Srimad Bhagavata, which comes under the category of scriptural texts called the Puranas, consists of eighteen thousand and odd verses and is a veritable encyclopaedia of spiritual philosophy put in an epic form that is both devotional and poetic. It depicts pure devotion, expressed as unmotivated service of the Divine and of all living beings considered as the tabernacle of god. Pious Hindus consider a daily reading of the text an important spiritual discipline in life for generating devotion and the spirit of dedication to God. Any person, whatever his religion, will find enriched by a close study of the text.
Apart from its superb poetry and the very wide range of its devotional teachings, the reason for the Bhagavata’s forceful and ever-expanding appeal is its elaborate exposition of the life and message of Sri Krishna. Out of its eighteen thousand verses, six thousand and odd deal with him directly and a considerable part of the remaining deal indirectly. Sri Krishna is treated as the perfect and complete descent of the Divine, and through his personality, character and actions is given a vivid, uplifting, and artistic presentation of the Satchidananda–Parabrahman of the Upanishads and the Gita.
Swami Tapasyananda, who was one of the vice-presidents of the Ramakrishna Order with sterling scholarly learning and intellectual acumen, has painstakingly translated the text with great fidelity. His masterly Introduction will enable the reader to have a proper grasp of the scripture.
This volume is the first of the four-volume set of the text. It contains the original Sanskrit text and its English translation of Skandhas 1 to 4. Every Skandha has a prologue which excellently summarises its content.