The History of Srimad Bhagavatam

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

"1. Vyasa records the death of Parikshit in the Mahabharata. Which means the Mahabharata was completed after Parikshit's death. Now Parikshit is dead, the Mahabharatha is complete and Vyasa is sitting dejected when Narada approaches him with the idea of composing the Bhagavata. How can this Bhagavata be naratted to Parikshit later?"

 

These are good questions that should naturally come up when we read Srimad Bhagavatam in a "conscious" state.

 

The description of Parikshit's death as found in the Mahabharata is from the previous Kali yuga. The Srimad Bhagavatam describes Parikshit's activities as they occurred in the present Kali yuga. The narrations have very little in common, if you were to read them each and compare them. For example in Mahabharata (as it occurred in the previous Kali Yuga) Parikshit Maharaja took refuge in a tower, located on an island in the Ganga, in order to protect himself from the Takshaka snake. The Srimad Bhagavatam records an entirely different event.

 

The Puranas record events based not on chronology, but based on subject. For example the Srimad Bhagavatam describes how Varaha appeared, fought with Hiranyaksha, and then lifted the earth from the universal waters. In reality there were two Varaha avataras, one that fought with Hiranyaksha and one that lifted the earth. And these two incarnations took place in different ages. But since the purpose of the Puranas is to discuss the glorious pastimes of the Lord, the activities of both avataras are described as one. Those who have studied the Puranas under proper guidance understand this principle, as well as the principle of yuga-bheda, or the differences in pastimes that occur in various ages.

 

For example the Vishnu Purana descriptions are often different from other Puranas because it was authored by Parashara Muni in the previous dvapara yuga. Vyasa chose not to re-write the Vishnu Purana, and instead kept the same text from the previous divya-yuga.

 

A somewhat unrelated point is that there are cases of texts being composed prior to the activity occurring. For example Valmiki composed Ramayana before Lord Rama performed his pastimes. By the power of his mystic vision he was able to see what would occur. Ramayana's composition is another topic which can be discussed later.

 

"Suka heard the Bhagavata from Vyasa. Suta heard it from Suka. The Rishis of Naimika Aranya heard it from Suta. Now all this recorded in the Bhgavatam text. So WHO wrote the final form of the Bhagavatam?"

 

We must understand the difference between Srimad Bhagavatam the book and Srimad Bhagavatam the narration. In the previous ages all texts (including the smritis) where taught orally. There were no written books. The rishis had a power of comprehension that allowed them to record vast amounts of information mentally.

 

Vyasa chose to have the Vedic texts put in written form for the benefit of the people of Kali yuga, who did not have the ability to remember things by hearing. For this he narrated, and his disciples wrote them. The texts were not physically written by Vyasa Muni - they were spoken by him.

 

The Srimad Bhagavatam spoken by Shuka Muni to Parikshit is obviously slightly different from that which was spoken by Suta to Shaunaka Rishi. The obvious difference is that Suta includes the conversations between Parikshit and Shuka Muni. This does not change the substance at all.

 

In the Bhagavatam there is reference to another line of Bhagavata Purana that came from Ananta-shesha, who narrated it to the four Kumaras. Later the four Kumaras narrated this Srimad Bhagavatam to Maitreya Rishi, the great liberated soul.

 

What to speak of this, there are different versions of each text for different levels of humans. The Bhagavatam read in Indra-loka is much larger than the one we have. The Bhagavatam in Yama-loka is described as the bigest of all. In it there are descriptions of the Lord's incarnation in all 8,400,000 species of life.

 

For the earthly humans, Vyasa chose to use the Suta to Shaunaka recital as the written form of Srimad Bhagavatam. This is after Bhagavatam has been composed. Bhagavatam was composed at a particular time and written at a completely different time. When it came time to put the composition in written form there would have been many narrations of it that had occurred among the rishis. Vyasa chose the conversation between Suta and Shaunaka. And once it was put in written form, it was simply read from then on - there was no longer the spontaneous recital of Srimad Bhagavatam, at least not for much longer, as the ability to do this gradually disappeared in Kali yuga. As people lost their recollective powers, they took increasing shelter of the written form of Bhagavatam.

 

Srimad Bhagavatam the composition is unlimited, for it entails the descriptions of the Lord's pastimes. Srimad Bhagavatam the book, in written form, is limited to 18,000 verses in the earthly version.

