By Bhakti Vinoda Swami [edited by Basu Ghosh Das]
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/basughoshdas1/Bhagavata_SatramCochinKerala
On December 19th 2009, the twenty seventh annual “Bhagavata Satram” (gathering of devotees of the Bhagavat Mahapurana, also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam) the largest such gathering in South India, was held at Kochi, (also known as “Cochin”), Kerala.
Kochi is sixty kilometers from Kalady, the birthplace of the ancient monistic philosopher, Adi Shankaracharya. Leading religious luminaries and exponents of the Bhagavata Mahapurana were invited to speak at the event, which lasted for ten days.
More than a lakh of people attended the function daily, and they represented various schools of Indian philosophical thought. For the most part, followers of Adi Shankara’s philosophical tradition were present on the dias on all the days.
In view of the popularity of the monistic philosophy in one of it’s traditional strongholds in the State of Kerala, the fact that H. H. Bhakti Vinoda Swami, Zonal Secretary for ISKCON in Kerala and Western Tamil Nadu, was invited to deliver the inaugural address (“anugraha prabhashanam”) at the Satram seemed surprising!
At the inaugural function, he was seated on the dais with eminent Spiritual personalities such as H. H. Vishvesha Tirtha Swamiji, of the Udupi Sri Pejawar Math, “Bhagavata Hamsa” Sri Shankaran Namboodiri , famous throughout Kerala known for having performed more than a thousand “Bhagavata Saptahas”
(the recitation of the entire eighteen thousand verse Srimad Bhagavatam), Ms. Prema Pandurangan, also a well known exponent of “Bhagavat” story telling, and Indian Government Minister P. C. Thomas, who represents a constituency in Kerala in India’s Parliament.
In his inaugural speech, H. H. Bhakti Vinod Swami discoursed on the ideology of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu’s explanation of the secrets of the Bhagavatam, while quoting from the purports of Srila Prabhupad. He explained that the Bhagavatam teaches that of all the vedic Deities, only Lord Krishna needs to be worshipped. The “jivas”, (living entities) are part and parcels of Lord Krishna and, as such, they can never be God. He further pointed out from Mahaprabhu’s teachings that the devotion of the gopis of Vrindavan to Lord Krishna is the highest form of bhakti. The Srimad Bhagavatam itself is the pramana for this understanding, Swamiji explained.
Hence the Srimad Bhagavatam is the supreme scripture and, and Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who translated the Srimad Bhagavatam into English, was the greatest preacher of the Bhagavatam, having inspired the translation and publishing of Srimad Bhagavatam into more than thirty six languages, both in India as well as all over the world.
He further explained that harinam sankirtan is synonymous with the Bhagavatam, is the practical process for this age of kali, and the ISKCON movement is dedicated to promoting this all over the world. Swamiji also announced the publication of the Malayalam edition of the Srimad Bhagavatam with the next few months.
Thereafter, H. H. Vishveshvara Tirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Math, Udupi, spoke briefly about the need for spreading the Hindu tradition. Sri Shankaran Namboodiri, a famous religious personality in Kerala, said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s formula of Sankirtan is the essence of the Bhagavatam and should be spread widely.
Besides H. H. Bhakti Vinoda Swami’s inaugural speech, ISKCON of Kerala devotees organized an impressive book stall in the program venue and distributed books and preached to large gathering of visitors daily.