2.Veda vyasa - brahma purana

2. Veda Vyasa

Brahma Purana by Dipavali Debroy-Bibek Debroy

The meaning of vedavyasa is that person who has learnt the Vedas. It is only a title for a person who has divided and codified the Vedas. As of now there are 28 vedavyasa who have held the title vedavyasa.

The vedavyasa who is credited to have composed the Mahabharata was the 28 Th vedavyasa or vyasadeva.  His name was Krishna Dvaipayana. He was called so because of his dark in complexion. The word Krishna means dark. He was called Dvaipayana because he was born on an island, the word dvipa means island.

He composed the Mahabharata. It has one lakh shlokas or couplets. It is believed that after composing the Mahabharata Vedavyasa was not happy with the stories that he had recounted. Therefore he composed the puranas, which are 18 in number. Put together the Mahapuranas consists of five lakh shlokas in all.

The Brahma purana consists of nineteen thousand shlokas; hence it is medium in size as far as the puranas. These shlokas or couplets are divided into 245 adhyayas or chapters.

Most scholars agree that the mahapuranas were composed between 300 A.D. and 1000 A.D.

It is important to note here that the puranas were not composed by a single author at one particular time frame. Several authors have contributed with their own stories and interpretation; hence the texts grew into volume through the ages. It may be possible that some of the early puranas might have been composed around 500 B.C.It is believed that Vedavyasa might have composed major part of the puranas.

Brahma purana - an introduction

Introduction to Brahma purana

by Dipavali Debroy-Bibek Debroy

The Puranas are the sacred texts of Hinduism. The Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two great epics known to all. The Mahabharata states that there are 18 puranas and names three of them – the Markandeya purana, the Vayu purana and the Matsya purana. In Ramayana there is no mention of the puranas as such but the word purana has been used several times. This clearly tells us that the composers of Ramayana and Mahabharata were well versed with the ancient texts.

It is agreed that there are 18 major Puranas and are known as Mahapuranas. The several minor puranas are referred to as upapuranas. There is no disagreement with regard to the names of the mahapuranas. The only disagreement is with the name of the fourth. Some say the fourth is the Vayu purana while some say it is the Shiva purana . All agree the first purana is the Brahma purana.

Characteristic features of the puranas:

Any Mahapurana is supposed to have basic five lakshana [characteristics]. The text must describe five subjects. These five subjects are the original creation of the universe[sarga], the periodical process of destruction  and re-creation[pratisarga], the different eras[manvantara], the histories of the solar dynasty [ surya vamsha] and the lunar dynasty[ Chandra vamsha] and royal genealogies [vamshanucharita]. The Brahma purana does describe all these five subjects/elements.

The puranas are associated with the Hindu Trinity- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma is regarded as the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. These three important gods are glorified in the puranas.Their relative emphasis might vary from text to text. The puranas which gives importance to Vishnu will talk about his incarnation [avatara] and they are termed as Sattvika purana.. The puranas that gives importance and describe the creation in depth are called as Rajasika purana and are associated with Brahma. Finally the Tamasika purana tells about how a devotee should practise a lot of norms and rituals ,these are to be associated with Shiva.

4. The birth of Veda Vyasa

4. The birth of Veda Vyasa

From Sri Ganesha Purana by Dr.Akila Sivaraman

There was a time when worship of the Supreme Lord was on the decline on earth. None followed the noble ways of life prescribed in Vedic scriptures. Lord Brahma and Lord Vinayaka were quite distressed at the chaos prevailing everywhere. When they approached Lord Shiva for help , He directed Lord Vishnu to take necessary steps to collect Vedas and Puranas and propagate them on earth for people’s guidance.

On the bank of the river Ganges, there lived a noble sage by name Parasara. When he was going in a boat to the opposite bank of the river, he fell in love with the girl in the boat. Lord Maha Vishnu was born as their son, but very soon he went to Badrikashrama to lead a life of meditation.

In the ashrama, he acquired mastery over the four Vedas- Rig, Yejur, Sama and Atharvana. So, he was called Veda Vyasa. He proceeded next to learn all the eighteen puranas from Sanatkumara.

Veda Vyasa desired to render all the Puranas in verse form – i.e. Shlokas – so that people can easily learn them, get them to heart and recite them to their benefit. In fact, most of our religious texts have been handed down to generations as poetic verses only, as they lend themselves easily to be committed to one’s own memory and for repetition at our will and pleasure.

Unfortunately, Veda Vyasa found himself not competent for this task. Perplexed as he was, he sought the help and guidance of Lord Brahma.

