Bopadeva
Bopadeva · bopa-deva, “Bopadeva of Totādri”
Bopadeva is a brāhmaṇa of Totādri, a bhakta of Kṛshṇa and master of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that he worshipped Janārdana at Vṛndāvana for a year and received excellent jñāna from Bhagavān Śrī Hari. By that jñāna the Bhāgavatī Kathā arose in his heart, and he told it anew as the Hari-līlāmṛta. Offered a vara, he asked for the māhātmya (glory) of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata, and Bhagavān Vishṇu told it to him and sent him to King Gandharvasena on the Narmadā. Sūta tells this to Śaunaka.
The Hari-līlāmṛta
On Totādri lived a brāhmaṇa named Bopadeva. He went to the tīrtha of Vṛndāvana, hallowed by the gopas and gopīs, and worshipped Janārdana, Deva of devas. After one year Bhagavān Śrī Hari, pleased, gave him most excellent jñāna.
By that jñāna the Bhāgavatī Kathā arose in his heart: the eternal kathā, of the form of moksha, that Śrī Śukadeva told to the wise King Parīkshit. Bopadeva told it anew under the name Hari-līlāmṛta.
The vara
When the kathā was finished, Janārdana, Bhagavān Vishṇu, appeared and said: “Mahāmati, ask a vara.”
Bopadeva, in very loving words, said: “Bhagavān Vishṇu, namaskāra to you. You show favour to all the world. From you devas, men, beasts and birds were all made. Even beings afflicted by naraka are fulfilled in this Kali Yuga by your name alone. You have already given me the knowledge of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata composed by Maharshi Vedavyāsa. If you wish to give a vara, tell me the māhātmya of that Bhāgavata.”
The māhātmya told by Bhagavān Vishṇu
Bhagavān Vishṇu said that once, when the kingdom had passed to the Bauddhas, given to dambha and pākhaṇḍa, Bhagavān Śaṅkara with Devī Pārvatī saw an excellent ground in Kāśī and settled there.
Bhagavān Śaṅkara bowed joyfully and said: “O Saccidānanda, O Vibhu, giver of joy to the world, victory to you!” Devī Pārvatī asked him: “Who is the other devatā equal to you, whom you have bowed to?” Bhagavān Śiva said: “Mahādevī, this Kāśī is a most sacred kshetra. It is itself the eternal Brahman, and is fit to be bowed to. Here I will perform the saptāha-yajña.”
To protect the place of the yajña, Bhagavān Śaṅkara stationed Caṇḍīśa, Gaṇeśa, Nandī and the Guhyakas. Himself settled in dhyāna, he told the Bhāgavatī Kathā to Devī Pārvatī for seven days. Then, seeing Devī Pārvatī asleep, he spoke to her of how much she had heard, and she said: “Deva, I have heard the Vishṇu-carita as far as the Amṛta-manthana.”
That very kathā was being heard by Śukadeva in the form of a parrot, sitting in the hollow of a tree there. By hearing the kathā of amṛta he became immortal.
Bhagavān Vishṇu said: “By this command of mine that Śuka is present in your heart directly. Bopadeva, you have obtained this rare Bhāgavata-māhātmya through me. Now go and tell it to Gandharvasena, father of King Vikrama, on the bank of the Narmadā. The dāna of Hari-māhātmya is the best of all dānas. It should be told only to a worthy recipient, a bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu, intelligent. Even giving food to the hungry is not a dāna equal to it.”
Saying this, Bhagavān Śrī Hari withdrew from sight, and Bopadeva was very happy.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 32
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 32