Discourses
The discourses of the four Kumaras are found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata as well as the Bhagavata Purana.
The Shanti Parva book of the Mahabharata describes the discourse given by the four Kumaras to the demon king Vritra and his guru – the sage Shukra. The king and his guru worship the Kumaras and then Shukra asks them to describe the greatness of Vishnu. Sanat-kumara starts with describing Vishnu as the creator and destroyer of all beings. He equates Vishnu's body parts with parts of the universe and the elements, for example the earth is Vishnu's feet and water is his tongue. All gods are describes as being Vishnu. Then Sanatkumara categories all beings into six colours depending upon the proportion of the three gunas: Sattva (pure), Rajas (dim) and Tamas (dark). From the lowest to the foremost beings, the colours are dark (Tamas is high, Rajas is mid, Sattva is low), tawny (Tamas is high, Sattva is mid, Rajas is low), blue (Rajas is high, Tamas is mid, Sattva is low), red (Rajas is high, Sattva is mid, Tamas is low), yellow (Sattva is high, Tamas is mid, Rajas is low) and white (Sattva is high, Rajas is mid, Tamas is low). (The Vishnu Purana gives non-living things, lower animals and birds, humans, Prajapatis, gods and the Kumaras are respective examples of the above colours.) Sanat-kumara elaborates further how a Jiva (living entity) journeys from dark to white in his various births, ultimately gaining moksha if he does good deeds, devotion and yoga.
The Bhagavata Purana narrates the visit of the four Kumaras to the court of King Prithu, the first sovereign in Hindu mythology and an avatar of Vishnu. The king worships the sages and asked them about the way of emancipation (moksha) that can be followed by all people who caught in the web of worldly things. Sanat-kumara tells the king that Vishnu is the refuge to all and grants liberation of the cycle of births and rebirths. His worship frees one from material desires and lust. One should be freed from material objects, lives a simple life of non-violence and devotion of Vishnu and follows the teachings of a good guru and undergo Self-realization. One should realize that all living things are forms of God. Without devotion and knowledge, humans are incomplete. Out of four purusharthas ("goals of life"), only moksha is eternal, while religious duty, wealth and pleasure decay with this life. While all beings are subject to destruction, the soul and God in our bodies is eternal. So it is paramount that you surrender to God (as Vishnu or Krishna), said Sanat-kumara ending his council. Prithu worships the Kumaras again, who blessed him.
The first section or Purvabhaga of Naradiya Purana, an upapurana has 4 padas or sections, each told by the four Kumaras respectively to Narada.
Read more about this topic: Sanatana
Famous quotes containing the word discourses:
“I have been told, that in some public discourses of mine my reverence for the intellect has made me unjustly cold to the personal relations. But now I almost shrink at the remembrance of such disparaging words. For persons are love’s world, and the coldest philosopher cannot recount the debt of the young soul wandering here in nature to the power of love, without being tempted to unsay, as treasonable to nature, aught derogatory to the social instincts.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Hath homely age th’ alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek? Then he hath wasted it.
Are my discourses dull? Barren my wit?
If voluble and sharp discourse be marred,
Unkindness blunts it more than marble hard.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Contention is inseparable from creating knowledge. It is not contention we should try to avoid, but discourses that attempt to suppress contention.”
—Joyce Appleby (b. 1929)