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The highest of the Pitris can give only germinal Manas. When the Pitris give to the combination, all that they could give, their work is over, for this Kalpa. Then come the Kumaric souls, the Puranjanas from the Manasa Laka (P. 89). They find the abode ready made and leaving their friend and companion they enter their chosen abodes. There are nine gate ways in that abode, and every enjoyment reaches Puranjana through those gate ways. He becomes mad in the pursuit of enjoyments. He forgets himself. He forgets his friend the eternal companion of Jiva. He identifies himself with the abode. He thinks that he is inseparable from that abode. So he goes on and on hopelessly in his course of riotous joy and the Friend whom he forgets gives him rebuff for every joy that he meets. The rebuffs at last make him a little attentive. The friend then speaks through the Vedas, the Smritis through sages and at last He comes down Himself as an Avatara. The Eternal Friend first allows Puranjana to run on in the midst of enjoyments, just as he likes. If he goes beyond the limits of tem- perance and moderation he gets some unpleasant experience. If he does something wrong, he feels the painful consequence. The sting of pain makes Puranjana ponder over what he does. He registers the pleasurable and painful experiences and reasons about the causes and effects. He tries to know what is right and what is wrong. With the power of discrimination in its infancy, with the "enjoy- 462 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana ment" nature or the self-seeking Asuric element too strong in him, Puranjana, the Kumaric soul, is helpless. He is drifted away, though sometimes much against his will. The Friend comes to the rescue. The Devas and Asuras combine and with their joint efforts, the ocean of Milk is churned, and the Goddess of Evolution, the Energy of Vishnu, makes Her divine ap- pearance in our universe. The Devas become more than a match for the Asuras. The Vaivasvata Manvantara steps in, the Manvantara teeming with the fate of man and of the universe. Ishvara, the eter- nal friend of Puranjana, is most busy in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. Every effort is made to raise humanity to a higher level and to open out all the possibilities of man. First, the enjoyments of Svarga are held out before the rising vi- sion of men as an allurement. Man admires those enjoyments and makes every effort to attain them. The Vedic sacrifice is revealed to Pururavas, who becomes mad after Urvasi, the nymph of Svarga. Later on, the heavenly cow, Surabhi, attracts Visvamitra. And he be- comes the chief actor in the promulgation of Vedic sacrifice. In the firmness of resolve, in the bold and determined pursuit of objects, and in the intolerance of inferiority, Visvamitra stands prominently out as an example to humanity, for all ages to come and it is meet and proper that in the next Manvantara, he will act as one of the seven sages guiding the affairs of the universe. The Karma Kanda of the Vedas is a monument of Visvamitara’s gigantic efforts for the good of humanity. Ishvara made revelations. He prompted the sages. If the Karma Kanda holds out the allurements of Svarga life, it lays down rules and restrictions at the same time, that regulate life and beget temperance and moderation. Meritorious acts are enjoined and acts that retard evolution are prohibited. Men do what is good and avoid what is evil, that they may attain heavenly things. They do what is right and shun what is wrong, not because that is the Law, the divine will, but because it gives them some reward. All the same, the mind is trained, the man curbed and regulated. The bitter pill is taken and if the child thinks that it is for the sweetmeat he is only mistaken. When the child grows he knows, that he takes the bitter pill as it is the law of nature that he should do so. Do what is right, Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 463 because that is the law. Shun what is wrong, because it is against the law. We are all carried forward by the law, and we must willingly give ourselves up to that law. When we do that, we partake ourselves of divine life. The ground had to be prepared for further teachings. Events in Svarga foreshadow and forestall events that are to tran- spire on the earth. The Devas and Asuras by their mutual fight in Svarga bring about a state of things which casts its shadow on the earth below. Two great events happened in Svarga the killing of Vritra, and the deposition of Bali. Vritra, though an Asura was a votary of Sankarshana, the Shankara aspect of Vishnu. Vritra was great in all respects and his wisdom extracted the admiration of Indra. But he represented the idea of personal self in Jiva, which is so strong-rooted, and which is the hardest thing to over come. Vritra