IDENTIFICATION OF SELF WITH THE BODY OR MIND IS THE CAUSE OF DESPONDENCY

sa vai bhavān veda samasta-guhyam upāsito yat puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ parāvareśo manasaiva viśvaṁ sṛjaty avaty atti guṇair asaṅgaḥ Text 6

 A person who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord is the emblem of all knowledge.  Such a devotee of the Lord in full perfection of devotional service is also perfect by the qualification of the Personality of Godhead.  A devotee like Nārada can act wonderfully by his spiritual perfection, which every individual is trying to attain.  Śrīla Nārada is a cent-percent perfect living being, although not equal to the Personality of Godhead.

tvaṁ paryaṭann arka iva tri-lokīm antaś-caro vāyur ivātma-sākṣī parāvare brahmaṇi dharmato vrataiḥ snātasya me nyūnam alaṁ vicakṣva Text 7

śrī-nārada uvāca bhavatānudita-prāyaṁ yaśo bhagavato ’malam yenaivāsau na tuṣyeta manye tad darśanaṁ khilam Text 8

 The eternal relation of an individual soul with the Supreme Soul Personality of Godhead is constitutionally one of being the eternal servitor of the eternal master.  The Lord has expanded Himself as living beings in order to accept loving service from them, and this alone can satisfy both the Lord and the living beings.  Dry philosophical speculations even on the transcendental subject of the Absolute have very little attraction without directly dealing with the glorification of the Lord.  The Absolute realized as impersonal Brahman or localized Supersoul, Paramātmā, is less productive of transcendental bliss than the supreme personal realization of His glories.  This explains the necessity of explaining Vedānta-sūtra in the form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by the self-same author.

yathā dharmādayaś cārthā muni-varyānukīrtitāḥ na tathā vāsudevasya mahimā hy anuvarṇitaḥ Text 9

 The root cause of the despondency of Vyāsadeva was his deliberate avoidance of glorifying the Lord in his various editions of the Purāṇas.  He has certainly, as a matter of course, given descriptions of the glories of the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), but not as many as given to religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and salvation.  These four items are by far inferior to engagement in the devotional service of the Lord.  Vyasadeva had more or less improperly used his valuable time not stressing on the devotional service to the Lord and thus he was despondent.

 After liberation, which is the last item in the line of performing religiosity, etc., one is engaged in pure devotional service. This is called the stage of self-realization, or the brahma-bhūta stage.  After attainment of this brahma-bhūta stage, one is satisfied. But satisfaction is the beginning of transcendental bliss.  One should progress by attaining neutrality and equality in the relative world. And passing this stage of equanimity, one is fixed in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.  The conclusion is that in order to maintain the status quo of the brahma-bhūta stage, as also to increase the degree of transcendental realization, Nārada recommended to Vyāsadeva that he (Vyāsadeva) should now eagerly and repeatedly describe the path of devotional service. This would cure him from gross despondency.