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bathing the child Krishna .]] The Bhagavata Purana (also known as '''''Śrīmad Bhāgavatam''''', or simply '''''Bhāgavatam''''') is one of the ''s of Krishna or Vishnu. The most famous section is the 10th Canto, which deals in detail with the story of Krishna 's appearance and pastimes in Vrindavan . SIGNIFICANCE sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ hi śrī-bhāgavatam īṣyate tad-rasāmṛta-tṛptasya nānyatra syād ratiḥ kvacit "Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is accepted as the essence of all Vedic literature and Vedantic philosophy. Whoever tastes the transcendental mellow of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is never attracted to any other literature."1 Bhagavata Purana is considered a natural commentary on the Vedanta -sutra and is used as a textual source for Vaishnava Theology , Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology . It is the most celebrated of the ''Puranas.''''A Sanskrit-English Dictionary.'' Sir Monier Monier-Williams. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1899. Page 752, column 3, under the entry ''Bhagavata.'' ORIGIN Historical scholarship suggests that the text was written in the written at the beginning of Kali Yuga (about c. 3100 BCE ).2 Some argue that the Purana's mention of the Vedic Sarasvati River as a great river (maha-nadi) is evidence of the Purana's traditional date,3 since the river dried up about 2000 BCE. Interdisciplinary and intertextual studies Horacio Francisco Arganis Juarez. ''Dating Srimad Bhagavatam.'' http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/sb.htm#3 are appearing which try to confirm the ancient status of this Purana. CONTENTS Introduction The Bhagavata Purana is a narration of a conversation. King Parikshit (Grandson of Arjuna - Pandavas ), who has been cursed to die in seven days by a Brahmin , decides to give up his kingly duties to learn about the goal of life. As he prepares for his impending death, the saint Śukadeva Gosvāmī , who has been searching for a suitable disciple to whom he might impart his great knowledge, approaches the king and agrees to teach him. Their conversation goes on uninterrupted for seven days, during which the king does not eat, drink or sleep. During this time the saint explains that one's goal in life is understanding the supreme absolute truth defined as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna.4 Scientific Content The Srimad Bhagavatam speaks to several topics that have in modern times been topics of scientific speculation and research. The Third Canto (Chapter 11) offers calculations of time, pegging the briefest unit to the interval needed for atomic combinations, the longest to the entire duration of the universe. Bhag-P 3.11 An example of time dilation (a topic in modern physics) appears in the Ninth Canto, wherein King Kakudmi travels to Brahmaloka to meet the god Brahma. After spending a short time in Brahmaloka the king discovers that during his short stay many thousands of years have passed on earth and all the people he once knew have died long ago. Bhag-P, 9.3.32 (see texts 29-32) The Third Canto describes in some detail the development of the embryo in the womb, starting from the time of conception. Incarnations of Vishnu See Also: Avatar Avatar ]] The Bhagavata Puran first addresses the Supreme Personality of Godhead in all of His glory: His eyes are the generating centers of all kinds of forms, and they glitter and illuminate. His eyeballs are like the sun and the heavenly planets. His ears hear from all sides and are receptacles for all the Vedas, and His sense of hearing is the generating center of the sky and of all kinds of sound. The Bhāgavatam describes the various Līlā s of twenty-five Avatāra s (incarnations) of Vishnu ." Srimad-Bhagavatam " by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Krishna The Bhagavata Purana describes Krishna 's childhood pastimes as that of a much-loved child raised by cowherds in Vrindavan , near to the Yamuna River . The young Krishna enjoys numerous pleasures, such as thieving balls of butter or playing in the forest with his cowherd friends. He also endures episodes of carefree bravery protecting the town from demons. More importantly, however, he steals the hearts of the cowherd girls ( Gopi s). Through his magical ways, he multiplies himself to give each the attention needed to allow her to be so much in love with Krishna that she feels at one with him and only desires to serve him. This love, represented by the grief they feel when Krishna is called away on a heroic mission and their intense longing for him, is presented as models of the way of extreme devotion ( Bhakti ) to the Supreme Lord. TRANSLATIONS
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