Srimadbhagavatham
skandha2
Chapter 1- Suka answers the question of parikshith
Parikshith asked at the end of the 1st skandha 'SrOthavyAdhishu
yah parah,' which is the most important of
all the instructions to be heard by men. Sukha answers
that it is the Bhagavatha purana,'imam bhAgavatham
nAma purANam.'
Sukha said
that he learnt it from his father , the sage Vyasa, in the beginning of Dvaparayuga. He said that even the sages who have followed
the nivrtthi marga, the path
of renunciation, derive pleasure in talking about the glory of Sri Hari, which was the reason that Sukha, who was a realised soul
since birth learnt it and enjoyed
telling it to others.
Even though there are numerous things
to learn for the householders, the truth about the absolute reality should be
told only to those who deserve it, said Sukha, and he
came there to relate it to Parikshith finding him to
be the fit receptacle for such knowledge. By this it is denoted that the purana is not a mere history of a story but the true
knowledge of the self.
The study of Bhagavatha
with faith will turn the mind towards Mukundha,'yasya sraddhatham aSu syAth mukundhE mathih sathee,' and
even one muhurtha spent in the contemplation of
the Lord is better than wasting a whole life in other pursuits. Sukha gave an example by mentioning Khatvanga. He fought for the devas in the battle between devas and asuras and asked them to
tell him how much more time was left in his life. When he was told that he had
only one muhurtha more to live, he was glad that at
least he had one muhurtha and came back to earth and
renouncing everything contemplated on the Lord and attained moksha. Sukha told Parikshith that he was lucky that he had seven days more to
live.
Then Sukha instructed
Parikshith about the method of
meditation.
1. Give up attachment.-
when death approaches by cutting off the attachment to body and its connections,
which include the attachment to wife and children and other
relatives.
2.Total renunciation- Exit from the house and resort to
some holy place sanctified by holy rivers.
3. Choose a suitable seat and meditate on the pranava.
In Bhagavatgita Krishna
specifies the seat to be
chosen by the yogi as 'suchou dhEse prathishTApya sTHiram Asanam Athmanah;nAthyucchritham nAthineecham chailAgina kusOttharam,'(BG-6.11)One should reach a holy place, and
sit in a firm seat, neither too high nor too low, on the kusagrass, covered by skin and cloth.
4. PrAnAtyama and
prathyahara.-
controlling the breath and do japa of the three mathras of Omkara, is pranayama. Examining the thought flow objectively and
expelling them is prathyahara."niyacchEth vishayEbhyO akshAn manasA buddhisAraThih;manah karmabhirAkshiptham shubhArThE
DhArayEth Dhiya,' The
indhriyas should be withdrawn from the sense
objects by the mind which is
controlled by the intellect as the charioteer controls the horses by the
reins.
5. dhAraNa, dhyAna
and samAdhi- With the mind one-pointed one
should meditate on the beautiful form of the Lord(dhAraNA) and comtemplate
each of His limbs without mind running towards outside objects. This is dhyAna. When the mind is completely absorbed in the
bliss of the contemplation of the4 Lord to the exclusion of everything else it
is samadhi.,that is the attainment of the
supreme state of the Lord. 'padham thathparamam vishNOh manO yathra praseedhathi.'
Bhagavadgita elucidates this as 'Sanaih Sanaih uparamEth budDhyA DhrthigrheethayA;AthmasamsTham manahkrthva nakimchidhapi chinthayEth,' The intellect firmly esyablished in the
self , meaning the inner self of all, the Lord, slowly the mind should
come to rest on Him without any other thought.(BG-6.25)
This gross universe is the gross form, sThoola rupa, of the
Lord. The cosmic shell, brahmAndakosa,
with its seven AvaranAs,'virAjO aDHIpoorushah sapthasyAsan pariDHayah,'(purushasooktham) that is, the five elements,
ahamkara and the mahath or buddhi are the
seven Avaranas, the veils that conceal Brahman. Sukha describes in detail the different parts of the
universe as the limbs of the Lord.
Sukha thus describing the virAtroopa , said that
this is the form on which the yogis meditate. In the next chapter he gives the
description of the form within the heart, the antharyamisvaroopa.
