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If Srila Prabhupada, in his BG As It Is, establishes that "Because Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other Vedic literature.", MY QUESTION IS: Why do I need to read Srimad Bhagavatam? Please?? Waiting for your merciful answer, your most undeserving servant, Vijaya Krsna Dasa
Hare Krishna Vijaya Krishna Dasa. Please accept my humble obeisance’s. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for the nice question. The Bhagavad-gita goes straight to the essence of all the Vedas and establishes the fundamentals of Bhakti, such as who we are, who is God and what is our relationship with him. And it also establishes what we need to do as a result of this knowledge, which is to take shelter of Krishna’s lotus feet through his bona-fide representative the spiritual master.
It is important not to take a statement of Srila Prabhupada’s without trying to understand the context in which it was said. It may not always be a case of simple black and white. Here is what Srila Prabhupada says on another occasion.
Bhagavad-gītā, June 25,1974, Melbourne
“So if we read the Vedic literature, and you get full knowledge, and the essence of Vedic literature is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, A-B-C-D. This Bhagavad-gītā is the A-B-C-D of knowledge. This is entrance examination, matriculation examination, school-leaving examination. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata is graduate. When you become graduate in spiritual knowledge, then you can understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And when you have passed your Bachelor degree, when you are postgraduate, that study is Śrī-Caitanya-caritāmṛta.” These are words spoken by Srila Prabhupada on this matter.
Srila Prabhupada has also mention if we focus on reading four of his books that should be sufficient for going home back to Godhead. These four books are the Bhagavad-gita, The Nectar of devotion, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Caitanya-caritamrita.
I hope this was helpful. Any feedback you have is very much welcome. Your servant, Bhakta David.
