While the Bhagavad Gita is well known outside of India, the Bhagavata Purana, or Bhagavatam, is a hidden gem.
Bhagavatam means The Book of God. While much of the Vedic literature is esoteric and philosophical in nature, the Purana’s are intended for a general audience. The stories within the Bhagavatam are loved throughout India and have exerted an enormous influence on Indian poetry, music, drama, art and architecture.
Bhagavatam is a text that has no doubts about its own value. In its opening verses it declares it contains the supreme truth and is the mature fruit of all Vedic wisdom. It then assures us there is no need for any other literature, because hearing its message is sufficient to confine the Supreme Lord within the listeners heart.
The Bhagavatam is considered a natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra. It’s accepted as a scriptural authority for all Vaishnava theology and is essential to many devotional traditions (bhakti yoga).
The Bhagavatam itself claims its author was the famed Vyasadev, the literary incarnation of God who composed the Veda. In the first canto it tells the story of Vyasadev’s inspiration to compose the text…
One morning as Vyasadev sat in meditation, he could foresee the deterioration of humanity’s spiritual knowledge due to the degrading influence of the material world. So he contemplated how he could promote the welfare of all people.
He then divided the Veda into four and composed the great Mahabharata. This would allow even ordinary people to understand spiritual knowledge and achieve the ultimate goal of human life.
Yet even after his extensive endeavors he remained dissatisfied. He said to himself,
“I’ve accepted all the traditional disciplines and vows. I’ve humbly chanted the Vedic hymns. I’ve worshiped the spiritual teachers and performed sacrifice without pretense.
I haven’t deviated from the instructions of the great spiritual teachers in my explanations within the Mahabharata, and I’ve properly explained the path of religion so that all people can understand it.
Although I’ve done everything required and I myself have everything necessary, I still feel that something is missing.”
As he was contemplating the source of his dissatisfaction the sage Narada arrived at his ashram. Narada informed him that his dissatisfaction was due to neglecting to broadcast the glories of God. Narada said,
“Vyasadev, you have perfect vision. You have appeared on this earth for the well-being of all people. Therefore, please describe the spiritual qualities and activities of the Supreme Person more clearly. Intelligent people understand that the advancement of spiritual knowledge and religious activities culminates in descriptions of the Supreme Lord, who is described with beautiful poetry.”
Narada’s advice inspired Vyasadev to compose the Bhagavatam.
Vyasadev then taught the Bhagavatam to his son Sukadeva Goswami.
Sukadeva then recited it to King Pariksit and an assembly of sages on the bank of the sacred river Ganges.
In that assembly, the sage Suta Goswami was present and heard the message of the Bhagavatam.
Suta Goswami then recites the Bhagavatam to another assembly of sages in the sacred forest of Naimisaranya.
This labyrinth of a plot-line is characteristic of Bhagavatam. The encyclopedic work spans 18,000 verses on topics ranging from cosmology, yoga, philosophy, dharma and ethics, the process of creation and eventual dissolution of the world and liberation or salvation.
But the inner thread running through the heart of the text is the pastimes of God in his various incarnations or avatars. It’s this devotion to God in his personal form that is the focus of the text and the means of liberation for bhakti yoga traditions.
The text of Bhagavatam begins with Suta Goswami in the forest at Naimisaranya. The assembled sages offer a seat of respect to Suta Goswami. Due to his extensive qualifications they ask him to give a summation of the Vedic wisdom. He answers them succinctly,
“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which one can attain to loving devotional service to the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.”
After announcing that the essence of all knowledge, and the highest good, consists of devotion to God, he explains how and why he heard Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Goswami.
Sukadeva recited the Bhagavatam to an assembly of sages on the bank of the sacred river Ganges. King Pariksit, the grandson of the Pandava’s, has been cursed to die by snakebite in 7 days. On receiving the news of his impending death he relinquishes his kingdom and goes to the bank of the Ganges to fast until death.
Many sages assemble there. Then the great sage Sukadeva Goswami, son of Vyasadev also arrives. King Pariksit offers him respect and asks him,
“Would you please explain the path of perfection for all people and particularly for someone who is about to die. Please tell me what people in general should hear, remember and worship and also what they should not do.”
Sukadeva also answers with a succinct summary,
“ My dear King Pariksit, anyone who wishes to be free from all suffering must hear about, glorify and remember the Supreme Lord, who is the Super-soul, the supreme controller and the savior from all misery. The perfection of human life is to remember the Supreme Lord at the end of life.”
The rest of the Bhagavatam is an extended commentary on that summation.
At the end of the text Pariksit declares he is no longer afraid of death because he has absorbed his consciousness in spiritual knowledge. Hearing the knowledge in the Bhagavatam, Pariksit and the reader, are given the means to liberation.
The text is full of blessings for the reader after the various stories...
Anyone who hears this story of Lord Nirishima and Prahlad will certainly reach the spiritual realm and be liberated from all suffering.
Anyone who hears or chants this confidential story of Ajamila will not have to suffer the karmic reactions to material life.
The story of Lord Kapila and His mother Devahuti is the purest of narrations. Anyone who hears this will enter into the abode of the Supreme Lord.
Included in Bhagavatam are the stories of many incarnations of God and his devotees like Prahalad and Dhruva. The stories of the famous 10 avatars of Vishnu are scattered throughout the text. Lord Vishnu descends to the world whenever dharma or religious principles are threatened. He adopts a form suitable for his mission.
The progression of avatars is often compared to the evolution of species, beginning with Matysa the fish; the Kurma the tortoise; Varaha the boar; Narasingha half man-half lion; Vamana the dwarf; Parasurama the ferocious man; Rama the perfect nobleman; Balarama the philosopher and embodiment of guru; Krishna the divine lover. The final descent is Kalki the warrior who ends evil by killing the demon Kali and so ushers in a new golden age. Then the cycle repeats.
In this progression of avatars we see the evolution of species in the outer form, but the Vedic understanding is the evolution of form arises from an inner evolution of consciousness.
For the bhakti traditions the evolution of consciousness is an evolution of devotion to God. It’s by devotion that union with God is achieved, and so the evolution culminates in the form of God as Krishna.
Krishna is the two armed human form of God where divine love brings God closest to the soul. The devotional connection with God isn’t one of power or knowledge, but of love. It produces the most intimate connection and equality with God that isn’t available by any other means.
On display in the Bhagavatam is the unique conceptions of God found in Hinduism. The ontology is seamlessly woven into the diversity of the forms of God, the destiny of the soul, and the method to achieve it.
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