Chapter2- The
method of meditation and
mukthi through yoga
Sukha describes the attractive form of the Lord to be meditated as
being inside the heart, Chathurbhujam kanjaraThAngaSankham gadhADharam, four armed, with
lotus, disc, conch and mace. One
should see Him like this in his minds eye.
prasanna vadanam nalinAyathekshaNam pisangavAsasam
sphuran mahArthnakireetakundalam srivathsakousthubavanamAlAvirAjitham
With smiling face lotus-like long
eyes, wearing yellow robes, and adorned
with crown of precious gems and ear ornament, garland of flowers on His chest
marked with srivathsa and kousthubha.
Then Sukha elaborates the
method of Dhyana. One should concentrate on His form
limb by limb and proceed upwards starting from the feet. This should be done
till one attains bhakthi.
There are two paths of spiritual progress, said
Suka, namely the path of immediate salvation, and that of gradual salvation for
those who proceed along the yogamarga
1. Immediate salvation:
One gives up all conception of time and space and
the mind gets absorbed in buddhi which in its turn
absorbed in ahamkara. The individual ego merges with
the universal ahamkara and thus the yogi leaves his
body and attains param padham vaishnavam. This is
achieved through raising his vital energy(kundalini) through the six centres, denoted by the six charkas, moolADhAra, manipoora, anAhatha,viSuddhi ,AjnA and sahasrara.
2.Gradual salvation:
The yogi leaves the body with his mind and indriyas unrestricted and reaches the first stage, the
sphere of agni where he is freed from all impurities
caused by desire and goes to the second stage signified by the saisumara, the wheel of Hari, when
he attains extremely subtle body. The next stage is the maharloka , where those who
contemplate on Brahman inhabit. The yogi leaves the maharloka at the time of naimitthika pralaya when the heat
of the fire from the mouth of Adhisesha burns up all
the three lower worlds. Then the yogi halts at the thapas loka and leaving it reaches
the highest loka of Brahma, where the highly evolved
souls inhabit. After the two parardha of Brahma the
souls merge in the absolute along with Brahma.
Suka concludes saying that of all the paths that of
devotion alone is the safest and easiest. The Lord Hari alone is to be heard and sung at all times and at all
places.
Chapter3- The path of Bhakthi
The devotion to the Lord arises through the
association with the bhAgavathas and this is the door
to salvation. Suka advised that the life which is
wasted otherwise should be made fruitful by hearing about the Lord Hari.asou sooryah udhyan asthma gacchan yath yena kshaNah neethah thasya Ayuh vrThaiva harathi, the
lifespan of man is shortened by each moment when the Sun rises and sets every
day and is wasted. If it is said that the very living is fruitful, even the
trees do that. Animals have life and they also breath
and eat. Man is also an animal if his ears are not filled with the name of Hari. The tongue that
does not speak the stories of Hari is like that of a
frog (croaking in vain) The crown or headdress of a head which does not bow down
to the Lord is a burden. The eyes of one who does not see the beautiful form of
the Lord are similar to the eyes in the feather of a peacock. One who does not
use his legs to travel to the holy places and does not wear the fragrance of the
tulasi leaves from the feet of the Lord are like
corpses though living. Those whose heart does not melt
and eyes do not shed tears with devotion are like stones.
So one is advise to worship Hari, whether he has no desire or wish for
everything or aspires only for salvation, through bhakthiyoga.
Chapter 4and 5-
Creation of the Universe
The king asked Suka to
tell him how the Lord created the universe with his maya.
Suka prayed to the Lord by whose
command the goddess sarasvathi appeared from the face
of Brahma in order to make him perform the function of creation and started
relating the story of creation.
Brahma instructed Narada
with that knowledge which he was instructed by Lord Hari. Then Narada asked Brahma to
tell him whether he himself has created the universe like a spider creates the
web out of himself or was it due to the support of some superior power and if so,
towards whom he was doing penance.
Naradas words were,
Yadhroopam yadhaDhishTAnamyathah srshtam
idham prabho
ythsamsTham yathparam yath chathth thatthvam vadha thatthvathah
What are the characteristics of this universe,
which is its substratum, how was this created, where is the end of this and to
what does
it depend on and what is the truth behind the
creation?
The answer to this was,
nArAyanaparAvedhA dhevA nArAyaNAngajAh
nArAyaNaparAlokA nArAyanaparAmakhAh
nArAyaNaparo yogo nArAyaNaparam thapah
nArAyaNaparam jnAnam nArAyaNaparA gathih
Vedas are about Narayana,
the devas originated from His limbs, the worlds depend
on Him, the yajnas are
intended for Him. All yogas have Him as their goal and
the austerities pertain to Him only. The knowledge about Narayana is the real knowledge and He is the end of all the
means.
