Why does Jiva Goswami deem Bhagavatam 2.2.37 the book’s phala-shruti?

The phala-shruti usually comes at the end of the book. So how can it come so soon after the Shukadeva-Parikshit conversation has just started?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
Hare Krishna. Question. Why does Jiva Goswami say that Bhagavatam 2.2.37 is its phalashruti? Normally the phalashruti comes at the end of the book.
So why does he put it practically at the start of the book, just two chapters after the conversation between Parikshit Maharaj and Shukadeva Goswami has begun? Answer. The message of the Bhagavatam is consistently repeated again and again. And that message is what is important.
So 2.2.37 is essentially that message. 2.2.37 says Pibanti Taj Mahal. It talks essentially about Pibantiye Bhagavat Atmanah Satam.
Kathamrutam Shravan Puteshu Samrutam Pulanthite Vishay Vidushitashayam Prajantita Charan Saroruhantikam So Pibantiye, those who drink Bhagavat Atmanah Satam, that law, about the law they drink Shravan Puteshu Samrutam, through the ears, till it fills their ears and fills their heart. Pulanthite Vishay Vidushitashayam, such people, punanti, they become cleansed, they become purified of all impurities. Vishay Vidushitashayam, the desires are contaminated by contact with sense objects, they become purified of that.
And then Prajantita Charan Saroruhantikam, Prajanti, they go to the abode of the Supreme Lord. Charan Saror, they attain his lotus feet. So now if we see, the Bhagavatam has a seminal question.
Seminal means a defining question, a question from which the whole Bhagavatam grows. And that question is asked by Parikshit Maharaj towards the end of the first canto, that is, what is the duty of a person, especially a person who is about to die? Muniyamanasya, when a person is about to die, what should the person do? And in this verse, in 2.2.37, before that 2.2.36, There also he says, what should you do? Hear about, speak about, meditate, worship the Supreme Lord. So there also he says that therefore constantly hear about him.
So that question is answered by him, that question raised by Parikshit Maharaj, which is the seminal question of the Bhagavatam is answered unambiguously It is answered immediately also that what is the use of hearing about other subjects, just hear about the Supreme Lord. He speaks it right at the start of the second canto itself. But again he repeats it here.
And after talking about meditation on the Lord in the heart, he comes back and gives that as an ambiguous answer. And then if one hears like this, what will be the result? The result will be that one will attain the abode of the Lord. And that is the phala that every serious dharmic seeker aspires for.
One wants to attain the Supreme Lord’s destination. So that phala will come just by hearing. Now in one sense, we could say that the Bhagavatam ends over here.
And Parikshit Maharaj asked a question, what is the duty of a person about to die? And that question has been answered. And then Sri Yukteswar Goswami is about to leave. But then Parikshit Maharaj puts that answer into action by asking questions about the Lord.
So he asks about how Lord Vishnu creates the world and how the Lord pervades the world. So how the Lord basically creates the world, what are the components of creation. Then he asks later on who are the various incarnations.
Like that there are many questions he keeps asking throughout and that’s what keeps the narrative moving. So the Bhagavatam has a very tightly woven structure. That means sometimes we ask a question to someone and that person just rambles off.
And we ask a question and the answer goes on for maybe 20 minutes and then at the end there are so many points, many of them interesting. But we wonder what was the answer to the question. We get lost in a variety of points that come up.
So this sort of sometimes there are rambling conversations or rambling questions that happen. The Bhagavatam doesn’t feature like that. Bhagavatam has a tightly woven structure where quite often when the questioner asks a question the speaker answers the question, sticks to the answer and at the end of the answer emphasizes that okay now this is the question that I have answered.
This was your question and this is how I have answered it now. So the point of the Bhagavatam is that in its tightly woven structure the question-answer session between Parikshit Maharaj and Parla and Shukadeva Swami is complete within the two chapters at the end of the second chapter of the second canto. But Parikshit Maharaj really accepts the answer knows the answer is correct but now he wants to apply the answer.
So Shukadeva Swami said Hari, hear about the Supreme Lord. Yes, I want to hear. So you please speak about it.
So then he starts speaking about various glories of the Supreme Lord and that same fruit which is talked about in 2.2.37 will be repeated many times in the Bhagavatam. By hearing this fast time one will attain love for the Lord. One will become free from material existence.
Like that there are so many phalashrutis that come and the same phalashruti will be repeated at the end of the 12th canto also. So wherein it is said that one who hears about the… this is the best… the Bhagavatam is the best way to purify oneself. One gets a taste in the Bhagavatam then one will not be attracted by any other taste.
And that itself indicates that by hearing this Bhagavatam if our taste for the world go away then we will not stay on in this world. We will attain the transcendental abode of the Lord. So Jiva Goswami gives a very structured presentation of the Bhagavatam.
And within… and he also reveals to us the structure of the Bhagavatam while giving the structured presentation of the Bhagavatam in the Sandarvas. And thus because the same phalashruti… the same message that bhakti can deliver everyone is reiterated in the Bhagavatam many times then that comes very rhetorical… very unambiguously and emphatically as a direct answer to Parikshit Maharaj’s question in 2.2.36 and 37. So Jiva Goswami gives the same phalashruti that will come at the end of the Bhagavatam and that the phalashruti which comes at the end also comes so soon in the book indicates that the book has a very tightly woven logical structure where questions and answers come together in a clearly discernible pattern.
So this is the glory of the Bhagavatam that in essence the message is given and then how that message is to be deeply understood, how that message is to be lived that message of hearing is to be lived by actually hearing from the Lord or His devotees and that’s demonstrated throughout the Bhagavatam. And thus we relish the Lord’s glory more and more while also knowing clearly what we are doing. And by relishing His glories we can transcend material existence which is the phalashruti of the Bhagavatam.
So it offers this as the fruit of hearing and then it also offers an opportunity to hear abundantly by which we can get that phala. Thank you.