My Journey in reading Shrimad Bhagavatam

I finished reading Shrimad Bhagavatam this year in January. It took me one year to complete it. I finally finished it and it was an awesome experience. The interesting thing is that at the end of the book in Section 12, it is said:

I wanted to read this book since 4 years. I was contemplating whether I should read in English or Hindi. I decided to read it in Hindi as I already had Sukh Sagar by Gitapress Gorakhpur. Gitapress prints Shrimad Bhagavatam under the name Sukh Sagar.

I had heard that there are many rituals and rules to follow to read this book. I couldn’t follow all those rules to complete the book. One thing I would definitely observe is to keep the book at a clean place with a red cloth underneath and read it with clean hands. Good intention and devotion to Lord Vishnu is the most important thing required to read this book. And of course, God’s grace and blessings.

Initially I thought I could complete this book in 2 months but my father passed away after I started reading it.  I did not read the book for around 5-6 months. I then started reading it again, especially on Ekadashi days (twice a month). Slowly I picked momentum and could complete the book in January 2018.

I am not going to write a review of the book here. That will need a another post. The book has amazing stories around Bhakti. It chronicles the era of Gods, Devatas, Asuras, Rishis, Rajarshis. Then the era of Lord Krishna arrives where Dharma is all mixed up. The stories of Lord Krishna takes almost 25% of the book and keeps you engaged. The 11th section has Uddhava Geeta which contains chapters on how a householder should live in the society and simultaneously worship God. Uddhava Geeta was like an elaboration on Bhagavad Geeta.

This is one of my favourite books, other being Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta. Mahabharata is also good but its very long at 100,000 verses. This book contains around 18,000 verses. I wish you luck and blessings from God if you want to read this book. I am providing the link to purchase the Amazon Kindle edition of Shrimad Bhagavatam by Gitapress Gorakhpur. They publish it under the title name of Shri Shuka Sudha Sagar. 

Shrimad Bhagavatam or Shri Shuka Sudha Sagar – https://amzn.to/2P4IBFj