Vedic Wisdom - Science Behind Puranas

Vedic Wisdom

Science Behind Puranas

Every purana has an underlying cosmic science behind it. If you take Skanda purana for example the Asura Surapadma was vanquished by Lord Skanda. If you look at closely Surapadma was a devout saivite and obtained all boons by austerity and tapasya- and as his name itself indicates he was a Sura Padma ( a padma of the suras-a jewel of noble men). But then what happened. All the boons and it’s powers corrupted him, intoxicated him and blinded him. All possible dirts- Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Mascharya- lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy -took over his senses and he, who was a great sura became a cruel Asura-the evil force.

To quell him none other than the primordial power had to descend - that too as the combined energies of Shiva and Shakthi-the omniscience and omnipotence. The moral for the human beings in this story is – It is possible to master many powers and energies by perseverance, devotion and penance and the nature will surely respond to your devotion positively. Thereafter you have to ensure that you don’t squander it in evil and illegitimate desires and lose not only the merits earned but earn the wrath of the same nature which bestowed upon you all the blessings. But this purana also has a sub plot – if you repent and are willing to atone, God is willing to oblige you.

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Because after getting vanquished but before getting killed Surapadma asked for pardon and wanted to be ever with skanda which the God accepted and made him his vahana – peacock – the symbol of subdued ego. Similarly if you look at the most Divine- Devi Mahatmyam in Markandeya purana -you will notice that Madhu-Kaitabha; Mahishasura; Raktabeeja ; Dumralochana;Chanda-Munda; Sumba – Nishumba - all had to be eliminated by Chandi ma-who is the combined energy of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswaty-the Valour, Riches and Wisdom. Why – all these rakshasas had received many boons to start with by good deeds, but with power going to their head did all wrong things.

Madhu means sweet, in fact the ultimate of sweetness and Kaitaba means the other side of the same coin- the ultimate tongue watering and tempting sensory pleasures- which normally accompanies the ‘madhu’ . We have every right to enjoy them. But if we get overindulged we are likely to forget our cosmic responsibilities and we will be ending up facing the wrath of the God. That is what happened to the dinosaurs.

Mahishasura is the stupidity and vanity of human ego, which makes you not see reason at all even if you are otherwise a fine and strong person, which results in sordid end.The Dhumralochana is the smoky and unclear mind and therefore gets carried away like smoke with no mooring of its own and then gets knocked out. Raktabeeja is the continuous and unstoppable self multiplying bunch of desires bubbling in our mind. If one desire is satisfied another crops up.

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This makes you go astray and you fail to fulfill the cosmic responsibilities and as a result you end up getting annihilated. The Chada- Munda is the ‘this or that syndrome’ – head or body – or more contemporarily –head or tail – syndrome making you not able to take the right and wise decision by yourself and therefore getting dictated by others and at the end meeting the sad fate. The Shumbha - Nishumbha are the final summit of being good or bad; to have wisdom or ignorance; get illuminated or remain in darkness.

The choice is pretty obvious-reach the summit of wisdom by good thoughts, words and deeds. But the false ego makes us not to take the right decision because then it has to give up the illegitimate worldly pleasures and hence makes us to choose the wrong one or falsely makes us to believe we are taking a right decision . The result is ending up in disintegration.

This whole purana is a deep prayer to Chandi ma to keep us away from these mental pitfalls and provide us the powers and energies to quell any such tendencies if they try to creep in. These are just a few examples to show that our puranas have very deep meanings and if we can understand and follow it , it will be guaranteed bliss all the way.

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This article is a snippet from the Book Vedic Wisdom, Authored by Pandit Sri Rama Sharma. Vedic Wisdom is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.