Brahma replied that he never created anything but
only made manifest what was already in the Lord, who alone is the material as
well as efficient cause. What this means is that when a pot is made, for
instance, the potter only makes manifest the pot which was already in the clay
in unmanifest form. But it requires the potter who is
the efficient cause, though the material cause , the
clay, itself was transformed into the pot. So nothing new is created but
what existed is made manifest. But in the case of the universe the Upanishad
says there was nothing else except Brahman in the beginning, sadheva soumya idham
The word quarter however is meant to denote the
smallness and not to be taken literally. Brahman is therefore the efficient
cause since it is only due to the power of Brahman and aided by His maya Brahma was able to create the world. The maya of the Lord deludes the ignorant who think in terms of
I and mine, but those on Him the glance of the Lord falls, they are able to
cross over the maya. Same idea is expressed by the
Lord Himself in Bhagavatgita that whoever resort to
Him with devotion and a spirit of surrender transcend His maya, mAmeva ye prapadhyanthe
mAyAM ethAm tharanthi the. (BG.7-14)
Brahma said that he himself was created by the Lord
and started creating the categories according to His command but they stood
separate not being able to combine and produce the world of sentient and
insentient beings. Then the Lord Himself activated them. This the Upanishad
mentions as anena jeevena AthmanA anupravisya nAmaroope vyAkaravANi, (chan.6.3.2) meaning, I will enter into
the self of all and give them name and form.
Chapter6- The
Cosmic form
Sarvam purusha evedham bhootham bhavyam bhavaccha yath
Tenedham Avrtham viSvam vithasthim aDhithishThathi (Bh.2-6-15)
The whole creation is nothing but the Lord. He is
the past, present and future. He pervades all and extends beyond. His
transcendence is declared in the Vedas as , sa bhoomim visvatho bhoothvA athyadhiShThath dhaSAngulam(Purushasuktham) He pervades all and extends all by ten
fingers , which means that He is immeasurable, that is beyond the count of ten
fingers. He is self-luminous and also illumines everything as the Sun does. The
whole universe is His sarira and when Brahma was
created from the navel of the Lord, he could not see anyone or anything except
the Lord and thus the implements and the means of worshipping Him were fashioned
out of Himself. It is said in Vishnu sahasranama
yajnabhrth yajnakrth
yajnee yajnAngo yajnavAhanah, that is , He is
the substratum, creator, performer and the limbs and vehicle of yajna. The same idea is expressed in the Gita, brahmArpanam
brahmahaviH brahmAgnou brahmaNA hutham, (BG.4-24),Brahman is the
one to whom everything is offered ,He Himself is the offering, He is the fire
into which they are offered and He is the one who does the
offering.
Brahma told Narada that
he was creating the worlds by the command of the Lord, Rudra is annihilating the worlds by His command and He
Himself protects the universe in the form of Vishnu. Only the sages who have
mastered themselves know the Lord as he is and when He is misinterpreted by the
unenlightened, He becomes unmanifest. This is what has
been stressed by
The first and supreme Purusha was the cosmic form, immeasurable, from whom the
Time, the primordial nature, which was the evolvent
and the evolutes, mind, the five elements, ego, the three attributes and the
indhriyas originated. The gross cosmic form, virat, came from the subtle cosmic form,
svarat, and the individual entities, movable and
immovable came from that.
Chapter7- The
incarnations of the Lord.
Brahma gave Narada a
summary of the whole Bhagavatham by explaining the
various incarnations.
1. Varaha- The
Lord in His incarnation as varaha to retrieve the
earth from the sea where Hiranyksha concealed it, was also known as yajnapurusha.
This could
be seen in the episode of Varahavathata
later.
2.Suyajna- The Lord manifested as Suyajna, as the son of Ruci prajapathi and Akoothi, his wife.
He married DhakshiNa and got the yamas or devas as his sons. He
came to be known as Hari as he erased the sufferings
of all the three worlds. Arthim
aharath ithi hariH.
3. Kapila- This
avatara is elaborated in Bhagavatham later.
4. DhatthAthreyah-
He became the son of Athri to whom He gave Himself as
the son and hence came to be known as DatthAthreya,
dhatthah sah Athreyah cha ithi.
