What is a paribhasa sutra? It is often seen that one of the first few verses of a spiritual book or chapter presents its very essence. If it does, then this verse is called the paribhasa-sutra. Although usually appearing only once in a whole book or chapter, it is the regulator, the king ruling over all the other verses.
In other words, the paribhasa-sutra presents the sole purpose, conclusion and final message of the book ruling over and taking precedence over all the other ideas or teachings appearing in that book or chapter.
In Krishna Sandarbha (29), Sri Jiva Goswami says, “A paribhasa-sutra explains the proper method for understanding a book. It is the key shloka to understand the actual purport of a book or chapter, and a series of apparently unrelated facts and arguments that may follow.
“There may be millions of statements or verses in a book, but they are all regulated and subordinate to this one “the strongest” verse or superior statement, “the final word”, the paribhasa sutra, which is what the book is really about and the message it wants to convey.”
According to tattva-vichar (transcendent truth), Sri Jiva Goswami and other Gaudiya Vaisnava acharyas say the paribhasa-sutra of Bhagavatam is (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.28), krishnas –tu –bhagavan –svayam, which establishes Bhagavan Sri Krishna as the supreme and topmost personal form among all the Vishnu forms.
However, according to rasa-vichar, the consideration of rasa, divine love and bliss, the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam is the paribhasa-sutra, because it presents the adi-rasa, or madhurya-rasa of Radha and Krishna in Vrndavana, the ultimate conclusion and purpose of Srimad Bhagavatam.
