So what Śukadeva Gosvāmī did? Svānubhāvam. He first of all heard from his father, Vyāsadeva, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and realized it. Not a professional Bhāgavata reciter. Just like in India now there are a class of men, especially in Vṛndāvana, the gosvāmīs, they make a business. Therefore there are many, many very artistic Bhāgavata reciter, but they could not turn even one man to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because they are not self-realized, svānubhāvam. Of course, we have tried our best, so in few years there are so many Kṛṣṇa conscious persons come out. This is the secret. Unless one is svānubhāvam, self-realized, life is Bhāgavata, he cannot preach Bhāgavata. That is not . . . that will not be effective. A gramophone will not help. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu's secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara, recommended, bhāgavata pora giyā bhāgavata-sthāne that, "If you want to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you must approach a person who is life living Bhāgavata." Bhāgavata pora giyā bhāgavata-sthāne. Otherwise, there is no question of Bhāgavata realization.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī learned from his father, Vyāsadeva, mahā-bhāgavata, and he realized it. Svānubhāvam. What is this book? Akhila-śruti-sāram ekam. Akhila means "all, universal." There are many scriptures, many religious scriptures, especially the Vedas. Śruti means Veda. Śruti is learned by hearing, not by reading. You can understand Vedic principle even though you are illiterate, provided you hear them, aural reception. God has given you the ear, and if you try to hear submissively, to receive something, then it will be fruitful. Submissive. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-mano . . . jñāne prayāsam. This is the Brahmā's realization when he met Kṛṣṇa. So he said this verse, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, namanta eva san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām (SB 10.14.3). People who are endeavoring to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of his puffed-up knowledge, they will never be able to. They will never be able. Jñāne prayāsam. One has to give up this illegitimate attempt to understand the Absolute Truth by his personal knowledge. That is not possible.
Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap thing that by exercising your brain you can manufacture a way to understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25): "I am not exposed to everyone. I am covered by yogamāyā. People will not be able to understand Me." "So many jñānīs, yogīs, karmīs, they cannot understand?" No. Then? Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55): "Only through devotional service." Devotional service means submission, surrender. First of all surrender. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66): "You cannot understand Me by your so-called karma, jñāna, yoga or dhyāna. No, it is not possible." Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Bhaktyā means to surrender.
So here it is, śruti-sāram ekam. This Bhāgavata is the śruti-sāram, just like cream. You churn the milk, two maunds of milk, you get, say, five kilos, kg, of butter, the sāram, essence. Essence. If you simply try to see where is the essence . . . you have to churn it. Then in the milk there is. You may possess lots of milk, but from the milk you have to take the cream. That is intelligence. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the cream of Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is said that nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama means Vedas, and kalpa-taru . . . Vedas is just like desire tree. Desire tree means whatever you want, you can have it from Vedic knowledge. Just like in India, the Āyur-veda. Āyur-veda means this is material thing. But still it is in the Veda. Dhanur-veda, military science. There are so many Veda. Veda means knowledge. So the Vedic knowledge is so perfect that anything you want, material or spiritual, you will get the knowledge perfect. That is Veda. Veda is not ordinary thing. And it is learned by hearing. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).
Vedic knowledge . . . formerly, there was no need of books. Nowadays, at the present moment, our memory is not so sharp due to Kali-yuga. Therefore Vyāsadeva wrote in books, in words, because he foresaw that, "The people in this age, they will be dull-headed rascals. Therefore, if they get this knowledge recorded in writing, they may be able to derive some benefit." Otherwise, formerly Vedic knowledge was never book reading. No. Śruti. Śruti means hearing. This disciple is so powerful that once he hears from the spiritual master, his memory is recorded immediately. Memory. Therefore brahmacārī record. If you remain brahmacārī, then your brain will be so nice that as soon as you hear something, it will be memorized. This is benefit of brahmacārī. And if the students are allowed to be sexually, I mean to say, indulgent, then where is the brain? This is very scientific, to remain brahmacārī, to understand from the guru by simply by hearing, once hearing.