Stories From The Bhagavatham - Vyasa's Agitation And Narada's Advice

 

One evening, Shri Vyasa was sitting beside the river Saraswati on whose banks, lay the hermitage of the Rishi. He was lost in thought, a strange sadness gripping his heart.

The twangs of the strings of a divine Veena broke the silence. Along with the sweet notes of the strings, Vyasa heard the chant of ‘Narayana! Narayana!’ To his immense delight, he saw it was Rishi Narada coming to meet him. He welcomed the Rishi and after giving him a seat of honour, sat by Narada’s feet.

“I hope all is well with you.” Narada said smiling at Vyasa. “I am sure that you are happy, now that you have composed the great epic Mahabharata which is an immense store-house of knowledge. It is a great achievement and the whole world will benefit by it. Indeed you must be in a very delighted state of mind.”

As if the all-knowing Narada did not know about the agitation in Vyasa’s mind! And yet he said this with the intention to get Vyasa to talk about the same.

Sure enough, when Vyasa did not reply, Narada prompted him. “It seems like you are not satisfied even after such a great achievement. It seems like you have done everything you could but still it feels inadequate to you. What is really bothering you?”

Vyasa finally admitted. “Everything you said is correct. I am not satisfied, and only you can take away my sorrow.”

Vyasa recounted. “Once, while I was in deep meditation, I saw the future of the world – a world without Dharma, a world with the advent of Kali which brought in various sins and I saw the gradual deterioration of the nature of humankind. I was worried about the future of humanity and decided to help them. I divided the Vedas into four parts and taught them to my disciples – Rigveda to Paila, Saamveda to Jaimini, Yajurveda to the only one who could master it, Vaishampaayan and finally Atharvaveda to Sumantu. I taught the seventeen puraanas and itihaasas to Romaharshana. My disciples spread this knowledge further. I was worried about those for whom the Vedas and puraanas are not accessible and for them, I wrote the poem Mahabharata in which I incorporated all the lessons from the Vedas. Inspite of doing all this, I am still not satisfied. I did not get the tranquility that one gets after doing what is right. Please tell me what was left to be done by me.”

With a slight smile, Narada replied. “I know why you aren’t satisfied. That is because you did not do enough.”

“Not enough!?” Vyasa remarked in dismay. “I have done everything in my powers to ensure that humankind doesn’t stray away from the path of Dharma. What more could I have done?”

“There is no doubt that you have done a great service to humanity through Mahabharata. But there is one drawback in this great composition.” Narada replied. Vyasa listened to him, eager to know what was missing in the epic.

Narada continued. “By relating the story of Mahabharata, you have taught the world that righteousness will always win and that wherever there is Krishna, there Dharma will be. Throughout the tale, you have stressed on the duties of humankind and their Dharma. But, my good friend, you have not sung the praises of the Lord as much as you should have! Do you not know that the easiest path to the Divine is through Bhakti? You wrote the Mahabharata intending it to be a play. While writing it, you put yourself into the roles of the characters and for a while, you thought like them, thinking both pure and evil thoughts in the process of portraying the characters. At times, incidentally, the Divine was praised. However your mind was not on the Lord. Undo this omission and sing the praises of Narayana in your works. Write about His various Avatars. Explain to the world, why the Formless and Infinite Maha Vishnu chose to take a mortal form and birth, why He willingly subjected Himself to the attributes that govern the human nature and why He portrayed Himself as a common human. Teach humanity the greatest lesson – that no matter how much humankind failed in its duties ascribed by the scriptures, even if anyone disregards all rules of conduct and still has devotion to the Lord, that human will be liberated of their sins and will attain the Divine eventually. By presenting the many Avatars of Maha Vishnu, by explaining the reason behind every Avatar and by singing His praises, you will finally attain what you desperately seek – peace.”

Thus, the Bhagavatham gives a glimpse behind the origin of this great and unparalleled work of Veda Vyasa. In the next chapter, we will get a glimpse of the time when Narada too had to go through a mortal life to finally attain the position of the Celestial Rishi who travels throughout the universe and constantly chants the names of the Lord.