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2024-04-25, 3:38 AM |
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Chapter
7: The
Devotion in Samhitâ Branches and the Ten Topics of the
Purânas
(1) S'rî
Sûta said: "Sumantu Rishi, the expert on the Atharva Veda
as you know [see 6:
52-53],
instructed his collection to his disciple [named
Kabandha], who [dividing it in two] was pleased to
speak it to Pathya and Vedadars'a. (2)
Please listen: S'auklâyani, Brahmabali, Modosha and
Pippalâyani, the disciples of Vedadars'a and the
disciples of Pathya, my dear brahmin, Kumuda, S'unaka and
Jâjali, were all authorities on the Atharva Veda as well.
(3)
Babhru and Saindhavâyana, disciples of S'unaka, then the
same manner learned two samhitâs and so did other
disciples headed by Sâvarna [learn from them].
(4)
Nakshatrakalpa, S'ântikalpa, Kas'yapa and Ângirasa
belong to these âcâryas of the Atharva Veda.
Now hear, o sage, about the authorities of the
Purânas.
(5)
Trayyâruni,
Kas'yapa, Sâvarni, Akritavrana, Vais'ampâyana and
Hârîta are the six masters of the Purânas.
(6)
They learned the collection from the mouth of Vyâsa's
pupil, my father [Romaharshana],
and I, as a disciple from each of them learning one portion,
became well versed in them all. (7)
Kas'yapa, I, Sâvarni and Akritavrana, who is a disciple
of Râma [of the Bhârgavas or
Pâras'urâma, see also 10.74:
7-9], have
assimilated four basic collections from the disciple of
Vyâsa. (8)
O brahmin, please listen attentively to what the
characteristics of a Purâna are, which in accordance with
the vedic scriptures by the most intelligent brahmin seers have
been ascertained. (9-10)
The creation [of this universe, sarga],
the subsequent creation [of different worlds and beings,
visarga],
the maintenance [the sustenance, the vritti
or sthâna] and protection [the
rakshâ or poshana of the living
beings], the reigns [of the various Manus], the
dynasties [vams'as],
the narrations about them
[vams'a-anucaritam], the annihilation
[of different kinds, pralaya
or samsthâ], the motivation [of
individuality or hetu] and the supreme shelter
[of the Fortunate One or apâs'raya], o
brahmin, are the ten topics characterizing a Purâna as
understood by the authorities on the matter; some state that
relative to the greater ones, the lesser Purânas deal
only with five of these subjects [see also S'uka on this
2.10:
1-7 and
*].
(11)
Creation
[sarga]
is what is called the generation from the primordial state.
From that state the agitation of the modes raised the cosmic
intelligence from which the identification with matter rose the
way it is divided in three aspects [or types of beings to
the modes]. This further led to the manifestation of the
subtle forms of perception, the senses and the objects of
perception [formation by the conditioning of and
identification with Time, compare 2.10:
3].
(12)
The
secondary creation [visarga]
is the assemblage consisting of the inherent properties
[the vâsanâs]
of the moving and nonmoving living beings. These propensities
are, to the grace of the Original Person [purusha],
produced the same way seed produces more seeds.
(13)
Living
beings subsist on [vritti]
other living beings that move around or else do not move
around. For specifically human beings this means that one for
one's livelihood acts according to one's personal nature in
which one either lives one's lust or acts in agreement with the
[religious] rules.
(14)
Rakshâ
[or protection] is there with the Incarnations of the
Infallible One. Age after age being present among the animals,
the mortals, the seers and the demigods, are by these
incarnations the enemies of the threefold Veda killed [see
also B.G. 4:
7].
(15)
With
every reign of a Manu
there is the sixfold of the Lord: the Manu, the demigods, the
sons of the Manu, the different controllers of the enlightened
[the Indras],
the seers [or rishis],
and the partial incarnations [the Lord His ams'a-avatâras].
(16)
Dynasties
[vams'as]
originating from Brahmâ extend into the threefold of time
[trikâlika]
as series of kings and their histories
[vams'a-anucaritam] describe the
activities of the prominent members in succession.
(17)
The
occasional, elemental, continuous and ultimate annihilation
that is effected by His potency constitutes the four aspects of
what the scholars describe as the dissolution of this universe
[as samsthâ or pralaya,
see also 12.4].
(18)
The
motive [hetu] of the creation
[sarga] and everything that belongs to it, is
the individual living soul [jîva], who out
of ignorance is the performer of fruitive activities
[karma]. Others on the contrary speak of the unmanifest
underlying personality.
(19)
God
as the supreme shelter [apâs'raya] is,
separately for Himself as well as conjoint, present within the
waking, sleeping and dreamless state, within the things
presented by the illusory energy and within the functions of
individuality. (20)
The basic substance of material objects is connected to, as
well as independent from, their separate existence as things
that have a name and form. The same way it is [with God
who] throughout the various phases of a bodily existence,
[is connected to as well as independently present] from
the seed in the beginning up to the five elements [one
returns to] in the end [compare 8.6:
10].
(21)
Of its own or through yoga, thought may stop in transcendence
of the threefold state [vritti-traya].
When one ceases from material endeavoring one knows the Supreme
Soul [see also 3.25:
32-33].
(22)
This
way distinguished by their characteristics there are, so say
the sages expert in the ancient stories, eighteen big and
[eighteen] small purânas [from 9.000 up tot
81.000 verses, see also Upa-purâna].
(23-24)
They are known as the three times six purânas [to
each guna-avatâra]
called Brahmâ, Padma, Vishnu, S'iva, Linga, Garuda,
Nârada, Bhâgavata, Agni, Skanda, Bhavishya,
Brahma-vaivarta, Mârkandeya, Vâmana, Varâha,
Matsya, Kûrma and Brahmânda [see
Purânas].
(25)
O brahmin, I thus described thoroughly the knowledge conducive
to one's spiritual potency the way it is divided by the sage
[Vyâsa], his disciples and the disciples of his
disciples."
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