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Srimad Bhagavatam at ISKCON Newtown Kolkata – September 2026 | Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14

Purushottam Nitai Das September 18, 2026

Below are the important points from the morning Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam classes at ISKCON Newtown Temple, Kolkata, during September 2026. The classes cover Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14 (Canto 11, Chapter 14 of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam), “Lord Krishna Explains the Yoga System to Sri Uddhava”

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by HG Raj Gopinath Prabhu on 18 September 2026

Verse Number: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.1-2
Chapter Name: Lord Krishna Explains the Yoga System to Sri Uddhava

Important Points from Translation & Purport

Sri Uddhava requests Lord Kṛṣṇa to identify the supreme among all processes of self-realization.
Pure devotional service is the supreme process for fixing the mind in the Supreme Truth, Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Can everyone practice this process, or is it limited to an elite class of transcendentalists?

Important Points from Class

Sri Uddhava asks Krishna, “What is the topmost process to attain perfection?”
Here it is mentioned that the process of devotional service is the topmost process to attain perfection.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asks Ramananda Raya what is the topmost process to attain self-realization, and Ramananda Raya says the topmost is association of devotees.
Whatever yoga you want to practice, you need association of devotees to attain success.
Although devotion is easy and simple, when we go away from devotees, then it becomes difficult to practice devotion.
HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja started his devotion by reading Nectar of Devotion.
Bhakti even attracts Krishna.
By His sweetness, Krishna attracts the entire creation.
Krishna, who attracts all, gets attracted to bhakti because bhakti is a symbol of Radharani.
But bhakti should be pure and without any material motivation – anyabhilāṣitā śūnyam.
We should continuously hear about Krishna from devotees.
Gopis had only one desire, and that was to give pleasure to Krishna. For that, they also did not care about social etiquette or family relationships.
The nature of devotion is that the amount of pleasure which gopis get while serving Krishna is more than what Krishna gets. To give pleasure to Krishna, gopis render many services. As Krishna’s pleasure increases, gopis’ pleasure increases manyfold.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by HG Sudama Prabhu on 21 September 2026

Verse Number: SB 11.14.4
Chapter Name: Lord Krishna Explains the Yoga System to Sri Uddhava

Important Points from Translation & Purport

Everyone engages in a certain way of life based on one’s own nature and propensities.
Bhakti-yoga is the natural activity of one whose nature is completely purified by association with the Supreme Lord.
Other processes are meant for those whose nature is still affected by the material modes, and thus such processes, along with their results, are themselves also materially contaminated.
Devotional service to the Lord, however, is a pure spiritual process, and by executing it with a pure consciousness, one comes directly in touch with the Personality of Godhead, who describes Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.2) as pavitram idam uttamam, the supreme pure.

