3.1.1 The 12 Skandhas and their narrators

Explained

How the Bhagavatam came to be (Skandha 1). After dividing the Vedas and writing the Mahabharata, Vyasa still felt empty at his ashram on the Sarasvati. Narada came and told him that he had described dharma but not enough of Hari's glories. Narada also told Vyasa of his own previous life as the son of a maidservant: as a boy he served the sages his mother served, heard Hari's stories from them, and after his mother died of a snakebite gave his life to Narayana. Vyasa then composed the Bhagavatam and taught it to Shuka, who was free of all worldly ties from birth.

Parikshit's reign and last seven days.

1. After Krishna left the earth, Yudhishthira crowned Parikshit at Hastinapura, made Vajra (Aniruddha's son) king of Mathura, and set out north on the Mahaprasthana with his brothers and Draupadi.
2. Parikshit ruled well. With Kripacharya as his guru he performed three Ashvamedhas on the bank of the Ganga. He was named Parikshit because, as a newborn, he examined everyone, looking for the being who had shielded him in the womb.
3. On a tour of conquest he met Kali, dressed as a king, beating a bull and a cow. The bull was Dharma, standing on one leg; the cow was the Earth. Dharma's four legs are tapas, shaucha (purity), daya (compassion) and satya (truth); in Kali yuga only satya is left. Kali begged for a place to live and got gambling, drink, illicit women and slaughter; on a second plea, gold.
4. Tired and thirsty on a hunt, Parikshit entered Shamika's hermitage. The sage was in meditation and did not answer. Angry, the king lifted a dead snake with his bow and put it round his neck.
5. Shringi, the sage's young son, cursed the king: Takshaka would bite him on the seventh day. Shamika rebuked his son and sent word to the king.
6. Parikshit handed the kingdom to Janamejaya and sat on the bank of the Ganga in prayopavesha (fasting unto death). The great sages gathered. Shuka, about sixteen years old, arrived, and Parikshit asked what a dying man should do. The answer is the Bhagavatam.
7. On the seventh day Takshaka, disguised as a brahmin, bit him (Skandha 12). On the way Takshaka had turned back Kashyapa, a brahmin who could cure poison, by giving him wealth. Janamejaya later held the sarpa yaga to burn all snakes. In the Bhagavatam Brihaspati stops it by teaching him karmaphala (each being reaps its own karma; the snake was only an instrument). In the Mahabharata Astika stops it.

Skandha 2: Shuka's first answer.

• Hear, sing and remember Hari all through life, not only at its end.
• Khatvanga: a king who learnt he had very little life left, gave up all attachment, took refuge in Hari and was freed. Shuka's point: a short span of devotion is enough.
• Virat Purusha: a beginner may meditate on the whole universe as Vishnu's body, the worlds as his limbs.
• Brahma's tapas: born on the lotus, Brahma could not find his own source. He heard the word "Tapa", did penance and received the knowledge to create.
• Chatuhshloki Bhagavatam: four verses in Skandha 2, chapter 9 in which Vishnu gave Brahma the whole Bhagavatam in seed form: before, during and after creation only the Lord is real; all else is his maya.
• Wishes and the deities for them:

The dialogues inside. The Bhagavatam is a set of conversations nested one inside another.

Ten lakshanas. Skandha 2 lists ten topics a Mahapurana covers: sarga (primary creation), visarga (secondary creation), sthana (maintenance of the order), poshana (the Lord's protection), uti (impulses of karma), manvantara (eras of the Manus), ishanukatha (stories of the Lord and his devotees), nirodha (dissolution), mukti (liberation) and ashraya (the final support, the Lord). Skandha 12 gives a similar list of ten. The older pancha-lakshana (five marks) are sarga, pratisarga, vamsha, manvantara and vamshanucharita.

Navavidha bhakti (nine forms of devotion). Prahlada lists them in Skandha 7. Each has a famous example.

Avataras. Skandha 1 (chapter 3) lists 22 avataras (table in HC-BH-02), says they are countless, and calls Krishna "the Lord himself". Told at length: Varaha and Kapila in 3, Rishabha in 5, Narasimha in 7, Matsya, Kurma, Mohini and Vamana in 8, Rama and Parashurama in 9, Krishna in 10–11, Kalki (foretold) in 12.

Skandha 10. The longest Skandha (90 chapters), in two halves: purva (chapters 1–49: Krishna in Gokula, Vrindavana and Mathura, Kamsa's death, Uddhava's visit to Vraja) and uttara (chapters 50–90: Jarasandha, Dwaraka, marriages, the Syamantaka gem, Kuchela). The Rasa Panchadhyayi (five chapters on the Rasa lila) and the Gopika Gita (chapter 31) are here. The Bhramara Gita (chapter 47) is the gopis' words to a bee when Uddhava brings Krishna's message.

Skandha 11: Krishna's teaching. Skandha 10 is the Skandha of Krishna's lilas; Skandha 11 is the most important for his tattvabodha (philosophical teaching).

• Nava Yogendras: nine sons of Rishabhadeva who answer King Nimi of Videha; Narada retells the talk to Vasudeva.

• Practice for each yuga: Satya, meditation; Treta, yajna; Dvapara, temple worship (archana); Kali, nama-sankirtana (singing Hari's name), the easy path of the Kali age.
• Uddhava Gita: Krishna's teaching to Uddhava, chapters 7 to 29 of Skandha 11. Compare the Bhagavad Gita: Krishna to Arjuna, Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, 18 chapters.
• Other "Gitas" of Skandha 11:
  • Avadhuta's 24 gurus: an Avadhuta tells King Yadu what he learnt from earth, air, the python, the moth, the honeybee, the courtesan Pingala and others.
  • Hamsa Gita: Vishnu appears as a swan to answer the Sanakadi sages.
  • Bhikshu Gita: a miser of Avanti loses his wealth, becomes a mendicant and learns that the mind is the cause of joy and sorrow.
  • Aila Gita: Pururava (Aila) on his folly over Urvashi.
• End: Krishna sends Uddhava to Badarikashrama. The Yadavas destroy one another at Prabhasa (the Mausala lila). Balarama leaves his body first, in yoga on the seashore; then Krishna, after the hunter Jara's arrow.

Skandha 12: the close.

• Kali dynasties of Magadha foretold by Shuka: Pradyotas → Shishunagas → Nandas → Mauryas → Shungas → Kanvas → Andhras. A brahmin (tradition: Chanakya) ends the Nandas.
• Bhumi Gita (chapter 3): Mother Earth laughs at kings who fight saying "this land is mine" and die leaving it.
• Four pralayas:

• Shuka's last teaching: the body dies, the Self does not, as the space in a pot is not destroyed when the pot breaks.
• Vedas divided by Vyasa: Rig to Paila, Yajur to Vaishampayana, Sama to Jaimini, Atharva to Sumantu.
• Markandeya (chapters 8–10); the last chapter (13) praises the Bhagavatam and gives the shloka counts.

Bhagavata Mahatmya. The six-chapter praise of the Bhagavatam is attached to the Padma Purana. In it Narada meets the goddess Bhakti and her sons Jnana and Vairagya, grown old in Kali yuga; the four Kumaras recite the Bhagavatam and they become young again. It also tells of Gokarna, who freed his brother Dhundhukari from ghost-life by a seven-day Bhagavata recital. The Mahatmya is printed at the head of most Bhagavatam editions, so questions may call the Gokarna story a Bhagavata story.