 

"Itihasa - History, Purana - Old, Ancient. Why two separate categories in the Shastras to describe the same thing?"

 

We need to see the technical definition of these words, then it will be clear that they do not describe the same things. Purana is defined by five lakshanas. Itihasa on the other hand is the narration of the activities of a particular hero or family lineage. For example Ramayana describes the activities of Lord Rama.

 

The Amara-kosha dictionary defines the word Purana as follows:

 

sargas ca pratisarga ca

vamsa manvantarani ca

vamsanu caritam capi

puranam panca laksanam

 

"A Purana possesses five characteristics, namely it describes 1) sarga (creation) 2) pratisarga (recreation) 3) vamsa (history of the sages) 4) manvantara (periods of Manu) 5) vamsanucarita (geneology of kings)."

 

The Srimad Bhagavatam is unique in that it is defined as that which explains 10 subjects. That topic has been dealt with in one of our past news letters, and can be seen for reference.

 

In summary, the words Purana and Itihasa, when refering to categories of books, have technical definitions distinct from the general meaning of the word. One needs to refer to the Amara-kosha dictionary for the complete technical meaning of each word.

 

[shvu]

Hi Jndas,

 

Thanks for the Info. I always used to wonder about how the Bhagavatam was written by Vyasa and yet talk about Suka and Suta. So it is accepted that Vyasa composed and narrated it, while it was written down by someone else. The Itihaasa and Purana difference was something that had me confused too.

 

The Parikshit part is interesting. The scholars who reasoned that it was a different Parikshit were not far off the mark.

 

Thanks

[shvu]

 

The fact that the Mahabharata and the Bhagavatam have different versions of Parikshit's last days is an interesting point. if the Bhagavatam was written later, and was made to seem like it was written by Vyasa, then the author would have been careful not to disagree with an already existing text such as the Mahabharata.

 

Something to consider.

 

Cheers

[animesh]

jndas ji,

It is very interesting. But I am really getting confused. Anyway, I will go through your post very carefully once again.

[gtam]

Hi.

Thankyou for the explanations and anticipating for more information on Srimadbhagavatam.

Thanks

[animesh]

___________

 

The description of Parikshit's death as found in the Mahabharata is from the previous Kali yuga.

 

___________

 

jndas ji,

If my understanding is correct, then some portion of Mahabharata belongs to dwapar yuga and the rest to kali yuga. Is it possible that the entire Mahabharata belongs to previous dwapar and kali yugas? It seems very-very unlikely (if not impossible) that Ved Vyasa would have mixed the two.

 

[viji_53]

Mahabharat ends with Lord Krishna's death from this world. With that Dwaparayuga ends.After hearing the news about the death of Krishna Pandavas also left this world. Pandavas crowned Parikshit & left. Parikshit's Growth as a king started in early Kaliyuga. When he reached 32 he got curse & then met Sukamuni who recited whole of Srimad Bhagavat & made him attain mukthi in 7 days.

SrimadBhagavat is nothing but reapetation of Lord Narayana's leelas as 10 avatars with special focus on Lord Krishna as it is easy to attain Him by simple devotion. Though It was written by Vyasa It was propagated only by SukaMuni . Vyasa wrote SrimadBhagavat(the summary of all his writings) for Kaliyug people to attain God in an easy way by means of simple devotion.There need not be any confusion regarding SrimadBhagavatam.

HariBhol!

[animesh]

__________

Mahabharat ends with Lord Krishna's death from this world.

__________

 

Then what about the description of Parikshit's death?

[viji_53]

Dear animesh,

Dwapara yuga ends with the death of Lord Krishna from this world. Vyasa was a Jnani he knew the past, present & future. He had written about Parikshit's death from his prediction. Srimad Bhagavat begins with Bhoomidevi crying & complaining about Kalipurusha to Parikshit.

If we analyse systematically, first Lord Himself gave Vedas, It did not reach everybody, so Upanishads were given, they also could not reach to everyone, then Itihas ; they reached people to some extend, seeing all these Vyasa felt his writings should reach every individual, so he came up with Bhagavat which is just a repeatation of all the avatars of Lord Naarayana with special focus on Dasamaskand Krishna's leelas.

HariBhol!

[ethos]

I am confused too. Alot of things here I've never heard. But I recognize this to be a classic. Let's play it again.

 

I'll have to concentrate hard on this one. I can't quite formulate a question now. All that comes to mind is tell me more.