was killed by a weapon, which is no other than the most willing and ready sacrifice of personal self by Dadhichi. Bali, the Asura king, ungrudgingly gave all that he had to Va- mana. The Asura had become so great both in intellect and in spiri- tuality, that there was no question of killing him or of his being over- powered by the Devas. The Asuras and Devas both combined to make Svarga, the store-house of spiritual life. The Asuras by their willing surrender permitted the Devas to have entire hold of Svarga. By this sacrifice, they established their indisputable right to Svarga, in the broad dispensation of providence and in the succeeding Manvantara, Bali is to become the Indra of the Devas. Vamana was the same as Lord Sri Krishna on our earth. If diplo- macy had succeeded so easily below as above, if the Asura chiefs on earth had behaved as splendidly as Bali in Svarga, the horrors and heartrending scenes of Kurukshetra could have been avoided. The same result was however brought about in Svarga as it was subse- quently brought about on the Earth. The actor was the same, the diplomacy was the same, only the result of diplomacy was different on the different planes. The deposition of Bali was bloodless while the deposition of Duryodhana was a bloody one. Coming down to Earth let us see how events in Svarga were fol- lowed up on the terrestrial plane. 464 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana Two great human Avataras came, one the ideal and the other the apostle of unselfishness. But we must take a running survey of the Avataras as a whole. Vishnu appeared on Earth Himself, through His direct manifes- tations called Avataras. Ten of them have been specially picked out as Great Avataras, though no specification has been made in the Bha- gavata Purana. There were three great Asuric movements in this Kalpa, caused by the three successive incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya. And these gave our four great Avataras. Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha, Hiranyakasipu was killed by Nrisinha. Ravana and Kumbhakarna were killed by Rama. Sisupala and Dantavakra were killed by Sri Krishna. Karma was a great Avatara as He prepared the way for the spiritual regeneration of the universe, by the Churning of the ocean of Milk. Vamana was a great Avatara as He reclaimed the Triloki from the Asuras. Parasurama and Buddha did work, which revolutionised the whole humanity. Kalki will give the final blow to the Asuric element in us. Matsya is important with reference to our own Manvantara. Ev- ery Manvantara is followed by a deluge, which destroys the existing continents and swallows up all living beings. When the last Manvan- tara was over, our Manu saved the germs of creation with the help of Matsya. Opinion is divided as to whether there is Pralaya after ev- ery Manvantara. The Bhagavata Purana says when there was deluge (sanplava) following the Chakshusha Manvantara, Vishnu assumed the form of Matsya. Commenting on this, Sridhara says there is no Pralaya at the end of a Manvantara. There may not be such a Pralaya at the end of a Manvantara as happens at the end of a Kalpa. But other Puranas speak of some sort of Pralaya on the expiry of every Manvantara. Sdirya Siddhanta, the renowned work on Astronomy, also says:—"There is a period called Sandhi (the meet between two Manvantaras) measured by the period of one Satya Yuga, followed by another Manvantara. There is deluge by water then." The Avataras of Vishnu infuse more and more of Satva into men, that they may become Satvika. Increasing Satva put down Rajas and Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 465 Tamas in man and makes him divine. But of all these Avataras two stand out most prominently one the ideal and the other the apostle of unselfishness. The brightest lumi- nary of the solar line held out in His life, an example of unselfishness, of purity of character and of scrupulous regard to duty, an example that is the admiration of all people in all ages, as perfect as the limits of humanity will allow and as elevated as the loftiest ideal of human character may be, unsurpassed in its pathetic grandeur, unrivalled in the straight forward pursuit of duty along a most thorny and uneven path. The divine founder of Dvaraka of the Lunar line asserted Him- self as the supreme Ishvara, He took up the reins of Triloki in His own hands, the Devas installed Him as the king of Svarga or Govinda, and men on earth had now to look up to Him only and not to the Devas for their guidance. For men had now to pass the limits of Triloki, and the friend of Puranjana came down Himself to hold out the torch of divine light. Sri Krishna laid down the triple path of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana, and shewed the relative importance of each. His teachings are perfect, thorough and exhaustive.