5 Kumara- The Lord was born as the four
kumaras from the mind of Brahma through his unbroken
thapas(sana) and was known
as Sanaka,Sananthana,SanAthana and Sanatkumara.The knowledge of Atman lost in the previous
kalpa was revived by them.
6.
7.Prthu- Born out of the limbs of vena whom he saved from
going to hell and milked the earth which gave the earth the name PrThvee.
8.Rshabha- Son
of Nabhi who remained in the yogic state of paramahamsa.
9.Hayagriva- Appeared in the sathra(yaga) conducted by Brahma
and was the embodiment of yajna, golden in colour. His breath were the
Vedas.
10.Mathsya-
the Fish.One of the well known Dasavataras.
11.Koorma-
the Tortoise.
12.Nrsimha-The man-lion
13.Harisamjnaka-
The incarnation appearing on Garuda to save gajendhra
14.Vamana- the
Dwarf
15.Hamsa- in
which the Lord instructed on yoga, jnana, Atmathathva and bhAgavathadharma
to the sages.
16.Dhanvanthari-
whose name itself destroys all the illnesses.
17.Parasurama-Son Of jamadhagni and Renuka.
18.Rama- Son of
Dasaratha.
19.
20.Vyasa- to
codify and expound the Vedas.
21.Buddha- to
delude the miscreants who misrepresented the Vedas.
22.Kalki- to
suppress the evil spirit of kali when the world will be completely devoid of the
knowledge of Vedas.
Besides these, the Lord also appeared as Brahma,
rshis,prajapathis, manus etc.
In facyt the whole world is His manifestations as He
Himself says in the Gita nAnthosthi mamadhivyAnAm vibhootheenAm parnthapa, His manifestations are
endless.
Brahma concludes his discourse saying that even the
thousand tongued AdhiSesha would not be able to
describe the glory of the Lord. He told Narada that
this was the Bhagavatham instructed to him by the Lord
Himself and asked Narada to expand it and expound it
ti ot eh world in order to
create bhakthi in the minds of
people.
Chapter8- Parikshit entreating Suka to
relate Bhagavata.
Parikshit requested Suka to tell
him about the Lord so that he could leave his body with full concentration on
Sri Krishna, who enters swiftly the heart of those who incessantly sing His
glory and listen to His stories, praviShtah
karNaranDhreNa svaanaam
bhaavasaroruham.
Parikshit wished to know about the creation of the universe
in detail, about micro and macrocosm, dimensions of the worlds and what is
beyond, the incarnations of the Lord, the common and special dharmas etc.
Chapter9- The
instruction to Brahma
Brahma wished to create the world but had no idea
how to do it. Then he heard a divine voice saying tapa, tapa, and he started
doing tapas and the Lord appeared in front of him as
shanka chakra gadha paaNi, kireetinam kundalinam
chathurbhujampeethaambaram vakshasi lakshitham Sriya.
Brahma wished to know the real nature of the
Supreme Self who is formless but appears in many forms and creates and absorbs
the universe back into himself as a spider does, as declared in the upanihad yaThaa oorNanaabhiH srjathe grhnathe cha. Then the Lord instructed him the highest
and most secret of all knowledge, the knowledge of Supreme reality. What follows reflects
the truth of the Upanishads,
The Lord said
1.ahameva aasam eva agre naanyath yath sadhasath param; paschaadhaham yadhethaccha yo avaSishyetha so asmi aham, (SB.2-9-32) meaning, I was alone in the beginning, there was
nothing else real or unreal. What was going to remain in the end is also me.
This is the declaration in the Upanishads, sadheva soumya idhamagra aaseeth ekemva adhvitheeyam, (Chan.6-2-1)
there was sath alone in the beginning , one only without a second.
The Lord further said ,
The apprehension of a thing where
it is not and non-apprehension of it where it is , all this is due to My maayaa.
2.Rthe arTham yath pratheeyetha na pratheeyetha chaathmani; tadvidhyaath aathmano maayaam yaThaa aabhaaso yaThaa thamaH(SB.2-9-33)
The next sloka is about
the anupravesa, the Lord entering into everything and
yet untouched by all.
