“Ithihaasa puraanaabhyaam vedam shoupabrahmayeth!
Vibeh kalpashrutaadvedaha maamayam praharshati!!
Naarayanam namaskritya naranchaiva narokthamam!
Devim saraswathim vyaasam athojayamudheerayeth!!
Shuklaambharadharam vishnum sashivarnam chathur bhujam!
Prasanna vadanam dhyaayeth sarva vigna upashaantaye!!
Vyaasam vasishtanapthaaram shakeh poutram akalmasham!
Paraasharaathmajam vande shuka dhaatham tapo nidhim!!”
A very warm welcome to all readers to our fifth important mega-project. Till now, with the divine grace and blessings of Bhagwan Vishnu and Goddess Mahalakshmi, we’ve witnessed four important mega projects starting from Shrimad Ramayana, which is one of the most important and celebrated ethics in our Sanaatana Dharma literature. Subsequently, we had witnessed a glimpse called “Vidura Neethi” from the second important epic, which is nothing but the great Mahabharata. Thirdly, we had got a golden opportunity to witness Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana in a great deal of detail. We had done so too, and have utilized the opportunity given to all of us by Bhagawan Krishna. Subsequently, we had witnessed our fourth mega-project on “Shri Vishnu Purana”, wherein we had witnessed a great deal of detail with regards to an important conversation between Sage Paraashara and Sage Maithreya. We completed our fourth project in yesterday’s episode.
Starting today, we’re going to enter into our fifth mega project with the divine grace of Bhagawan Krishna. So far in our third and fourth projects, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna’s birth stories, His childhood “Leelas” at Gokula, His establishment at Dwaaraka, etc. in great detail. We had also witnessed some anecdotes with regards to Bhagawan Krishna’s family, His marriages, His children, His grandchildren, how He helped His childhood friend, Kuchela, etc. All these stories and incidents only make up for around 40 to 50% of Bhagawan Krishna’s divine incarnation. We’ve seen earlier too that Bhagawan incarnates every time in this world, not with just one or two agendas, but with a wide range of them! Whenever He comes down to this world, He makes sure that He comes as a complete package! We’ve witnessed during our Ramayana project as to how Bhagawan Rama had touched the lives of innumerable people – Both good and bad ones. He hadn’t restricted Himself only to marry Sita and look after His brothers, isn’t it? He ascended to the forest, helped out Guha, Sugriva, Hanuman, Jatayu, Vibhishana, etc. isn’t it? Similarly in this way, the Krishna-Avatara is no exception. What we had witnessed so far in the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana and Shri Vishnu Puraana are just one tip of a huge iceberg! There are many more things that Bhagawan Krishna did, and in this mega-project, we’re going to witness all what we had not learnt about Bhagawan Krishna.
Thus, to sum up the above discussion in simpler words, we’re going to witness an important “Ithihaasa”, which is going to talk about Bhagawan Krishna’s important role in establishing “Dharma” in this world. This part comes as a huge “Ithihasa” itself, because whatever Bhagawan Krishna has done here is so enormous that we cannot capture that in just one “Puraana” alone. This is perhaps one reason why neither the Bhaagawatha Puraana nor Shri Vishnu Puraana talks about this phase of Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation. This “Ithihasa” that we’re going to talk about for the next hundreds of episodes from today is authored by none other than Sage Veda Vyaasa, and is titled as “Mahabharatam”. Thus, our next mega project that we’re going to take up starting today is none other than the “Mahabharatam” and we’re going to discuss this “Ithihasa” in great detail. This is an ambitious and a huge project and I request our esteemed readers to extend your full cooperation for this, as usual.
As we might know, our Sanaatana Dharma literature comprises of two main “Ithihasas” namely, the Shrimad Ramayana, authored by Valmiki Bhagawan, and the Mahabharata, authored by Sage Veda Vyaasa. The Valmiki Ramayana is a text that comprises of seven “Kaandas” and around 24,000 slokas. When we had undertaken the Ramayana project four years ago, we might have thought that it was a mammoth project. Truly yes! It is a mammoth exercise done by Valmiki Maharishi! However, if we’ve to look at the Ramayana in comparison with the size of the Mahabharata, it is a miniscule text! Why is that so? Let us wait for the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 