srimadbhagavatham-skandha2-chapters6and7

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Chapter6- The Cosmic form

 

Sarvam purusha evedham bhootham bhavyam bhavaccha yath

Tenedham Avrtham viSvam vithasthim aDhithishThathi (Bh.2-6-15)

 

The whole creation is nothing but the Lord. He is the past, present and future. He pervades all and extends beyond. His transcendence is declared in the Vedas as , ‘sa bhoomim visvatho bhoothvA athyadhiShThath dhaSAngulam’(Purushasuktham) He pervades all and extends all by ten fingers , which means that He is immeasurable, that is beyond the count of ten fingers. He is self-luminous and also illumines everything as the Sun does. The whole universe is His sarira and when Brahma was created from the navel of the Lord, he could not see anyone or anything except the Lord and thus the implements and the means of worshipping Him were fashioned out of Himself. It is said in Vishnu sahasranama ‘yajnabhrth yajnakrth yajnee yajnAngo yajnavAhanah,’ that is , He is the substratum, creator, performer and the limbs and vehicle of yajna. The same idea is expressed in the Gita, ‘brahmArpanam brahmahaviH brahmAgnou brahmaNA hutham,’ (BG.4-24),Brahman is the one to whom everything is offered ,He Himself is the offering, He is the fire into which they are offered and He is the one who does the offering.

 

Brahma told Narada that he was creating the worlds by the command of the Lord, Rudra is annihilating the worlds by His command and He Himself protects the universe in the form of Vishnu. Only the sages who have mastered themselves know the Lord as he is and when He is misinterpreted by the unenlightened, He becomes unmanifest. This is what has been stressed by Krishna in the Gita by ‘nAham prakASah sarvasya yogamAyasamAvrthah;mooDoyam nAbhijAnAthi loko mAm ajam avyayam, I am not manifest to all concealed by yogamaya. The ignorant do not know Me to be unborn and immutable.’

 

The first and supreme Purusha was the cosmic form, immeasurable, from whom the Time, the primordial nature, which was the evolvent and the evolutes, mind, the five elements, ego, the three attributes and the indhriyas originated. The gross cosmic form, virat, came from the subtle cosmic form, svarat, and the individual entities, movable and immovable came from that.

 

Chapter7- The incarnations of the Lord.

 

Brahma gave Narada a summary of the whole Bhagavatham by explaining the various incarnations.

1. Varaha- The Lord in His incarnation as varaha to retrieve the earth from the sea where Hiranyksha concealed it, was also known as yajnapurusha. This could be seen in the episode of Varahavathata later.

2.Suyajna- The Lord manifested as Suyajna, as the son of Ruci prajapathi and Akoothi, his wife. He married DhakshiNa and got the yamas or devas as his sons. He came to be known as Hari as he erased the sufferings of all the three worlds. ‘Arthim aharath ithi hariH.’

3. Kapila- This avatara is elaborated in Bhagavatham later.

4. DhatthAthreyah- He became the son of Athri to whom He gave Himself as the son and hence came to be known as DatthAthreya, ‘dhatthah sah Athreyah cha ithi.’

5 Kumara- The Lord was born as the four kumaras from the mind of Brahma through his unbroken thapas(sana) and was known as Sanaka,Sananthana,SanAthana and Sanatkumara.The knowledge of Atman lost in the previous kalpa was revived by them.

6.Nara-narayana- This incarnation is described later in Bhagavatha.

7.Prthu- Born out of the limbs of vena whom he saved from going to hell and milked the earth which gave the earth the name PrThvee.

8.Rshabha- Son of Nabhi who remained in the yogic state of paramahamsa.

9.Hayagriva- Appeared in the sathra(yaga) conducted by Brahma and was the embodiment of yajna, golden in colour. His breath were the Vedas.

10.Mathsya- the Fish.One of the well known Dasavataras.

11.Koorma- the Tortoise.

12.Nrsimha-The man-lion

13.Harisamjnaka- The incarnation appearing on Garuda to save gajendhra

14.Vamana- the Dwarf

15.Hamsa- in which the Lord instructed on yoga, jnana, Atmathathva and bhAgavathadharma to the sages.

16.Dhanvanthari- whose name itself destroys all the illnesses.

17.Parasurama-Son Of jamadhagni and Renuka.

18.Rama- Son of Dasaratha.

19.Krishna- the story of Krishna is retold in 10 slokas.

20.Vyasa- to codify and expound the Vedas.

21.Buddha- to delude the miscreants who misrepresented the Vedas.

22.Kalki- to suppress the evil spirit of kali when the world will be completely devoid of the knowledge of Vedas.

 

Besides these, the Lord also appeared as Brahma, rshis,prajapathis, manus etc. In facyt the whole world is His manifestations as He Himself says in the Gita ‘ nAnthosthi mamadhivyAnAm vibhootheenAm parnthapa,’ His manifestations are endless.

 

Brhma concludes his discourse saying that even the thousand tongued AdhiSesha would not be able to describe the glory of the Lord. He told Narada that this was the Bhagavatham instructed to him by the Lord Himself and asked Narada to expand it and expound it ti ot eh world in order to create bhakthi in the minds of people.