Maha.P003
"The Rishi replied, 'The Purana, first promulgated by the great Rishi Dwaipayana, and which after having been heard both by the gods and the Brahmarshis was highly esteemed, being the most eminent narrative that exists, diversified both in diction and division, possessing subtile meanings logically combined, and gleaned from the Vedas, is a sacred work. Composed in elegant language, it includeth the subjects of other books. It is elucidated by other Shastras, and comprehendeth the sense of the four Vedas. We are desirous of hearing that history also called Bharata, the holy composition of the wonderful Vyasa, which dispelleth the fear of evil, just as it was cheerfully recited by the Rishi Vaisampayana, under the direction of Dwaipayana himself, at the snake-sacrifice of Raja Janamejaya?'
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The saunakathi munis are expressing their wish to hear the story of Bharata. They are praising the epic and explain its significance. The epic explains in detail of the philosophies prescribed by the Vedas, thus helping us understand the teaching of the indiscernible Vedas.
The other particulars as explained in the previous blog.
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"Sauti then said, 'Having bowed down to the primordial being Isana, to whom multitudes make offerings, and who is adored by the multitude; who is the true incorruptible one, Brahma, perceptible, imperceptible, eternal; who is both a non-existing and an existing-non-existing being; who is the universe and also distinct from the existing and non-existing universe; who is the creator of high and low; the ancient, exalted, inexhaustible one; who is Vishnu, beneficent and the beneficence itself, worthy of all preference, pure and immaculate; who is Hari, the ruler of the faculties, the guide of all things moveable and immoveable; I will declare the sacred thoughts of the illustrious sage Vyasa, of marvellous deeds and worshipped here by all. Some bards have already published this history, some are now teaching it, and others, in like manner, will hereafter promulgate it upon the earth. It is a great source of knowledge, established throughout the three regions of the world. It is possessed by the twice-born both in detailed and compendious forms. It is the delight of the learned for being embellished with elegant expressions, conversations human and divine, and a variety of poetical measures.
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Sautha Muni after worshiping the god, declares his wish to narrate Bharata.
The words Marked in orange might seem unclear. Brahma must actually be Brahman. This might be a typographic error. The later part describes the Nature of the Brahman (The supreme god). As the text is a crude translation from Sanskrit, it might seem vague and at times it is a wrong translation like, ‘both a non-existing and an existing-non-existing being’. Logically how can something be like that? It should not be so. We need not delve too much into higher philosophies as of now. We can consider it as just a prayer offered by the maharishi to the primordial god.
Sautha muni explains that the epic is taught widely and is a great source of knowledge. Here, we must ask ourselves, ‘How are we going to get knowledge from a story?’ The answer is that, ‘we must analyze the content of the story, if possible try to relate the events with our lives and try to understand the significance of events described. Then we must peruse on the meaning of our life. Then we can gain some knowledge of Life.
In the text Twice born means the Brahmins.
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In this world, when it was destitute of brightness and light, and enveloped all around in total darkness, there came into being, as the primal cause of creation, a mighty egg, the one inexhaustible seed of all created beings. It is called Mahadivya, and was formed at the beginning of the Yuga, in which we are told, was the true light Brahma,(Should be Brahman) the eternal one, the wonderful and inconceivable being present alike in all places; the invisible and subtile cause, whose nature partaketh of entity and non-entity. From this egg came out the lord Pitamaha Brahma, the one only Prajapati; with Suraguru and Sthanu. Then appeared the twenty-one Prajapatis, viz., Manu, Vasishtha and Parameshthi; ten Prachetas, Daksha, and the seven sons of Daksha. Then appeared the man of inconceivable nature whom all the Rishis know and so the Viswe-devas, the Adityas, the Vasus, and the twin Aswins; the Yakshas, the Sadhyas, the Pisachas, the Guhyakas, and the Pitris. After these were produced the wise and most holy Brahmarshis, and the numerous Rajarshis distinguished by every noble quality. So the water, the heavens, the earth, the air, the sky, the points of the heavens, the years, the seasons, the months, the fortnights, called Pakshas, with day and night in due succession. And thus were produced all things which are known to mankind.
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The creation of the world is explained in short form. It is very important that must not take the above text in a very literal sense. In order to keep it very simple and not to peruse the contents in a deep philosophical fashion, we can take a simple stand point here. The stand point is that the world originated from something and there was some evolution process. We need not speculate at this point, if this world came from one god or many gods or from multitude of philosophical perspectives (Advita or Dvita .....). Let us keep things simple. But it is very logical to say something came from something rather than saying something came out of nothing.
Again we need not compel ourselves to accept the text presented in the text that we dont understand. The beauty of sanathana dharma i.e., Hindu philosophy is that it does not force you to take something that you don’t understand as a rule.
An excerpt from Wikipedia:
Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu revivalist of the 19th century interpreted the Advaita Vedantic understanding of evolution to be in harmony with Darwinian theory.[dubious - discuss] In his commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, he writes:[9]
"There seems to be a great difference between modern science and all religions at this point. Every religion has the idea that the universe comes out of intelligence. The theory of God, taking it in its psychological significance, apart from all ideas of personality, is that intelligence is first in the order of creation, and that out of intelligence comes what we call gross matter. Modern philosophers say that intelligence is the last to come. They say that unintelligent things slowly evolve into animals, and from animals into men. They claim that instead of everything coming out of intelligence, intelligence itself is the last to come. Both the religious and the scientific statements, though seeming directly opposed to each other are true. Take an infinite series, A-B-A-B -A-B. etc. The question is - which is first, A or B? If you take the series as A-B. you will say that A is first, but if you take it as B-A, you will say that B is first. It depends upon the way we look at it. Intelligence undergoes modification and becomes the gross matter, this again merges into intelligence, and thus the process goes on. The Sankhyas, and other religionists, put intelligence first, and the series becomes intelligence, then matter. The scientific man puts his finger on matter, and says matter, then intelligence. They both indicate the same chain. Indian philosophy, however, goes beyond both intelligence and matter, and finds a Purusha, or Self, which is beyond intelligence, of which intelligence is but the borrowed light."
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--------------Anand Hariharan
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