Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Three

SB2.3.13

TEXT 13

saunaka uvaca

ity abhivyahrtam raja

nisamya bharatarsabhah

kim anyat prstavan bhuyo

vaiyasakim rsim kavim

SYNONYMS

saunakah uvaca—Saunaka said; iti—thus; abhivyahrtam—all that was spoken; raja—the King; nisamya—by hearing; bharata-rsabhah—Maharaja Pariksit; kim—what; anyat—more; prstavan—did he inquire from him; bhuyah—again; vaiyasakim—unto the son of Vyasadeva; rsim—one who is well versed; kavim—poetic.

TRANSLATION

Saunaka said: The son of Vyasadeva, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, was a highly learned sage and was able to describe things in a poetic manner. What did Maharaja Pariksit again inquire from him after hearing all that he had said?

PURPORT

A pure devotee of the Lord automatically develops all godly qualities, and some of the prominent features of those qualities are as follows: he is kind, peaceful, truthful, equable, faultless, magnanimous, mild, clean, nonpossessive, a well-wisher to all, satisfied, surrendered to Krsna, without hankering, simple, fixed, self-controlled, a balanced eater, sane, mannerly, prideless, grave, sympathetic, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. Out of these twenty-six prominent features of a devotee, as described by Krsnadasa Kaviraja in his Caitanya-caritamrta, the qualification of being poetic is especially mentioned herein in relation to Sukadeva Gosvami. The presentation of Srimad-Bhagavatam by his recitation is the highest poetic contribution. He was a self-realized learned sage. In other words, he was a poet amongst the sages.

SB2.3.14

TEXT 14

etac chusrusatam vidvan

suta no ’rhasi bhasitum

katha hari-kathodarkah

satam syuh sadasi dhruvam

SYNONYMS

etat—this; susrusatam—of those eager to hear; vidvan—O learned; suta—Suta Gosvami; nah—unto us; arhasi—may you do it; bhasitum—just to explain it; kathah—topics; hari-katha-udarkah—result in the topics of the Lord; satam—of the devotees; syuh—may be; sadasi—in the assembly of; dhruvam—certainly.

TRANSLATION

O learned Suta Gosvami! Please continue to explain such topics to us because we are all eager to hear. Besides that, topics which result in the discussion of the Lord Hari should certainly be discussed in the assembly of devotees.

PURPORT

As we have already quoted above from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of Rupa Gosvami, even mundane things, if dovetailed in the service of the Lord Sri Krsna, are accepted as transcendental. For example, the epics or the histories of Ramayana and Mahabharata, which are specifically recommended for the less intelligent classes (women, sudras and unworthy sons of the higher castes), are also accepted as Vedic literature because they are compiled in connection with the activities of the Lord. Mahabharata is accepted as the fifth division of the Vedas after its first four divisions, namely Sama, Yajur, Rg and Atharva. The less intelligent do not accept Mahabharata as part of the Vedas, but great sages and authorities accept it as the fifth division of the Vedas. Bhagavad-gita is also part of the Mahabharata, and it is full of the Lord’s instruction for the less intelligent class of men. Some less intelligent men say that Bhagavad-gita is not meant for householders, but such foolish men forget that Bhagavad-gita was explained to Arjuna, a grhastha (family man), and spoken by the Lord in His role as a grhastha. So Bhagavad-gita, although containing the high philosophy of the Vedic wisdom, is for the beginners in the transcendental science, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is for graduates and postgraduates in the transcendental science. Therefore literatures like Mahabharata, the, puranas and similar other literatures which are full of the pastimes of the Lord, are all transcendental literatures, and they should be discussed with full confidence in the society of great devotees.