“In order to help the people on the earth, to get to know Vedic Scriptures, I tried to render them as simple shlokas which could be easily memorized and chanted. Unfortunately, I do not find myself equal to the task. Kindly enlighten me as to where, why and how I have failed to do it”

Lord Brahma immediately mentioned the omission which was responsible for the failure. “At the beginning of all tasks, Lord Vinayaka is to be worshipped. He removes all obstacles and crowns every task with success. Right from Lord Shiva, the Lord Supreme, all of us have to pray to Lord Vinayaka for fulfilment of any endeavour in the proper direction and details.”

 Veda Vyasa now repented for his serious mistake. He beseeched Lord Brahma himself to give him a detailed picture of Lord Ganesha’s greatness and glory.

 Lord Brahma readily agreed to enlighten Veda Vyasa in detail about all the illustrious devotees who prayed to Lord Vinayaka and achieved great success in their lives.

The discourse on Lord Vinayaka thus began which serves as a real eye opener for all of us before we undertake any task.

3. Brahmahatti dosha leaves the king

3. Brahmahatti dosha leaves the king

from Sri Ganesha Purana by Dr.Akila Sivaraman

The king accompanied by his wife and two ministers, walked a long way into the forest and reached a garden where they decided to rest for some time, under the shadow of the trees.

The queen saw a pond nearby where a young boy was fetching water. She was quite surprised at the bravery of the lad, who was moving about all alone in a forest full of wild animals. She entered into a conversation with him and came to know that the boy Shivana was the son of a sage Bhrigu living nearby. The boy also learnt that the lady was a queen and her husband, the king, was resting under the shade of a tree. He also came to know the circumstances under which they had to leave the kingdom and come to the forest.

On reaching home, the young boy explained the delay in bringing water to his father, Sage Bhrigu, who chose to invite the royal guests to his hermitage.

When the king and the queen met the Sage, the king narrated the story of his deadly disease and the sufferings due to the sins of his previous birth. The Sage consoled him saying that his good period will soon commence, as he had built a temple for Lord Vinayaka in his previous birth.

But the king did not believe his words and suddenly he could feel thousands of small birds, troubling him all over the body.He at once fell at the feet of the sage and prayed.

The sage at once sprinkled holy water on his body and the feelings of the birds left the king’s body. Alongside, they saw an ugly figure coming out of the king’s body.

On enquiry by the sage, it was learnt that the ghost figure was none other than “Brahmahatti Dosha” who lived in the king’s body all along. The sage asked the figure to leave the king and move to a tree-hole nearby. Next moment, there was a big fire in the tree and the ghost was reduced to ashes.

Out came the soul of the Brahmin from the ghost figure and fell at the feet of the sage. The king had killed him in his previous birth. The sage had not only relieved the king of his sufferings, but also made the Brahmin to get his original form.

Soon after, a celestial air-craft alighted there to carry the Brahmin’s soul to heaven.

Sage Bhrigu now addressed Somakanta and advised him to listen the story of Lord Vinayaka from him.

“Sri Vinayaka Purana was given to Lord Brahma by Lord Shiva.Ved Vyasa was fortunate to receive it from Brahma. I had the blessing of learning it from Ved Vyasa. You shall be lucky person to get it from me. It will cure you of your disease and give you the immense blessings of Lord Vinayaka.”

The king felt extremely happy and got ready to receive the intellectual gift from the blessed sage Bhrigu.

The divine discourse thus began for the worthy listener.

2. Somakanta's life as a king - Ganesha purana

2. Somakanta’s life as a king

from Sri Ganesha Purana by Dr.Akila Sivaraman

Kamandha who was born as the prince of Sowrashtra was known as Somakanta in this birth. He married Sudanmai and ascended the throne after his father. As he was destined to enjoy all pleasures of life, as a gift for building a temple for Lord Vinayaka in his previous birth, he had absolutely an excellent tenure as a famous king. His kingdom was peaceful and all his subjects were totally pleased with his rule. He was duly blessed with a son whom he called Emakanta. The handsome prince was brought up with all care and love.

As time passed by, Somakanta reached the stage when he had to suffer for the sins of his previous birth. He was affected with leprosy, which could not be cured by the doctors of the land. The intensity of the disease was on the increase, day after day and Somakanta suffered a hell beyond description. He decided to renounce the world, leave his family and kingdom and retire to a far-off forest.

The first step he took to implement his decision was to make his son ascend the throne. The people of the country had a new ruler, but still everyone loved their old king Somakanta. When he announced his decision to go to the forest alone, everyone including his wife and son followed him. As Somakanta did not want to inflict his personal suffering on his kith and kin and the people of the land, he pleaded with them to leave him alone.

After a good deal of persuasion, the new king Emakanta agreed to take charge of the country and the people. Slowly, the ministers excepting two of them and rest of the people permitted him to go to the forest. His wife also decided to accompany him, as they were always supposed to stay together in pleasures and pain of family life.

