Nārāyaṇīya: Nārada, Śveta-dvīpa and Nārāyaṇa

The Nārāyaṇīya is a part of the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata, in the Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 334–351. It sets out the Pāñcarātra teaching and the supremacy of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira what Nārada Maharshi received directly from Nārāyaṇa on Śveta-dvīpa (the White Island), after Nārada met the seven ṛshis called Citaraśikhaṇḍa.

The Nārāyaṇīya covers the origin of the Pāñcarātra, Śveta-dvīpa, Nārāyaṇa’s self-revelation to Nārada, the four vyūhas, the Sāttvata dharma, and four episodes inside it: Varāha and the piṇḍas, the Hayagrīva avatāra, the Sāttvata transmission chains, and the birth of Dvaipāyana. It ends with the dialogue of Brahmā and Rudra.

Frame and setting

Bhīshma tells this to Yudhishṭhira as part of the long teaching of dharma in the Śānti Parva. It comes after the Śuka-Nirvāṇa (Chapters 330–333) and the Śukotpatti (Chapters 323–325). Bhīshma has just told of the birth and moksha of Śuka Maharshi. He now turns to the great teaching that gives the setting for all that has gone before.

Inside the Nārāyaṇīya the main voice is Nārada’s. He visited Śveta-dvīpa, met Nārāyaṇa, and received the full teaching. Bhīshma passes Nārada’s account on to Yudhishṭhira.

The Pāñcarātra: origin and commission

The Citaraśikhaṇḍa ṛshis

The Nārāyaṇīya begins with the origin of the Pāñcarātra in an act of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa at the beginning of time. Seven great ṛshis, known together as the Citaraśikhaṇḍa ṛshis, were old devotees of Nārāyaṇa. They had lived on Śveta-dvīpa in unbroken bhakti (devotion) from time without beginning. The name is explained by their distinctive hairstyle or plume, citra-śikhā.

At Nārāyaṇa’s direction these seven composed and passed on the Pāñcarātra. The name means the doctrine of the five nights (pañca-rātra). It is the Sāttvata teaching on Nārāyaṇa’s nature, the four vyūhas, and the path of moksha through devotion and discrimination.

The chain of transmission

The Pāñcarātra passed from Nārāyaṇa through the Citaraśikhaṇḍa ṛshis into the world. This is one strand of the larger set of transmission chains that the Nārāyaṇīya gives in Chapter 348. Sacred knowledge flows from Nārāyaṇa through many streams: some through cosmic beings, some through the line of Sūrya, some through the lines of the ṛshis. Each stream suits those who receive it and its purpose.

Uparicaravasu and the Sāttvata dharma

In the early part of the Nārāyaṇīya the account of Uparicaravasu is given. He was a king and a great devotee of Nārāyaṇa. He received the teaching of the Sāttvata dharma, the practical form of the Pāñcarātra for those who live in the world. Uparicaravasu showed how a king and householder can follow the Pāñcarātra without leaving the world. (Chapter 335)

Śveta-dvīpa, the White Island

Nārada’s journey to Śveta-dvīpa is at the heart of the frame of the Nārāyaṇīya. The island lies to the north of the cosmic ocean. It is a realm of constant light, and only nitya-siddhas (eternally perfect beings) live there. They are devoted to Nārāyaṇa in their original nature. They are white (śveta) in appearance. Their whiteness is not of the body but of the spirit. It is the brightness of beings never touched by the tamas and rajas that darken ordinary jīvas (living beings).

The devotees of Śveta-dvīpa:

Have no senses in the ordinary way, and do not depend on the outer senses to know.
Have no smell of their own, yet their fragrance fills Śveta-dvīpa.
Are wholly absorbed in meditation on Nārāyaṇa. Their whole existence is this meditation and nothing else.
Live on nothing but light and the sound of Nārāyaṇa’s name.

Nārada reached Śveta-dvīpa after a long journey and tapas (austerity). Its brightness blinded him for a time, and he had to purify himself further before he could see it properly. When his eyes had adjusted, he saw the assembly of these first devotees and, last of all, Nārāyaṇa himself. (Chapter 336)

Nārāyaṇa shows himself to Nārada

At the heart of the Nārāyaṇīya, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa reveals himself fully to Nārada.

Nārāyaṇa as the first cause

Nārāyaṇa declares himself the ādikāraṇa (first cause), the one from whom the whole cosmos, including Brahmā and Śiva, comes forth. He is the nirguṇa absolute (beyond the guṇas). Through his śakti (power) he enters the field of the guṇas and brings about all that appears, while he himself is untouched by the guṇas. He is present in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara and in every manvantara after it. He commissions the cosmic agents, among them Apāntaratama (Vyāsa), for the work of each kalpa.

