Pradyumna: We chant all the verses in this chapter, all together, starting from the beginning. Śrī-śuka—everyone can chant together—śrī-śuka uvāca... (Śrīla Prabhupāda and devotees chant together all verses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, Chapter 3.)
Prabhupāda: So it takes not more than five minutes. If you practice, then you become learned scholars, simply by chanting these mantras, and the translation, transcendental vibration, will keep you fit for spiritual advancement. Every verse in Vedic literatures, especially Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are not ordinary sounds. Simply if you chant the mantras, you become purified. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Simply by hearing and chanting you become pious. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Even you don't understand the meaning, the very sound vibration will help you. Now we have finished one chapter within five minutes. How much time it took? I don't think more than five minutes. So everyone should chant every day at least one chapter. Then? Next chapter? Which chapter?
Pradyumna: Text number one (leads chanting, etc.)
- sūta uvāca
- vaiyāsaker iti vacas
- tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ
- upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe
- auttareyaḥ satīṁ vyadhāt
- (SB 2.4.1)
Translation: "Sūta Gosvāmī said: Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the son of Uttarā, after hearing the speeches of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which were all about the truth of the self, applied his concentration faithfully upon Lord Kṛṣṇa."
Prabhupāda: So here is, vacas tattvam ātmā ni,...ātmā, vacas tattva, niścayam ātmā. Vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. Vaiyāsaki. So ātma-tattva, self realization, this is required. So we have to approach a person like Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Niścayam. Vacas tattva-niścayam. If you want to know positively, niścayam, without any mistake, then you have to approach a person like Śukadeva Gosvāmī or the paramparā system, who is coming in disciplic succession of paramparā system. The paramparā system means... Just like we claim paramparā system from Kṛṣṇa. So whatever Kṛṣṇa says or He said 5,000 years ago, we are repeating the same thing. That is called paramparā system. Not that "The world has changed. Scientific advancement is very great. Now we can interpret in this way and that way." This is all nonsense. All nonsense. You cannot change a single alphabet. They are all unmistakable. They cannot be changed. So that is niścayam ātmanaḥ.
If you want to know positively, what is God, then we should take lesson from a self-realized soul who has understood, who has seen. Jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ (BG 4.34). Just like here it is tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. So tattvam, the truth, so one must have seen the truth, realized the truth. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). That is guru. Means one who has seen the truth. How he has seen the truth? Through the paramparā system. Kṛṣṇa said this, and then Brahmā said the same thing, then Nārada said the same thing, Vyāsadeva said the same thing, and then disciplic succession, Madhvācārya, Mādhavendra Purī, Īśvara Purī, Lord Caitanya, Ṣaḍ-gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. In this way.