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The Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the major 18 puranas and the most popular and controversial purana has been recommended by many saints such as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The purana is very popular in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition and hence too in Bengal. But what was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's opinion of the Srimad Bhagavatam?

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    How is Shrimad Bhagwatam controversial? – Yogi Jul 23 '17 at 06:08
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    @Yogi It is controversial because some of the verses seems to contradict Mahabharata and also cannot co-exist with the Devi Bhagavatam. Also Krishna expanding into Mahavishnu seems very unusual. –  Jul 23 '17 at 06:12
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    @Yogi see https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/18972/why-are-there-so-many-contradictions-in-the-mahabharata-and-the-srimad-bhagavata?rq=1 & https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/10975/can-the-devi-bhagavatam-and-srimad-bhagavatam-co-exist?rq=1 –  Jul 23 '17 at 06:13
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    Devi Bhagwatam is clear intetpolation, it is not in the list of Mahapuranas and Upapuranas while Shrimad Bhagwatam is universally accepted Mahapurana. – Yogi Jul 23 '17 at 06:34
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    @Yogi Shiva Purana states Srimad Bhagavatam is about the Devi –  Jul 23 '17 at 07:05
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    @Yogi Hardly a Mahapurana when most of it is interpolation. – Pinakin Jul 23 '17 at 07:53
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    @ChinmaySarupria Thats you and your gang thinking there are entire puranas dedicated to tamasa like Shiva purana and puranas like Markandeya purana which is rajasic, the concepts discussed in Bhagwatam are in total agreement with vedas and Upanishads – Yogi Jul 23 '17 at 09:05
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    Ramakrishna referenced the Bhagavatam many many times and held it as scripture. It is recorded in his Gospel on many numerous times he would bow down and say "Bhagavan, Bhakta, Bhagavata". – Swami Vishwananda Jul 23 '17 at 09:34
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    You know, that what you said that the Srimad Bhagavatam is "controversial because some of the verses seems to contradict Mahabharata" we could say the other way round, namely "Mahabharata is controversial because some of the verses therein seems to contradict Srimad Bhagavatam"! ... many people do not realise that :) ... And the same applies to the Devi Bhagavata as well. Srimad Bhagavatam is often said to be the best among the Puranas because it is perfectly consistent with Sruti and Smriti, which is the most important thing for any scripture. ... – brahma jijnasa Jul 23 '17 at 14:59
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    ... And those scriptures which are not consistent with Sruti and Smriti are said to be of very low quality, and should be discarded as false knowledge! It is well known that some Puranas such as Shiva, Skanda, etc, and even Devi Bhagavata in many of their verses are not consistent with Sruti and Smriti! And that is way it is said about them that they contain knowledge of very low quality, and they belong to low qualities (gunas) of rajas and tamas. ... – brahma jijnasa Jul 23 '17 at 15:00
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    ... The qualities (gunas) of nature rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance) pollute the consciousness of a man, and that is the reason why we should study the sattvic (goodness, purity) Puranas such as Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vaishnava Puranas, and discard those other rajas and tamas scriptures. For our own wellbeing we should purify and elevate our consciousness with sattva, and not pollute our consciousness with rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance). – brahma jijnasa Jul 23 '17 at 15:01
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    @Yogi Only people in delusion think Shiva Purana is Tamasa. In Swarga Khanda of Padma Purana (2.62) (Padma purana is Satvik purana as per that Spurious classification), it is mentioned. Shiva Purana is said to be the 'left arm' of Srihari,. So, as per you, left arm of Vishnu is Tamas. So, by saying Shiva Purana is tamas, you are accepting left Arm of Narayana is Tamas. Whew! I thought you considered Srihari as full Satva. – The Destroyer Jul 24 '17 at 07:04
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    @brahmajijnasa Its all in vain no matter what you do OP will choose coal over diamond OP is already baised https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/19749/can-somebody-be-a-vaishnava-and-believe-lord-shiva-to-be-equal-to-lord-vishnu That is the main problem with this platform. – Yogi Jul 24 '17 at 18:24
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    @TheDestroyer I don't have a speck of doubt that Shriman Narayana is Param Sattva and he is antaryami to shiva you. Refer to Narayana Suktam, Purusha Suktam, Mahanarayana upanishad, Vishnu Sahasranaam Narayana is antaryami of everything. Have you heard about Mishra Sattva? Everything in existence is mishra sattva and so are the puranas the lowest content of sattva is tamasa purana that's why they are tamasic. Now if I say shiva purana is tamasic I refer to Tamsic part(contradicts shrutis) yes cherry picking if you want that. – Yogi Jul 24 '17 at 18:36
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    @Yogi Deva of Purusha Suktam is Purusha and Purusha can be Shiva or Vishnu. Haha.. Shvetashvatara Upanishad clearly says Rudra is Antrayami. So, this again makes Narayana is same as Shiva. Cherrry picking vedic verses is bad. The procedure followed is simple. Verses which praise Narayana are selected from all Vedas, Puranas, willingly ignoring other Devas and say Narayana is Antaryami and now say he is Antaryami for all Devas. Next step is to attack scriptures of other Devas and here Shiva. But in process of doing that people end up in logical fallacies. (like Padma Purana quote). – The Destroyer Jul 24 '17 at 18:45
  • Some people didn't learn much of Vedanta and that's why they end up in some "fallacies". That what Padma Purana (yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ ...) and Srimad Bhagavatam say is perfectly in agreement with Vedanta, Sruti and Smriti. That's why those Puranas are designated as sattvic which means "reality, true essence, goodness or purity (freedom from adulteration or contamination)", it's because their teaching is in agreement with Vedanta, Sruti and Smriti. Quite the contrary to that are those Puranas which are designated as rajasic and tamasic because although they give some genuine (sattvic) ... – brahma jijnasa Jul 25 '17 at 22:32
  • ... Vedic knowledge, they often give verses that are ignorance, untruth, deceiving and false knowledge which are contrary to the teaching of Vedanta, Sruti and Smriti. That's why they are called tamasic which literally means "darkness, ignorance". And there is no any good and benefit in verses that are "darkness, ignorance". It can be very easily proved that rajasic and tamasic Puranas contain such deceiving verses. Anyone who is well read in Vedanta can easily detect such ignorant and deceiving verses in rajasic and tamasic Puranas. Just read those Puranas and you'll find such verses there. – brahma jijnasa Jul 25 '17 at 22:32
  • @SwamiVishwananda Can you please specify in which part of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna He talks about the Srimad Bhagavatam. –  Aug 01 '17 at 04:29

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In the Introduction to The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, section heading In Communion With the Divine Beloved, Swami Nikhilananda writes (available here - http://www.belurmath.org/gospel/index.htm):

One day, listening to a recitation of the Bhagavata on the verandah of the Radhakanta temple, he [Ramakrishna] fell into a divine mood and saw the enchanting form of Krishna. He perceived the luminous rays issuing from Krishna's Lotus Feet in the form of a stout rope, which touched first the Bhagavata and then his own chest, connecting all three--God, the scripture, and the devotee. "After this vision", he used to say, "I came to realize that Bhagavan, Bhakta, and Bhagavata--God, Devotee, and Scripture--are in reality one and the same."

There are many instances in the Gospel where Ramakrishna reverently repeats this - "Bhagavan, Bhakta, Bhagavata"

Swami Vishwananda
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