srimadbhagavatham-skandha1 chapter1

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The first four slokas of srimadbhagvatham are very important and they

will be dealt with in detail.The first sloka of the purana is,

 

janmAdhyasya yathah anvayAdhithrathschArTHEshvabhijnah

thEnE brahma hrdhA ya AdhikavayE muhyanthi yathsoorayah

thEjO vAri mrdhAm yaTHA vinimayO yathra thrisargO mrshA

DHAmnA svEna sadhA nirastha kuhakam sathyam param DHeemahi

 

Let us meditate on that Reality, the Brahman,who shines always pure with

His own light who is cognised through the method of agreement and

difference as the source from whom everything arises, who is the

indweller of all beings and cogniser of all and self- illumined, who

instructed the veda, incomprehensible even to the sages, to the creator,

Brahma, who is the substratum of this world formed from the combination

of the three gunas resulting in the gross elements , water,fire and

earth and which is unreal in the sense that Brahman alone is the self of

all and the sole reality.

 

 

 

'janmAdhyasaya yaTHah' is the second suthra of the Brahmasuthra, padha,I

adhikarana,I.The first suthra 'aTHAtho brahmajinjnaaASa,' which means

'then therefore the enquiry into Brahman,' emphasises the necessity for

acquiring the knowledge of Brahman and the second suthra' janmAdhyasya

yathah,' explains the subject matter of the enquiry, that is, Brahman.It

means, 'that from which the creation, sustenance and the dissolution

proceeds.This has reference to the upanishadic statement 'yathO vA imAni

bhootthAni jAyanthE, yEna jAthAni jeevanthi ,yasmin abhisamvisanthi ,

thadhvijijnAsasva thadhbrahma,'which means ,'know that to be Brahman

from whom all beings emerge by whom they are sustained and into whom

they merge back.This is implied by janmadhyasya yathah, the first two

words with which the Bhagavatha purana starts. That which is the source

of sentient and insentient beings is brahma, Brahman who is sathyam

param the supreme truth or reality.and let us meditate on that,

DHeemahi.

 

Brahman is cognised through the method of agreement, anvaya and that of

difference,vyathireka. Brahman can be inferred to be the source of the

world by texts that speak of identity between Brahman and the jiva which

are examples of anvaya, such as 'sarvam khalu idham brahma,' all this is

Brahman , ' ayam AthmA brahma,' this self is Brahman, 'EthadhAthmyam

idham sarvam,' all this is ensouled by that(Brahman) and 'thatthvamasi,'

that thou art etc.

 

The other texts that are specified by itharathah in the sloka are those

that imply difference between the jiva and Brahman such as

'thadhAikshatha bahu syAm prajAyEya, that willed to become many,'

denoting the creation and 'yah Athamani thishTan Athmanah antharah yam

AthmA na vedha yasya AthmAsariram yah AthmAnamantharah yamayathi.' This

text ,meaning 'He who stands inside the individual self, as its

innerself, whom the individual self did not know, to whom the individual

self is the sarira and who controls the individual self from within,'

denotes that Brahman is the self of all.

 

Brahman is the abhijna, the knower in all things, arTHa. He gave the

vedas to Brahma , the Adhikavi by HIs will,(thEnE hrdhA AdhikavayE) To

undertand the true meaning of the vedas is difficult even for the wise

and learned who get confused, muhyanthi yathsoorayah. Brahman always

shines in His own light, sadhA svEna DhAmnA.

 

The creation consisting of three gunas that make the gross elements ,

water, fire and earth that constitute the gross world which is mrshA,

unreal in the sense that Brahman is the self of all sentient and

insentient beings which form His sarira or prakAra,mode, and therefore

Brahman is the only reality.This is indicated by the word

nirasthakuhakam in the sloka, meaning nishkalanka, without blemishes.

Kuhaka means vanchakavasthu or things that deceive and He is nirastha

devoid of that. His jnana is sathya and asankuchitha , real and

uncontracted, all pervasive and therefore nirasthakuhakam.The words

DHAma, sathyam and param denote jnAnam sathyam and anantham.

 

The Mangalasloka indicates the entire subject of the purana to be the

parabrahman, synonymous with Vasudeva. JanmAdhyasya denotes the

jagathkAranathva , the causality of Brahman and being the only reality,

He is both the material cause, upAdhAna kAraNa and efficient cause,

nimittha kAraNa.