Śrīmad Bhāgavata Puranam
What
is the Srimad Bhagvat Puran?
Srimad Bhagvat Puran is the concluding puran written by Bhagvan
Krishna-Dvaipaayan Vyas in his full maturity, after getting inspired from his
spiritual master, Narada Muni. Interestingly, both Bhagvan Krishna-Dvaipaayan
Vyas and Narad Muni are incarnations of Lord Vishnu, but they are playing
transcendental roles for the benefit of human race.
Vyas is a title (vyasyatey iti
vyasah — the one who expands is called Vyas), and Krishna-Dvaipaayan
Vyas was the 28th Vyas (Parashar Muni was the 26th Vyas). His real name
is Krishna Dvaipaayan (dweepay ayanam ashrayah yasya sah
dvaipaayan — he was born in an island). All the major Hindu
scriptures in this 28th chatur-yug of current Vaivasvat manvantar have
been written by Bhagvan Krishna-Dvaipaayan Vyas.
As a side note, this is the list of
Vyasas in the currentVaivasvat manvantar: In the first Dvâpara, Brahmâ
Himself divided the Vedas; in the second Dvâpara, the first Prajapati Vyâsa did
the same; so S’akra, in the third, Brihaspati, in the fourth, Surya in the
fifth; Yama, in the sixth, Indra, in the seventh, Vasistha, in the eighth;
Sarasvata Risi in the ninth, Tridhama, in the tenth; Trivrisa, in the eleventh,
Bharadvâja, in the twelfth; Antariksa, in the thirteenth; Dharma, in the
fourteenth; Evaruni in the fifteenth; Dhananjaya, in the sixteenth; Medhatithi
in tba seventeenth; Vrati, in the eighteenth; Atri, in the nineteenth; Gautama
in the twentieth, Uttama, whose soul was fixed on Hari, in the twenty-first,
Vâjasravâ Vena, in the twenty second; his family descendant Somaiu the
twenty-third; Trinavindu, in the twenty-fourth; Bhârgava, in the twenty-fifth;
Sakti, in the twenty-sixth, Jâtûkarnya in the twenty-seventh and Krisna
Dvaipâyana became the twenty-eighth Veda Vyâs in the Dvâpara Yugas. In the next
29th Dvâpara Yuga, Asvatthama, the son of Drona will be the Veda Vyâsa.
In Vishnu Sahasranaam, it
is said:
Yog
& samkhya knowledge, sculpture (mundane arts), action, Vedas, scriptures,
realization – all these have come from Lord Janardan.
Conversation between Vyas ji and Narad ji
One
day near the beginning of Kali Yug, Vyas Dev was meditating after finishing his
morning duties at Shamyapras ashram next to Sarasvati river (which
is underground now). Through his transcendental vision, he saw that in Kali
Yug, all embodied beings will lose their physical and internal power. In
addition, they will not have faith in spiritual matters, will be non-sattvic,
will have evil intelligence, and their age duration will be absolutely reduced.
Brahmins, Kshtriyas, Vaishya and Shudras will be overpowered by Rajas and Tamasqualities
of material nature.
Even after authoring 4 Vedas, 108 upanishads — the
knowledge giving portion of Vedas, Vedanta (brahma-sutras), 18 purans
, Itihas (Maharabharat, which includes Bhagvad Gita), and glorifying the
four goals of human life of artha, dharma, kaam & moksha, Vyas
Dev felt very dissatisfied with his achievements.
At this juncture, Narad ji comes in and
asks Vyas Dev for the reason for his moroseness, even though Vyas Dev had
realized Brahman and done a series of selfless writings for the betterment of
humankind. Vyas Dev was unable to understand the root cause of his
dissatisfaction and asked Narad ji to guide him.
Narad ji said that you have not
actually broadcast the sublime and spotless glories of the Personality of
Godhead, Shri Krishn or Lord Vishnu, in your previous scriptures. So any
philosophy that does not satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord is
considered worthless. Moreover, those words which do not describe the glories
of the Lord, are considered by saintly persons like unto a place of pilgrimage
for crows.
In reality, the really intelligent and
philosophically inclined persons should endeavor only for that purposeful end which
is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet Brahmaloka down to
the lowest planet Paatala. So, the intelligent person should strive to get that
only. Narad ji then explains how he was a son of a maid-servant in his previous
life and only after eating left-over prasadam of Vaishnavs and serving them, he
acquired a taste for listening to Hari katha and became a devotee or Lord Shri
Krishna. Thus, he gave the message of expanding upon Bhakti or devotion for
Lord Shri Krishna.
