In the previous episode, we had witnessed a glimpse of the significance of Bindusaras, which is the first landing point of River Ganges into this world. We can worship this place even today in the North-Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and this is a site full of natural beauty. It is at this place, King Vrishaparva was residing and he had a beautiful palace built by Mayan. After many decades, as Mayan built the Indraprastha palace for Yudishtra and Co., he remembered the two important items – “Gadha” and “Devadattham” that were there in Vrishaparva’s palace. With the permission of Yudishtra, Mayan picked up both the items from Bindusaras and gifted the Gadha to Bheemasena and the Devadatham to Arjuna. Moreover, we’ve also witnessed that while burning down the Kaandava-Vanam, Arjuna was in need of a chariot, and Agni Bhagawan gifted him with one. This chariot was also created by none other than Mayan himself, with the flag containing Hanuman on its top. Thus, we can see here that Mayan has contributed immensely to the Paandavas in terms of Arjuna’s chariot, the “Devadattham”, the “Gadha” for Bheemasena and finally the magnificent palace of Indraprastha which was single handedly built by him!
With all this in place, Yudishtra and Co. enter into the grand courtroom and the inaugural ceremony takes place in a grand manner. Yudishtra had invited around 10,000 Brahmin “Pandits” and fed them with sumptuous food. Thus, with this, we come to the end of this introductory “Upa-Parva” of the “Sabhaa Parva”, and now we are going to enter into the next one called “Lokha-Paala-Sabhaakhyaana Parva”. Here we’re going to witness Sage Naarada’s entry into Indraprastha and something interesting about the “Loka-Paalakas”. Now who are the “Loka-Paalakas”? They are none other than Yama-Dharma-Raja, Varuna Bhagawan, Kubera and Indra. Thus, each of them are the rulers of different directions. For instance, the southern direction is ruled by Yama-Dharma-Raja. Kubera is the ruler of the northern direction. Indra rules the eastern direction while the western direction is ruled by Varuna Bhagawan. For all these four “Lokha-Paalakas”, there is one leader, and he is none other than Bhagawan Brahma! Thus, in this “Upa-Parva”, we’re going to witness the beauty and significance of the courtrooms of all these people, as narrated by Sage Naarada. Actually Sage Naarada’s visit to Indraprastha was to do some “Dharma-Upadesha” (Some important pieces of advice pertaining to “Dharma” in this world), however, upon looking around the Indraprastha palace, Sage Naarada was extremely impressed. Thus, before he commenced his “Dharma-Updadesha” to Yudishtra, Sage Naarada gave an account of similar such courtrooms in the Indra-Lokha, Kubera-Lokha, Bhagawan Brahma’s Satya Lokha, etc.
Thus, as Sage Naarada is about to make his way into Indraprastha, Sage Veda-Vyaasa has described his significance in a series of 10 to 12 slokas. Sage Vyaasa describes Sage Naarada as follows: He is the one who is the master of all the “Ithihaasas” and “Puraanas” in this world. He has gained expertise in all the Vedas and Upanishads. He is an expert in all the “Shaastras” such as “Nyaaya-Shaasthra”, “Dharma-Shaasthra”, etc. and also in all the “Angas” such as “Sheeksa”, “Vyaakarna”, “Chandas”, “Nruttham”, “Jyotisham”. Moreover, Sage Naarada is an expert in the concept of “Aikyam”. In other words, “Aikyam” means “All is one” and “All originates and ends in one”. This is what all the “Shaastras” would repeatedly emphasize, and Sage Naarada knows all the intricacies behind this. Moreover, Sage Naarada knows in and out of all the important “Tatvas” (Logic) in this world, “Hitham”, and “Hithaartham”.
Moreover, Sage Naarada is an expert in “Tarka-Shaasthra”. For instance, if we’ve to explain a concept in any language, we’ve to take care of five elements in it. They are “Prathignya”, “Hethu”, “Udaaharana”, “Upanaya” and “Nigamana”. Thus, if Sage Naarada describes any concept from our “Sanaatana Dharma”, he would ensure that he would include all these five elements in it, so that the listener would be able to understand it clearly without any doubts. Moreover, Sage Naarada clearly knows the significance behind “Dharma”, “Artha”, “Kaama” and “Moksha” and how one should strive to attain the ultimate “Moksha”. If anyone asks a doubt to Sage Naarada, that doubt would be cleared for their entire lifetime. This means that Sage Naarada is extremely clear in what he explains, and he makes sure that his explanation would be perfectly aligned to the person’s doubt and also to the person’s intellect, which has to grab the information. For instance, when we answer someone’s question, we should first understand their level of understanding of the problem, their intellectual capability, etc. and only then give an answer. If we’re talking at some high level and if the other person doesn’t understand anything of what we’re saying, we might still answer his / her question, but the other person would still have the same doubt in mind. Thus, we should ensure that our answer to the other person’s question would suit his / her understanding and we should structure our answer in that way. This is a sheer expertise that would come out of enormous experience and learning, and Sage Vyaasa explains here that Sage Naarada had that unique experience and expertise in him!
So for today, let us understand all these important points of Sage Naarada’s significance and we shall continue this discussion forward in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 