Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvitiya Skandha, Shloka 44
Brahmā’s Tapasya, the Vision of Vaikuṇṭha, and the Lord’s Seed Instructions
Catuḥ-śloki
तस्मा इदं भागवतं पुराणं दशलक्षणम् । प्रोक्तं भगवता प्राह प्रीत: पुत्राय भूतकृत् ॥ ४४ ॥
tasmā idaṁ bhāgavataṁ purāṇaṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam proktaṁ bhagavatā prāha prītaḥ putrāya bhūta-kṛt
Alors, ce Bhāgavata Purāṇa aux dix caractéristiques, enseigné par Bhagavān Lui-même, fut transmis avec joie par Brahmā, le créateur, à son fils Nārada.
Although the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken in four verses, it had ten characteristics, which will be explained in the next chapter. In the four verses it is first said that the Lord existed before the creation, and thus the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam includes the Vedānta aphorism janmādy asya. Janmādy asya is the beginning, yet the four verses in which it is said that the Lord is the root of everything that be, beginning from the creation up to the supreme abode of the Lord, naturally explain the ten characteristics. One should not misunderstand by wrong interpretations that the Lord spoke only four verses and that therefore all the rest of the 17,994 verses are useless. The ten characteristics, as will be explained in the next chapter, require so many verses just to explain them properly. Brahmājī had also advised Nārada previously that he should expand the idea he had heard from Brahmājī. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed this to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in a nutshell, but the disciple Rūpa Gosvāmī expanded this very elaborately, and the same subject was further expanded by Jīva Gosvāmī and even further by Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. We are just trying to follow in the footsteps of all these authorities. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not like ordinary fiction or mundane literature. It is unlimited in strength, and however one may expand it according to one’s own ability, Bhāgavatam still cannot be finished by such expansion. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, being the sound representation of the Lord, is simultaneously explained in four verses and in four billion verses all the same, inasmuch as the Lord is smaller than the atom and bigger than the unlimited sky. Such is the potency of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
FAQs
This verse states that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is defined by ten essential topics (daśa-lakṣaṇa), marking it as a complete, structured revelation of truth meant to guide devotion and understanding.
The verse emphasizes the divine origin and disciplic transmission: the Lord first speaks it, Brahmā becomes pleased and then passes it on to his son—showing the authority of paramparā (authentic lineage).
Use it as a principle of study: learn sacred teachings from reliable sources and authentic lineages, and approach them with sincerity—so knowledge becomes transformative rather than merely informational.