Srimad Bhagavatam is the oldest and finest book of Krishna consciousness. It is composed by Vedavyas who had composed all eighteen Puranas, who presented the Vedas in a divided way. Previously, the Veda used to be one scripture, but the jiva souls’ memory is not so good in Kali-yuga, that is why, for their benefit, Vedavyas divided the Veda into four Vedas — Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Rig Veda, and Atharva Veda. Still, even though he divided the Vedas into four books, each of these Vedas is a very big book.
After that, Vedavyas thought,
“Oh, the jiva souls, especially the human form, do not get such a long life — even if they study the Vedas their whole life, they will not be able to understand the gist of these scriptures.”
So, he took the essence from all the Vedas and composed what is called Vedanta Darshan, or Vedanta Sutra. Vedanta Darshan is not very big.
Still, Vedavyas thought that it was very hard for the jiva souls to understand. Then, he composed the Astadasa Purana (Eighteen Puranas) and Mahabharata.
Mahabharata is commonly called the fifth Veda, this is the kind of position that Mahabharata takes.
Vedavyas had composed all these scriptures, but he still did not feel happiness in his heart. He had described everything in the scriptures, but he did not feel so happy. He started searching for what had happened. He thought,
“I have tried as much as possible to do something good for the jiva souls, the conditioned souls, but why am I not feeling satisfaction in my mind?”
He felt sad.
While he was thinking about this one day, suddenly, Narad Goswāmī (the guru of Vyasadev) came to his Badrikashram by his own will. Seeing his guru, Vyasadev fell at his feet and said,
“I am so fortunate that you have come, my dear Lord. I cannot understand what has happened to me. I do not feel very happy in my mind.”
Narad Goswāmī said,
“Yes, I understood it, that is why I have come to you.”
Vedavyas was very happy to hear that. Then, he explained,
“Prabhu, please tell me what has happened. How can I do something good for everybody? I thought I had done many things, but even after having written so many scriptures, I still do not feel any happiness in my mind. This makes me sorrowful.”
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