Important Points from Class

This sloka talks about parampara. Our parampara is Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. Gaudiya means in this parampara Lord Chaitanya comes.
First knowledge was given to Brahma by the Supreme Lord.
There may be many wires, but all wires may not have current. Only the ones connected to a powerhouse have current. Only in an authorised letter box is a letter placed. Similarly, to receive the proper knowledge, we have to be connected to an authorised Parampara like the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Parampara.
Everyone has to get married to Krishna through sound vibration.
Krishna is the only purusa, and all the living entities are prakriti. And prakriti is meant to give pleasure to the Lord. Prakriti cannot give pleasure to another prakriti.
When we use the senses in Krishna’s service, then we attain perfection – hrisikena hrisikesa sevanam.
In Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna prem is hidden. Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are like the Ganges. In Gita too, there is braj bhakti, for example, in the verse Bhagavad Gita 18.66, sarva-dharmān parityajya/mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.
All bhakti is great, but topmost is prem bhakti. There are many types of misra bhakti, but only one bhakti, which is braj bhakti or Radha’s bhakti, is prem bhakti.
We have to rise above rajo and tamo guna and do bhakti of Krishna.
In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna has praised everything, but topmost is prem bhakti.
Seva means to know what the person whom I am serving likes.
Guru, sadhu, sastra can give us uttama bhakti.
Repetition is required to stress the importance – so mana-manā bhava mad-bhakto is repeated twice in Bhagavad Gita. Once in BG 9.34 and again in BG 18.65.
Krishna comes in the form of name – kali-kāle nāma-rūpe.
In Hare Krishna Mahamantra, there is no word from outside. In Jai Sri Rama, Jai is an outside word.
Ask the mind to jump from Bhagavad Gita (graduation) to Srimad Bhagavatam (post-graduation) to Chaitanya Charitamrita (PhD, philosophy in action). Also, ask the mind to find which is the same sloka in both Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. In this way, keep your mind engaged.
Topmost dharma is given in Srimad Bhagavatam – sai vai pumsam paro dharmo.
If we have to worship like gopis, then we have to get up in Brahma Muhurat. Gopis would get up in Brahma Muhurat to make makhana.
Two types of karuna should be there – one for us and one for others.
For ourselves, we should take a vow to return to Back To Godhead in this life only.
Simplicity is the quality of a vaisnava.
We see how simple-hearted Hanuman was.
When he saw Mother Sita applying sindoor, he smeared his entire body with sindoor. Wife put sindoor so that husband is happy and is always with her. Hanuman thought that if he would apply sindoor all over his body, then Lord Rama would be happy with him and would always be with him.
We look for happiness, satisfaction, but this is possible only in bhakti.
In bhakti, sadhana and sadhya are the same. If we put heart and mind, then while doing seva only we will experience the ananda. This is why mukti stands with folded hands in front of bhakti.
Hanuman, with his body smeared with sindoor, came to Ram darbar. Ram asked Hanuman, “Why have you put sindoor all over your body?” Hanuman said that when Mother Sita puts a little sindoor, then how happy you become, so if I put sindoor all over the body, then how much pleasure it will give you.
One quality which the Lord likes is simplicity.
Whatever we do for the Lord, the Lord acknowledges it.
For example, anyone who offers food to the Lord never dies of hunger.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by HG Maharaas Prabhu on 28 September 2026

Verse Number: SB 11.14.9
Chapter Name: Lord Krishna Explains the Yoga System to Sri Uddhava

Important Points from Translation & Purport

According to one’s individual way of doing things (yathā-karma) and one’s personal preference (yathā-ruci), one speaks to others about what is good for them.
Everyone thinks, “What is good for me is good for everyone.”
Without knowledge of the Absolute Truth, many so-called learned people are whimsically advising other whimsical people who also lack perfect knowledge of the actual goal of life.

Important Points from Class

When Kirtananda Swami was taken to a mental asylum, then Prabhupada wrote an article, “Who Is Crazy?”
Materialistic people think devotees are crazy, and devotees think that materialistic people are crazy. Prabhupada says that scriptures will decide who is crazy and who is not.
In Bhagavad Gita 16.23, it is mentioned that:

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti
na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim

“He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.”

Even if one wants happiness in this material world, then for that too one has to follow scriptures.
One devotee, an IIT professor, Kanchan Chaudhary, had a friend who established a company. He had worked hard and made it a successful company. When he was asked how he attained success, then he said that while working he only focused on his work. So, we see that whatever success one gets in this world, this is also because they follow some aspects of scriptures, even if it may be unknowingly.
To acknowledge the complexity of a thing is humility.
We should not immediately come to a conclusion.
One devotee from Russia had come to Krishna Balarama Temple in Vrindavan. On that day, Shahi Paneer was made. During lunch, he only took Shahi Paneer; he did not take even rice or roti. He ate 2–3 plates of Shahi Paneer. Later, the Russian devotee said that earlier he was addicted to meat eating, so someone suggested him to eat paneer to give up his addiction to meat. And he found this suggestion helpful.
In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that we should not tell people to give up karma immediately; instead, we should ask them how to engage their present occupational duty in Krishna’s service.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Bhaktyaloka says that there are 6 types of people who can take us away from devotional life.
- Sense gratifier (visaye)
- One who is attached to women
- Those who are attached to those who are sense gratifiers
- Mayavadis – who do not accept the Lord’s form, rupa, guna, lila
- Nastik (atheist): one who does not believe in Vedas
- One who accepts the scriptures externally; they are most dangerous
Our desire for sense gratification is because of our conditioned nature.
Shuddha bhakti is anyabhilasitah sunyam. If someone is trying to kill us and we protect ourselves, then it is not wrong.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ignored Ramdas Viswas, who had come with Raghunath Bhatt Goswami, because Ramdas Viswas was chanting the name of Lord Rama because he wanted to become Lord Rama.
Those who have accepted Srila Prabhupada’s books are practicing Shuddha bhakti.
In Srimad Bhagavatam 3.25.25, Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura explains how devotees should never be morose but should always be hopeful.

