Everything about Narada totally explained
:
Narad redirects here; for the village in Slovakia, see Ňárad.
Narada (
Sanskrit: नारद,
nārada) or
Narada Muni is a divine sage from the
Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the
Puranic texts, especially in the
Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets,
lokas in Sanskrit. He carries a musical instrument known as a
vina, which he uses to accompany his singing of
hymns,
prayers and
mantras as an act of
devotion to his lord,
Vishnu or
Krishna. In the
Vaishnava tradition he's held in special reverance for his chanting and singing of the names
Hari and
Narayana and his promoting of the process of devotional service, known as
bhakti yoga as explained within the text accredited to Narada himself, known as the
Narada Bhakti Sutra.
Son of Brahma
According to legend Narad is regarded as the
Manasaputra referring to his birth 'from the mind of
Brahma', the first living being as described in the Puranic universe. He is regarded as the
Triloka sanchaari, the ultimate nomad who roams the three
lokas of Swargaloka (
heaven), Mrityuloka (earth, literally: "place of death") and Patalloka (nether-world). He does this to find out about the life and welfare of people. He was the first to practise
Natya Yoga. He is also known as
Kalahapriya as he playfully causes quarrels amongst Gods (
devas), Goddesses and people.
Narad Muni has a specifically important place among the
Vaishnava traditions. In the Puranic scriptures, he's listed as one of the twelve
mahajanas, or 'great devotees' of God (
Vishnu). As he was a
gandharva in his previous birth before becoming a
rishi he's in the category of a
devarishi.
Enlightenment
The Bhagavata Purana describes the story of Narad's spiritual enlightenment: In his previous birth Narad was a gandharva (angelic being) who had been cursed to be born on an earthly planet due to some offense. He was born as the son of a maid-servant of some particularly
saintly priests (
brahmins). The priests, being pleased with both his and his mother's service blessed him by allowing him to eat some of their food (
prasad) previously offered to their lord, Vishnu.
Gradually Narad received further blessings from these sages and heard them talking about many spiritual topics. When his mother died from a
snake's bite, taking this as an act of God (
Vishnu), he decided to roam the forest in search of enlightenment in understanding the 'Supreme Absolute Truth'.
Reaching a tranquil forest location, he, after quenching his thirst from a nearby stream, sat under a tree in meditation (
yoga), concentrating on the
paramatma form of Vishnu within his heart as he'd been taught of by the priests he'd served. After some time Narad experienced a vision wherein Narayan (Vishnu) appeared before him, smiling, and spoke "that despite having the blessing of seeing him at that very moment, Narad wouldn't be able to see his (Vishnu's) divine form again until he died". Narayan further explained that the reason he'd been given a chance to see his form was because his beauty and love would be a source of inspiration and would fuel his dormant desire to be with the lord again. After instructing Narad in this manner, Vishnu then disappeared from his sight. The boy awoke from his meditation both thrilled and disappointed.
For the rest of his life Narad focused on his devotion, meditation upon and worship to Vishnu. After his death Vishnu then blessed him with the spiritual form of "Narad" as he eventually became known. In many Hindu scriptures Narad is considered a partial-manifestation (
avatar) of God, empowered to perform miraculous tasks on Vishnu's behalf.
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Narada'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://narada.totallyexplained.com">Narada Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