The difficulty is that such literatures, when discussed by professional men, appear to be mundane literature like histories or epics because there are so many historical facts and figures. It is said here, therefore, that such literatures should be discussed in the assembly of devotees. Unless they are discussed by devotees, such literatures cannot be relished by the higher class of men. So the conclusion is that the Lord is not impersonal in the ultimate issue. He is the Supreme Person, and He has His different activities. He is the leader of all living entities, and He descends at His will and by His personal energy to reclaim the fallen souls. Thus He plays exactly like the social, political or religious leaders. Because such roles ultimately culminate in the discussion of topics of the Lord, all such preliminary topics are also transcendental. That is the way of spiritualizing the civic activities of human society. Men have inclinations for studying history and many other mundane literatures—stories, fiction, dramas, magazines, newspapers, etc.—so let them be dovetailed with the transcendental service of the Lord, and all of them will turn to the topics relished by all devotees. The propaganda that the Lord is impersonal, that He has no activity and that He is a dumb stone without any name and form has encouraged people to become godless, faithless demons, and the more they deviate from the transcendental activities of the Lord, the more they become accustomed to mundane activities that only clear their path to hell instead of return them home, back to Godhead.* Srimad-Bhagavatam begins from the history of the Pandavas (with necessary politics and social activities), and yet Srimad-Bhagavatam is said to be the Paramahamsa-samhita, or the Vedic literature meant for the topmost transcendentalist, and it describes param jnanam, the highest transcendental knowledge. pure devotees of the Lord are all paramahamsas, and they are like the swans, who know the art of sucking milk out of a mixture of milk and water.

SB2.3.15

TEXT 15

sa vai bhagavato raja

pandaveyo maha-rathah

bala-kridanakaih kridan

krsna-kridam ya adade

SYNONYMS

sah—he; vai—certainly; bhagavatah—a great devotee of the Lord; raja—Maharaja Pariksit; pandaveyah—grandson of the Pandavas; maha-rathah—a great fighter; bala—while a child; kridanakaih—with play dolls; kridan—playing; krsna—Lord Krsna; kridam—activities; yah—who; adade—accepted.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Pariksit, the grandson of the Pandavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Krsna by imitating the worship of the family Deity.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gita (6.41) it is stated that even a person who has failed in the proper discharge of yoga practice is given a chance to take birth in the house of devout brahmanas or in the houses of rich men like ksatriya kings or rich merchants. But Maharaja Pariksit was more than that because he had been a great devotee of the Lord since his previous birth, and as such he took his birth in an imperial family of the Kurus, and especially that of the Pandavas. So from the very beginning of his childhood he had the chance to know intimately the devotional service of Lord Krsna in his own family. The Pandavas, all being devotees of the Lord, certainly venerated family Deities in the royal palace for worship. Children who appear in such families fortunately generally imitate such worship of the Deities, even in the way of childhood play. By the grace of Lord Sri Krsna, we had the chance of being born in a Vaisnava family, and in our childhood we imitated the worship of Lord Krsna by imitating our father. Our father encouraged us in all respects to observe all functions such as the Ratha-yatra and Dola-yatra ceremonies, and he used to spend money liberally for distributing prasada to us children and our friends. Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaisnava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaisnava father, Thakura Bhaktivinoda. That is the way of all lucky Vaisnava families. The celebrated Mira Bai was a staunch devotee of Lord Krsna as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill.

The life history of many such devotees is almost the same because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. According to Jiva Gosvami, Maharaja Pariksit must have heard about the childhood pastimes of Lord Krsna at Vrndavana, for he used to imitate the pastimes with his young playmates. According to Sridhara Svami, Maharaja Pariksit used to imitate the worship of the family Deity by elderly members. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti also confirms the viewpoint of Jiva Gosvami. So accepting either of them, Maharaja Pariksit was naturally inclined to Lord Krsna from his very childhood. He might have imitated either of the above-mentioned activities, and all of them establish his great devotion from his very childhood, a symptom of a maha-bhagavata. Such maha-bhagavatas are called nitya-siddhas, or souls liberated from birth. But there are also others, who may not be liberated from birth but who develop a tendency for devotional service by association, and they are called sadhana-siddhas. There is no difference between the two in the ultimate issue, and so the conclusion is that everyone can become a sadhana-siddha, a devotee of the Lord, simply by association with the pure devotees. The concrete example is our great spiritual master Sri Narada Muni. In his previous life he was simply a boy of a maidservant, but through association with great devotees he became a devotee of the Lord of his own standard, unique in the history of devotional service.

SB2.3.16

TEXT 16

vaiyasakis ca bhagavan

vasudeva-parayanah

urugaya-gunodarah

satam syur hi samagame

SYNONYMS

vaiyasakih—the son of Vyasadeva; ca—also; bhagavan—full in transcendental knowledge; vasudeva—Lord Krsna; parayanah—attached to; urugaya—of the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, who is glorified by great philosophers; guna-udarah—great qualities; satam—of the devotees; syuh—must have been; hi—as a matter of fact; samagame—by the presence of.

TRANSLATION

Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva, was also full in transcendental knowledge and was a great devotee of Lord Krsna, son of Vasudeva. So there must have been discussion of Lord Krsna, who is glorified by great philosophers and in the company of great devotees.

