Srila Gurudeva: Narada told Vyasa, “You should be sincere and offer yourself at the lotus feet of Krsna and be saranagata, a surrendered soul.”
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
-Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 18.66
[Completely abandoning all bodily and mental dharma, such as varna and asrama, fully surrender to Me alone. I shall liberate you from all reactions to your sins. Do not grieve.]
“Then you will realize what is prema-bhakti and bhakti will descend in your heart.” So Narada gave these teachings to Vyasa and he left that place going, “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna,” “Radhe Radhe Radhe Krsna.” Then Vyasa took bath in that river, Sarasvati river. He sat down and surrendered everything, “O Krsna, I have surrendered to You. I want to realize that prema-bhakti, and I want to realize who You are. I have heard that You are an ocean of rasa. I want to realize this.” He offered everything, his heart and everything, sincerely, not only by words. We do something by words, but we are not really by heart giving everything. We chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. This mouth chants and this tongue will chant, but our heart is not chanting. If our heart will chant, Hare Krsna, then tears will come and our heart will melt. We also remember our diksa guru-mantra, gopala-mantra, kama-gayatri, but only externally. If you will remember these mantras internally, then our heart must melt. So we should try to chant all these things from our heart. When Vyasa became saranagata to bhakti, he told, “O Bhakti-devi, I am yours. You should manifest in my heart.” When he did like this, because he was so powerful, Bhakti-devi came at once:
bhakti-yogena manasi
samyak pranihite 'male
apasyat purusam purnam
mayam ca tad-apasrayam
-Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.4
[Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it to devotional service [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control.]
At once he realized who was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He saw that flute wala, smiling very gently and crooked and taking the hearts of all the Vrajavasis. He had now realized who was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In all of His pastimes I mentioned earlier, Vyasadeva saw and realized everything. He saw how sweet Krsna was, how He was with Mother Yasoda. How she took Krsna in her lap and how He was weeping in front of Yasoda. He saw how He was praying at the lotus feet of Srimati Radhika. All these pastimes, from top to bottom, from his birth all the way to Dvaraka-lila, he saw everything. Just like we see a cinema. Cinema is not a real thing, it is only on the screen. We see a photo only. They are moving here and there, but actually, there is nothing there. But Vyasa saw everything actually happening. Krsna at once came with all the Vrajavasis and he saw the birth of Krsna from the womb of Yasoda. At the same time, he saw that He appeared in Mathura in the jail of Kamsa. He saw how He was playing in Vraja, Dvaraka-lila, and how He disappeared from this world. Now he was satisfied and what he realized, what he saw, he wrote in Bhagavatam.