Introduction
The conception of God and the
conception of Absolute Truth are not on the same level. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
hits on the target of the Absolute Truth. The conception of God indicates the
controller, whereas the conception of the Absolute Truth indicates the summum
bonum or the ultimate source of all energies. There is no difference of
opinion about the personal feature of God as the controller because a
controller cannot be impersonal. Of course modern government, especially
democratic government, is impersonal to some extent, but ultimately the chief
executive head is a person, and the impersonal feature of government is
subordinate to the personal feature. So without a doubt whenever we refer to
control over others we must admit the existence of a personal feature. Because
there are different controllers for different managerial positions, there may
be many small gods. According to the Bhagavad-gītā any controller who
has some specific extraordinary power is called a vibhūtimat sattva, or
controller empowered by the Lord. There are many vibhūtimat sattvas,
controllers or gods with various specific powers, but the Absolute Truth is one
without a second. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam designates the Absolute Truth
or the summum bonum as the paraṁ
satyam.
The author of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla
Vyāsadeva, first offers his respectful obeisances unto the paraṁ
satyam (Absolute Truth), and because the paraṁ
satyam is the ultimate source of all energies, the paraṁ
satyam is the Supreme Person. The gods or the controllers
are undoubtedly persons, but the paraṁ
satyam from whom the gods derive powers of control is the
Supreme Person. The Sanskrit word īśvara (controller) conveys the import
of God, but the Supreme Person is called the parameśvara, or the supreme
īśvara. The Supreme Person, or parameśvara, is the supreme
conscious personality, and because He does not derive any power from any other
source, He is supremely independent. In the Vedic literatures Brahmā is
described as the supreme god or the head of all other gods like Indra, Candra
and Varuṇa, but the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
confirms that even Brahmā is not independent as far as his power and knowledge
are concerned. He received knowledge in the form of the Vedas from the
Supreme Person who resides within the heart of every living being. That Supreme
Personality knows everything directly and indirectly. Individual infinitesimal
persons, who are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality, may know
directly and indirectly everything about their bodies or external features, but
the Supreme Personality knows everything about both His external and internal
features.
The words janmādy asya suggest that the
source of all production, maintenance or destruction is the same supreme
conscious person. Even in our present experience we can know that nothing is
generated from inert matter, but inert matter can be generated from the living
entity. For instance, by contact with the living entity, the material body
develops into a working machine. Men with a poor fund of knowledge mistake the
bodily machinery to be the living being, but the fact is that the living being
is the basis of the bodily machine. The bodily machine is useless as soon as
the living spark is away from it. Similarly, the original source of all
material energy is the Supreme Person. This fact is expressed in all the Vedic
literatures, and all the exponents of spiritual science have accepted this
truth. The living force is called Brahman, and one of the greatest ācāryas
(teachers), namely Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, has preached that Brahman is
substance whereas the cosmic world is category. The original source of all
energies is the living force, and He is logically accepted as the Supreme
Person. He is therefore conscious of everything past, present and future, and
also of each and every corner of His manifestations, both material and
spiritual. An imperfect living being does not even know what is happening
within his own personal body. He eats his food but does not know how this food
is transformed into energy or how it sustains his body. When a living being is
perfect, he is aware of everything that happens, and since the Supreme Person
is all-perfect, it is quite natural that He knows everything in all detail.
Consequently the perfect personality is addressed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
as Vāsudeva, or one who lives everywhere in full consciousness and in full
possession of His complete energy. All of this is clearly explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
and the reader has ample opportunity to study this critically.
In the modern age Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
preached the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by practical demonstration. It is easier
to penetrate into the topics of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam through the medium
of Śrī Caitanya’s causeless mercy. Therefore a short sketch of His life and
precepts is inserted herein to help the reader understand the real merit of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
It is imperative that one learn the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
from the person Bhāgavatam. The person Bhāgavatam is one whose
very life is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in practice. Since Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is both Bhagavān and Bhāgavatam
in person and in sound. Therefore His process of approaching the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
is practical for all people of the world. It was His wish that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
be preached in every nook and corner of the world by those who happened to take
their birth in India.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the science of Kṛṣṇa,
the Absolute Personality of Godhead of whom we have preliminary information
from the text of the Bhagavad-gītā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said
that anyone, regardless of what he is, who is well versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā) can become an authorized
preacher or preceptor in the science of Kṛṣṇa.
There is a need for the science of Kṛṣṇa
in human society for the good of all suffering humanity of the world, and we
simply request the leaders of all nations to pick up this science of Kṛṣṇa
for their own good, for the good of society and for the good of all the world’s
people.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to H H Sri Swami Srila Prabhupada ji and Bhaktivedanta dot Org for this devotional collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
नारायणस्तोत्रम्
नारायण नारायण जय गोविन्द हरे ॥
नारायण नारायण जय गोपाल हरे ॥ ध्रु ॥
करुणापारावार वरुणालयगम्भीर ॥ नारायण ॥ १॥
घननीरदसङ्काश कृतकलिकल्मषनाश ॥ नारायण ॥ २॥
यमुनातीरविहार धृतकौस्तुभमणिहार ॥ नारायण ॥ ३॥
पीताम्बरपरिधान सुरकल्याणनिधान ॥ नारायण ॥ ४॥
मञ्जुलगुञ्जाभूष मायामानुषवेष ॥ नारायण ॥ ५॥
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