Srimadh Bhagavatham – Introduction

Srimadh Bhgavatam (or the Bhgavata Purna). India knows many purnas or storybooks, but this collection of stories is generally accepted as being the most complete and important. The book, arranged in twelve  so-called cantos, comprises 335 chapters with about 18000 verses.. It is that collection of stories which stresses the prime importance of the maintaining aspect of God personified by the transcendental form of Lord Vishnu.
 
The writer of this book is named Krishna Dvaipayana Vysadeva, also called Badaryana. He is the Lord, the bhagavn, amongst the philosophers, who in India assembled all the holy texts. He compiled the Vedas,  also known as s’ruti,  containing the basic wisdom, the mantras for the rituals and the hymns. He as well wrote the Mahabharata, which is the greatest epic poem in the world. It describes the history (itihsa) of the great fall that the vedic culture once made. The Bhagavad GÃt is the most important part of it. Vysa also wrote the rest of the eighteen great ( purnas) of India as well as the Brahma-sûtra, his masterpiece on the Absolute Truth.
 
The representative of Vishnu on earth is named the Fortunate One in this book. We know Him specifically by the names of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. The Fortunate  One is thus the Lord who is known in different forms or incarnations, but also the devotees are part of His reality and are also called bhgavata when they are pure. Thus there is the Lord in His many appearances, the devotee with as many faces and the book. They are all called Fortunate. Fortunate means to be of the opulence, or to carry, or live by, the fullness of God’s riches, beauty, fame, power, knowledge and detachment.

Vysa was a grandfather of the Kuru-dynasty. He lived a very long time. His long duration of life enabled him to write the story of the Fortunate One and all the other books. He had a son by the name of S’ukadeva who handed the message of this Bible down to another member of the family, Emperor Parikshit, who had difficulty respecting the classical wisdom. This emperor is the model for us normal people who seek their stability in the wisdom. This knowledge was conveyed by S’uka in disciplic succession  (parampar),  to those who teach by example (the cryas), the science of devotional service (bhakti). This transalation , was brought  by the Vaishnava, the Vishnu-monk,  Poojaniya Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada

Responses