In Bhagavatam canto 2, what is the relation between Parikshitas question and Brahmas listing various avataras?

Transcript

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Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Question from Rambhadra Piyapuram. In the second canto, when there is a question by Narada Muni about identity of the supreme person and Brahma’s response, and while responding, Amai talks about various incarnations. And there is a list of incarnations which comes in the first canto also.
And there is a particular sequence that is emphasized in the first canto. How is the list of incarnations in the first canto and the second canto related? And how is the description of various incarnations related to the question of Narada Muni? And prior to that, there is a question by Pariksit Maharaj also. There is a question by Sonapati Krishna also in the beginning.
So how is basically the flow and interrelation between these sections? Answer, there are different sections of the Bhagavatam which serve different purposes. Now if you see from the overall composition of the Bhagavatam point of view, although it has 12 cantos, more than one third of the Bhagavatam is the 10th canto. And the 10th canto as well as the 11th canto, a large part of the 11th canto, they focus on Krishna.
So overall the Bhagavatam’s focus is on establishing the speciality, the primacy of Krishna as the most intimate manifestation of Godhead. And the whole Bhagavatam is flowing in that direction. So in the first canto also, if we see, first, right in the question of Shukadeva Goswami itself, what pastime did Krishna and Balarama take and perform? There is a special emphasis on Krishna and Balarama.
One reason for that is of course historical. Krishna and Balarama might just be there on the planet. But still along with that also there is a special emphasis on that question.
So if we see the purpose of the list of incarnations in the first canto, third chapter, is all driving towards the list of Krishna’s two Bhagavats. That verse is the thrust, because after giving the full list, now while giving the list in a chronological sequence, then Krishna seems to be just one of the names. But after that in summary, among Krishna is Swayambhagavan that is mentioned over there.
So the whole point of the Bhagavatam over there is to establish Krishna’s special position. And as far as the chronology is concerned, the Bhagavatam is not, although it gives specific timings about overall cosmic scales, who lives for how much time, who lives for how much time, but the Bhagavatam itself does not stick to a strict chronology. So when it talks about, this is the first, this is the second, it is roughly, but not necessarily precisely, in terms of the way which incarnation manifests as the universe itself unfolds, as various activities happen in the universe, which incarnation comes over there.
So there is a rough correlation, but there is not a precise chronological correspondence necessary. Now if you look at the second canto, in one sense, the question that Parshit Maharaj asks at the end of the first canto, at the start of the second canto, is what is the duty of a person about to die? What is the duty of a person in general? So now Shukadeva Goswami answers that within just a couple of chapters. And he says, therefore you should always hear about her.
And the commentators say, some of the commentators say at that time, that it is like almost Shukadeva Goswami is ready to leave at that time. But then Parshit Maharaj asks further questions. And one of the questions he asks is, at that time, how does the Supreme Lord interact with this world? Now he is transcendental, he is beyond this world.
How does he interact with the world? And in answer to that question, Shukadeva Goswami quotes another conversation. And that is a conversation between Brahma and Narayana. And now the correlation is not immediately apparent.
The correlation is that Narada Muni has a misunderstanding about the position of the Lord. That means Narada Muni says that it seems as if you are yourself controlling the world. You have created the world.
And just as a person can know a walnut seed in one’s hand, you can know the whole world. So Krishna has made the world in such a way that at one level, it can seem to be independent. So in one sense, the world is a complete system itself.
So this question, although externally speaking, the question is not exactly the same. The question which Parshit Maharaj asks Shukadeva Goswami is, how does the Lord interact with the world? Whereas Narayana’s question is, who is the Supreme? Are you the Supreme or is someone else the Supreme? But the point is, in answer to that, Brahmaji says, Oh, actually, I am simply like watering the seed. I am simply a gardener who is watering and growing the seed that has already been planted.
Rochitam Rochayam Niham. So there is the seed to the answer of Parshit Maharaj’s question. That actually, Brahma is the secondary creator, Krishna is the primary creator.
And that’s why, when talking about the second canto, they give the title, creating the creator. So the second canto describes how the creator himself was created. So through that conversation and the misconception that initiates the conversation between Narayana and Brahmaji, the question answer is pointed out.
Just as the person who gives the seed, that person is not directly gardening. But without that person, the garden would not appear. So like that, the Lord is the underlying foundation for all existence.
Krishna also said the same thing in Bhagavata. I am the seed of all existence and without me, nothing could have existed. Now, Krishna’s interaction with the world is in two ways.
One is, through the systems he sets up. So for example, the way the creation is going to unfold. There is a system which involves the unfolding of natural material elements.
If you look in the overall Bhagavatam, there are two kinds of creation that are described. Not two kinds, two sequences of creation. One is the creation of the prakritic elements.
From this element this evolves, from this element this evolves, from this element this evolves. And the second is, the creation of the living beings. So now these two are fundamental components within existence.
And Krishna, now, at one level, the way Krishna interacts is by setting up the systems. So, he sets up the systems and that is what we could call as the immanent aspect of God. God is present within nature.
As the systems he has set in nature, by which he acts. By which he acts through nature. So that is one way of interaction.
Another important way of interaction is his descent as the avatars. So the list of the avatars that are described are to talk about a more dramatic way in which the Lord interacts in the world. Because when the Lord interacts through the systems within material nature, his role is not very easily seen.
But when he descends to the world and when he performs extraordinary pastimes, which no one else can do, then that he is God and that he is the controller of material nature becomes clearly apparent. And in one sense, the lists that are given in the second canto, there also the description of various incarnations is there. There the thrust is more on, if you look at the way the incarnations are described is how each incarnation performs something very extraordinary.
Something superhuman. One incarnation lifted up the earth. One incarnation did something else.
So like that. The point is, the Lord’s interaction with the world in extraordinary ways is described in that list of avatars. So the question about, of Parikshit Maharaj, question of Parikshit Maharaj, how the Lord interacts is answered through both the conversation of Brahma and Aradha in which the Lord is acting through the systems of material nature he is talking about and then through the list of incarnations in which he is acting beyond, he is acting by intervening within the systems of material nature as the descends and the avatar that he is talking about.
So that’s how these sections are coordinated. Thank you.