Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Nārada Muni - Canto 01 and Canto 02

This article presents a thematic survey of the historical and philosophical narratives spoken by Nārada Muni in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Cantos 01 and 02. It organizes the quotes found in the Vaniquotes category Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Nārada Muni.

Nārada Muni acts as the great spiritual instigator of the Bhāgavatam. His profound instructions, whether guiding Vyāsadeva to write the epic, counseling a grieving king, or questioning the creator of the universe, uniformly point to the singular goal of human life: pure devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Nārada Muni is the 4th top speaker of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with 834 verses at Vanisource. He does not speak in the 3rd, 9th, and 12th cantos. He speaks in the 1st (83 verses), 2nd (8 verses), 4th (259 verses), 5th (5 verses), 6th (17 verses), 7th (384 verses), 8th (1 verse), 10th (51 verses), and 11th canto (26 verses).

Nārada's Chastisement of Vyāsadeva

Nārada Muni arrives at the hermitage of Vyāsadeva to diagnose the great sage's spiritual dissatisfaction after compiling the Vedas.

The Cause of Despondency

Nārada Muni observes that despite compiling the Mahābhārata and defining the impersonal Brahman, Vyāsadeva remains unfulfilled because he has not glorified the Lord's pastimes.

"Addressing Vyāsadeva, the son of Parāśara, Nārada inquired: Are you satisfied by identifying with the body or the mind as objects of self-realization?"
"Your inquiries were full and your studies were also well fulfilled, and there is no doubt that you have prepared a great and wonderful work, the Mahābhārata, which is full of all kinds of Vedic sequences elaborately explained."
"You have fully delineated the subject of impersonal Brahman as well as the knowledge derived therefrom. Why should you be despondent in spite of all this, thinking that you are undone, my dear prabhu?"
"Śrī Nārada said: You have not actually broadcast the sublime and spotless glories of the Personality of Godhead. That philosophy which does not satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord is considered worthless."

The Importance of Glorifying the Lord

Nārada Muni explains that literature devoid of God's glories is meant for crow-like men, whereas transcendental literature revolutionizes the world.

"Although, great sage, you have very broadly described the four principles beginning with religious performances, you have not described the glories of the Supreme Personality, Vāsudeva."
"Those words which do not describe the glories of the Lord, who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there."
"On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world's misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest."
"Knowledge of self-realization, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible (God). What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord?"

The Danger of Worldly Religion

Nārada Muni warns Vyāsadeva that emphasizing fruitive religion naturally misguides the masses toward material enjoyment.

"O Vyāsadeva, your vision is completely perfect. Your good fame is spotless. You are firm in vow and situated in truthfulness. And thus you can think of the pastimes of the Lord in trance for the liberation of the people in general from all material bondage."
"Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts, with different forms, names and results, to agitate the mind as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place."
"The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. Because they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activities in the name of religion and will hardly care for prohibitions."

The Supreme Goal for the Intelligent

Nārada Muni emphasizes that intelligent persons should strive only for the eternal spiritual goal, which guarantees ultimate success even if one falls down.

"The Supreme Lord is unlimited. Only a very expert personality, retired from the activities of material happiness, deserves to understand this knowledge of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so well situated, due to material attachment, should be shown the ways of transcendental realization, by Your Goodness, through descriptions of the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord."
"One who has forsaken his material occupations to engage in the devotional service of the Lord may sometimes fall down while in an immature stage, yet there is no danger of his being unsuccessful. On the other hand, a nondevotee, though fully engaged in occupational duties, does not gain anything."
"Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet (Brahmaloka) down to the lowest planet (Pātāla). As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them."
"My dear Vyāsa, even though a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes falls down somehow or other, he certainly does not undergo material existence like others (fruitive workers, etc.) because a person who has once relished the taste of the lotus feet of the Lord can do nothing but remember that ecstasy again and again."

The Cosmos and the Lord

Nārada Muni points out that the entire cosmic manifestation is ultimately nondifferent from the Lord, urging Vyāsadeva to use his perfect vision to vividly describe Him.

