The Fateful Evening...Arjun Draupadi OS Thread.3 - Page 27

Arjuna the direct manifestation of Narayana

How the world was created from Supreme Bramhan - the eternal soul of the universe - The supreme God -

When this universe was without brightness and without light and everything was enveloped in darkness on all sides, the great egg came into being. This was the inexhaustible seed of all creatures and was created at the beginning of all the eras. It is said that in this divine cause existed the eternal brahman,14 true and resplendentwonderful and beyond imagination and perfectly balanced everywhere. This was the subtle un-manifested cause. It was that which exists and that which does not. From this was born the one and only Lord Prajapati, known as Brahma, the preceptor of the gods. He is also known as Sthanu, Manu, Ka and Parameshthin. From him was born Daksha, the son of Prachetas, and Daksha's seven sons, and the twenty-one prajapatis. Him whom all the sages know as the being who cannot be fathomed was also born, as were the vishvadevas, the adityas, the vasus and the ashvins. Yakshas, saddhyas,15 pishachas, guhyakas and the pitris were born and after that were born the learned, holy and superior brahmarshis.

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (p. 4). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here - From The eternal Bramhan or soul Bramha was created, From Bramha Daksha, Prajapatis and Adityas were born.

Who are Adityas -( Section Seven Sambhava Parva ) - Aditi was daughter of Daksha. Sons of Aditi were called as Aditya. That's why Aditi was the mother goddess.

Vaishampayana said, Through the powers of his mind, Brahma had six sons3Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha and Kratu. Marichi's son was Kashyapa and all beings were born from Kashyapa. Daksha had thirteen daughters who were illustrious. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Daksha's daughters4 were Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kala, Anayu, Simhika, Muni, Krodha, Prava, Arishta, Vinata, Kapila and Kadru. The sons and grandsons of these daughters were immensely powerful and infinite in number.O descendant of the Bharata lineage! From Aditi were born the twelve adityas, the rulers of the worlds. I shall now mention their names to youDhata, Mitra, Aryamana, Shakra, Varuna, Amsha, Bhaga, Vivasvana and Pusha. In the tenth place was Savita, the eleventh was Tvashta and the twelfth was Vishnu. However, the youngest surpassed all the other adityas in qualities.

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (p. 167). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Vishnu was the best among all Adityas and a son of Aditi.

There is another list of Adityas was told during the birth of Arjuna -

The adityas, radiant like the flames of fire, were assembled in the sky to increase the glory of the great PandavaDhata, Aryama, Mitra, Varuna, Amsha, Bhaga, Indra, Vivasvat, Pusha, Tvashta, Parjanya and Vishnu. O lord of the earth.

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (p. 313). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here is Vishnu and Surya (Vivasvana / Vivasvat) both are Adityas.

According to Harivamsha Critical edition -

The illustrious Vishnu Svayambhu12 wished to create different kinds of beings. He first created water and then released his energy into it. We have earlier heard that water is known by the name of Nara. Since he lay down on it earlier, he is known by the name of Narayana. 13 While he lay down on the water, a golden egg was generated and Svayambhu Brahma was himself born from this.

Ref- Debroy, Bibek. Harivamsha (Kindle Locations 289-293). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

It does refer that Vishnu created water (Nara) and since he lay down on it he is known by the name of Narayana.

• But here Vishnu can't be the Vishnu the Aditya as it says Narayana was already existed when Bramha was created.
• Can an Aditya exists even before Bramha himself took birth? No.
• So Narayana / Vishnu both refers to the eternal soul or Supreme God of Universe as well.

Here it was clearly mentioned that Lord Narayana is indeed referring to the eternal soul of universe and not any adityas.

It is said that when one thousand yugas have been completed, a kalpa is over. All the creatures are then burnt down by the rays of the sun. O lord! Placing Brahma at the forefront, the large number of Adityas merge into the lord Hari Narayana, the best of the gods. At the end of a kalpa, he is the one who repeatedly creates all beings. He is the eternal and unmanifest god. This entire universe belongs to him. O best among the Bharata lineage! O immensely radiant one! It is the time of Vaivasvata Manu now and the time for creation has presented itself. I will speak to you about the ancient Vrishni lineage. The lord and great-souled Hari was born there, in the Vrishni lineage.'

Ref - Debroy, Bibek. Harivamsha (Kindle Locations 730-733). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Vaikuntha was the abode of Lord Narayana.

