Talk:Purāṇa:Vyāsa's Priceless Gift to Us

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

Vyāsa divided the Vedas to make them easier for people to learn. It was to help mankind similarly that he composed the Aṣṭādaśa Purāṇas (the eighteen Purāṇas).

I regard Vyāsa as the first journalist, the ideal for all newspapermen of today. He composed the Purāṇas and made a gift of that great treasure to humanity. How have they benefited us? They encompass stories, history, geography, philosophy, dharma, and the arts. Vyāsa's narration holds the interest not only of intellectuals but of ordinary people, even the unlettered. Is this not the aim of journalists — holding the interest of the general reader?

However, most of them stop with this, exciting the interest of people or pandering to their taste. But Vyāsa had a loftier purpose: he made the Purāṇas engrossing with the goal of taking the reader (or listener) to the realization of dharma and the Supreme Being. If holding the interest of people alone is their sole objective, modern media may propagate ideas contrary to dharma. If journalists keep Vyāsa as their forerunner and ideal, their writing will assume a noble character and contribute to the good of the world.

Vyāsa composed the Purāṇas in 400,000 granthas. A grantha is a stanza consisting of 32 syllables. Of these, the Skanda Purāṇa alone accounts for 100,000 — perhaps the world's biggest literary work. The remaining seventeen Purāṇas add up to 300,000 granthas. Apart from them, Vyāsa composed the Mahābhārata, also nearly 100,000 granthas.

Each Purāṇa is devoted to a particular deity. There are Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava and Śākta Purāṇas. The 18 are:

1. Brahma Purāṇa (Brahma)
2. Padma Purāṇa (Padma)
3. Nārada Purāṇa (Nāradiya)
4. Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa
5. Viṣṇu Purāṇa (Vaiṣṇava)
6. Śiva Purāṇa (Śaiva)
7. Bhāgavata Purāṇa
8. Agni Purāṇa (Āgneya)
9. Bhaviṣya Purāṇa
10. Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa
11. Liṅga Purāṇa
12. Varāha Purāṇa (Varāha)
13. Skanda Mahāpurāṇa
14. Vāmana Purāṇa
15. Kūrma Purāṇa (Kaurma)
16. Matsya Purāṇa (Matsya)
17. Garuḍa Purāṇa (Garuḍa)
18. Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

Our Ācārya, in his commentary on the Viṣṇu-Sahasranāma, cites many passages from the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. This Purāṇa, composed by Vyāsa’s father, Parāśara, is a key source of Rāmānuja’s qualified non-dualism (Viśiṣṭādvaita).

One of the precursors of Viśiṣṭādvaita was Āḷavandār. Rāmānuja wanted to meet him, but as he arrived, he saw him lying dead. Āḷavandār had wanted to entrust Rāmānuja with three important tasks. When he passed away, three fingers of his right hand were seen bent in. Rāmānuja understood their meaning — he had to:

1. Write a commentary on the Brahmasūtras from the standpoint of Viśiṣṭādvaita 2. Write a commentary on the Tiruvāymoḻi 3. Perpetuate the memory of Parāśara and Vyāsa

When he vowed to do these, the fingers unbent. In honour of Parāśara, Rāmānuja named the sons of his chief disciple Kurattāzhvār as Parāśarabhaṭṭa and Vedavyāsabhaṭṭa. The former became an important teacher of Vaiṣṇavism.

Though Parāśara was the original author of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, it was Vyāsa who composed it in its present form — so that the truths embedded in the Vedas could make a deep impression on common people. There was another reason: not all people had the right to study the Vedas. It is believed that Vyāsa composed the Purāṇas to enlighten such people by conveying śāstric truths through accessible narratives.

If Vyāsa's father authored the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, his son, Śukrācārya (Śuka), it was, who instructed King Parīkṣit in the Bhāgavata. There is a difference of opinion about the term Bhāgavata — whether it refers to the Viṣṇu Bhāgavata or Devī Bhāgavata. The former is about the incarnations of Viṣṇu, especially Kṛṣṇa; the latter about the divine līlā of Ambā. We need both — and both are magnificent works.

In the systems of Caitanya, Nimbārka, and Vallabhācārya, the Viṣṇu Bhāgavata holds a place as exalted as the Vedas. At the same time, even non-dualists revere it deeply.

Though there is a separate Śiva Purāṇa, three-fourths of the Skanda Purāṇa is devoted to Śiva, and includes the story of Skanda or Muruga. Kacciyappa Śivācāriyar of Kāñcīpuram composed the Kanda Purāṇam in Tamil, primarily devoted to Subrahmaṇya or Skanda.

Durgā-Saptasatī is part of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Caṇḍī-homa, involving oblations to the goddess Caṇḍī, is performed with the 700 verses of this text, each regarded as a mantra.

Bhaviṣya means the future. The Bhaviṣya Purāṇa discusses many topics, including evils of the Kali age. Apart from rulers like the Mauryas, it also refers to the coming of the white man. Critics argue that such content must be late interpolations. True, interpolations may exist. But to deny Vyāsa’s authorship entirely is unfair. Yogis with siddhi can see the past, present, and future. Such vision, not easy to imitate, underlies the Purāṇas.

The Garuḍa Purāṇa deals with the world of the ancestors (pitṛloka) and is customarily read during śrāddha rites.

The Lalitopākhyāna and Lalitā-Sahasranāma occur in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa. Reading of the 18 Purāṇas is traditionally concluded with this, as it includes the coronation of Rājarājeśvarī. Devī devotees hold this in special regard.

The Purāṇas include many stotras, including one-hundred-and-eight and one-thousand-name hymns of deities. But the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma and the Śiva Sahasranāma are found in the Mahābhārata. The famous Pradoṣa Stotra is from the Skanda Purāṇa.