puranas : an interpretation

[Guest guest]

Namaskar,

 

 

Just a thought I have,What do you have to say about it : am I right or

wrong? ANd what others have to say, I could be a fool not knowledgeable but

this is my interpretation of the Puranic story. Note it is personal opinion

and not authority hence could be wrong and to be discarded after reading if

you find it wrong.

 

It is stated in our Puranas that there was water everywhere and that Lord

Vishnu rested on his Seshnag on this water. And later on Lord Vishnu's Boar

Avtaar(Incarnation) lifts Earth from the water.

 

As a Hindu I believe that the Puranas are true.

 

But when the rationalist mind laugh at us for believing such stories. So I

questioned if our Puranas are really what they mean or just false stories.

So with a rationalist mind,if you read the story it states water was

everywhere sound hilarious , how can there be water everywhere and no land.

And that Vishnu removed the earth from the water/oceans . But as a Hindu

believing that the sriptures said is a true as a Hindu , and trying to find

out if there is something hidden in it.

 

The Purana states how the Vishnu Avtaar Varaha lifted the earth form

underwater:

*"When the demon, Hiranyaksha dragged Bhoomi Devi (Mother Earth) underwater,

Vishnu took the form of Varaha (a wild boar). After a fierce battle he

overpowered the demon and lifted Bhoomi Devi from the waters. He pushed with

his snout and the land puckered forming the **Himalayan** **Mountains**. He

dragged more land from the sea and shaped the Indian subcontinent."

 

(Note: I could not find the exact wordings of the Puranas)*

 

*

*Does this not relate to the scientific thought on one of the process of

formation of continents formation of earth?Origionally, all the land mass

was one land mass and termed as Pangea, around 300 million years ago. Infact

if you cut the various continents from a map and try to join, they fit

exactly in form of a puzzle. And that the triangular part of the Indian ap

was a separate part. And when it hit the land mass in the north

(Nepalregion), it led to creation of

Himalayas and still since the two land mass are still moving the height of

Himalayas is still rising . That is what scientists say how the Himalayaswere

formed.That is till the continents formed only a small part of the globe had

a collection of land mass and hence the entire globe looked like to be of

only water.

 

 

*

*Now in the light of this knowledge that we study the Puranas,the above

story of Vishnu avtaar and what scientist give us are the same. In Puranas

they have mixed it with story and instead of writing that there was a single

landmass called PANGEA, Sages wrote "Earth was hidden in Oceans" as all

continents formed a single land mass it looked like there was water

everywhere and that is what is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana story.

 

Does it now show that the Puranas written by Sages have hidden the same

story that Science is trying to discover now and we Hindus knew it or the

Sages knew it.

 

Probably from this we can infer that in the Puranas there is Science mixed

in mythological and allegorical stories on the formation of earth. In this

light we can even fix the date of Vishnu Avtaar Varaha as 300 million years

back or whatever the scientist think the time the continents drifted.

 

Correct me if I am wrong. This is personal opinions , I am not a scientist

who knows all of Science nor a very dedicated into scriptures. So could be

wrong.

 

 

--

Namaskar,

devishakti_india

( divyabhakti )

( http://spiritualhinduism.blogspot.com )

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

In chapter 10 of Bahavad Gita, the Glory of the Divine has been

projected through the manifestations of the Brahman in a variety of

forms. The names, forms and heroic stories of the Avatars are to

illustrate the divine attributes embodied through the shapes of those

Avatars (shape of a human being or an animal or a human-animal

combined form, possessing great and sometimes supernatural powers).

These Avatars of Vishnu appeared in the world are mostly to destroy

the Evil and to protect and preserve the Good. These stories of

avatars are similar to projections of movies on the screen with

specific goals. Some movies are quite realistic and some of them are

not realistic. But every movie provides some useful hints for how we

proceed with our own lives – some items and characters in the movies

serve us as role models, others help us to avoid certain paths or

certain characters etc. In short, the Puranic stories can be

understood appropriately when understand the undisclosed symbolism

and subtle unwritten messages.

 

The Hindu scriptures could be subdivided into three segments to

simplify our understanding:

First category consists of highest level philosophy suitable for the

spiritual seekers. Upanishads, Brahman Sutras and Bhagavad Gita

belong to category.

Second category consists of part of the Vedas that describe rituals

and their vidhis including agama sastras and dharma sastras (manu).

These are suitable for the families to conduct their Vedic karmas and

worldly life.

Third category consists of puranas and upapuranas along with the

Idhikasas (Ramayana and Mahabharat) to serve as illustrations for the

families to follow the Vedic customs and Manu dharma.

 

As Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekandra Saraswati points out in the well

written book with the title, Vedas, the entire emphasis of Hindu

scriptures is on `Dharma.' Also the entire Bhagavad Gita focuses

on `Dharma' and Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna that dharma can be

protected through Yoga. Gita found the right combination - Karma Yoga

with dharma to cross and go beyond the samsara Sagaram!