"The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only has this cosmic manifestation emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation. Your good self knows all about this. I have given only a synopsis."
"Your Goodness has perfect vision. You yourself can know the Supersoul Personality of Godhead because you are present as the plenary portion of the Lord. Although you are birthless, you have appeared on this earth for the well-being of all people. Please, therefore, describe the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa more vividly."
"Learned circles have positively concluded that the infallible purpose of the advancement of knowledge, namely austerities, study of the Vedas, sacrifice, chanting of hymns and charity, culminates in the transcendental descriptions of the Lord, who is defined in choice poetry."

Nārada's Previous Life

To prove the unparalleled power of devotional service, Nārada Muni begins to narrate the history of his previous life as a poor maidservant's son.

Serving the Sages

Nārada Muni recalls how, as a young boy, he attained the mercy of the great bhakti-vedāntas by engaging in their menial service.

"O muni, in the last millennium I was born as the son of a certain maidservant engaged in the service of brāhmaṇas who were following the principles of Vedānta. When they were living together during the four months of the rainy season, I was engaged in their personal service."
"Although they were impartial by nature, those followers of the Vedānta blessed me with their causeless mercy. As far as I was concerned, I was self-controlled and had no attachment for sports, even though I was a boy. In addition, I was not naughty, and I did not speak more than required."
"Once only, by their permission, I took the remnants of their food, and by so doing all my sins were at once eradicated. Thus being engaged, I became purified in heart, and at that time the very nature of the transcendentalist became attractive to me."

The Awakening of Devotion

Nārada Muni describes how simply hearing the sages narrate the attractive activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa completely transformed his consciousness.

"O Vyāsadeva, in that association and by the mercy of those great Vedāntists, I could hear them describe the attractive activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa And thus listening attentively, my taste for hearing of the Personality of Godhead increased at every step."
"O great sage, as soon as I got a taste for the Personality of Godhead, my attention to hear of the Lord was unflinching. And as my taste developed, I could realize that it was only in my ignorance that I had accepted gross and subtle coverings, for both the Lord and I are transcendental."
"Thus during two seasons-the rainy season and autumn-I had the opportunity to hear these great-souled sages constantly chant the unadulterated glories of the Lord Hari. As the flow of my devotional service began, the coverings of the modes of passion and ignorance vanished."
"I was very much attached to those sages. I was gentle in behavior, and all my sins were eradicated in their service. In my heart I had strong faith in them. I had subjugated the senses, and I was strictly following them with body and mind."

Receiving Confidential Knowledge

Nārada Muni relates how the departing sages imparted the most confidential spiritual knowledge to him as a reward for his gentle service.

"As they were leaving, those bhakti-vedāntas, who are very kind to poor-hearted souls, instructed me in that most confidential subject which is instructed by the Personality of Godhead Himself."
"By that confidential knowledge, I could understand clearly the influence of the energy of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the creator, maintainer and annihilator of everything. By knowing that, one can return to Him and personally meet Him."
"O Brāhmaṇa Vyāsadeva, it is decided by the learned that the best remedial measure for removing all troubles and miseries is to dedicate one's activities to the service of the Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead (Śrī Kṛṣṇa)."

The Remedy for Material Existence

Nārada Muni uses a medical analogy to explain how ordinary work, when dedicated to the Supreme Lord, transforms into the cure for material bondage.

"O good soul, does not a thing, applied therapeutically, cure a disease which was caused by that very same thing?"
"Thus when all a man's activities are dedicated to the service of the Lord, those very activities which caused his perpetual bondage become the destroyer of the tree of work."
"Whatever work is done here in this life for the satisfaction of the mission of the Lord is called bhakti-yoga, or transcendental loving service to the Lord, and what is called knowledge becomes a concomitant factor."
"While performing duties according to the order of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one constantly remembers Him, His names and His qualities."
"Let us all chant the glories of Vāsudeva along with His plenary expansions Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa."

The Conclusion of the Sages' Instructions

Nārada Muni finishes recalling the sages' teachings by urging Vyāsadeva to apply the same transcendental method to his literature.

