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Re: King Bali & the Dasha Avatars
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: King Bali & the Dasha Avatars
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From: nparker@crl.com (Nathan Parker)
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Date: 20 Sep 1994 09:37:28 -0700
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Distribution: world
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
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References: <35l0g2$dom@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
Srinivasa R Raghavan (srraghav@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote:
: u have a point regarding the consistency of the Puranas. i have heard that
: there are at least 3-4 different stories regarding the birth of Ganesha, for
: eg..
The main misunderstandings come when people don't read the Puranas and
just talk about incompatibilities. Please list the 3-4 stories (with
references regarding Purana and verse numbers).
:similarly, while it is well accepted that Brahma came from the navel of Vishnu,
: it is not clear whether Vishnu preceded Shiva or vice versa. again different
: puranas have different ideas about these.
It is clear for one who has studied them. As the following slokas state:
Narayana Upanisad (1) says, atha purusho ha vai narayano 'kamayata prajah
srjeyeti: "Then the Supreme Personality Narayana desired to create living
entities." The Upanisad continues, narayanad brahma jayate, narayanad
prajapatih prajayate, narayanad indro jayate, narayanad astau vasavo
jayante, narayannad ekadasa rudra jayante, narayanad dvadasadityah: "From
Narayana, Brahma is born, and from Narayana the patriarchs are also born.
>From Narayana, Indra is born, from Narayana the eight Vasus are born,
from Narayana the eleven Rudras are born, from Narayana the twelve
Adityas are born."
In the Narayana Upanisad (4) it says brahmanyo devaki-putah: "The son of
Devaki, Krishna, is the Supreme Personality." Then it says, eko vai
narayana asin no brahma na isano nap nagni-samau neme dyav-aprthvi na
naksatrani na suryah: "In the begining of the creation there was only the
Supreme Personality Narayana. There was no Brahma, no Siva, no fire, no
moon, no stars in the sky, no sun."
In the Moksha-dharma Krishna says:
prajapatim ca rudram capy
aham eva srjami vai
tau hi mam na vijanito
mama maya-vimohitau
"The patriarchs, Siva and others are created by Me, though they do not
know that they are created by Me because they are deluded by My illusory
energy." In the Varaha Purana it is also said,
narayanh paro devas
tasmaj jatas caturmukhah
tasmad rudro 'bhavad devah
sa ca sarva-jnatam gatah
"Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him Brahma was
born, from whom Siva is born."
In the Bhagavad-gita there are many, many slokas that confirm that
Krishna is the source of everything (too many to list), and there are
thousands of slokas through out the Vedic literature that confirm this,
both in the Vedas and in the Puranas.
So I have yet to see a contradiction presented here. Already I have
answered the question of Bali Maharaj. This is how the acaryas have
explained it, so there is no question of the Puranas being "a bunch of
mythology that isn't supposed to tally."
: who is supposed to be the author of these Puranas? does any particular Purana
: predate the others?
The author of all the Puranas is the same man, namely Sripada Krsna
Dvaipayana Vyasa (Veda Vyas). As his name denotes, he is the same person
who has compiled the Vedas also.
Vyasadeva is mentioned in the Puranas as the literary incarnation of
Narayana (saktyavesa-avatar). It is not that an ordinary man compiled
some fictional stories to help society. He very clearly states that these
Puranas are all factual histories, andall the great acaryas have accepted
this, such as Sripada Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, etc.
Now I am not having enough time to write a full explanation of the
Puranas, but I will post tommorow an explanation of what are the Puranas,
why Vyasadeva compiled the Puranas, etc.
Hare Krishna.
Jahnava-Nitai das
