Bhagavata Purana
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The Bhagavata Purana (also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, or simply Bhāgavatam) is widely regarded as the most significant of the Puranas, a part of the literature of Hinduism. Its primary focus is the process of bhakti yoga (loving devotion to the Supreme Lord) in which Krishna is understood as the Supreme all-embracing God of all gods & the source of all avatars (Bhagavan). Earlier sections of the literature contain stories of devotees and objects of their devotion: the various avataras of Krishna. One of the most famous sections is the 10th Canto, which deals in detail with the life of Krishna and His pastimes in Vrindavan.
Significance
- sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ hi
- śrī-bhāgavatam īṣyate
- tad-rasāmṛta-tṛptasya
- nānyatra syād ratiḥ kvacit
"Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is accepted as the essence of all Vedic literature and Vedantic philosophy. Whoever tastes the transcendental mellow of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is never attracted to any other literature."[1]
Bhagavata Purana is considered a natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra and is used as a textual source for Vaishnava Theology, Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology. It is the most celebrated of the Puranas.[2]
Origin
Historical scholarship suggests that the text was written in the 9th or 10th century as part of the development of the bhakti traditions.[3] However, Hindu religious tradition holds it to be one of the works of Vyasa written at the beginning of Kali Yuga (about c.3100 BCE).[4]
Some argue that the Purana's mention of the Vedic Sarasvati River as a great river (maha-nadi) is evidence of the Purana's traditional date,[5] since the river dried up about 2000 BCE. Interdisciplinary and intertextual studies[6] are appearing which try to confirm the ancient status of this Purana.
Contents
Introduction
The Bhagavata Purana is a narration of a conversation. King Parikshit (Grandson of Arjuna-Pandavas), who has been cursed to die in seven days by a Brahmin, decides to give up his kingly duties to learn about the goal of life. As he prepares for his impending death, the saint Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who has been searching for a suitable disciple to whom he might impart his great knowledge, approaches the king and agrees to teach him. Their conversation goes on uninterrupted for seven days, during which the king does not eat, drink or sleep. During this time the saint explains that one's goal in life is understanding the supreme absolute truth defined as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.[7]
Scientific Content
The Srimad Bhagavatam speaks to several topics that have in modern times been topics of scientific speculation and research.
The Third Canto (Chapter 11) offers calculations of time, pegging the briefest unit to the interval needed for atomic combinations, the longest to the entire duration of the universe.[8]
An example of time dilation (a topic in modern physics) appears in the Ninth Canto, wherein King Kakudmi travels to Brahmaloka to meet the god Brahma. After spending a short time in Brahmaloka the king discovers that during his short stay many thousands of years have passed on earth and all the people he once knew have died long ago.[9]
The Third Canto describes in some detail the development of the embryo in the womb, starting from the time of conception.
Incarnations of Vishnu
The Bhagavata Puran first addresses the Supreme Personality of Godhead in all of His glory:
- His eyes are the generating centers of all kinds of forms, and they glitter and illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun and the heavenly planets. His ears hear from all sides and are receptacles for all the Vedas, and His sense of hearing is the generating center of the sky and of all kinds of sound.[10]
The Bhāgavatam describes the various līlās of twenty-five avatāras (incarnations) of Vishnu.[11]
Krishna
The Bhagavata Purana describes Krishna's childhood pastimes as that of a much-loved child raised by cowherds in Vrindavan, near to the Yamuna River. The young Krishna enjoys numerous pleasures, such as thieving balls of butter or playing in the forest with his cowherd friends. He also endures episodes of carefree bravery protecting the town from demons. More importantly, however, he steals the hearts of the cowherd girls (Gopis). Through his magical ways, he multiplies himself to give each the attention needed to allow her to be so much in love with Krishna that she feels at one with him and only desires to serve him. This love, represented by the grief they feel when Krishna is called away on a heroic mission and their intense longing for him, is presented as models of the way of extreme devotion (bhakti) to the Supreme Lord.
Translations
- Gita Press has a two-volume English and Hindi translation (contains Sanskrit text and English translation).
- Kamala Subramanian has written a translation of this book in English.
- A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has written a multi-volume edition that includes the Devanagari, its roman transliteration, word-for-word meanings, a translation and commentary. It is available through ISKCON centers across the globe and major bookstores. The tenth canto was completed (from chapter 14), and the eleventh and twelfth done, by his disciples.
- A Telugu version of this Purana was rendered by the poet Pothana in the fifteenth century.
- A transcreated work, known as the Bhagavat of Sankardeva, is the primary theological source for Mahapuruxiya Dharma in the Assam region.
- A condensed Srimad Bhagavatam in Sanskrit, the Narayaneeyam, was composed by Melpathur Bhattathiri of Kerala in 1586.
- Edwin Bryant published an English translation of Book X in 2003, through Penguin Books.
- Swami Tapasyananda has written an English translation in four volumes, available from the Ramakrishna Math.
See also
Notes and references
- ^ "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 12 Chapter 13 Verse 15". Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Sir Monier Monier-Williams. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1899. Page 752, column 3, under the entry Bhagavata.
- ^ Viraha-Bhakti - The Early History of Krsna Devotion in South India - Friedhelm Hardy. ISBN 0-19-564916-8; Werba, Verba Indoarica 1997:8 places it in the 10th century.
- ^ "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 3 Verse 43". Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 9 Chapter 16 Verse 23". Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Horacio Francisco Arganis Juarez. Dating Srimad Bhagavatam. http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/sb.htm#3
- ^ "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 3 Verse 28". Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Bhag-P 3.11
- ^ Bhag-P, 9.3.32 (see texts 29-32)
- ^ Srimad-Bhagavatam, second canto, "The Cosmic Manifestation," part one, chapter 6:3 and 1:39, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972, pp. 59 and 275-276.
- ^ "Srimad-Bhagavatam" by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Further reading
- Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
External links
- Complete Srimad Bhagavatam Online with original Sanskrit and purports translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and disciples.
- Bhagavata Purana (Srimad-Bhagavatam) online in Sanskrit and English (cantos 1-10)
- GRETIL etext: The transliterated Sanskrit text for the entire work
- Srimad Bhagavatam - glories, subjects, dating, concordance to Vedanta-sutra
- Bhagavata Purana - As an online readable story
- Srimad Bhagavatam as the topmost pramana
- Some Srimad Bhagavatam commentaries
- Meter in Srimad Bhagavatam
- Pothana Andhra Maha Bhagavatam (Telugu) select verses- Audio
- Tales From The Bhagavatham Retold For Children by P.S. Krishna Iyer