(Kadamba Kanana Swami, December 2013, Pretoria, South Africa, Caitanya Caritamrta Lecture)

The nature of Srimad Bhagavatam is that it is ever fresh. It is never old; it is never stale but ever fresh! It is going on right now – Bhagavatam. There is no limit to the Bhagavatam. The demigods have a Bhagavatam of 100 000 verses. We have 18 000 verses and they have a 100 000. There is more and more… and more will be revealed. Bhagavatam will be revealed from within the heart because dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 25.57) – true religious principles are not found within the scripture alone but they are hidden within the heart. Within the heart these things will be revealed.

So we read Srimad Bhagavatam and then we live by Srimad Bhagavatam and then Srimad Bhagavatam becomes revealed to us, gradually. This is the system of how to change our lives. That is the idea. Only then will we know Srimad Bhagavatam. You cannot know the Bhagavatam just by reading. By reading, you scratch the surface but you cannot know; just as you cannot know Vrndavan by just buying a ticket, going there and walking around. One may say, "Radhe Radhe," but we cannot know. We cannot penetrate into Vrndavan unless we live like the eternal residents of Vrndavan, unless we become pure devotees then we can perceive Vrndavan.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, September 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Bhagavad-gita 9.9)

Krsna is full of love and full of kindness. We are too focused on the reality of the body, on this life we are going through… Whereas Krsna is not illusioned by the material forms, Krsna is seeing the soul. He is interested in the service the soul has rendered because that is actually blissful activity. Anything else is never blissful.Any material activity is never everblissful! Sometimes we are hoping that it is going to be. We hope that the material energy will be fulfilling our desires and as soon as there is a little enjoyment we say, “Yes, yes, yes! Now I am happy. Now I am so happy!”

But how happy are you really? Are you really happy? Who are you trying to convince? Material happiness is not going to be possible.

This verse (BG 9.9), takes us to this aspect of the material world, that Krsna has nothing to do with the material world. He is not interested in the material world; he did not want the material world. He does not particularly want to do anything with the material world. It is not his design, his plan. It is all the plan of the living beings. Krsna’s plan is something totally different – it is the spiritual world, and Krsna makes endless efforts to bring all living beings back to the spiritual world, in someway or other but to become a resident of spiritual world requires a certain quality, so Krsna does make many arrangements for us to learn.