3.yaThaa mahaanthi bhoothaani bhootheShu ucchaavacheShu anu
pravishtaanyapravishtaani thaThaa thshu na theshu aham
(sb.2-9-34)
As the gross elements enter into all beings in
their gross form yet they are not affected by the imperfections of the
individual entities, similarly the Lord is not affected by the imperfections of
all beings by entering into them as their inner self.
4. ethaavadheva jijnaasyam
thatthvajijnaasunaa aathmanah
anvayavyatirekaabhyaam yathsyaath sarvathra sarvadhaa (SB.2-9-35)
This is the supreme truth to be known by one who
wishes to acquire the knowledge of the Self by the method of agreement and
difference.
These four slokas are
known as chathuslokee bhagavatha and are very important in import.
The first sloka explains
the causality of Brahman as made out in the Upanishad quoted above, showing that
Brahman is both material and efficient cause of the
universe.
The second sloka is
explained as follows:
The self is associated with the body which is due
to maya as in reality it is different from the body.
This is the example of rthe arThe yath pratheeyetha, that which appears where it is not. On
the other hand the self is real but it is not cognizes as
existent.
The third sloka expresses
that
Brahman is transcendent and imminent and hence pervades all beings
in and out like the Akasa and other elements . So
Brahman is not affected by the characteristics of the sentient and insentient
beings.
The last sloka mentions the method of agreement
and difference. The sloka means, what is existent
always and everywhere is the truth to be known by method of agreement and
denial. That is, what exists everywhere and always is the truth and what does
not is not. The former is anvaya,
the method of agreement and the
latter is the method of difference.
Brahma after learning this from the Lord instructed
it to Narada who in turn instructed this to Vyasa.
Chapter10- The ten requisites of Purana
Athra sargo visargascha sThaanam poshaNam oothayah
ManvanthraesaanukaThaa niroDho mukthih ASrayah
Any purana should have
the ten requisites as its subject matter., namely,
sarga, visarga, sthaana, poshana, oothi, manvanthara, eesaanukathaa, nirodha , mukthi and aasraya.
1.sarga-The initial creation from Brahman consisting of
three gunas and their evolvents. The Lord Himself becomes the universe in its
subtle form according to the declaration in the Upanishads, thadhicchatha bahu syaam prajaayeya, it willed to
become many.
2.visarga- The
creation of Brahma and the creation of gross universe, as stated in the Upanishat thaththejo
asrjatha, it created the fire, the first gross form of creation like the
threads that come out of the cotton, taking a manifest
form.
3.sthaana- creation of the universe of name and form.
Upanishad says that the Brahman after creating the gross form entered into
everything to give it name and form, anena
aathmanaa anupraviSya naamaroope vyaakaravaaNi. It
is like the threads taking the form of a cloth.
4.poshakam- Protection of the world thus
created.
5.manvantharaaNi Description the Manus and activities in their
respective times.
6. oothi-
The results of karma of the jivas.
7. eeSaanukaTha-The stories of the Lord such as His
incarnations.
8.nirodDha The
merging of the sentient and insentient beings into the Lord during His yoganidhra.
9.mukthi- The
final release and the means to acquire it.
10. aaSraya-The
real nature of the Lord as the one from whom everything manifest and by whom
they are sustained and into whom they all merge in, yatho vaa imaani bhoothaani jaayanthe, yena jaathaani jeevanthi yasmin abhisamvisanthi thath vijnaasasva thath brahma. That is the
parabrahman.
Narayana as the garbhodhakaSayee
At the outset of manifestation the Lord created the
cosmic waters and lay in it for thousands of years. Hence he is called Narayana. Naara means water
and naaraaah ayanam yasya ithi naaraayaNah, the one
whose abode is the water. Then He decided to become many and divided His
luminous seed into three by His will, namely, aadhidhaivikam, aadhyaathmikm and aadhibhouthikam. The supreme self who exists as the
inner self is the aadhyaathmikam, the Lord
Himself is aadhibouthikam in His full glory and
he is aadhi bhouthikam in His manifestations as the world of five
elements.
When the sense power, ojas, mental power, sahah and physical power, balam arose from the Viratpurusha the praana,
the great suthraathman, collective Self, was produced
from these. Then the gross form of the universe down to devamanushyathiryangsthaavara forms of life
were produced.
Sarga described here is elaborated in skandha3 along
with visarga. Now Parikshit
asks about Vidhura and his kshethratana and his conversation with Maithreya which forms the subject matter of the opening
chapters of the next skandha.
The end of
Skandha2