Somakanta had to yield finally to the desire of his queen and accompanying ministers. Suphala and Jnyangamya decided to be king’s bodyguards in the forest, as he no longer required them as ministers. Sudanmai, the queen took leave of her son, the new king and asked him to pray to Lord Vinayaka for their welfare.

The tough life in the forest was the next stage to atone for Somakanta sins of the previous birth, along with the sufferings of the deadly disease. But he continued to pray to Lord Vinayaka throughout this trial.

1. the story of kamandha- ganesh purana

The story of Kamandha

from Ganesha purana by Dr. Akila Sivaraman

There is a city called Kollam near the Vindhya Hills.Chidroopa, a merchant and his wife,Sulochana lived there happily, following the dictates of the righteous way of life.In due course, they were blessed with a son , Kamandha.

As and when Kamandha grew up to be a handsome young man, Kutumbini married him. The couple lived happily and twelve children [seven sons and five daughters] were born to them.

When Chidroopa and Sulochana passed away after attaining old age, Kamandha was a free bird to take to ignoble ways of his choice. From an honest and hardworking merchant’s life, he drifted to a care-free, pleasure – seeking way of living, in which he lost all his wealth and also family –life.

Kutumbini tried to persuade him to become a responsible father of twelve children, but in vain. So, she moved to her mother’s house to save children.

Kamandha happily continued his evil ways and indulged in gambling, looting, robbery and torturing the villagers and travellers to a great extent. One day, he happened to meet a young Brahmin who had recently been married. Despite his begging for mercy, Kamandha murdered him ruthlessly and looted all his money.

The sin of killing a Brahmin had its toll on Kamandha who became afflicted with the worst disease on earth. His sufferings grew day by day and even his wife would not return to nurse him back to health.

at this stage , a poor Brahmin approached him for money. Kamandha, who had reformed his life to an extent and repented for the misdeeds of his past, happily helped the Brahmin and offered to give more donations to needy. But the villagers who knew his past and the story of his ill-gotten wealth abused him profusely and refused to take any help from him.

Kamandha beseeched them to forgive him, as he whole-heartedly repented for his shameful behaviour in the past, due to his greed for money. The villagers suggested that he could use all his money to renovate Lord Vinayaka’s temple in the forest. He readily agreed to their request to atone for his past sins.

With a huge effort, Lord Vinayaka’s temple was rebuilt in a grand-style. Ever since the renovation work started, Kamandha had become a new man of noble virtues. The consecration of the temple was duly conducted grandly.

In due course, Kamandha passed away and Yamadharmaraja was given an account of his lazy sinful life and the only good deed of building a temple for Lord Vinayaka.

Pronouncing the verdict, Dharmaraja told Kamandha that he had to suffer for his sins and also get the benefits for his single noble task of building a temple.

Kamandha chose to have the benefits first and took rebirth as the son of King of Sowrashtra with name – Somakantha, in the city of Devanagara.

Ganesh Purana - origin of the story

Lord Ganesha is all powerful deity and is worshipped universally by one and all. To understand his greatness one must study the Ganesha purana about the uniqueness he possess.    He is the one God who has maximum temples across our country and abroad. He is seen in most of the bank of rivers under a peepal tree and every nook and corner of streets and roads. When you visit a temple he sits at the entrance and all of salute to him before going to the main deity.

I am going to write about how our ancient sages explained the significance of his worship. He is considered as a person who removes all obstacles we face and also bless us.

Many sages went to meet Lord Brahma at satyaloka. The sages asked the Lord to show them a suitable place where they can worship without any problem. Lord Brahma too the darbha grass and made a wheel out of it and rolled on the ground. He then asked the sages to follow the wheel and said that when the wheel stops that would be the right place for them to do their penance and prayers

The w heel stopped at a place Naimisharanya where the sages, saints and scholars used to do austerities and rituals. In this spot sage Shaunaka started a yajnya and it was attended by all saints across the world. One of the sage who attended this ritual was sage Sudhama who was a learned one as he had learnt all the puranas numbering eighteen. As all sages wanted to spend twelve years in this place they asked Sudhama to tell them about the importance of the puranas. These mahapuranas were given by Lord Shiva to Nandideva.

Nandideva then taught these puranas to sage Sanat kumara. Sanat Kumar passed on this knowledge to Sage Vyasa. The puranas were in shloka form, which spread across the worlds. The sages after learning, they then sub divided to eighteen sub-puranas. They then converted these slokas into short poems so that the future generation will be able to sing and understand easily.

One of the important of the sub-purana is the Bhargava purana which deals with Lord Ganesha.

Sage Vyasa inculcated all the knowledge to sage Bhrigu. Sage Bhrigu then classified the purana into two one he called the Upasana kandam and the other Leela Kandam. Each kandam has 250 chapters.

Sage Sudhama started to narrate the greatness of Lord Vinayaka and how one should worship him.  

He explains to the saints how the devotees  who prayed to the Lord attained bliss.