CHAPTER TWELVE
Further Aspects of Transcendental Service
HEARING THE REVEALED SCRIPTURES
According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, any book that gives enlightenment in the matter of advancing in devotional service is considered to be revealed scripture. Śrīla Madhvācārya has also defined revealed scriptures as referring to books such as the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, Upaniṣads, Vedānta – and any other literature written in pursuance of such revealed scriptures.
In the Skanda Purāṇa there is this statement:
“A person who is constantly engaged in reading literature enunciating the cultivation of Vaiṣṇava devotional service is always glorious in human society, and certainly Lord Kṛṣṇa becomes pleased with him. A person who very carefully keeps such literature at home and offers respectful obeisances to it becomes freed from all sinful reactions and ultimately becomes worshipable by the demigods.”
It is also said to Nārada Muni,
“My dear Nārada, a person who writes Vaiṣṇava literature and keeps such literature at home has Lord Nārāyaṇa always residing in his house.”
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twelfth Canto, thirteenth chapter, verse 15, it is stated,
“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of all Vedānta philosophy. Any person who has become attached in some way or other to the reading of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam cannot have any taste for reading any other literature. In other words, a person who has relished the transcendental bliss of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam cannot be satisfied with mundane writings.”
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