PURPORT

The word satam is very important in this verse. Satam means the pure devotees, who have no other desire than to serve the Lord. Only in the association of such devotees are the transcendental glories of Lord Krsna properly discussed. It is said by the Lord that His topics are all full of spiritual significance, and once one properly hears about Him in the association of the satam, certainly one senses the great potency and so automatically attains to the devotional stage of life. As already described, Maharaja Pariksit was a great devotee of the Lord from his very birth, and so was Sukadeva Gosvami. Both of them were on the same level, although it appeared that Maharaja Pariksit was a great king accustomed to royal facilities whereas Sukadeva Gosvami was a typical renouncer of the world, so much so that he did not even put a cloth on his body. Superficially, Maharaja Pariksit and Sukadeva Gosvami might seem to be opposites, but basically they were both unalloyed pure devotees of the Lord. When such devotees are assembled together, there can be no topics save discussions of the glories of the Lord, or bhakti-yoga. In the Bhagavad-gita also, when there were talks between the Lord and His devotee Arjuna, there could not be any topic other than bhakti-yoga, however the mundane scholars may speculate on it in their own ways. The use of the word ca after vaiyasakih suggests, according to Srila Jiva Gosvami, that both Sukadeva Gosvami and Maharaja Pariksit were of the same category, settled long before, although one was playing the part of the master and the other the disciple. Since Lord Krsna is the center of the topics, the word vasudeva-parayanah, or “devotee of Vasudeva,” suggests devotee of Lord Krsna, the common aim. Although there were many others who assembled at the place where Maharaja Pariksit was fasting, the natural conclusion is that there was no topic other than the glorification of Lord Krsna, because the principal speaker was Sukadeva Gosvami and the chief audience was Maharaja Pariksit. So Srimad-Bhagavatam, as it was spoken and heard by two principal devotees of the Lord, is only for the glorification of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.

SB2.3.17

TEXT 17

ayur harati vai pumsam

udyann astam ca yann asau

tasyarte yat-ksano nita

uttama-sloka-vartaya

SYNONYMS

ayuh—duration of life; harati—decreases; vai—certainly; pumsam—of the people; udyan—rising; astam—setting; ca—also; yan—moving; asau—the sun; tasya—of one who glorifies the Lord; rte—except; yat—by whom; ksanah—time; nitah—utilized; uttama-sloka—the all-good Personality of Godhead; vartaya—in the topics of.

TRANSLATION

Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jiva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened. In the Bhagavad-gita (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.” As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Sukadeva Gosvami prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smrti-sastras as quoted by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brahmana. If the money is given in charity to a non-brahmana (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brahmana, even then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brahmana, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-paraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication. The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhama gatva punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

SB2.3.18

TEXT 18

taravah kim na jivanti

bhastrah kim na svasanty uta

na khadanti na mehanti

kim grame pasavo ’pare

SYNONYMS

taravah—the trees; kim—whether; na—do not; jivanti—live; bhastrah—bellows; kim—whether; na—do not; svasanti—breathe; uta—also; na—do not; khadanti—eat; na—do not; mehanti—discharge semen; kim—whether; grame—in the locality; pasavah—beastly living being; apare—others.

TRANSLATION

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?

PURPORT

The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration. But the Srimad-Bhagavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.

The materialists want to prolong life as much as possible because they have no information of the next life. They want to get the maximum comforts in this present life because they think conclusively that there is no life after death. This ignorance about the eternity of the living being and the change of covering in the material world has played havoc in the structure of modern human society. Consequently there are many problems, multiplied by various plans of modernized man. The plans for solving the problems of society have only aggravated the troubles. Even if it is possible to prolong life more than one hundred years, advancement of human civilization does not necessarily follow. The Bhagavatam says that certain trees live for hundreds and thousands of years. At Vrndavana there is a tamarind tree (the place is known as Imlitala) which is said to have existed since the time of Lord Krsna. In the Calcutta Botanical Garden there is a banyan tree said to be older than five hundred years, and there are many such trees all over the world. Svami Sankaracarya lived only thirty-two years, and Lord Caitanya lived forty-eight years. Does it mean that the prolonged lives of the abovementioned trees are more important than Sankara or Caitanya? Prolonged life without spiritual value is not very important. One may doubt that trees have life because they do not breathe. But modern scientists like Bose have already proved that there is life in plants, so breathing is no sign of actual life. The Bhagavatam says that the bellows of the blacksmith breathes very soundly, but that does not mean that the bellows has life. The materialist will argue that life in the tree and life in the man cannot be compared because the tree cannot enjoy life by eating palatable dishes or by enjoying sexual intercourse. In reply to this, the Bhagavatam asks whether other animals like the dogs and hogs, living in the same village with human beings, do not eat and enjoy sexual life. The specific utterance of Srimad-Bhagavatam in regard to “other animals” means that persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.

