Bhagavata Purana abridged translation by Parama Karuna Devi new edition 2021 Copyright © 2016 Parama Karuna Devi All rights reserved. ISBN: 9798530643811 published by Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center E-mail: [email protected] Blog: www.jagannathavallabhavedicresearch.wordpress.com Website: www.jagannathavallabha.com Correspondence address: Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center At Piteipur, P/O Alasana, PS Chandanpur, 752012 Dist. Puri Orissa, India Table of Contents Preface 5 The questions of the sages 7 The teachings of Sukadeva on yoga 18 Conversation between Maitreya and Vidura 27 The story of Varaha 34 The teachings of Kapila 39 The sacrifice of Daksha 56 The story of Dhruva 65 The story of king Prithu 71 The parable of Puranjana 82 The story of Rishabha 90 The story of Jada Bharata 97 The structure of the universe 106 The story of Ajamila 124 The descendants of Daksha 128 Indra and Vritrasura 134 Diti decides to kill Indra 143 The story of Prahlada 148 The varnashrama dharma system 155 The story of Gajendra 163 The nectar of immortality 168 The story of Vamana 179 The descendants of Sraddhadeva Manu 186 The story of Ambarisha 194 The descendants of Ikshvaku 199 The story of Rama 206 The dynastyof the Moon 213 Parama Karuna Devi The advent of Krishna 233 Krishna in the house of Nanda 245 The gopis fall in love with Krishna 263 Krishna dances with the gopis 276 Krishna kills more Asuras 281 Krishna goes to Mathura 286 Krishna builds the city of Dvaraka 299 Krishna marries Rukmini 305 The other wives of Krishna 311 The descendants of Krishna 321 Other battles 328 Conversation between Nimi and the Yogendras 335 The Rajasuya sacrifice 345 The eclipse at Kurukshetra 354 Krishna instructs Vasudeva 359 Balarama's pilgrimage 364 The glories of Sri Vishnu 374 The destruction of the Yadu dynasty 381 The methods of spiritual realization 388 The perfection of spiritual knowledge 407 Kali yuga 428 The death of Parikshit 441 About the Author 450 4 Bhagavata Purana Preface The Bhagavata Purana, also known as Srimad Bhagavatam, is the most famous among 18 main ancient Sanskrit texts (purana precisely means "ancient") handed over from teacher to student along the millennia in Hindu tradition. Typically structured in the form of dialogues (questions and answers) between various protagonists of the sacred histories, the Puranas elaborate on the knowledge of the universe, creation, the various dynasties of kings, the purpose of life and the science of God. The present work is aimed at giving a complete view of the Bhagavata Purana (all its 12 cantos) and its thread of narration, and translates almost word to word those passages that report the events and the general information among the 18,000 total verses of the entire text, merely avoiding repetitions. The sequence of the stories has been altered only very slightly, to help the flow of the stories and the logical connection between them. In this volume there are no commentaries or added philosophical or theological explanations. Also, the vocabulary has been kept as simple as possible to facilitate understanding. For the explanation of the Sanskrit words (usually in italics) the readers are recommended to consult our glossary/ dictionary, published separately as an instrument for the study of all our publications and in general for the study of Vedic tradition. 5 Parama Karuna Devi To avoid long and possibly confusing interruptions in the thread of the narration, we have chosen to summarize the passages that contain the prayers offered to God by great personalities such as queen Kunti, Brahma, Shiva, Daksha, Gajendra, the gopis and the Vedas personified. We have also summarized some of the major stories, such as the instructions of Kapila, and the adventures of Prahlada and Dhruva, the text of the Narayana kavacha and the story of Vamana, as well as famous prayers recommended for personal sadhana. We are planning to describe these passages in greater details in separate publications. These are some of the titles in the series "Jewels from the Bhagavata Purana", in order of importance: Uddhava gita (from canto 10) Gopika gita (canto 10) Shankara gita (canto 4) The teachings of Prahlada (canto 7) The prayers of Gajendra (canto 8) The Hamsa guhya prayers (canto 6) Prayers to Shiva (canto 4) Narayana kavacha (canto 6) Teachings of Kapila (canto 3) Teachings of the nine Yogendras (canto 10) Teachings of the four Kumaras (canto 4) Teachings of Rishabhadeva (canto 5) Krishna's instructions to Vasudeva (canto 10) We also recommend to our readers to become acquainted with the fundamentals of Vedic civilization and knowledge by going through our other publications. 