FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.4.5

राजोवाच समीचीनं वचो ब्रह्मन् सर्वज्ञस्य तवानघ । तमो विशीर्यते मह्यं हरे: कथयत: कथाम् ॥ ५ ॥
rājovāca
[raajovaacha]
samīcīnaṁ vaco brahman
[sameecheenam vacho brahman]
sarva-jñasya tavānagha
[sarva-jnasya tavaanagha]
tamo viśīryate mahyaṁ
[tamo visheeryate mahyam]
hareḥ kathayataḥ kathām
[hareh kathayatah kathaam]
Word-for-word
rājā uvāca — the King said samīcīnam — perfectly right vacaḥ — speeches brahman — O learned brāhmaṇa sarva-jñasya — one who knows all tava — your anagha — without any contamination tamaḥ — the darkness of ignorance viśīryate — gradually disappearing mahyam — unto me hareḥ — of the Lord kathayataḥ — as you are speaking kathām — topics.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
rājovāca
rājā uvāca
the King said
samīcīnaṁ vaco brahman
samīcīnam
perfectly right
vacaḥ
speeches
brahman
O learned brāhmaṇa
sarva-jñasya tavānagha
sarva-jñasya
one who knows all
tava
your
anagha
without any contamination
tamo viśīryate mahyaṁ
tamaḥ
the darkness of ignorance
viśīryate
gradually disappearing
mahyam
unto me
hareḥ kathayataḥ kathām
hareḥ
of the Lord
kathayataḥ
as you are speaking
kathām
topics.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: O learned brāhmaṇa, you know everything because you are without material contamination. Therefore whatever you have spoken to me appears perfectly right. Your speeches are gradually destroying the darkness of my ignorance, for you are narrating the topics of the Lord.
Purport

The practical experience of Mahārāja Parīkṣit is disclosed herein, revealing that transcendental topics of the Lord act like injections when received by the sincere devotee from a person who is perfectly uncontaminated by material tinges. In other words, reception of the messages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from professional men, heard by a karma-kāṇḍīya audience, never acts miraculously as stated here. Devotional hearing of the messages of the Lord is not like hearing ordinary topics; therefore the action will be felt by the sincere hearer by experience of the gradual disappearance of ignorance.

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ

( Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)

When a hungry man is given food to eat, he feels satiation of hunger and the pleasure of dining simultaneously. Thus he does not have to ask whether he has actually been fed or not. The crucial test of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that one should get positive enlightenment by such an act.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The King said: O sinless brāhmaṇa! When you, full of knowledge, speak topics of the Lord, my ignorance is destroyed. Those words are fitting.
Commentary

Tamaḥ means ignorance. Mahyam means mama (my).

Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Topics of the Lord, heard from a pure source, act like medicine that gradually clears ignorance. The test is not intellectual agreement but the felt experience of darkness lifting over time.
Reflection Questions
  • Where in me has hearing the Bhāgavatam actually dispelled darkness — and where has nothing shifted yet?
  • Is the source I am hearing from genuinely uncontaminated, or am I sampling polluted versions?
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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