• No where it was mentioned that Adityas were used to stay at Vaikuntha.
• Vishnu among the Adityas was one of the manifestation of Narayana - the other name of Supreme Bramhan - the eternal soul.

It was mentioned where the goddess earth requests the Gods to release the burden of earth and all Gods goes to Narayana's abode to seek his help ( Section Six Adi-vamshavatarana Parva) -

Impatient to go to earth and be born there in their respective parts, they went to Vaikuntha, to Narayana, the wielder of the chakra and the gada,83 he who is dressed in yellow, he who is radiant white, he who destroys the enemies of the gods, he who has the lotus on his navel and he whose eyes are soft, wide and sloped downwards. For the purification of the earth, Indra told the supreme of beings, Please incarnate yourself.' Hari84 replied that thus it would be.'

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (pp. 162-164). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

What Supreme Bramhan (Soul or atma) or the eternal soul or Supreme God told to Arjuna about his manifestations during the conversation of Gita - (Section Sixty-Three Bhagavad Gita Parva).

By the way Gita message was not given by Vishnu the Aditya, It was given by the eternal soul of Universe, the supreme God.

"The lord said, O foremost among the Kuru lineage! All right. I will tell you about my main divine manifestations. Because there is no end to the detail of my powers. 372 O Gudakesha! I am the atman established in the heart of all beings. It is I who am the origin, the middle and also the end of all beings. 373 I am Vishnu among the adityas. 374 I am the radiant sun among the shining bodies. I am Marichi among the maruts. 375 I am the moon among the stars. 376 I am the Sama Veda among the Vedas. 377 Among the gods, I am Vasava. I am the mind among the senses. And in beings, I am the consciousness. I am Shankara among the rudras. 378 I am Kubera among the yakshas and the rakshas. 379 I am fire among the vasus. 380 I am Meru. 381 O Partha! Know me to be Brihaspati, 382 foremost among the priests. Among generals, I am Skanda. 383 Among waterbodies, I am the ocean. Among great sages, I am Bhrigu. 384 Among words, I am the single syllable. 385 Among yajnas, I am japa yajna. 386 Among immovable objects, I am the Himalayas. Among all trees, I am the fig tree. 387 And among divine sages, I am Narada. Among gandharvas I am Chitraratha. 388 And among those who have attained liberation, I am the sage Kapila. 389 Among horses, know me to be Ucchaishrava, arising from the immortal nectar. 390 Among great elephants Airavata and among men, the king. Among weapons I am vajra. 391 Among cows I become kamadhenu. 392 I become Kandarpa for procreation. 393 And among snakes I am Vasuki. 394 Among serpents I am Ananta. Among those who inhabit the water, I am Varuna. 395 Among the ancestors I am Aryama. 396 Among those who control, 397 I am Yama. Among demons I am Prahlada. Among those wh devour, 399 I am time. And I am the lion 400 among animals. Among birds, I am the son of Vinata. 401 Among those that purify, I am the wind. Among those who bear weapons, I am Rama. Among fish, I am the shark. 402 And among rivers, I am Jahnavi. 403 O Arjuna! I alone am the beginning, the end and the middle of all created objects. Among all forms of knowledge, I am knowledge of the self. Among debaters, vada. 404 Among letters, I am the letter A'. Among different forms of samasa, I am dvanda. 405 Indeed I am indestructible time. My face is in every direction. I am the controller of destiny. I am death that robs everything. And I am the origin of the future. Among women, I am fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intellect, fortitude and forgiveness. In the Sama Veda, I am brihat sama. 406 Among metres, I am gayatri. Among months, I am Margashirsha. 407 Among seasons, I am kusumakara. 408 I am gambling among those who wish to cheat. 409 I am energy in the energetic. I am victory, perseverance, I am the sattva quality in the righteous. I am Vasudeva among the Vrishnis. I am Dhananjaya among those of the Pandu clan. I am Vyasa among the sages. Among the wise, I am the wise Ushanasa. 410 I am danda among those who rule. 411 I am strategy for those who wish to win. Among secret subjects, I am silence. I am knowledge among the wise. O Arjuna! Whatever is the seed of origin of every being, that is me alone. There is nothing moveable or immovable that can come into being without me. O scorcher of foes! There is no end to my divine glory.

Ref - Bibek Debroy (Tr.). The Mahabharata: Volume 5 (Kindle Locations 2812-2831). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here is - Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva, Arjuna, Vyas all were direct manifestation of Supreme Bramhana the eternal soul.