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by HG Aravind Gopal Prabhu on 29 September 2026

Verse Number: SB 11.14.10
Chapter Name: Lord Krishna Explains the Yoga System to Sri Uddhava

Important Points from Translation & Purport

Dharmam eke refers to those atheistic philosophers called karma-mīmāṁsakas, who state that one should not waste time worrying about a kingdom of God that no one has ever seen and from which no one has ever returned.

Important Points from Class

Conversations between the Lord and His devotees are so auspicious.
When there is comparison, then things become clear. Here different yoga processes are compared, and ultimately, we see that bhakti is superior.
Different quests for happiness are described in this verse.
The natural propensity of the soul is to be happy, so the quest for happiness is not wrong, but unfortunately jivas take the wrong path to become happy.
Other than bhakti, nothing can give us peace, as mentioned in Chaitanya Charitamrita 19.149.
kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī — sakali ‘aśānta’
“Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.”

Chaitanya Charitamrita 19.149

All these quests for happiness in this verse fall into bhukti, mukti, siddhi, or kami.
People remain in heaven till the time their piety is not exhausted.
Material pleasure is just pleasing to hear; one experiences very little happiness.
Last snare of maya is to think that “I am God.”
Need of the soul is unlimited happiness. This is possible when one experiences love, i.e. “love of Krishna,” not the love of this material world.
This is why Srimad Bhagavatam says, sai vai pumsam paro dharmo.
Only bhakti can satisfy our real need. Bhakti gives one unlimited happiness. Bhakti helps to experience Krishna’s love.
When we practice bhakti, we come to know how much Krishna loves us. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, su hrdam, sarva bhutanam.
Love is voluntary, not forced. Krishna has given us freedom and also so many things to enjoy in this world.
Since morning, we see how Krishna has arranged everything for us. We breathe, see, touch, feel, smell because of Krishna’s mercy.
Real protection is not just physical protection. Krishna also protects us by giving literatures like Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charitamrita.
Krishna protected Parikshit when he was in the womb of his mother, Uttara. When he took birth, then he was searching for who had protected him, so his name is Parikshit.
In Bhagavad Gita 11.55, Krishna gives 5 ways to reciprocate with His love:
- mat-karma-kṛt — by being engaged in Krishna’s work.
- mat-paramaḥ — considers Krishna as the Supreme.
- mat-bhaktaḥ — engages in Krishna’s devotional service.
- saṅga-varjitaḥ — is free from the contamination of fruitive activities and mental speculation.
- nirvairaḥ — is without any enemy and is friendly to all living entities.
In Karma yoga, we first work as per our desire and offer the result to Krishna. But gradually, we should come to the stage where we are doing anything which is pleasing to Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada says that if you are a businessman, then do business and offer the result to Krishna. If you are an artist, do something for Krishna. We have to offer our results to Krishna.
We see that whatever salary HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja earned, he gave it to Prabhupada. He did not keep anything for himself.
If we give the result to Krishna, then we can experience more joy.
The word mat-paramaḥ refers to one who considers the association of Krishna in His supreme abode to be the highest perfection of life.
When we chant Krishna’s name, then Krishna becomes happy. Just like when someone calls our name, we become happy.