So Śukadeva Gosvāmī learned from his father, Vyāsadeva, mahā-bhāgavata, and he realized it. Svānubhāvam. What is this book? Akhila-śruti-sāram ekam. Akhila means "all, universal." There are many scriptures, many religious scriptures, especially the Vedas. Śruti means Veda. Śruti is learned by hearing, not by reading. You can understand Vedic principle even though you are illiterate, provided you hear them, aural reception. God has given you the ear, and if you try to hear submissively, to receive something, then it will be fruitful. Submissive. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-mano . . . jñāne prayāsam. This is the Brahmā's realization when he met Kṛṣṇa. So he said this verse, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, namanta eva san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām (SB 10.14.3). People who are endeavoring to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of his puffed-up knowledge, they will never be able to. They will never be able. Jñāne prayāsam. One has to give up this illegitimate attempt to understand the Absolute Truth by his personal knowledge. That is not possible.
Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap thing that by exercising your brain you can manufacture a way to understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25): "I am not exposed to everyone. I am covered by yogamāyā. People will not be able to understand Me." "So many jñānīs, yogīs, karmīs, they cannot understand?" No. Then? Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55): "Only through devotional service." Devotional service means submission, surrender. First of all surrender. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66): "You cannot understand Me by your so-called karma, jñāna, yoga or dhyāna. No, it is not possible." Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Bhaktyā means to surrender.
So here it is, śruti-sāram ekam. This Bhāgavata is the śruti-sāram, just like cream. You churn the milk, two maunds of milk, you get, say, five kilos, kg, of butter, the sāram, essence. Essence. If you simply try to see where is the essence . . . you have to churn it. Then in the milk there is. You may possess lots of milk, but from the milk you have to take the cream. That is intelligence. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the cream of Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is said that nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama means Vedas, and kalpa-taru . . . Vedas is just like desire tree. Desire tree means whatever you want, you can have it from Vedic knowledge. Just like in India, the Āyur-veda. Āyur-veda means this is material thing. But still it is in the Veda. Dhanur-veda, military science. There are so many Veda. Veda means knowledge. So the Vedic knowledge is so perfect that anything you want, material or spiritual, you will get the knowledge perfect. That is Veda. Veda is not ordinary thing. And it is learned by hearing. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).