Our noble religious traditions,the hoary heritage and the rich cultural background are based on the vedas.But they are terse in nature and are not easily assimilable by the common man.The privilege of removing the unwanted matter from this huge pile of truth was granted to sage Vyasa,who dedicated the 18 puranas and other works to enable humanity to follow the guidelines in the Vedas.Some people may ask whether the Puranas are needed at all and whether they have any relevance now since their very name suggests their antiquity.Even as the watch repairer needs a magnifying glass to examine the dedicate mechanism inside or the diamond merchant to spot out the blemishes in the gems, the Puranas amplify the contents of the Vedas.
Sri Kripanandavariar in a discourse referred to the analogy given by poet Kamban(who wrote the tamil adaptation of the Ramayana) that Vyasa removed the " riddles" in the Vedas even as Sri Sita carefully separated the strands of Her coiffeur which got matted owing to lack of attention during Her ten months captivity.The vedas give a command "Satyam Vada"- Utter the Truth.But this requires an elaboration and commentary.Vyasa's contribution to this was by way of writing the Harishchandra Purana wherein the significance and import of the above dictum are explained.A king who accepted the challenge that he would never utter a lie had to undergo unimaginable ordeals.he refused to speak anything contrary to his words even when he was grilled to such an extent that he was about to collapse.So too was another King Nala who was driven to the situation of working as a syce.Similarly in the Ramayana,the poet describes the state of terror which Sri Sita experienced because of Ravana's threat.She never slept all the ten months-the poet says, a description that defies imagination.But annotated properly.Her agony could be compared to a person who is asked to sleep in a room with all the modern comforts but is gently reminded that a cobra may enter the room by one window and make its exit by another during the night.Can the man have his rest?
Sri Kripanandavariar in a discourse referred to the analogy given by poet Kamban(who wrote the tamil adaptation of the Ramayana) that Vyasa removed the " riddles" in the Vedas even as Sri Sita carefully separated the strands of Her coiffeur which got matted owing to lack of attention during Her ten months captivity.The vedas give a command "Satyam Vada"- Utter the Truth.But this requires an elaboration and commentary.Vyasa's contribution to this was by way of writing the Harishchandra Purana wherein the significance and import of the above dictum are explained.A king who accepted the challenge that he would never utter a lie had to undergo unimaginable ordeals.he refused to speak anything contrary to his words even when he was grilled to such an extent that he was about to collapse.So too was another King Nala who was driven to the situation of working as a syce.Similarly in the Ramayana,the poet describes the state of terror which Sri Sita experienced because of Ravana's threat.She never slept all the ten months-the poet says, a description that defies imagination.But annotated properly.Her agony could be compared to a person who is asked to sleep in a room with all the modern comforts but is gently reminded that a cobra may enter the room by one window and make its exit by another during the night.Can the man have his rest?
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