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Question in Vishnu Puranam

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Chandrashekaran Venkataraman • August 16, 2000 


Dear Bhagawathas,
    I have some doubts in Srimad Vishnu Puranam... I request the scholars in
this list
to kindly clarify... The questions are solely out of adiyEn's ignorance and
not intended
to question the authority of the purANa rathnam: These questions are based
on my
reading a tamizh prose-like translation of the purANam (by Sri
M.A.Venkatraman, LIFCO).
1. There are lot of stories housed in the puranam. Stories about kings,
sages... Generally
the stories explain the spiritual aspects of life. In this context, I didn't
quite understand 
the relevance of the stories about "bhr~haspathi-chandran-thArai-bhudhan"
episode and 
"purUravas-Urvasi" episode. I can't collect any spiritual import from
these... And the story 
of yayAdhi who seeks youth from his son and enjoys many years of life till
becomes tired 
of his youth and then takes vAnaprastham and attains the goal of life... In
this particular 
story: yayAdhi is steeped in sensual pleasures in the beginning of life...
Though he realises 
in the end of his life he is in the wrong path, what is the relevance for
this and the other
two stories in Vishnu Puranam... And in the "purUravas-Urvasi" episode, the
story ends as
"purUravas gains a permanent residence in Urvasi's lOkam and lives there".
How is this 
relevant to "Narayana thathvam" understanding which was my ambition before
starting
the reading?  adiyEn is clearly not a matured soul to see the spiritual
essence embedded in 
the stories... Kindly enlighten. Kindly correct me if I am  misquoting
anything here... These 
are from my reading the abovesaid book.

2. Sri parAsarA in the purANam tells His prophesies about Maurya dynasty
viz., chANakyan,
Chandragupta, Bimbisara, Ashoka etal... But isn't it true that from Ashoka
downwards 
the dynasty embraced budhism? Basically my problem is, what do we gain
(spiritually) by 
knowing about these emperors.. But I can understand what I will gain if I
know about Sage 
king Janaka etal.,

3. Sri parAsarA also tells of mAyAmOhan who is Lord Narayana's amsam... He
goes about 
diverting certain sect of people from vedic living and converts them into
"bhuddhas" and
"arhadhas". So clearly here it adduces to Bhuddha and Mahavira... Is it
right? But somewhere
in this list, I have read that Buddha is not amsam of the Lord... Please
clarify. Also the dates 
of Bhuddha and Mahavira are really recent in the history of Hinduism
compared to Krishna's 
birth and even Sri parAsarA's time.

   Please suggest me, how to gain spiritual aspects from Srimad Vishnu
Puranam... adiyEn's
mandha bhuddhi doesn't comprehend clearly..


   I apologise sincerely if I even unintentionally offended anybody's
feelings by the above
writing.

   adiyEn,
   chandrasekaran.

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