations are relative forms of energy.

Nothing is apart from the substance, but at the same time the energies are different from the substance. This conception is not contradictory. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explicitly promulgates this simultaneously-one-and-different philosophy of the Vedānta-sūtra, which begins with the “janmādy asyasūtra.

This knowledge that the energy of the Lord is simultaneously one with and different from the Lord is an answer to the mental speculators’ attempt to establish the energy as the Absolute. When this knowledge is factually understood, one sees the conceptions of monism and dualism to be imperfect. Development of this transcendental consciousness grounded in the conception of simultaneously-one-and-different leads one immediately to the stage of freedom from the threefold miseries. The threefold miseries are (1) those miseries which arise from the mind and body, (2) those miseries inflicted by other living beings, and (3) those miseries arising from natural catastrophes over which one has no control. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam begins with the surrender of the devotee unto the Absolute Person. The devotee is fully aware that he is one with the Absolute and at the same time in the eternal position of servant to the Absolute. In the material conception, one falsely thinks himself the lord of all he surveys, and therefore he is always troubled by the threefold miseries of life. But as soon as one comes to know his real position as transcendental servant, he at once becomes free from all miseries. As long as the living entity is trying to master material nature, there is no possibility of his becoming servant of the Supreme. Service to the Lord is rendered in pure consciousness of one’s spiritual identity; by service one is immediately freed from material encumbrances.

Over and above this, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a personal commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra by Śrī Vyāsadeva. It was written in the maturity of his spiritual life through the mercy of Nārada. Śrī Vyāsadeva is the authorized incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, there is no question as to his authority. He is the author of all other Vedic literatures, yet he recommends the study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam above all others. In other Purāṇas there are different methods set forth by which one can worship the demigods. But in the Bhāgavatam only the Supreme Lord is mentioned. The Supreme Lord is the total body, and the demigods are the different parts of that body. Consequently, by worshiping the Supreme Lord, one does not need to worship the demigods. The Supreme Lord becomes fixed in the heart of the devotee immediately. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the spotless Purāṇa and distinguishes it from all other Purāṇas.

The proper method for receiving this transcendental message is to hear it submissively. A challenging attitude cannot help one realize this transcendental message. One particular word is used herein for proper guidance. This word is śuśrūṣu. One must be anxious to hear this transcendental message. The desire to sincerely hear is the first qualification.

Less fortunate persons are not at all interested in hearing this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The process is simple, but the application is difficult. Unfortunate people find enough time to hear idle social and political conversations, but when invited to attend a meeting of devotees to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam they suddenly become reluctant. Sometimes professional readers of the Bhāgavatam immediately plunge into the confidential topics of the pastimes of the Supreme Lord, which they seemingly interpret as sex literature. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is meant to be heard from the beginning. Those who are fit to assimilate this work are mentioned in this śloka: “One becomes qualified to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam after many pious deeds.” The intelligent person, with thoughtful discretion, can be assured by the great sage Vyāsadeva that he can realize the Supreme Personality directly by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Without undergoing the different stages of realization set forth in the Vedas, one can be lifted immediately to the position of paramahaṁsa simply by agreeing to receive this message.

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