Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta, Vol. 2

Widowed Uttara, feeling the impending loss of her only son, Parikshit Maharaja, asks him to teach her the essence of the Srimad-Bhagavatam,which he has just heard from the great spiritual master Shukadeva Goswami. The Brihad-bhagavatamrita is Parikshit’s caring reply.

Brihad-bhagavatamrita is an exposition of the Bhagavata Purana, or Srimad-Bhagavatam. All the knowledge and devotion laid out in the Bhagavatam is presented through an intricate story of two souls’ journey toward spiritual perfection.

Everyone in the spiritual world is a pure devotee of the Lord, yet there are degrees of love of God. Thus Uttara, who has been hearing of Narada's travels as related in Volume 1, suspects rightly that Krishna must have a place above Vaikuntha, where Krishna is worshiped in awe and reverence. In that higher place, devotees must be able to fully manifest the highest stages of more intimate love for Krishna. In confirmation, in this volume Parikshit begins relating Gopa Kumara's wondrous journey to Goloka, the highest place of all.

Gopa Kumar's journey is complex as he moves to higher levels of devotion and love for Krishna. As his consciousness is purified, he finds himself in different realms of reality, each successively more saturated with love of God. At every stop, one thinks Gopa Kumar will surely be satisfied with the intense pleasure of associating with Krishna in His various attractive forms. After all, Krishna gives him personal attention and shows Gopa Kumar all kinds of mercy. But Gopa Kumar remains unsatisfied at heart and is thus pushed from within further and further on his journey, never quite finding rest and full peace.

But the journey itself is transforming Gopa Kumar and clarifying, sometimes unbeknown to him, his destiny--the attainment of his unique relationship with Krishna. And so, on and on he goes, and closer and closer he gets.

This work continues in the third volume.

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