Essence Of Devi Bhagavatha Purana

Burden of Evil on Earth and the Role of ‘Maha Maya’

Maharshi Veda Vyasa described to King Janamejaya in reply to the above and similar questions about the experience of Mother Earth in bearing the very heavy load of Evil Persons even in the ‘Dvapara Yuga’ itself and in ‘Kali  Yuga’ it surely would be far worse! Assuming the form of a cow, ‘Bhu Mata’ (Earth) wailed that  ferocious Kings like Jarasandha, Sisupala, Kamsa, Naraka, Salva and Kesi were ruling and there appeared to be no relief forthcoming in the near future.

She approached Indra, Brahma and finally to Lord Vishnu who told Brahma that the Trinity were responsible for the ‘Srishti, ‘Stithi’ and ‘Laya’ ( Creation, Preservation and Destruction ) and were certainly not independent by themselves, as they were carrying on with their own duties.  The Decider would have to determine as to how the understandable problem of Bhu Devi (Earth) be tackled, since her difficulties were genuine. ‘Let us all pray to Her and we have to follow Her Instructions’, said Lord Vishnu. On making a group prayer, the Prime Force Maha Maya appeared on the horizon with all Her splendour and made an order that as a first step,  Sage Kasyapa be born as Anaka Dundhubhi Vasudeva ( there were the joyous sounds of drums at the time of his birth), along his wife Aditi as Devaki; Vishnu as Krishna; The Supreme Maha Maya Herself to be born as Yashoda; Maha Maya to send Vishnu as Her Avatar to the prison and arrange Dundhubhi Vasudeva to transfer Krishna to Yashoda, the wife of Nanda who would be the foster mother of Krishna; She Herself would transfer Ananta Deva (Balarama) from Devaki to Yashoda; both Krishna and Balarama as they grew would destroy a number of Evil Forces; the Pandavas would be born as part incarnations of Yama Raja as Dharma Raja, Vayu Deva as Bhima, Indra as Arjuna, and Asvini Kumaras as Nakula and Sahadeva; the incarnate of Vasuki would be born as Bhishma; remnant forces of Evil would all be destroyed at the Battle of ‘Maha Bharata’ at Kurukshetra by arranging several situations of extraordinary nature at the battle field; and even far before the Great Battle right from the stage of Kuru Vamsa and the contemporary timed-dynasties!

Thus the pointed queries of King Janamejaya raised to Maharshi Veda Vyasa could be squarely   answerable by the fascinating explanations of the actions of Maha Maya most of which were ‘situational adjustments’[*]created by the Players in the Large Dimension Dramas themselves as influenced by Her Maya; while the rest of the explanations were reflections of Maha Bhagavati’s Supreme Illusion! The following Pages would unravel or disentangle the ‘knots’ to some of the queries made by the King.  [* The explanation as to why all the Pandava brothers married the same lady  was due to Arjuna’s breaking the ‘Matsya Yantra’and Draupadi was to select only Arjuna but that would not be permissible when the elders were not married yet; the ‘Dharma Sandeha’( The riddle of virtue) was solved by Arjuna’s mother, Draupadi herself, King Drupada, Arjuna’s other brothers, Bhishma and other elders of Kuru Vamsa and the Sages who attended the function. Another query of Janamejaya related to Bhishma’s ‘Pratigna’ ( the Great Vow of life) neither to accept Kingship nor marry lest next generation might claim the throne and the need to perpetuate the dynasty was important; as per Sastras such situations be overcome to let the widows of erstwhile Kings be married to any Brahmana and as such Veda Vyasa was instructed by his mother Satyavati and he could not disobey his mother.]