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Words of Wisdom From The Puranas

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Item Code: NAG780
Author: Purnaprajna Dasa
Publisher: Sri Sri Sitaram Seva Trust
Language: English
Edition: 2016
ISBN: 9788192540863
Pages: 458
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch X 5.5 inch
Weight 380 gm
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Book Description
About The Book

Srila Vyasadeva compiled many Vedic literatures out of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls, just to deliver them from the mire of material existence and reinstate them in their rightful position as eternal servitors of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Puranas are presented for the masses of people so that from any condition of life they can gradually elevate themselves to the platform of absolute knowledge and love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This book is a compilation of fascinating histories that are not commonly heard and which broaden our understanding of great personalities well-known to us.

 

Introduction

Earlier this year, while going through the summaries of the twelve Puranas I had written, I was pleased to see how there were many stories that devotees would find very interesting to read. I also found that there were numerous speeches by great personalities which were full of wisdom presented with crisp clarity. Because I always like to keep my days filled with writing something in relation to Krishna consciousness, I began this compilation of stories from the Puranas.

Some of these stories are not to be found in the literature presented by Srlla Prabhupada, and some of these stories are there, especially in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Why would I include in this compilation stories already related in Srimad-Bhagavatam? Because in other Puranas, these stories are sometimes told in greater detail, and they often provide interesting accounts of great personalities' previous lives.

A common theme of the Puranas is that a person's present life is the result of his or her previous actions, and it is one's present actions that determine one's future birth. Thus, we find in the Puranas many stories describing a person's existence during several, or even many, consecutive lifetimes.

Modern societies are so materialistic that people hardly consider the long-term consequences of their actions, nor can the understand how their present condition of life was caused by their own previous acts. There are common sayings, such as, "You only go around once," that indicate how the people of today take this one life as being all-in-all. Naturally, this is the result of being too much in the bodily conception of life, and this in turn is caused by ignorance of one's eternal spiritual nature as a fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna.

In previous ages, the people of India heard narrations of the Puranas from their very childhood and so they naturally understood their present condition of happiness and distress to be the result their previous sinful and pious activities. This was an impetus f them to perform pious acts, and to worship the demigods and Supreme Personality of Godhead, to insure a bright future.

In these stories, you will many times find that the descriptions are different from those of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. This natural! leads to the question, "Why?" In Mahabharata also, there are many pastimes described much differently than the narrations of th Bhagavatam. The simple explanation for this is that the Lord appear again and again, and not just once, as described in the Bhagavad- gita: paritranaya sedhunam; vinasaya ca duskrtam dharma-samsthapanarthaya, sambhavami yuge yuge. "To delive the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."

A very clear picture of how the same pastime is performed differently in different millenniums is found in the Vamana Purana, wherein the story of the birth of the Maruts, which is also found in the Bhagavatam, is told five times by the sage, Pulastya. These five narrations describe the appearance of the Maruts in five different manvantaras, and each telling is very different from the others. Similarly, the story of the Vamana incarnation is told variously in the puranas for the simple reason that the Lord appears again and again, not only in this day of Brahma, but in every day of Brahma, and not only in this universe, but in each and every universe.

There is another thing that must be said about some of these pastimes from the Puranas. In this regard, there is this verse from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta:

"Illusory stories opposed to the conclusions of Krishna consciousness concern the destruction of the Yadu dynasty, Krishna disappearance, the story that Krishna and Balarama arise from a black hair and a white hair of Ksirodakasayi Visnu, and the story about the kidnapping of the queens. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained to Sanatana Gosvami the proper conclusions of these stories."

In the purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada wrote: "Some of Lord Krishna's pastimes are mentioned in the Mahabharata as mausala-lila. These include the stories of the destruction of the Yadu dynasty, Krishna's disappearance, His being pierced by a hunter's arrow, the story of Krishna's being an incarnation of a piece of hair (kesa-avatara) as well as mahisi-harana, the kidnapping of Krishna's queens. Actually these are not factual but are related for the bewilderment of the asuras, who want to prove that Krishna is an ordinary human being. They are false in the sense that these pastimes are not eternal, nor are they transcendental or spiritual."

Still, the destruction of the Yadu dynasty, Krishna' disappearance, and the kidnapping of Krishna's queens are al mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam, and so it is not that these stories are to be avoided, but they must be told in the proper way, a indicated by the above verse from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

Regarding the Garga Samhita, it must be said that in his books Srlla Prabhupada never mentioned it. Still, in his commentary on S Brhad-bhagavatamrta, Gopiparanadhana Dasa wrote: "The origin Vedic srutis and their derivative smrtis mostly reflect the genera: interests of human beings, who strive for material progress, rarely inquiring philosophically into the purpose of life. The confidential science of pure devotional service is taught explicitly only in a few Vedic scriptures little known to the public. Among these rare text are the Gopsle-tapani: Upanisad, the Narada Pancaratra, the Garga Samhita, the visnu Purana, the Hati-vamsa Upapurana, the Uttarakhanda of the Padma Purana, and the Bhagavata Maha-purana"

Although the descriptions of the Lord's pastimes differ in different renditions, the essential message is the same-that human birth in Bharata-varsa affords one the best opportunity for gaining release from the cycle of repeated birth and death by engaging in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. In each and every story of the Puranas, the conditional life of material existence is condemned as being of no intrinsic value. In each and every story, the understanding is propagated that without the mercy of the Lord, nothing of value can be accomplished. In each and every story, we are made to realize that we will be forced to suffer or enjoy the results of our activities, and that sinful activities will lead us to terrible punishment in the hellish planets.