"Thus he is the actual seer who worships, in the form of transcendental sound representation, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, who has no material form."
"O brāhmaṇa, thus by the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa I was endowed first with the transcendental knowledge of the Lord as inculcated in the confidential parts of the Vedas, then with the spiritual opulences, and then with His intimate loving service."
"Please, therefore, describe the Almighty Lord's activities which you have learned by your vast knowledge of the Vedas, for that will satisfy the hankerings of great learned men and at the same time mitigate the miseries of the masses of common people who are always suffering from material pangs. Indeed, there is no other way to get out of such miseries."

Nārada's Journey and Enlightenment

Nārada Muni continues his autobiography, detailing what happened to him after the sages departed and he was left alone.

The Departure of the Mother

Nārada Muni explains how the sudden death of his affectionate mother freed him to pursue his spiritual journey.

"Śrī Nārada said: The great sages, who had imparted scientific knowledge of transcendence to me, departed for other places, and I had to pass my life in this way."
"I was the only son of my mother, who was not only a simple woman but a maidservant as well. Since I was her only offspring, she had no other alternative for protection: she bound me with the tie of affection."
"She wanted to look after my maintenance properly, but because she was not independent, she was not able to do anything for me. The world is under the full control of the Supreme Lord; therefore everyone is like a wooden doll in the hands of a puppet master."
"When I was a mere child of five years, I lived in a brāhmaṇa school. I was dependent on my mother's affection and had no experience of different lands."
"Once upon a time, my poor mother, when going out one night to milk a cow, was bitten on the leg by a serpent, influenced by supreme time."

Wandering the Earth

Nārada Muni recounts how he embraced his mother's death as the Lord's special mercy and traveled extensively through various landscapes.

"I took this as the special mercy of the Lord, who always desires benediction for His devotees, and so thinking, I started for the north."
"After my departure, I passed through many flourishing metropolises, towns, villages, animal farms, mines, agricultural lands, valleys, flower gardens, nursery gardens and natural forests."
"I passed through hills and mountains full of reservoirs of various minerals like gold, silver and copper, and through tracts of land with reservoirs of water filled with beautiful lotus flowers, fit for the denizens of heaven, decorated with bewildered bees and singing birds."
"I then passed alone through many forests of rushes, bamboo, reeds, sharp grass, weeds and caves, which were very difficult to go through alone. I visited deep, dark and dangerously fearful forests, which were the play yards of snakes, owls and jackals."

Meditation in the Forest

Nārada Muni describes finding a solitary banyan tree where he meditated and received his first direct vision of the Supreme Lord.

"Thus traveling, I felt tired, both bodily and mentally, and I was both thirsty and hungry. So I took a bath in a river lake and also drank water. By contacting water, I got relief from my exhaustion."
"After that, under the shadow of a banyan tree in an uninhabited forest I began to meditate upon the Supersoul situated within, using my intelligence, as I had learned from liberated souls."
"As soon as I began to meditate upon the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead with my mind transformed in transcendental love, tears rolled down my eyes, and without delay the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared on the lotus of my heart."
"O Vyāsadeva, at that time, being exceedingly overpowered by feelings of happiness, every part of my body became separately enlivened. Being absorbed in an ocean of ecstasy, I could not see both myself and the Lord."
"The transcendental form of the Lord, as it is, satisfies the mind's desire and at once erases all mental incongruities. Upon losing that form, I suddenly got up, being perturbed, as is usual when one loses that which is desirable."

The Lord's Disappearance and Instruction

Nārada Muni explains his grief upon losing the vision, and how the Lord spoke from the ether to guide his future practice.

"I desired to see again that transcendental form of the Lord, but despite my attempts to concentrate upon the heart with eagerness to view the form again, I could not see Him any more, and thus dissatisfied, I was very much aggrieved."
"Seeing my attempts in that lonely place, the Personality of Godhead, who is transcendental to all mundane description, spoke to me with gravity and pleasing words, just to mitigate my grief."
"Then that supreme authority, personified by sound and unseen by eyes, but most wonderful, stopped speaking. Feeling a sense of gratitude, I offered my obeisances unto Him, bowing my head."
"Thus I began chanting the holy name and fame of the Lord by repeated recitation, ignoring all the formalities of the material world. Such chanting and remembering of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are benedictory. So doing, I traveled all over the earth, fully satisfied, humble and unenvious."

