Sage Vyasa and the Puranas

Hindu Dharma lays high importance on concepts of Punya (Merit) and Papa (Sin). It is the Punya that helps - not only to enjoy all pleasures of life i.e. bhukti, but mainly to achieve the one and only goal of human birth i.e. mukti, meaning getting liberated from cycle of birth and death through 84 lakhs of species. Human birth is the only chance to achieve this goal. And so it is advised that one should adopt a lifestyle that helps reduce and eventually eradicate the measure of Papa (sin) and on the other hand increase the measure of Punya (merit). 

The great sage (Bhagvan) Vyasa wrote 18 Puranas, mainly to help all human beings understand importance of human birth and its goal. He summarized all puranas in two sentences (sanskrit sentences mentioned above) - Helping others is Punya, hurting others is Papa. Content of puranas, in the form of mythological stories, helps to gain knowledge which empowers one to be of help to others as well as helps understand how to avoid hurting others.

This is a very humble & feeble attempt to bring forward a little portion of such a gigantic work of Sage Vyasa. To start with we will understand what it means by Puran and the names and categories of Puranas.

The word Puran means a very old thing. It also means “Though old it is New”. The 18 puranas are namely – 1) Bhavishya Puran 2) Bhagwad Puran 3) Matsya Puran 4) Markandeya Puran 5) Varah Puran 6) Vaman Puran 7) Vaayu Puran 8) Vishnu Puran 9) Bramhanda Puran 10) Bramha Puran 11) Bramha-vaivarta Puran 12) Narad Puran 13) Kurma Puran 14) Linga Puran 15) Padma Puran 16) Agni Puran 17) Skandha Puran and 18) Garud Puran. 

Of these, Garud Puran (18th puran) is generally read during the period of mourning of a person. That is during 10 days after a person departs this world.

Of these 18, 10 puranas are considered as Shaiva Puran namely – 1) Shaiva 2) Bhavishya 3) Markandeya 4) Linga 5) Varah 6) Skandha 7) Kurma 8) Vaman 9) Bramhand & 10) Matsya. 

4 puranas are considered as Vaishnav Puranas namely 1) Vishnu 2) Bhagwad 3) Narad & 4) Garud Puran. 

Bramha Puranas are 1) Bramha & 2) Padma. 

Agni Puran is also known as Agneya Puran. 

Bramha-viavartana Puran is also known as Surya Puran.

Besides these, there are 23 Upa-puranas namely 1) Shiv 2) Narsimha 3) Sanathkumar 4) Bharagav 5) Vashistha 6) Maheshwar 7) Saura 8) Naradiya 9) Parashar 10) Durvasa 11) Kapil 12) Ausanasa 13) Manav 14) Vaarun 15) Sambha 16) Nandi 17) Aditya 18) Tulasi 19) Ganesh 20) Devi 21) Kalika 22) Devibhagvad & 23) Renuka. 

All these are written by the great Sage Vyasa. Sage Vyasa is considered an incarnation of Sriman Narayan (Lord Vishnu) himself born to Parashar rishi in Vidwath dynasty. 

Vyasa is given the credit of collating Vedas in four parts namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, Saamaveda and Atharvana veda and also laying down the principles of Veda known as "Bramhasutras" & making them known to the world. According to the Puranas he poses supreme intelligence, strength to understand and analyze the "Bramhasutras". He is considered equal to the "Trimurtis" namely Shiva, Vishnu & Bramha. And that is why he is considered as the Guru of all. In fact the Guru Poornima, that we celebrate every year, is known as Vyasa Poornima. Even saints, sages and rishi-munis pay their respect to him on that day.

In some of the next articles we will try to get insight into Puranas.