I have selected these stories simply on the basis of how interesting they might be to the reader, and so I hope you enjoy them.

 

Contents

 

Chapter One: The origin of Arjuna and Karna,  
  from the Padma Purana 1
Chapter Two: Narada Muni becomes a qopl, from the  
  Narada Purana 4
Chapter Three: The birth of King Kuru and the origin  
  of Kuruksetra, from the Vamana Purana 6
Chapter Four: Previous histories of Lord Krsna's  
  principal queens, from the Garuda Purana 11
Chapter Five: Brahma curses Narada to become Upabarhana,  
  and thereafter, the son of a maidservant,  
  from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana 24
Chapter Six:: The fault of associating with atheists,  
  from the Visnu Purana 42
Chapter Seven: The birth of Vyasa, the son of Parasara Muni  
  and Satyavatl, from the Skanda Purana 46
Chapter Eight: Sukadeva, the son of Vyasa and Jaball's  
  daughter, Vatika, from the Skanda Purana 50
Chapter Nine: King Indradyumna and the history of the  
  Deities of Nlla-Madhava, Lord Jaqannatha,  
  Lord Baladeva, and Subhadra, from the  
  Skanda Purana 53
Chapter Ten: The Origin of Ekadasl, from the Padma Purana 84
Chapter Eleven: Kalanemi reborn as Karhsa, the son of the  
  demon, Gobila, and Padmavatl, the wife  
  of Ugrasena, from the Padma Purana 89
Chapter Twelve: Pastimes of Lord Parasurarna,  
  from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana 94
Chapter Thirteen: Svaha appears as Nagnajitl, from the  
  Brahma-vaivarta Purana 116
Chapter Fourteen: How Astavakra's body became deformed,  
  from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana 120
Chapter Fifteen: Description of Karhsa's strength,  
  from the Garga Sarnhita 129
Chapter Sixteen: Arjuna becomes a qopi, from the  
  Padma Purana 138
Chapter Seventeen: How King Ariga married Sunitha, the  
  daughter of Mrtyu, from the Padma Purana 142
Chapter Eighteen: Markandey conquers death,  
  from the Nrsimha Purana 151
Chapter Ninteen: Concluding pastimes of Lord Krishna  
  from the Visnu Purana 165
Chapter Twenty: How Sahasika, the son of Bali, became  
  Dhenukasura, and how Tilottama became  
  Usa, the daughter of Banasura, from the  
  Brahma-vaivarta Purana 174
Chapter Twenty one: Confidential pastimes of Lord Rama,  
  The history of Oandakaranya, from the  
  Padma Purana 184
Chapter Twenty two: Garuda becomes the carrier of Lord Visnu  
  and steals the nectar of heaven,  
  from the Padma Purana 194
Chapter Twenty Three: Brhaspati impersonates Sukracarya to deceive 200
  the demons, from the Matsya Purana  
Chapter Twenty Four: King Rukmarigada makes all the citizens  
  observe Ekadas], from the Visnu Purana 208
Chapter Twenty Five: Lord Siva cuts off Brahma's  
  fifth head, from the Vamana Purana 259
Chapter Twenty Six: Cupid tries to disturb Nara-Narayana Rsi,  
  and Cupid's body burnt by Lord Siva, from  
  Varnana Purana 265
Chapter Twenty seven: King Sagara and his descendents,  
  from the Narada Purana 272
Chapter Twenty Eight: Kaca and Devayani curse one another.  
  King Yayati marries Devayani, from the  
  Matsya Purana 290
Chapter Twenty Nine: Visvakarma and Ghrtacl curse one  
  another, from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana 314
Chapter Thirty: Jnana and Vairaqya, the sons of  
  Bhakti, from the Padma Purana 321
Chapter Thirty One: Indra cursed to become a  
  woman, from the Nrsirhha Purana 328
Chapter Thirty Two: Events leading up to Lord Krsna's advent,  
  from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana 338
Chapter Thirty Three: Description of Sri Radhika's birth, from the  
  Garga Sarnhlta 354
Chapter Thirty Four: Description of Lord Balarama's apprearance,  
  from the Ganaga Samhita 357
Chapter Thirty Five: Garga Muni performs Krsna's name-giving  
  ceremony. Description of Sri Radhika's  
  wedding, from the Garga Sarnhita 363
Chapter Thirty Six: Description of Giriraja Govardhana's birth,  
  from the Garga Sarhhita 374
Chapter Thirty seven: Description of the Yarnuna's arrival,  
  from the Garga Sarnhita 378
Chapter Thrity eight: Description of Sri Sri Hadha-Krsna's falling  
  in love, wherein glorification of tulasl is  
  found, from the Garga Sarnhita 381
Chapter Thirty nine: Lord Krsna takes the parijata tree  
  from the heavenly planets for the satisfaction  
  of Satyabharna, from the Visnu Purana 394
Chapter Forty: Ganga, Sarasvati, and Laksmi, the consorts  
  of Lord Visnu. The history of Tulasi-devl. Slta  
  and the illusory Sita, from the  
  Brahma-vaivarta Purana 402
Chapter Forty one: The story of Radha, from the  
  Brahma-vaivarta Purana 440






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