• Vishnu is one of the manifestation of Supreme eternal soul among the Aditya.
• But that doesn't means Vishnu = Eternal Soul or supreme God.

Now lets find the connection between Lord Narayana and Arjuna -

Vyas told a story to King Drupada to convince him to get Draupadi married to five Pandavas -

Actually there were four former Indras who were cursed. Lord Shiva cursed the present Indra as well and asked them to born in the world of men -

"Shuddering at the god's sudden words, he40 joined his palms and told the terrible god who has many manifestations, O Bhava!41 Show me a way out today.' Smilingly, the god with the terrible bow replied, Those who act like this, do not find an escape. These others were like you and will become again. Therefore, enter the cavern and lie down there. There is no doubt that all your fates will be the same. All of you will have to be born in human wombs. Having achieved great feats of violence there and having sent a large number towards their deaths, you will again attain the world of Indra through the merit of your actions. You will achieve all that I have said and much more, with varied significance.' The earlier Indras said, We will go from the world of gods to that of men. Salvation is difficult to obtain there. Let the gods Dharma, Vayu, Maghavan and the Ashvins beget us on our mother.' Having heard this, the wielder of the vajra once again spoke to the greatest of the gods,43 With my semen, I will create a man who can accomplish this task. He will be my son and will be the fifth among these.' In his good nature, the illustrious lord with the terrible bow granted them the wishes they desired.

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (pp. 467-468). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point - The four former Indra took birth as four Pandavas. The fifth Indra (Present Indra - Maghavan/ Shakra) didn't took birth and told he would create a son through his semen who would become fifth and accomplish the task.

Those ones who were like Shakra and were earlier confined in the mountain cavern are none other than the valorous Pandavas, while the Pandava Savyasachi is a part of Shakra. O king! Thus it was that the former Indras were born as the Pandavas, and the celestial Lakshmi, earlier ordained to be their wife, was born as the divinely beautiful Droupadi.

Ref - Translated by Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 1 (p. 468). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point - Many gets confuses where Arjuna was Indra or Nara. To explain that I have added the above text. Arjuna was a part of Shakra biologically since he was born through the semen of Indra. But Nara was his soul as he was sage Nara in earlier birth.

Indra himself told the following words to Sage Lomhasa when the famous sage saw Dhanajaya in heaven with Indra during his training of weapons in heaven-

O Maharshi! This mighty-armed one is my son, born from Kunti. He has come here for a specific reason, to obtain weapons. You have not recognized him as that ancient and supreme rishi. O brahmana! Listen to me. I will tell you who he is and his purpose. Know that those two supreme and ancient rishis, Nara and Narayana, are none other than Dhananjaya and Hrishikesha. O brahmana! The sacred and famous hermitage named Badari,35 which cannot be seen even by the gods and the great-souled rishis, was the place where Vishnu and Jishnu dwelt.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 6250-6254). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Same thing was told by Lord Shiva to Arjuna -

The illustrious god said, "You were Nara in an earlier body, the companion of Narayana. You spent many ayuta285 years in fearful austerities in Badari.286 There is supreme energy in you, like that in Vishnu, supreme among men. The universe is held up through the energy of the two of you, foremost among men. O lord! At the time of Shakra's consecration, you and Krishna oppressed the danavas and you took up the great bow that thunders like clouds.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 6039-6043). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

This is what Krishna said to Arjuna when they were in forest exile - (Section Thirty-One KAIRATA PARVA)

Janardana then spoke to Partha, "You are mine and I am yours. All that is mine is yours too. He who hates you also hates me. He who follows you also follows me. O invincible one! You are Nara and I am Hari Narayana. We are the rishis Nara and Narayana, born from that world in this world. O Partha! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! You are no other than I. I am no other than you. O bull among the Bharata lineage! No one can know any difference that exists between us.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 4843-4846). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here is - They were Sage Narayana and Nara.

