Bhagavata Purana

by Ramesh Menon

Even after he has composed the awesome Mahabharata, the Maharishi Vyasa finds no peace. Narada Muni says to him, 'Ordinary men will be delighted by your work, but what about the sages of heaven and earth? Can swans that swim upon the Manasa Sarovara be delighted by the lakes of Bharatavarsha?

You have described the human life, its strife and its ends, but you have not yet described the Lord himself. You must turn your great gift to that task; only then will you find peace.' Veda Vyasa composes the Bhagavata Purana, in eighteen thousand slokas and twelve kandas.

He teaches it to his illumined son Suka, who narrates the 'Secret Purana' (which even the Devas do not possess, which Ananta Sesha recites from his thousand mouths) to Yudhishtira's heir, King Parikshit, on the banks of the Ganga.