Sri Sathyanarayan Vrat Katha
Dr Roshan Singh – Jyotishacharya Shastri Pundit
The Satyanarayan Katha was narrated by Shounaka Rishi to 88,000 rishis in the forest of Naimisharanyna. The “Satyanarayan Vrat Katha” that is heard in Hindu homes are stories of various individuals who heard the actual Satyanarayan vrat katha and by so doing achieved liberation and returned to the kingdom of the Lord.
The katha that is conducted in most Hindu homes is narrated to inspire everyone to listen to the actual katha that was narrated by Shounaka Rishi which is a composition of 18 000 verses known as the Srimad Bhagavatam which is known as the ripened fruit of the Vedas an is regarded as the Lord Himself for the people of the age of Kaliyuga.
We are advised to read the Bhagavatam from the beginning and progress gradually to the Tenth Canto, Krishna’s lovely face.
A brief outline of the twelve cantos of the Bhagavatam, which represent the bodily limbs of Lord Krishna and present ten transcendental topics.
Of all the sacred Vaishnava scriptures, Srimad-Bhagavatam is considered the topmost. Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu hailed the Bhagavatam as the spotless authority (pramanam amalam) amongst the Vedic literatures. Srila Rupa Goswami, in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, declared that hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam is one of the five most potent forms of bhakti-yoga. Srila Prabhupada regarded Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the sound representation of Lord Krishna, as the postgraduate study of the science of Godhead.
Srimad-Bhagavatam was compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of Godhead, in the maturity of his knowledge. The Bhagavatam gave complete satisfaction to its author, who was not satisfied with his earlier works, including various other Puranas and the Mahabharata. All the Vedic scriptures together are compared to a desire-fulfilling tree, and Srimad-Bhagavatam is the ripened fruit of that tree, the essence of all scriptures (akhila-shruti-saram).
The Bhagavatam’s Cantos Are Krishna’s Limbs
Srimad-Bhagavatam is nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna. It is the granthavatara, or book incarnation of Lord Krishna, narrating the pastimes of His various avatars. After His time on earth, Krishna returned in the form of this book to shed light on the misdirected civilization of Kali-yuga.
Srimad-Bhagavatam’s twelve cantos represent the limbs of Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental body, according to the following verses of the Padma Purana.
पादौ यदिउ प्रथम-द्वितीयौ
तृतीया-तुर्यौ कथितौ यद-उरु
नाभिस तथा पंचम एव षष्ठो
भुजन्तरं दोर्-युगलं तथन्यौ
कण्ठस तु राजन नवमो यादियो
मुखारविंदं दशमहं प्रफुल्लम्
एकादशो यस्य ललता-पट्टम्
शिरोऽपि तु द्वादश एव भाति
तम आदिदेवम् करुणा-निधानम्
तमाला-वर्णं सुहितावतरम्
अपरा-संसार-समुद्र-सेतुम्
भजमहे भगवत-स्वरूपम्
padau yadiyau prathama-dvitiyau
tritiya-turyau kathitau yad-uru
nabhis tatha panchama eva shashtho
bhujantaram dor-yugalam tathanyau
kanthas tu rajan navamo yadiyo
mukharavindam dashamah praphullam
ekadasho yasya lalata-pattam
shiro’pi tu dvadasha eva bhati
tam adidevam karuna-nidhanam
tamala-varnam suhitavataram
apara-samsara-samudra-setum
bhajamahe bhagavata-svarupam
“The First and Second Cantos of the Bhagavatam are Sri Krishna’s lotus feet. The Third and Fourth Cantos are His thighs. The Fifth Canto is His navel. The Sixth Canto is His chest. The Seventh and Eighth Cantos are His arms. The Ninth Canto is His throat. The Tenth Canto is His beautiful lotus face. The Eleventh Canto is His forehead. The Twelfth Canto is His head. I bow down to that Lord, the ocean of mercy whose color is like that of a tamala tree and who appears in this world for the welfare of all. I worship Him as the bridge for crossing the unfathomable ocean of material existence.
The Bhagavatam has appeared as His very Self.
To view the deity of Krishna in the temple, we are advised to begin at His lotus feet and gradually rise to His lotus face. Similarly, because the Bhagavatam is nondifferent from Lord Krishna, one should study it step by step from the first canto to the last. Srila Prabhupada emphasizes, “The only qualification one needs to study this great book of transcendental knowledge is to proceed step by step cautiously and not jump forward haphazardly as with an ordinary book. It should be gone through chapter by chapter, one after another.”
Maharishi Sootha continued addressing the assembled rishis, Oh Rishis, I will tell you about people who performed the Satyanarayana katha in the past :
Sadananda Brahman – took birth as Sudama in his next life and was the dearest friend of Krishna, was liberated and returned back to the kingdom of the Lord.
Bheel the woodcutter – took the birth as Nishad the boatman who crossed Bhagavan Sri Ram over the ganga river and the Lord crossed him back to his kingdom.
Tungaddwaj the great charitable king – took birth Swayambhu Manu and returned back home back to Godhead.
Sadhu Moradwaj the king – took birth as a Nain Krishna Maharaj and returned back to the kingdom of the Lord.
The very charitable Ulkamukha – took birth as Raja Dashratha the father of Bhagawan Sri Ram and returned to His kingdom.
Each one of these great personalities listened to the Srimad Bhagavatam, took birth one again on the earth, received the divine presence of the Lord and never returned to this material world of suffering again.