6 Bhagavata Purana The questions of the sages At the beginning of the Kali yuga, a number of sages had gathered in the Naimisharanya forest to perform a great religious ceremony. One morning, after completing the fire sacrifice and the other rituals, Sanaka Rishi (the sage presiding the assembly) offered a seat of honor to the old saint and scholar Suta Gosvami, and invited him to give a speech. "Please tell us about God", said the sages, "and his many appearances, including the most recent as Krishna, the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. Explain to us, in a simple way, what is the purpose of the Vedic scriptures, and the highest benefit that can be obtained by human beings. In the age of Kali people live short lives, full of problems and disasters, and there is no time to study all the various sacred texts. Therefore, please summarize for us the essence of the scriptures and tell us about God and the teachings of the great spiritual masters of history." Suta was the son of Romaharsana, the great scholar to whom Vyasa had entrusted the teaching of the Puranas, a narrative form of texts that are most suitable to convey positive messages to the mass of people who have scarce intellectual and philosophical abilities. After paying his respects to his guru Sukadeva, to the Supreme Lord who manifests in the form of Nara and Narayana, to Mother Sarasvati who blesses 7 Parama Karuna Devi the human beings with wisdom, and to Vyasa the author of the Bhagavata, Suta began to speak of the knowledge contained in this extremely valuable work. "The most important occupation for a human being," he said, "is that which leads him to know and serve God in its various aspects - impersonal, localized and personal, respectively defined as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. Every human being should sincerely engage in his or her professional, social and family duties, with the purpose of pleasing God; in this way one remains free from karma and becomes gradually purified from all negativity." "Since the beginning of creation, the Supreme Lord manifests in various forms to bless the living beings. The first incarnation, called Purusha avatara or Maha Vishnu, generates all the universes and penetrates within each one of them. The avataras of Vishnu are innumerable. For example, there are the four Kumaras who, at the beginning of creation, engaged in great austerities, Varaha the boar avatara who lifted the Earth up from the lower region of the universe, Narada Muni, who compiled the teachings on bhakti, Nara and Narayana who retired to meditate on the Himalaya, Kapila who revealed the Sankhya philosophy, Dattatreya who instructed many great personalities about transcendental knowledge, Yajna the son of Ruci and Akuti, Rishabha who demonstrated the way of renunciation, king Prithu who made the Earth prosper, Matsya the fish avatara who saved Manu from the inundation of the world, Kurma the tortoise avatara who held the Mandara hill, Dhanvantari who revealed the 8 Bhagavata Purana science of medicine, Mohini who mesmerized the asuras with her female beauty, Nrisimha who destroyed the rakshasa Hiranyakasipu, Vamana the dwarf who asked Bali as much land as he could cover with three steps, Parasurama who killed the corrupt rulers, Rama who built a bridge over the ocean and defeated the demonic Ravana, and Rama and Krishna who alleviated the burden of the world. During the present age, Buddha and Kalki will appear, with the mission of fighting against increaing degradation. All these divine personalities are in fact manifestations of one God only, and remain transcendental unlike the conditioned souls who take birth in this world under the control of material nature. These topics were elaborated by the writer avatara Vyasa, who compiled the Vedic scriptures. In turn Vyasa's son Sukadeva narrated the Srimad Bhagavata Purana to king Parikshit, who had gone to the bank of the Ganges waiting for his own death." Saunaka wanted to know in which circumstances and on which inspiration Vyasa had composed the Bhagavata, how the great emperor Parikshit had abandoned the throne while he was still young, and how he had met Sukadeva. Suta obliged with good grace. "After compiling the various divisions of Vedic knowledge in a form suitable to the age that had started, Vyasa had been wondering whether his work was really complete. Suddenly his guru Narada appeared to answer his doubts. Narada explained to Vyasa that in his writings he had neglected the most important thing: the detailed description of the glories of the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan Vishnu, of his forms and his activities. These 9 Parama Karuna Devi transcendental stories have the power to transform the lives of those who hear them, as Narada himself had directly experienced. In his previous lifetime, Narada had been born from a maidservant of humble origins, and as a child he had helped his mother to serve a group of sadhus during a period of various months covering the rainy season and autumn. Those great sages were pleased with the boy and allowed him to listen to their discourses, that were specifically centered on the activities of the various divine manifestations.