To understand the connection between Supreme Bramhan (the supreme God/ Lord Narayana) and Sage Narayana and then Krishna later - You need to see the explanation Vyas gave to Aswathamma after the failure of his Agneyastra - (Section Seventy-Two Narayana Astra Moksha Parva)

"Vyasa replied, You have asked me a question in wonder and the answer is extremely deep. I will tell you everything. Listen with an attentive mind. The one who is known as Narayana is older than the ancient ones. To accomplish the objective of the universe, he was born as Dharma's son.84 Stationing himself on Mount Mainaka, he performed severe austerities.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 6 (p. 500). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here is - Narayana is nothing but the supreme Bramhan - the older than the ancient one as explained in the first paragraph. He took birth as son of Dharma and even there also he had the same name as Narayana - Sage Narayana. He then prayed to Lord Shiva for many years and Shiva granted him boon -

Nilakantha said, "O Naryana! Through my favours, your strength and soul will be immeasurable, among men, gods and gandharvas. Gods, asuras, giant serpents, pishachas, gandharvas, men, rakshasas, birds, snakes and other beings born in this universe will not be able to withstand you. The gods will not be able to defeat you in a battle. Through my favours, no one will ever be able to cause you injury through weapons, the vajra, fire, wind, an object that is wet or dry, or an object that is mobile or immobile. Even if you advance in battle against me, you will be superior. In ancient times, these were the boons that were obtained by Shouri. It is that god who is roaming around now,100 confounding the earth with his maya. It is through his austerities that the great sage named Nara was born. He is equal to that god and always know him to be Arjuna. Those two supreme rishis are said to be older than the gods. To accomplish the objectives of the world, they are born from one yuga to another.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 6 (p. 503). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

As per Sage Kanva - Bramha, The sage Nara and Narayana and only Vishnu among Adityas are eternal and without any decay. Others were subject to death-

Vaishampayana said, Having heard the words of Jamadagni's son, the illustrious rishi Kanva addressed these words to Duryodhana, in the midst of the assembly of the Kurus. "Brahma, the grandfather of the world, is eternal and without decay. The illustrious rishis Nara and Narayana are like that. Among all the Adityas, Vishnu alone is eternal, without birth, without end and the eternal lord and god. The othersthe moon, the sun, the earth, the water, the wind, the fire, the sky, the planet and the starsare subject to death. When there is the final dissolution of the universe, all of them give up the three worlds and are created again and again. There are others who die in an instantmen, animals, birds and those which are born in inferior species,84 inhabiting the world of the living.

Ref - Bibek Debroy. The Mahabharata: Volume 4 (p. 416). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

According to Vyas, Karna was the half part of (Vivasvana / Vivasvat / Surya) who was one of the Aditya.

Know that Bhimasena, the powerful scorcher of enemies, came from the Maruts and Partha Dhananjaya was the rishi Nara. Hrishikesha was Narayana and the twins are the Ashvins. O beautiful one! Know that Aditya, supreme among those who heat, divided himself into two parts, one for heating the worlds and the other as Karna.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 10 (Kindle Locations 10007-10010). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

What Yudisthira Saw in Heaven - (Section Ninety-Five Svargarohana Parva) -

Vaishampayana said, King Yudhishthira was praised by the gods, the rishis and the Maruts and went to where the bulls among the Kurus were. He saw Govinda, in his form of the brahman. This had not been seen earlier and nothing like this had been recognized before. He blazed in his own form and celestial weapons presented themselves, in personified forms. There was the celestial chakra and other terrible weapons, all in embodied forms. He was being worshipped by the brave Phalguna, also in an extremely radiant form. Karna, supreme among the wielders of weapons, was in a different spot. The descendant of the Kuru lineage saw him with the twelve Adityas. In yet another place, the lord saw Bhima with a handsome body, surrounded by a large number of Maruts.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 10 (Kindle Locations 10884-10890). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Further it was told -

Soma16 had a powerful and immensely energetic son named Varcha. He was born as Phalguna's son, Abhimanyu, lion among men. He followed the dharma of kshatriyas and fought the way no man ever has. On the completion of his deeds, the maharatha, with dharma in his soul, entered Soma. O bull among men! Karna entered his father, the sun.

Ref - The Mahabharata: Volume 10 (Kindle Locations 10922-10924). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Point here is - Karna was among Adityas as he was the half part of sun and after death he got merged into Sun.

• Supreme Bramhan or the eternal soul or Lord Narayana's abode is known as Vaikuntha.
• Arjuna was with Krishna who in the form of Supreme Bramhan / Lord Narayana.
• The abode of Supreme Bramhan / Lord Narayana is the highest place one can attain and Only Arjuna attained that and none else.
• It was only Arjuna who attained the highest place along with Krishna.
• It also makes clear that abode of Adityas and Supreme Bramhan's abode was not same.
• As Yudisthira clearly stated they were seen in different place