Puranas

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 25 Jul 2011 10:40 and updated at 25 Jul 2011 10:40

VISHNU PURANA NOUN

vp.1.1	Maitreya 10, having saluted him reverentially, thus addressed Parasara, the excellent sage, the grandson of Vasishtha, who was versed in traditional history, and the Puranas; who was acquainted with the Vedas, and the branches of science dependent upon them; and skilled in law and philosophy; and who had performed the morning rites of devotion.
vp.1.1	Being thus admonished by my venerable grandsire, I immediately desisted from the rite, in obedience to his injunctions, and Vasishtha, the most excellent of sages, was content with me. Then arrived Pulastya, the son of Brahma 13, who was received by my grandfather with the customary marks of respect. The illustrious brother of Pulaha said to me; Since, in the violence of animosity, you have listened to the words of your progenitor, and have exercised clemency, therefore you shall become learned in every science: since you have forborne, even though incensed, to destroy my posterity, I will bestow upon you another boon, and, you shall become the author of a summary of the Puranas 14; you shall know
vp.1.1	Now truly all that was told me formerly by Vasishtha, and by the wise Palastya, has been brought to my recollection by your questions, and I will relate to you the whole, even all you have asked. Listen to the complete compendium of the Puranas, according to its tenour. The world was produced from Vishnu: it exists in him: he is the cause of its continuance and cessation: he is the world 16.
vp.1.7	Parasara. From Brahma, continuing to meditate, were born mind engendered progeny, with forms and faculties derived from his corporeal nature; embodied spirits, produced from the person of that all wise deity. All these beings, front the gods to inanimate things, appeared as I have related to you 1, being the abode of the three qualities: but as they did not multiply themselves, Brahma created other mind born sons, like himself; namely, Bhrigu, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Angiras, Marichi, Daksha, Atri, and Vasishtha: these are the nine Brahmas (or Brahma rishis) celebrated in the Puranas 2. Sanandana and the other sons of
vp.1.7	termed the Brahma dissolution, occurs when the sovereign of the world reclines in sleep. In the second, the mundane egg resolves into the primary element, from whence it was derived. Absolute non existence of the world is the absorption of the sage, through knowledge, into supreme spirit. Perpetual destruction is the constant disappearance, day and night, of all that are born. The productions of Prakriti form the creation that is termed the elemental Prakrita(). That which ensues after a (minor) dissolution is called ephemeral creation: and the daily generation of living things is termed, by those who are versed in the Puranas, constant creation. In this manner the mighty Vishnu, whose essence is the elements, abides in all bodies, and brings about production, existence, and dissolution. The faculties of Vishnu to create, to preserve, and to destroy, operate successively, Maitreya, in all corporeal beings and at all seasons; and he who frees himself from the influence of these three faculties, which are essentially composed of the three qualities (goodness, foulness, and darkness), goes to the supreme sphere, from whence he never again returns.
vp.2.4	[paragraph continues] There is neither virtue nor vice, killer nor slain: there is no jealousy, envy, fear, hatred, covetousness, nor any moral defect: neither is there truth or falsehood. Food is spontaneously produced there, and all the inhabitants feed upon viands of every flavour. Men there are indeed of the same nature with gods, and of the same form and habits. There is no distinction of caste or order; there are no fixed institutes; nor are rites performed for the sake of advantage. The three Vedas, the Puranas, ethics, and polity, and the laws of service, are unknown. Pushkara is in fact, in both its divisions, a terrestrial paradise, where time yields happiness to all its inhabitants, who are exempt from sickness and decay. A Nyagrodha tree Ficus( indica) grows on this Dwipa, which is the especial abode of Brahma, and he resides in it, adored by the gods and demons. Pushkara is surrounded by the sea of fresh water, which is of equal extent with the continent it invests 4.
vp.3.6	Divisions of the Sama veda: of the Atharva veda. Four Pauranik Sanhitas. Names of the eighteen Puranas. Branches of knowledge. Classes of Rishis.
vp.3.6	Accomplished in the purport of the Puranas, Vyasa compiled a Pauranik Sanhita, consisting of historical and legendary traditions, prayers and hymns, and sacred chronology 6. He had a distinguished disciple, Suta, also termed Romaharshana, and to him the great Muni communicated the Puranas. Suta had six scholars, Sumati, Agnivarchas, Mitrayu, sansapayana, Akritavrana, who is also called Kasyapa, and Savarni. The three last composed three fundamental Sanhitas; and Romaharshana himself compiled a fourth, called Romaharshanika. The substance of which four Sanhitas is collected into this Vishnu() Purana.
vp.3.6	The first of all the Puranas is entitled the Brahma. Those who are
vp.3.6	acquainted with the Puranas enumerate eighteen, or the Brahma, Padma, Vaishnava, saiva, Bhagavata, Naradiya, Markandeya, agneya, Bhavishyat, Brahma Vaivartta, Lainga, Varaha, Skanda, Vamana, Kaurmma, Matsya, Garuda, Brahmanda. The creation of the world, and its successive reproductions, the genealogies of the patriarchs and kings, the periods of the Manus, and the transactions of the royal dynasties, are narrated in all these Puranas. This Purana which I have repeated to you, Maitreya, is called the Vaishnava, and is next in the series to the Padma; and in every part of it, in its narratives of primary and subsidiary creation, of families, and of periods, the mighty Vishnu is declared in this Purana 7.
vp.3.6	The four Vedas, the six Angas (or subsidiary portions of the Vedas, viz. siksha, rules of reciting the prayers, the accents and tones to be observed; Kalpa, ritual; Vyakarana, grammar; Nirukta, glossarial comment; Chhandas, metre; and Jyotish, (astronomy), with Mimansa (theology), Nyaya (logic), Dharma (the institutes of law), and the Puranas, constitute the fourteen principal branches of knowledge: or they are considered as eighteen, with the addition of these four; the ayur veda, medical science (as taught by Dhanwantari); Dhanur veda, the science of archery or arms, taught by Bhrigu; Gandharba veda, or the drama, and the arts of music, dancing, &c., of which the Muni Bharata was the author; and the Artha sastram, or science of government, as laid down first by Vrihaspati.
vp.5.20	felled! This is the boy who trampled and danced on the serpent Kaliya; who upheld the mountain Govarddhana for seven nights; who killed, as if in play, the iniquitous Arishta, Dhenuka, and Kesin! This whom we see is Achyuta! This is he who has been foretold by the wise, skilled in the sense of the Puranas, as Gopala, who shall exalt the depressed Yadava race! This is a portion of the all existing, all generating Vishnu, descended upon earth, who will assuredly lighten her load!" Thus did the citizens describe Rama and Krishna, as soon as they appeared; whilst the breast of Devaki glowed with maternal affection; and Vasudeva, forgetting his infirmities, felt himself young again, on beholding the countenances of his sons as a season of rejoicing. The women of the palace, and the wives of the citizens, wide opened their eyes, and gazed intently upon Krishna. "Look, friends," said they to their companions; "look at the face of Krishna; his eyes are reddened by his conflict with the elephant, and the drops of perspiration stand upon his cheeks, outvieing a full blown lotus in autumn, studded with glittering dew. Avail yourself now of the faculty of vision. Observe his breast, the seat of splendour, marked with the mystic sign; and his arms, menacing destruction to his foes. Do you not notice Balabhadra, dressed in a blue garment; his countenance as fair as the jasmine, as the moon, as the fibres of the lotus stem? See how he gently smiles at the gestures of Mushtika and Chanura,

Share:-