Today I am going to start a new series of short talks based on the Indian scripture namely the Bhagavata Purana. This is a scripture comprising of stories about God Vishnu in many of his Avatars or incarnations. The word Vishnu literally means – someone who is all pervasive.
Who can be all pervasive, but God? That way, Vishnu is not limited to God of some sect of Indians, nor some specific religion. He is the God of any God centric religion. His reach is beyond sects, beyond religions, and even beyond India.
Some of the stories of Avatars of Vishnu appear even in scriptures of ancient Iranians. There are references to the Trivikrama Avatar of Vishnu, where he covers the entire universe spanning his two steps. The story of God rescuing the world from the inundating floods, can be found in almost all ancient world scriptures, be it the Matsyaavataar story of Hindu Puranas, or the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, or even some ancient Chinese scripture.
Among these many Avatars of Vishnu, what is most popular is the Avatar as Krishna. The popularity is so much, that many even go to the extent of equating Krishna to Christ! There is one group of Yoga promoters, quite popular in the west as well as in the east, who highlight similarities between lives of Krishna and Krista. I have intentionally spelt the word Christ as Krista. The latter is a modified form of the word Christ by people who try to equate the two words Krishna and Christ.
So, Krishna is the central figure in my talks in the episodes that follow.
Krishna is believed to have been born in human form in Mathura – a north Indian city, 5000+ years ago. Incidentally, today, i.e. the 8th day of the dark fortnight of 5th month of the lunisolar calendar followed by most Indians, happens to be the birthday of Krishna. In traditional terms, it is SravaNa Masa (i.e. the month), Krishna Paksha (i.e. the fortnight), Astami tithi (i.e. the day).
Religious stories are normally woven around devotion. There is very little emphasis on reasoning when it comes to faith. In fact, faith and reasoning often don’t go together. I have always been emphasizing on ‘thinking’ in tune with my channel/blog title ‘Let us THINK’. So, am I deviating from that path which I have been pushing all along? Why am I planning to talk on a purely faith-based subject?
Before I explain my reason, let me talk about what motivated the author of Bhagavata to compose it.
Bhagavata was composed by the great sage Vyasa. Traditional belief is that Vyasa composed it around 5000 years ago. People who have read ancient Indian scriptures are quite familiar with Vyasa who figures prominently in most Indian scriptures. Let me briefly outline this great person.
Vyasa was a great author/sage who was born as a result of a chance meeting between a great sage namely Parasara and a fisher woman whose name was Satyavati. His original name was not Vyasa. He was called Krishna, probably owing to his dark skin color. But he was not the Krishna that I talked about in the beginning. This Krishna was ‘Krishna Dwaipayana’ – Krishna born in an island. Probably his mother brought him up in an island fearing social repercussions, given the circumstances in which he was born.
This Krishna became Vyasa when he divided what was originally a single monolithic Veda into 4 parts – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. The word ‘Vyasa’ means divider. He did this to facilitate the study and usage of the Vedas since they were quite voluminous and beyond the reach of any single individual. I have discussed these details in my earlier talks on the Vedas as well as in my book ‘Unravelingthe hidden mysteries of the Vedas’.
Vyasa is also believed to be the author of Brahma Sutra, where he tries to clarify some technicalities in the Upanishads that form part of the Vedas. You can refer to my past talks on this subject for more details.
It was the same Vyasa who composed the great Indian Epic Mahabharata. Indians categorize this composition as ‘Itihasa’ which literally means history. This composition was based on real incidents that happened sometime around 5000 years ago. Vyasa was not only its composer, but he was also an active player in the entire narrative, that unfolds as a story of two warring factions and the subsequent annihilation of one of them. I have discussed this story in my book ‘Crux of Mahabharata for busy people’.
As part of Mahabharata, Vyasa also composed the Bhagavad Geetha, which is in the form of a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. This part by itself is considered to be the most sacred book of Indians. It is viewed as the essence of the Upanishads. Probably, Bhagavad Geetha is the most translated Indian scripture both within and outside India. In this context, I can suggest reading my book ‘Krishna’s4 paths to ultimate happiness : Complete Yogic science of BhagavadGeetha’ for more details about this well known scripture.
There are many collections of ancient religious stories called ‘Purana’ attributed to Vyasa. In fact, there are at least 18 of them, each of them claiming to describe a story belonging to very ancient past.
An author as prolific and popular as Vyasa, should have been very proud of himself. He should have been a contented man. But surprisingly, Vyasa was not quite satisfied with his achievements.
Apparently, one day Vyasa was sitting on the banks of river Saraswati, unable to convince himself about his achievements. He was quite dissatisfied.
But why was he so unhappy about his great achievements?
There is a nice story in the Bhagavata itself, which talks about this brooding state of Vyasa, unhappy about his own achievements.
When Vyasa was sitting in a gloomy state unable reconcile with his inability to achieve something more satisfying, Narada, a divine sage happened to pass that way. Vyasa explained to Narada why he was not happy with his achievements.
After dividing the Vedas, Vyasa could see that the Vedas were more usable. People could use them to perform the rituals and get whatever they wanted through the fire rituals. But that would help only those who could afford to perform those rituals. The rituals were so elaborate, demanding great scholarship and material means to perform them. They were beyond the reach of common man. Only some kings or highly learned sages with royal patronage could perform them.
The Upanishad parts of the Vedas did not need any material means, but were intellectually intensive and beyond the reach of ordinary folks. So was the Brahma sutra -another of Vyasa’s compositions.
Epics like Mahabharata did clarify lot of tricky situations pertaining to rightful conduct of life and also explained how someone has to perform one’s duties in a totally detached way. But even this was beyond the intellectual limits of common man. Very few people can reach those intellectual heights.
A common man is often bogged down by mundane struggle for existence. He neither has time nor he can afford to indulge in intellectual pursuits. ‘Thinking’ is not his cup of tea. He wants something that relieves him from his day to day problems. He yearns for a ray of hope that can keep him going, in spite of hardships that he keeps facing.
Intellect is only one aspect of human existence. If that were the only aspect, there would have been no difference between us and a sophisticated computer. But fortunately, we have other facets such as emotions, feelings, hope, belief and so on. These are what make us human. Though intellect has no place in any of these, these are essential parts of our existence. Intellect is needed to make progress, but these emotions, feelings, hope and belief are essential for our existence itself.
Vyasa had been focusing more on intellectual aspect of human beings, totally disregarding these other aspects. That was what brought dissatisfaction within him. He needed to address both aspects of human needs. He needed to reach out to society at large, comprising of people with varying needs.
This in essence was what Narada advised to Vyasa. He reminded Vyasa the need to also pay attention to emotional aspects, so that his reach would be far-flung encompassing even common men/women.
Narada, being a divine sage and also a proponent of devotion as a spiritual path, felt that all our actions should be focused towards divine, no matter intellectual or emotional. That is why Narada advised Vyasa to write something about God and his myriad Avatars.
And that was what motivated Vyasa to compose Bhagavata Purana which centers around various stories of God and his incarnations.
In many ways, Vyasa’s predicament was also my predicament. Having talked about many subjects, I also felt that I have not reached everyone. The reason was obviously overemphasis on intellect and disregarding other finer aspects of humans. Not that mere reaching out to a larger audience was really my goal, but wide spread dissemination of the message was. So, here I am, to tell you fascinating and inspiring stories from ancient Bhagavata Purana.
But I am sure that there are many people who are not convinced about relevance of God centric discourses. Narada had his reasons. And I have my own. I will discuss them in the next episode. Please do join me in the next episode.
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