Read Word by Word and from Pure Devotees
- Sometimes less intelligent men try to hear about the rāsa dance of Kṛṣṇa and do not take care to hear about other portions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which they completely avoid.
- There are professional Bhāgavata reciters who abruptly go to the rāsa-līlā chapters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as if other portions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam were useless.
- This kind of discrimination and abrupt adoption of the rāsa-līlā pastimes of the Lord is not approved by the ācāryas.
- A sincere devotee should read every chapter and every word of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, for the beginning verses describe that it is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literature. Devotees should not try to avoid even a word of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The great sage Maitreya therefore affirmed herein that the Bhāgavatam is sammataṁ satām, approved by great devotees.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/12/44/
Hearing
- Professional reciters may ask money to extinguish the blazing fire within their bellies, but they cannot make any spiritual improvement or become perfect. It is therefore strictly forbidden to recite Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a profession to earn a livelihood. Only one who is completely surrendered at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, depending fully on Him for personal maintenance or even for maintenance of his family, can attain perfection by recitation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is full of narrations of the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees.
- The process can be summarized as follows: the audience must be faithfully receptive to the Bhāgavata message, and the reciter should completely depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Bhāgavata recitation must not be a business. If done in the right way, not only does the reciter achieve perfect satisfaction, but the Lord also is very satisfied with the reciter and the audience, and thus both are liberated from material bondage simply by the process of hearing.
