Marm ni vaat (Gujarati) - Bhagvat Puran - Devi Bhagvat

Vidurji asks Maitrayaji about how Prachetas got to meet the Lord Vishnu and what did he say to them. Maitrayaji informs him of the story and how the Lord appeared in front of Prachetas and then they all offered a stuti the Lord. They all married to the daughter of an apsara and rishi Kundu and their son was the reincarnation of Daksha.

In the second part of the exploring meaning of Puranjan's story, we understand another metaphorical story that talks about a deer. Through this story, Naradji attempts to make the King Prachinbruhi, why he needs to stop his killing of animals in the yagna and focus on the penance and bhakti towards the Lord Vishnu. Just continuing to do karma without understanding its dharma is fruitless. 

The story of Puranjan is a metaphor and so Naradji now explains the king Prachinbruhi the real meaning of it. In the first part, we hear about what the story of Puranjan in the initial aspects means including why the nourishment of the soul cannot be achieved by just focusing on materialism. We also hear how worldly pleasures move us away from the bhakti of the Lord. 

Puranjan dies of old age and goes to hell where the animals he had killed before attack him. Later on he gets another birth as the daughter of the king of Vidharbha. The princess then marries to the king of Pandya, Malaydhwaja. In his later life, as the king leaves his kingdom for penance, his queen (who was in previous life Puranjan) also joins. When the king dies, the queen decides to become a S...

King Puranjan is completely devoted to his family life and has forgotten to focus on the kingdom or the purushartha, the aims of life. In that period, the kalkanya (old age), builds a connection with the king fear and his brother prajwar (fever due to illness) and start attacking Puranjan and his kingdom. 

The king Puranjan goes out for hunting one day while leaving his queen and kills numerous animals. His cruel approach to life is reflected upon. When he gets back tired from the hunt, he realises that his queen is angry on him and so he goes to her palace to appease her and using his sweet tongue does so.

Maharaj Prachinbruhi meets muni Narad who asks the king about the need for so many yagna he has been doing and informs him that just focusing on the yagna and not on their meaning won't allow the king to reach moksha that he desires. Muni Narad tells the story of Puranjan. In that story, Puranjan searches for a kindgom to live in and find a wife to marry and meets a lady of that kind near Himalaya...

Maharaj Pruthu has left the Earth and we hear about his progeny. We hear about Vijitashwa, his son, and his life, followed by a reflection on Maharaj Prachinbruhi and his sons. These sons meet Lord Shankar when they go for a penance and Lord Shankar teaches them a stuti of Lord Vishnu. 

After being a devout king for a many years, Maharaj Pruthu decides to leave his kingdom and focus on the spiritual path and enlightenment of the self. He goes to the forest and focuses on the penance and soul cleansing. Maharani Archi also joins him in this journey and they both reach moksha. We again hear about the way of Moksha. 

The four first sons of Brahma visit Maharaj Pruthu and offer his sagely advice. They explain what should an individual do to be on the path of dharma and moksha ultimately. They also explain why the soul falls from grace. We also hear about the karma of Maharaj Pruthu after the sages leave. 

Maharaj Pruthu arrives back in his abode and after sitting with his subjects and many other rishis he explains his views on the role of a ruler and what his subjects should be doing. He also explains the role of the leader and the importance of Dharma at individual and societal levels. 

Seeing the forgiveness demonstrated by Maharaj Pruthu, Lord Vishnu appears and explains the role of a king and the path of moksha. The Lord also requests Pruthu to ask for a boon. Listening to the Lord's advice, Pruthu pleads to the Lord that he offers him a place in his heart. The Lord praises Pruthu and everyone leaves the Yagya. 

After seeing that the people under his rule are well settled, Maharaj Pruthu focuses on his spiritual self and decides to carry out 100 Ashwamedh Yagya. Bitten by jealousy, the mercurial God, Indra feels that Pruthu will gain even more of a status than him by completing the 100 yagyas. Hence, he tries to disrupt the process disguising himself in different identities. The son of Pruthu, stops Indra...

Earth who has taken the shape of a cow explains to Maharaj Pruthu why she is hiding the different types of fauna, flora and other good things. She requests that Maharaj Pruthu finds the right calf and the right shepherd to milch this cow and also provide flat lands to people by demolishing some of the hills. Following that mother Earth provides what is required by different types of beings. Mahara...

When Maharaj Pruthu finds out from his citizens that the Earth has stop offering them the resources, he gets ready to fire a metaphorical arrows to the Earth. The Goddess Earth takes the shape of a cow and runs from the Maharaj Pruthu. However, she realises that there is no way out and so takes refuge with Pruthu himself. She understands that Maraharj Pruthu is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu a...

When Maharaj Pruthu explains his views about why he should not be praised early, the people feel grateful and offer his stuti that reflects the expectations of the people from him. Moreover, in doing so, vyasji explains the role of and expectations from a good leader.

When the sages try again, they get two bodies from the arm of the dead king Ven. Two beings emerge from that as Pruthu and Archi, who are identified as the incarnation of Lord Shri Vishnu and Laxmi ji. As people start praising Maharaj Pruthu he stops them and explains that they should not praise him before they see his karma. We learn some leadership lessons through his sentences. 

In this episode we hear about the king Ven, who is full of self-praise and asks everyone to stop their devotion of the Lord Vishnu. He wants to everyone to divert their devotional activities to him only. Seeing this, the sages attempt to reason with the king, however, the king gets angry at them. Thus, in retaliation, the sages put him to death. The sages realise that Ven having no sons, the linea...

We hear about the sons and grandsons of Dhruv leading to the story of Mahraja Ang and his son Ven. We hear how leaders' performance is affected when they are blinded by love. The clash between love and duty leads Maharaj Ang to leave his kingdom and Ven (who is a cruel and deceitful) becomes the king.

Dhurv gets to meet Kuberji and gets a boon that Sri Hari will always remain in his mind and heart. Dhruv remains as a king for 36000 years as the lord ordered and he leaves for the Vishnu lok when the time arrives. The whole story of Dhruv makes us think about bhakti and nishtha again. 

A horrific battle rages between Dhruv and the Yakshas. Some sages advice dhruv to use Narayanastra. As Dhruv uses the divyastra the Yakshas start losing the battle. At that moment, the grand father of Dhruv, Svayambhuv Manu, appears and attempts to persuade Dhruv to stop the battle. He explains the reasons why Dhruv should stop and what he should do next. 

We hear about Dhruv's life, marriages and progeny. As Uttam, brother of Dhruv, gets killed by a Yaksha, Dhruv gets angry and fights with the whole Yaksha army. He kills thousands of Yaksha and as they start losing, the Yakshas use illusions (which is one of their weapons). 

Lord Vishnu appears in front Dhruv and gives him a place in the Dhruv loke. Dhruv returns to his home wherein the king Uttanpad and all others welcome him with open arms. However, Dhruv remains upset that when he had the opportunity to be with the lord, he asked for material aspects. 

We start with a new story line in this adhyay of Dhruv. Having scolded by his step mother for attempting to sit into the lap of the king Uttanpad, the 5 year old Dhruv follows his mother's advice and goes to the forest for tapasya of Lord Vishnu.

With Daksha and all those who were present being forgiven by Mahadev Shiv, everyone is led by Brahmaji to Daksha's yagya place. There, as instructed by Shiva, Daksha is made alive and after the first yagna, Lord Sri Vishnu appears and everyone offers a stuti to him.