Liberation and Transcendental Body

Nārada Muni describes the end of his life as the maidservant's son and his ultimate elevation to a spiritual form.

"And so, O Brāhmaṇa Vyāsadeva, in due course of time I, who was fully absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa and who therefore had no attachments, being completely freed from all material taints, met with death, as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously."
"Having been awarded a transcendental body befitting an associate of the Personality of Godhead, I quit the body made of five material elements, and thus all acquired fruitive results of work (karma) stopped."
"At the end of the millennium, when the Personality of Godhead Lord Nārāyaṇa lay down within the water of devastation, Brahmā began to enter into Him along with all creative elements, and I also entered through His breathing."
"After 4,300,000,000 solar years, when Brahmā awoke to create again by the will of the Lord, all the ṛṣis like Marīci, Aṅgirā, Atri and so on were created from the transcendental body of the Lord, and I also appeared along with them."

Rebirth and Universal Travel

Nārada Muni concludes his life story by revealing his current eternal, liberated status as a traveling preacher of the Lord's glories.

"Since then, by the grace of the almighty Viṣṇu, I travel everywhere without restriction both in the transcendental world and in the three divisions of the material world. This is because I am fixed in unbroken devotional service of the Lord."
"And thus I travel, constantly singing the transcendental message of the glories of the Lord, vibrating this instrument called a vīṇā, which is charged with transcendental sound and which was given to me by Lord Kṛṣṇa."
"The Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose glories and activities are pleasing to hear, at once appears on the seat of my heart, as if called for, as soon as I begin to chant His holy activities."

The Power of Devotional Service

Nārada Muni offers a final, personal testament to Vyāsadeva regarding the unmatched power of chanting to cross the ocean of nescience.

"It is personally experienced by me that those who are always full of cares and anxieties due to desiring contact of the senses with their objects can cross the ocean of nescience on a most suitable boat-the constant chanting of the transcendental activities of the Personality of Godhead."
"It is true that by practicing restraint of the senses by the yoga system one can get relief from the disturbances of desire and lust, but this is not sufficient to give satisfaction to the soul, for this (satisfaction) is derived from devotional service to the Personality of Godhead."
"O Vyāsadeva, you are freed from all sins. Thus I have explained my birth and activities for self-realization, as you asked. All this will be conducive for your personal satisfaction also."

Consoling King Yudhiṣṭhira

In a separate incident, Nārada Muni visits Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to pacify his anxiety following the sudden, unannounced departure of his uncle Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

The Supreme Controller

Nārada Muni instructs the King that all living beings are entirely under the control of the Supreme Lord, who unites and separates them according to His will.

"Śrī Nārada said: O pious King, do not lament for anyone, for everyone is under the control of the Supreme Lord. Therefore all living beings and their leaders carry on worship to be well protected. It is He only who brings them together and disperses them."
"As a cow, bound through the nose by a long rope, is conditioned, so also human beings are bound by different Vedic injunctions and are conditioned to obey the orders of the Supreme."
"As a player sets up and disperses his playthings according to his own sweet will, so the supreme will of the Lord brings men together and separates them."
"O King, in all circumstances, whether you consider the soul to be an eternal principle, or the material body to be perishable, or everything to exist in the impersonal Absolute Truth, or everything to be an inexplicable combination of matter and spirit, feelings of separation are due only to illusory affection and nothing more."
"Therefore give up your anxiety due to ignorance of the self. You are now thinking of how they, who are helpless poor creatures, will exist without you."

The Law of Nature and the Lord's Descent

Nārada Muni reminds Yudhiṣṭhira of the harsh laws of the material world and informs him that the Lord's mission on earth is nearly complete.

"This gross material body made of five elements is already under the control of eternal time (kāla), action (karma) and the modes of material nature (guṇa). How, then, can it, being already in the jaws of the serpent, protect others?"
"Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another."
"Therefore, O King, you should look to the Supreme Lord only, who is one without a second and who manifests Himself by different energies and is both within and without."
"That Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the guise of all-devouring time (kāla-rūpa) has now descended on earth to eliminate the envious from the world."
"The Lord has already performed His duties to help the demigods, and He is awaiting the rest. You Pāṇḍavas may wait as long as the Lord is here on earth."

