॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Sri Krishna Janmashtami Friday, 19 August 2022.
By the grace of Sri Krishna, and on the advice of learned well-wishers, I have begun to read the Maha Purana Srimad Bhagavatam today. I am following the Four-Volume Sanskrit text and English translation by Swami Tapasyananda. I am also listening to the chanting of the scripture Sampoorna Srimad Bhagavata Parayana by Brahmacharini Devaki Chaitanya. You cannot imagine how thrilling it is for me to listen to the chanting.
Today, I have gone through the first chapter of Srimad Bhagavata Mahatmyam. This comes in Padma Purana but is an integral part of the Bhagavatam recitation. However, it is not in the Swami Tapasyananda translation. On the other hand his four-volume work has a profound introduction.
Therefore today, I shall cover a few important shlokas of the Mahatmyam story and also cover a part of the important introduction by Swamiji giving a background to the Maha Purana.
Mahatmyam story -I
सच्चिदानन्दरूपाय विश्वोत्पत्यादिहेतवे । तापत्रयविनाशाय श्रीकृष्णाय वयं नुमः॥
T: We bow down to Sri Krishna, who is the embodiment of the supreme reality of Saccidananda (Ishwara=Brahman) and the cause of creation and other acts, who removes our three distresses (inflicted by nature, by Destiny, and invited by our own deeds).
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In the Naimisharanya forest, the Shaunaka rishis request the great Suta Puranika to tell them the way to liberation. He tells them,
कालव्यालमुखाग्रासत्रासणिर्नाशहेतवे । श्रीमद्भागवतं शास्त्रं कलौ कीरेण भाषितम्॥
T: Srimad Bhagavatam, told by the great sage Shuka to King Parikshit, is the remover of distress suffered by beings in Kaliyuga, who suffer like a being swallowed by a deadly serpent.
The incomparable sage Vyasa (who is the original author of Bhagavatam!) is by his filial attachment loathe to let go his very young son Shuka, born with the full knowledge of God. Shuka has no worldly attachment to anyone or anything. So Shuka has merged with all creation and the trees reply to Vyasa that Shuka must be on his way as something important is afoot.
Indeed Shuka goes and tells the story of Bhagavatam to the king Parikshit, who wants to spend his last one week on earth by listening to the scripture that liberates.
Then the gods come with a pot of Amrita (nectar of immortality) and offer it to Shuka in exchange for the Bhagavatam which they want him to give them for their own salvation. But Shuka declines their offer with a smile, since he finds the gods not possessing the necessary qualifications to absorb this supreme scripture of Bhakti.
In fact, Lord Brahma himself had weighed all alternatives to Bhagavatam for securing liberation and found nothing else came close.
Suta now says the divine sage Narada heard the Bhagavatam from the Sanaka rishis foursome first over an entire week (This is the meaning of Bhagavata Saptaha). The occasion was when they found him once looking dismal and distressed. He said he had come down to earth and travelled around and found much cause for despondency.
In this Mahatmyam, several places are mentioned from all over India including Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and so on, rivers Cauvery, Godavari, Yamuna, Ganga and so on.
Narada is recounting to the Sanaka brothers what is the cause for his despondency. He narrates:
Narada comes to the bank of Yamuna, the holy Vrindavan where Sri Krishna had sported, hoping for relief after Narada had seen too much evil and untruth everywhere during his journeys on earth. But a strange encounter awaits him here. He meets a young lady in utter misery, tending to two old men. The lady welcomes Narada saying his very arrival may give her relief, Narada being a great sage.
The woman's story? Indeed it is strange. She is Bhakti (=Devotion), and the two men are her sons, Jnana and Vairagya! The times are so bad that these boys have now become afflicted/accursed by old age and infirmities. (The present age of Kali does not nourish either Jnana=wisdom or Vairagya =dispassion). Bhakti points to her hand-maidens - the holy rivers who have come to serve her. But their service to her is of no avail as she is too distressed by her sons.
Bhakti says that, in fact, she looks young and beautiful merely because she was restored immediately after arriving at sacred Vrindavan. But this in turn makes her more miserable as she would have wanted her sons restored rather than herself!
Narada consoles Bhakti. He describes the excesses of this world where wise men become slaves to passions and abandon all good deeds. Everyone is after worldly possessions and nobody pursues Dharma. But fortunately, there is a remedy for this terrible fall from Dharma.
यत्फलं नास्ति तपसा न योगेन समाधिना । तत्फलं लभते सम्यक्कलौ केशवकीर्तनात्॥
T: What fruits cannot accrue to the seeker even after intense austerity or deep meditation shall surely and fully accrue in this age of worldliness (Kali Yuga) by his mere chanting of Hari's name (Keshava! Krishna! Hari!) (Note: his seeking is the key!)
Bhakti now feels very much relieved, although still, her sons are immune to the holy effects of Vrindavan. She now asks how King Parikshit (we go back to how it all started!) gave permission to Kali, the god of worldliness who rules here, to make his home on earth. (We shall see that story soon).
Bhakti also bows down to Sage Narada, remembering how the great devotees, young Prahlada and young Dhruva, had been saved following the sage's instructions. So indeed Bhakti has much hope in emancipation from what Sage Narada tells her!
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Part I - Introduction to Swami Tapasyananda's translation
I summarize what I read today - its major highlights.
The Puranas were contemporaneous with the Vedas. Indeed there was one monolithic Purana which was recited by Sutas. These were not the Vedic Brahmins but a caste of royal attendants and charioteers who were also raconteurs like Sanjaya in Bhagavadgita. The Sutas told the Purana during breaks that were scheduled in the performance of Vedic rites. (Even Valmiki Ramayana was sung by Lava and Kusha during yajna breaks on the request of Sri Rama!)
The Srimad Bhagavatam is called the Maha Purana among the 18 principal ones since it has benefited the listeners the most for over 2500 years at least. It contains stories of Maha Vishnu with a dominant portion on Sri Krishna, the greatest manifest godhood India has seen yet.
Although each Purana appears to extol one Deity form of the Supreme Lord = Ishwara, it is not with the intention of belittling other deities but to instill greater, untainted devotion to the chosen Deity, in this instance Bhagavan Maha Vishnu and specifically his complete or Purna Avatara Sri Krishna.
Bhagavatam's oral tradition was fructified into a textual form in three distinct phases. The final, current form of this Maha Purana was finalized by the Vaishnava saints called Alwars in the 5th to 7th century CE in South India.
There is solid evidence of this timeline through a clear reference to a Bhagavatam shloka in an important treatise in the 7c. CE by Gaudapada (paramaguru of Adi Shankara).
तेषामसौ क्लेशल एव शिष्यते नान्यद् यथा स्थूलतुषावघातिनाम् ॥१०.१४.४॥
T: For those who simply pursue knowledge, all that remains in the end is useless like the chaff after all grain is removed (grain here implies Bhakti.)
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The narrative and introduction portions shall continue tomorrow.
Please note all blog entries will also be tabled in a chronological index through this link.
॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
