Pancaratra and Bhagavata margas

[Guest guest]

> Its not really Bhagavat philosophy though, is it? The Srimad Bhagavatam

> has no mention of Pancharatrika.

 

Please note that below in SB 1.3.8 the composition of Narada Pancaratra by

Narada Muni is referred to by the sentence "He collected expositions of the

Vedas which deal with devotional service and which inspire nonfruitive

action." The purport explains it like that.

 

> trtiyam rsi-sargam vai

> devarsitvam upetya sah

> tantram satvatam acasta

> naiskarmyam karmanam yatah

>

> trtiyam--the third one; rsi-sargam--the millennium of the rsis;

> vai--certainly; devarsitvam--incarnation of the rsi amongst the demigods;

> upetya--having accepted; sah--he; tantram--exposition of the Vedas;

> satvatam--which is especially meant for devotional service;

> acasta--collected; naiskarmyam--nonfruitive; karmanam--of work;

> yatah--from which.

>

> TRANSLATION

>

> In the millennium of the rsis, the Personality of Godhead accepted the

> third empowered incarnation in the form of Devarsi Narada, who is a great

> sage among the demigods. He collected expositions of the Vedas which deal

> with devotional service and which inspire nonfruitive action.

>

> PURPORT

>

> The great Rsi Narada, who is an empowered incarnation of the Personality

> of Godhead, propagates devotional service all over the universe. All great

> devotees of the Lord all over the universe and in different planets and

> species of life are his disciples. Srila Vyasadeva, the compiler of the

> Srimad-Bhagavatam, is also one of his disciples. NARADA IS THE AUTHOR OF

> NARADA-PANCARATRA, WHICH IS THE EXPOSITION OF THE VEDAS PARTICULARLY FOR

> THE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE OF THE LORD. This Narada-pancaratra trains the

> karmis, or the fruitive workers, to achieve liberation from the bondage of

> fruitive work. The conditioned souls are mostly attracted by fruitive work

> because they want to enjoy life by the sweat of their own brows. The whole

> universe is full of fruitive workers in all species of life. The fruitive

> works include all kinds of economic development plans. But the law of

> nature provides that every action has its resultant reaction, and the

> performer of the work is bound up by such reactions, good or bad. The

> reaction of good work is comparative material prosperity, whereas the

> reaction of bad work is comparative material distress. But material

> conditions, either in so-called happiness or in so-called distress, are

> all meant ultimately for distress only. Foolish materialists have no

> information of how to obtain eternal happiness in the unconditional state.

> Sri Narada informs these foolish fruitive workers how to realize the

> reality of happiness. He gives direction to the diseased men of the world

> how one's present engagement can lead one to the path of spiritual

> emancipation. The physician directs the patient to take treated milk in

> the form of curd for his sufferings from indigestion due to his taking

> another milk preparation. So the cause of the disease and the remedy of

> the disease may be the same, but it must be treated by an expert physician

> like Narada. The Bhagavad-gita also gives the same solution of serving the

> Lord by the fruits of one's labor. That will lead one to the path of

> naiskarmya, or liberation.

 

The Narada Pancaratra is referred to in the following translation of SB

6.16.33:

 

> tatah samadhaya mano manisaya

> babha-sa etat pratilabdha-vag asau

> niyamya sarvendriya-bahya-vartanam

> jagad-gurum satvata-sastra-vigraham

>

> tatah--thereafter; samadhaya--controlling; manah--the mind; manisaya--by

> his intelligence; babhasa--spoke; etat--this; pratilabdha--recovering;

> vak--speech; asau--that one (King Citraketu); niyamya--controlling;

> sarva-indriya--of all the senses; bahya--external; vartanam--the

> wandering; jagat-gurum--who is the spiritual master of everyone;

> satvata--of devotional service; sastra--of the holy scriptures;

> vigraham--the personified form.

>

> TRANSLATION

>

> Thereafter, by controlling his mind with his intelligence and thus

> restricting his senses from external engagements, he recovered suitable

> words with which to express his feelings. Thus he began offering prayers

> to the Lord, who is the personification of the holy scriptures [the

> satvata-samhitas like the Brahma-samhita and the Narada-pancaratra] and

> who is the spiritual master of all. He offered his prayers as follows.

 

The Narada-pancaratra is mentioned in the word meanings for SB 8.6.9:

 

> rupam tavaitat purusarsabhejyam

> sreyo 'rthibhir vaidika-tantrikena

> yogena dhatah saha nas tri-lokan

> pasyamy amusminn u ha visva-murtau

>

> rupam--form; tava--Your; etat--this; purusa-rsabha--O best of all

> personalities; ijyam--worshipable; sreyah--ultimate auspiciousness;

> arthibhih--by persons who desire; vaidika--under the direction of Vedic

> instructions; TANTRIKENA--REALIZED BY FOLLOWERS OF TANTRAS, LIKE

> NARADA-PANCARATRA; yogena--by practice of mystic yoga; dhatah--O supreme

> director; saha--with; nah--us (the demigods); tri-lokan--controlling the

> three worlds; pasyami--we see directly; amusmin--in You; u--oh;

> ha--completely manifested; visva-murtau--in You, who have the universal

> form.

>

> TRANSLATION

>

> O best of persons, O supreme director, those who actually aspire for

> supreme good fortune worship this form of Your Lordship according to the

> Vedic Tantras. My Lord, we can see all the three worlds in You.

 

The following is from SB 4.27.24, purport:

 

> Thus jara, the effect of old age, does not harass a devotee. This is

> because a devotee follows the instructions and the determination of Narada

> Muni. All devotees are in the disciplic succession stemming from Narada

> Muni because they worship the Deity according to Narada Muni's direction,

> namely the Narada-pancaratra, or the pancaratrika-vidhi. A DEVOTEE FOLLOWS

> THE PRINCIPLES OF PANCARATRIKA-VIDHI AS WELL AS BHAGAVATA-VIDHI.

> Bhagavata-vidhi includes preaching work--sravanam kirtanam visnoh--the

> hearing and chanting of the glories of Lord Visnu, the Supreme personality

> of Godhead. The pancaratrika-vidhi includes arcanam vandanam dasyam

> sakhyam atma-nivedanam. Because a devotee rigidly follows the instructions

> of Narada Muni, he has no fear of old age, disease or death.

 

The following excerpt from SB 7.5.23-24, purport clarifies the necessity of

arcana in addition to sravanam kiirtanam:

 

> Deity worship should be continued along with hearing and chanting.

> Therefore every mantra is preceded by the word namah. In all the mantras

> there are specific potencies, of which the grhastha devotees must take

> advantage. There are many mantras preceded by the word namah, but if one

> chants the holy name of the Lord, he receives the result of chanting namah

> many times. By chanting the holy name of the Lord, one can reach the

> platform of love of Godhead. One might ask, then what is the necessity of

> being initiated? The answer is that even though the chanting of the holy

> name is sufficient to enable one to progress in spiritual life to the

> standard of love of Godhead, one is nonetheless susceptible to

> contamination because of possessing a material body. Consequently, special

> stress is given to the arcana-vidhi. One should therefore regularly take

> advantage of both the bhagavata process and pancaratriki process.

 

Your servant

VGD