Essence Of Maha Bhagavatha Purana

Dhruva and his lineage

In the lineage of Dhruva, there came up a very cruel King, named Vena, ( son of King Anga and Sumitha) who harassed not only his own Subjects but the Sages and the Virtuous. When the atrocities of Vena became unbearable, Sages cursed him and killed him to save the sins borne by Earth. As the Sages churned the dead body of Vena, and there came up a couple, named Prithi and his consort Archi. King Prithi mastered the discipline of Archana Bhakti and ruled his Subjects with kindness and affection. His farmers complained about Earth since for long, there were no crops at all. When Prithi decided to attack Earth, the latter replied that the carry over of Vena’s sins was the reason of her infertility.She said that she would appear in the form of a cow and that he and his subjects could exploit the cow to the maximum.

As a result, fertility of  Mother Earth increased and the entire kingdom became prosperous. Prithi decided to perform, a series of  ‘Asvamedha Yagas’ ( Sacrifices of horses), as symbols of Superiority of his Kingship. As the hundredth Yaga was to be performed, Lord Indra got jittery, as his own Seat of Power might be a casuality. Indra stole the Sacrificial Horse, and as Prithi’s son chased him, but Indra  took the form of a hermit and disappeared. Finall,  Prithi made a deal with Indra-a ‘Sahasraksha’-to make him a ‘Sahasrakarna’, ie to grant the King the capacity of hearing as of  thousand ears, since Prithi was desirous of hearing the complaints or requests of his Subjects from distances! Such was the noble nature of the King. In the lineage of King Prithi, there was a king named Prachin Barhi, who had several sons viz. Prachetas who were all great devotees of God Narayana and Lord was pleased to appear as  Lord Siva. They asked Siva as to why He appeared instead of Lord Narayana.Lord Siva explained to them: ‘Sivaya Vishnu Roopaya, Siva Roopaya Vishnavey’ ( Siva and Vishnu are just the same) and  taught them Rudra Geet, which involved Animal sacrifices. When Prachetas performed the sacrifices, Narada intervened and said that it might be a sin to sacrifice animals as after all, they too had feelings of pain. Then Prachi Barhi was given a story by Narada in his connection: There were two brothers, Agyat and Vigyat. As Avigyat ordered Vigyat to leave away far, the latter shifed to a City and eventually married Puranjani. In their subsequent lives, Puranjani was born as a swan and recognised Agyat.  Puranjani said that as two human beings earlier, they might have had different views as the former forced her husband,Vigyat, to shift away to the City of hers, but as swans both Agyat and herself were the same, as both have the same soul. The only difference was while Vigyat had to go away to a city Agyat did not. The City that Vigyat selected was akin to a human body, the center of which was a stomach and there were nine gates-mouth, two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, and two oher organs.There were two courtiers, viz. mind and ego, both expressing the Self-ie. I , mine and me. There are five ‘pranas’ or life energies ( Prana, Apana, Udana, Samana and Vyana). Kala Kanya or the old age is ready to attack the City ( Human body) and her two brothers are Moha( attachment) and sorrow (soka). Kala Kanya is wedded to Varsha ( a Year), three sixty five days as Gandharvas, Twelve Months as Warriors, and seven days as Ministers. Thus the body was wasted without knowledge of the essentiality of  ‘Karma Kanda’ ( Prescribed Duties) little realising that each unit of life was dwindling, without purpose and action. Thus Narada had cautioned that the passage of time without fruitful action and the awareness of time once lost could be never retrieved.