 

In conclusion, let us not give importance to the historical and

scientific facts of Puranic stories, instead, focus on the message

that those stories try to convey to help us to grow spiritually.

This ancient religious tradition always tried to emphasize `morals'

through story telling and they were quite effective for the millions

of less philosophically inclined audience.

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

advaitin, devishakti_india

<devishaktiindia@g...> wrote:

>

> It is stated in our Puranas that there was water everywhere and

that Lord

> Vishnu rested on his Seshnag on this water. And later on Lord

Vishnu's Boar

> Avtaar(Incarnation) lifts Earth from the water.

>

> As a Hindu I believe that the Puranas are true.

>

> But when the rationalist mind laugh at us for believing such

stories.

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <ramvchandran>

wrote:

> The Hindu scriptures could be subdivided into three segments to

> simplify our understanding:

>

 

Namaste

 

Let me supplement Ram Chandran-ji's excellent categorisation of

Hindu scriptures and make a more detailed categorisation.

 

In contrast to the Shruti (the Vedas, inclusive of the Upanishads)

which is the primary source of almost everything in Hinduism, there

are human compositions called Smriti to which all the daily

practices can be traced. Smriti can change from time to time but

the Shruti never changes.

 

Next to the Smriti there are three categories: Itihasa, Purana and

Agama. These constitute the bulwark of what may be called popular

Hinduism. One more category 'Darshana' is there which is the source

for all the different schools of interpretation of the Upanishads

and the Brahmasutra and the Gita. The Vedanta school is one of the

six schools of Darshana. And within the Vedanta school there are two

major divisions -- the Absolutistic and the Non-absolutistic.

Advaita belongs to the former.

 

Itihasa (history) consists of the two great epics, The Ramayana

(24000 shlokas) of Valmiki and the Mahabharata (100,000 shlokas) of

Vyasa. While the Vedas are cryptic, sometimes very prosiaic and

abstract, The itihasa forms a popular veda and provides the simplest

and most graphic introduction to Hindu thought, culture and

philosophy. Through their chronicles of great epic events they have

captivated succeeding generations by their insight into human

behaviour and their unexcelled simple style of narration, a

symbiosis of profundity of thought and naivety of context. Indeed in

all of hsitory, Valmiki and Vyasa are the two persons who have

influenced the largest number of people for the longest period of

time.

 

The Puranas mostly written by Vyasa are chronicles and long

narratives that popularize the content of the Vedas by appealing to

our imagination. Each purana is distinctly in favour of a particular

deity, whose exploits form its subject-matter, and that deity is

considered in that purana as the Supreme Reality. The manner in

which, in each purana, all other deities are made subservient to the

one deity extolled in that purana, lends support to the view put

forward by Vedanta that there is only one ultimate Godhead (and that

too impersonal, as maintained by advaita) and each parfticular name

and form of that Godhead is only an expression of that single

Reality.

 

Next to the purANas there are the Agamas which are prayers and

rituals particularly those connected with the construction of templs

and worship of idols. These appeal to the heart and thereby have

captured successive generations of Hindu families.

 

To sum up, the three categories, the Itihasa, the Puranas and the

Agamas are the bedrock on which popular Hinduism rests and this

foundation is so secure that millions of people live and die as

convinced Hindus without ever having had even a passing acquaintance

with the Vedas or the Upanishads.

 

To know more about these scriptures, see

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/scriptures.html

and succeeding pages.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins

profvk

[Guest guest]

> <devishaktiindia@g...> wrote:

---------

> >

dear devisakti,

WHY SHD THE RATIONALISTS laugh?

look onto the dasavataras.

matsya [living in water only]-koorma[mostly

water plus land based ]-varaha[preferably land based

but need water]-----narasimha [animal to human

transition]--- vamana [humanoid]--- parasurama [the

warring human ] ---- rama [ the totally evolved

human-purushotthama]--- krishna [ the practical man

]---- kalki [ horse driven--- HORSE POWER

DRIVEN--MACHINE DRIVEN man]----

now see...

is this not nothing but " modern" or

" rationalistic creation" ?

now where is the cause for the rationalists

to "laugh"?

HINDUISM IS THE MOST SCIENTIFIC RELIGION.

INDIA IS BEHIND THE WEST ONLY IN " SCIENCE

AFTER NEWTON".

in SCIENCE PER SE, INDIA IS FAR ADVANCED THAN

THE WEST.

SCIENCE IS DRIVEN BY THE MIND.

HINDUISM IS SUPREME IN THE "SCIENCE OF THE

MIND".

"WESTERN SCIENCE" HAS NOT EVEN SCRATCHED

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG [at 1st standard level] OF

"THE SCIENCE OF THE MIND", IN WHICH HINDU SCIENCE IS

AT DOCTORATE LEVEL!

this is why " scientific america " is

increasingly looking towards india!.

a.v.krshnn

--------------

 

 

..

> >

> > But when the rationalist mind laugh at us for

> believing such

> stories.

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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