The Catur-Vyūha

Nārāyaṇa explains the Catur-Vyūha, the four forms:

Vāsudeva: the supreme nirguṇa form, the paramātman, and the twenty-fifth principle beyond all tattvas.
Saṅkarshaṇa: the jīva principle, the domain of all individual beings.
Pradyumna: the manas (mind), the cosmic creative mind.
Aniruddha: the ahaṃkāra, the sense of individual self.

These four vyūhas are both the order of creation, from Vāsudeva outward to Aniruddha, and the path of moksha, from Aniruddha inward to Vāsudeva. (Chapter 339)

The avatāras

Nārāyaṇa gives Nārada a full account of his avatāras, the descents by which he enters the world at certain times to restore dharma, protect the sādhus (good people) and destroy the wicked. The Nārāyaṇīya’s list of avatāras is among the earliest full lists in Sanskrit texts. The avatāras are not separate beings. Each is Nārāyaṇa himself, using his power for a particular need of the cosmos. (Chapter 339)

The devotees of Śveta-dvīpa

Nārāyaṇa describes the nitya-siddhas of Śveta-dvīpa in detail: their nature, their practice, and their relation to him. They are his eternal companions. Because of their original devotion they stand always in his presence. They show the final fruit of the Sāttvata-Pāñcarātra sādhana (practice). (Chapter 339)

The path of moksha through the four vyūhas

Chapters 344–345 state the order of moksha through the four vyūhas. The path goes from Aniruddha to Pradyumna to Saṅkarshaṇa to Vāsudeva. It matches the step-by-step loosening of what binds the jīva:

The practitioner first sees that ahaṃkāra (the level of Aniruddha) is not the self. Viveka (discrimination) begins here.
The manas (the level of Pradyumna) becomes still. The activity of saṃkalpa-vikalpa (wishing and doubting) stops.
The jīva identity is let go (the level of Saṅkarshaṇa). The practitioner no longer sees himself as an individual distinct from others.
The practitioner merges into Vāsudeva, the nirguṇa paramātman. Only the nirguṇa can enter here.

The Brahmā-Rudra Saṃvāda (Chapter 350) confirms this order.

Episodes inside the Nārāyaṇīya

Varāha and the piṇḍas (Chapter 345)

After lifting the earth, Bhagavān Varāha made three piṇḍas (rice balls offered to ancestors) from the mud on his tusks. This is the origin of piṇḍa-dāna (the offering of piṇḍas). Varāha declared himself to be all three ancestors: pitāmaha (grandfather), pitṛ (father’s line) and pitā (father). The episode places the rite for ancestors in the Varāha avatāra.

The Hayagrīva avatāra (Chapter 347)

This is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa’s form as Hayagrīva. Madhu and Kaiṭabha were born from drops of water on Brahmā’s lotus. They stole the four Vedas. Brahmā sang a stotra (hymn of praise). Hayagrīva went down into rasātala, singing the Sāmaveda. He recovered the Vedas and killed both asuras. This episode shows Nārāyaṇa as the first protector of the Veda.

The Sāttvata dharma transmission chains (Chapter 348)

Chapter 348 tells of seven transmission chains through which the Sāttvata dharma passed from Nārāyaṇa into the world across the manvantaras. The seventh, which comes through Brahmā’s birth from the lotus, runs: Brahmā, Daksha, the son of Aditi who was born before Sūrya, Sūrya, Manu, Ikshvāku.

The birth of Dvaipāyana (Chapter 349)

This is the account of Apāntaratama. At Nārāyaṇa’s call, at the start of the seventh kalpa, he was born of Sarasvatī. He was commissioned to arrange the Vedas in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara. It was foretold that he would return as Kṛshṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa, through this line: Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, Vasishṭha, Śakti, Parāśara, Vyāsa. Vyāsa tells the story of his own birth to his disciples.

The Brahmā-Rudra Saṃvāda

The Brahmā-Rudra Saṃvāda (Chapter 350) is the end of the Nārāyaṇīya. On the Vaijayasta mountain in the Kshīra-sāgara (the Milk Ocean), Brahmā meditates every day on the nirguṇa Virāṭ Purusha. Mahādeva (Bhagavān Śiva) comes, bows, and asks whom Brahmā meditates on. Brahmā describes the paramātman and the four vyūhas. He says that only the nirguṇa can enter Vāsudeva. The two highest cosmic powers below Nārāyaṇa speak to each other in private, not as teaching for human hearers. Their dialogue is the Nārāyaṇīya’s clearest statement of the way of moksha through the vyūhas.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 334–351
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 323–325 (Śukotpatti) and 330–333 (Śuka-Nirvāṇa), named as the setting
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 335 (Uparicaravasu), Chapter 336 (Śveta-dvīpa), Chapter 339 (Nārāyaṇa’s self-revelation), Chapters 344–345 (the path through the vyūhas), Chapter 345 (Varāha and the piṇḍas), Chapter 347 (Hayagrīva), Chapter 348 (transmission chains), Chapter 349 (Dvaipāyana), Chapter 350 (Brahmā-Rudra Saṃvāda)