Dhṛtarāṣṭra's Departure to the Himalayas

Nārada Muni reveals Dhṛtarāṣṭra's location and describes the severe mystic yoga process he is undertaking to attain liberation.

"O King, your uncle Dhṛtarāṣṭra, his brother Vidura and his wife Gāndhārī have gone to the southern side of the Himalaya Mountains, where there are shelters of the great sages."
"The place is called Saptasrota ("divided by seven") because there the waters of the sacred Ganges were divided into seven branches. This was done for the satisfaction of the seven great ṛṣis."
"On the banks at Saptasrota, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is now engaged in beginning aṣṭāṅga-yoga by bathing three times daily, in the morning, noon and evening, by performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice with fire and by drinking only water. This helps one control the mind and the senses and frees one completely from thoughts of familial affection."
"One who has controlled the sitting postures (the yogic āsanas) and the breathing process can turn the senses toward the Absolute Personality of Godhead and thus become immune to the contaminations of the modes of material nature, namely mundane goodness, passion and ignorance."
"Dhṛtarāṣṭra will have to amalgamate his pure identity with intelligence and then merge into the Supreme Being with knowledge of his qualitative oneness, as a living entity, with the Supreme Brahman. Being freed from the blocked sky, he will have to rise to the spiritual sky."

The Final Mystic Fire

Nārada Muni concludes his prophecy by detailing the exact manner in which Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī will quit their material bodies.

"He will have to suspend all the actions of the senses, even from the outside, and will have to be impervious to interactions of the senses, which are influenced by the modes of material nature. After renouncing all material duties, he must become immovably established, beyond all sources of hindrances on the path."
"O King, he will quit his body, most probably on the fifth day from today. And his body will turn to ashes."
"While outside observing her husband, who will burn in the fire of mystic power along with his thatched cottage, his chaste wife will enter the fire with rapt attention."
"Vidura, being affected with delight and grief, will then leave that place of sacred pilgrimage."

Inquiries to Lord Brahmā

In the Second Canto, Nārada Muni approaches his father, the creator of the universe, with profound questions to elicit the science of God.

Questioning the Source of Creation

Nārada Muni humbly questions Brahmā to uncover the ultimate background and controller behind the material manifestation.

"Śrī Nārada Muni asked Brahmājī: O chief amongst the demigods, O firstborn living entity, I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto you. Please tell me that transcendental knowledge which specifically directs one to the truth of the individual soul and the Supersoul."
"My dear father, please describe factually the symptoms of this manifest world. What is its background? How is it created? How is it conserved? And under whose control is all this being done?"
"My dear father, all this is known to you scientifically because whatever was created in the past, whatever will be created in the future, or whatever is being created at present, as well as everything within the universe, is within your grip, just like a walnut."
"My dear father, what is the source of your knowledge? Under whose protection are you standing? And under whom are you working? What is your real position? Do you alone create all entities with material elements by your personal energy?"
"As the spider very easily creates the network of its cobweb and manifests its power of creation without being defeated by others, so also you yourself, by employment of your self-sufficient energy, create without any other's help."

The Wonder of Brahmā's Power

Nārada Muni expresses his bewilderment that someone as powerful as Brahmā still performs severe austerities, implying the existence of a higher authority.

"Whatever we can understand by the nomenclature, characteristics and features of a particular thing—superior, inferior or equal, eternal or temporary—is not created from any source other than that of Your Lordship, thou so great."
"Yet we are moved to wonder about the existence of someone more powerful than you when we think of your great austerities in perfect discipline, although your good self is so powerful in the matter of creation."
"My dear father, you know everything, and you are the controller of all. Therefore may all that I have inquired from you be kindly instructed to me so that I may be able to understand it as your student."

Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani

This article is a thematic compilation of the teachings presented in the Vaniquotes category Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Narada Muni. We invite you to visit the link to read the complete collection of verses presented in alphabetical order.