SB2.3.19

TEXT 19

sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih

samstutah purusah pasuh

na yat-karna-pathopeto

jatu nama gadagrajah

SYNONYMS

sva—a dog; vit-varaha—the village hog who eats stool; ustra—the camel; kharaih—and by the asses; samstutah—perfectly praised; purusah—a person; pasuh—animal; na—never; yat—of him; karna—ear; patha—path; upetah—reached; jatu—at any time; nama—the holy name; gadagrajah—Lord Krsna, the deliver from all evils.

TRANSLATION

Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Sri Krsna, the deliverer from evils.

PURPORT

The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than animals, and in this verse they have particularly been put on the level of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.

Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food, the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man’s food is another man’s poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Sri Krsna, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (Bg. 9.26). As prescribed by Vedic scriptures, no animal food is offered to the Lord. Therefore, a human being is meant to eat a particular type of food. He should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.

The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one’s own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhagavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.

The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. Footnote. The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving thela and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.

So Srimad-Bhagavatam’s categorization of the common man without any spiritual enlightenment into the society of dogs, hogs, camels and asses is not at all an exaggeration. The leaders of such ignorant masses of people may feel very proud of being adored by such a number of dogs and hogs, but that is not very flattering. The Bhagavatam openly declares that although a person may be a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, if he has no taste for being enlightened in the science of Krsna, such a leader is also an animal and nothing more. He may be designated as a powerful, strong animal, or a big animal, but in the estimation of Srimad-Bhagavatam he is never given a place in the category of man, on account of his atheistic temperament. Or, in other words, such godless leaders of dogs and hoglike men are bigger animals with the qualities of animals in greater proportion.

SB2.3.20

TEXT 20

bile batorukrama-vikraman ye

na srnvatah karna-pute narasya

jihvasati dardurikeva suta

na copagayaty urugaya-gathah

SYNONYMS

bile—snake holes; bata—like; urukrama—the Lord, who acts marvelously; vikraman—prowess; ye—all these; na—never; srnvatah—heard; karna-pute—the earholes; narasya—of the man; jihva—tongue; asati—useless; dardurika—of the frogs; iva—exactly like that; suta—O Suta Gosvami; na—never; ca—also; upagayati—chants loudly; urugaya—worth singing; gathah—songs.

TRANSLATION

One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.

PURPORT

Devotional service to the Lord is rendered by all limbs or parts of the body. It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. One can engage in devotional service when the senses of the body are purified in relation with the Lord, and one can render service to the Lord with the help of all the senses. As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered impure or materialistic as long as they are employed only in sense gratification. The purified senses are engaged not in sense gratification but in the service of the Lord in toto. The Lord is the Supreme with all senses, and the servitor, who is part and parcel of the Lord, also has the same senses. Service to the Lord is the completely purified use of the senses, as described in the Bhagavad-gita. The Lord imparted instructions with full senses, and Arjuna received them with full senses, and thus there was a perfect exchange of sensible and logical understanding between the master and the disciple. Spiritual understanding is nothing like an electrical charge from the master to the disciple, as foolishly claimed by some propaganda-mongers. Everything is full of sense and logic, and the exchange of views between the master and disciple is possible only when the reception is submissive and real. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses so that one can logically understand the great mission.

In the impure state of a living being, the various senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs. If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him from Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled with some rubbish. Therefore the messages of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. Many want to speak something to others, but because they are not trained to speak on the subject matter of Vedic wisdom they are all speaking nonsense, and people are receiving them with no sense. There are hundreds and thousands of sources for distributing mundane news of the world, and people of the world are also receiving it. Similarly, the people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord, and the devotee of the Lord must speak loudly so that they can hear. The frogs loudly croak, with the result that they invite the snakes to eat them. The human tongue is especially given for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like frogs. The word asati used in this verse is also significant. Asati means a woman who has become a prostitute. A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when engaged in chanting some mundane nonsense.

Next verse (SB2.3.21)