Introduction
देवदत्तामिमां वीणां स्वरब्रह्मविभूषिताम्।
मूर्च्छयित्वा हरिकथां गायमानश्चराम्यहम्।।
The above verse perfectly describes Sage Narada in all aspects.
Sage Narada is also known as Devarshi, while in Bhagavata Purana (1.5) he has been referred to as Dasiputra, a maid servant’s son.
There are many stories related to the birth of Sage Narada. As per one legend, Prajapati Daksha cursed Narada that he would be shackled in the chain of mortality and be born as the son of Daksha (Devi Bhagavat 7.1). Brahmanda Purana (3.2.18) and Vayu Purana (2.4.135-150) also describe a lot about the history of Sage Narada.
As described in Vayu Purana (2.4.9), Narada has been venerated with Prajapati honorific. Narada has played different roles during different historical episodes and hence known by different names. He is the one who has been called Brahmachari i.e. a celibate and also Veetaragi, i.e. the one who has subdued all worldly passions.
आयुष्मान्मे भवेत्पुत्रो भवतस्तपसा मुने।
न च तं पर्वतं किञ्चित् उवाचेन्द्रव्यपेक्षया।।
तमहं नृपतिं दीनमब्रुवं पुनरेव तु।
स्मर्तव्योऽहं महाराज दर्शयिष्यामि ते स्मृतः।।
अहं ते दयितं पुत्रं प्रेतराजवशं गतम्।
पुनर्दास्यामि तद्रूपं मा शुचः पृथिवीपते।।
The term ‘Naara’ means the one who possesses the knowledge about God and ‘da’ means the one who provides it. Thus, it is said that Sage Narada is the one who spreads the knowledge of the divine amongst the people of this world.
Both the Shiva Purana and the Mahabharata have referred to the incidents related to Narada’s wedding. (The Mahabharata, Shantiparvan 31, Dronaparvan 55-71).
The first two births of Sage Narada
As Lord Brahma finished the creation of this Universe, he was seeking help from some efficient men who could proceed on further creation of the Universe. Hence, he approached his sons Sanatsujata, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, and Narada for help, but they all declined Brahma’s plea as they were more interested in performing penance. This kind of response made Lord Brahma extremely angry and he cursed all of them to be born twice as ‘common man’ on earthly planets. Thus, all the brothers left Satyaloka and entered gandharvaloka (celestial planet) and prithvi (earth). Brahma’s main aim behind this was to make his sons realize the trials and tribulations faced by the people on earth for achieving salvation.
Thus, Narada was born as Upabharna to King Chitraketu of the Gandharva lineage. Since Gandharvas were the ‘Celestial Musicians’, Upabharna automatically developed deep interest in music. He had great love and interest in stringed musical instrument, and he also invented the famous musical instrument Veena. Eventually, Brihaspathi Acharya initiated him to Vaishnava deeksha.
Once, when Upabharna was meditating upon the Lord, the daughters of Chitraratha, a gandharva, saw him and fell in love with him at first sight. Upabharna thus got married to the daughters of Chitraratha and initiated his married life with them. After few years of enjoying his happy years, one day Upabharna’s inner calling guided him that the time had come for him to leave the gandharvaloka for good. He thus entered into deep meditation and left his mortal body only to be born someplace else; as per Brahma’s curse he had to live another earthly life.
In his second life, he became the son of a maid servant in a Brahmin family. His mother was a devoted servant and her master named the child Narada. Though Narada’s mother was illiterate, she was an extremely cultured woman. She also imparted into her son a deep reverence for Hindu culture and religious practices. Every day, young Narada used to wake up early in the morning, finish with his ablutions, and perform Surya Namaskara as taught by his mother. He would then spend time helping his mother with her chores, and cleaning the nearby temple.
As the years passed by, Narada developed great interest in spiritual aspects of life. Often, he used to listen to spiritual discourses of the learned in the locality, participate in the bhajanas conducted by saints and sages in the temple. Once, a number of great sages stayed back at his place to observe caturmasya vrata. During those four months, Narada served them with all devotion and integrity. Narada also had the privilege to have the prasadam (leftovers) of the sages which he took with great delight.
When Narada was on the verge of reaching his adolescence, he started spending most of his time in meditating and concentrating on the Lord. Slowly and steadily, he gained expertise in meditation tactics, so much so that he started remaining oblivious of his surroundings most of the time. Once, when his mother went to milk her cow she unfortunately got bitten by a snake. However, by that period Narada had raised himself above all worldly attachments and he took the death of his own mother extremely stoically. From that time, he took every incident as God’s wish and left for the jungle to spend rest of his life meditating on the Lord.
He decided to enter into deep penance to seek darshan of the lord. After years of penance when he opened his eyes he saw the exquisitely beautiful figure of the Lord, nonetheless the figure disappeared in a flash and Narada entered into second penance. The following meditations and penance proved fruitless as every time he would open his eyes, he failed to see the Lord’s image. Suddenly, once when Narada was still meditating he heard a divine voice which told him that after he would spend this entire life in prayers and penance, in his next birth he would get god’s darshan. By the time Narada finished meditating on Lord in his second life as the son of a maid servant, the world had gone through a full cycle and as usual after a great deluge, the entire world was destroyed.
The third birth of Sage Narada
When Lord Brahma thought of creating the universe all over again, he initially created Prajapatis (the fathers of humanity), and four Sanaka brothers.
Narada was born from Lord Brahma’s thigh. When Brahma allocated tasks to Prajapatis, he assigned Daksha with the work of creation. For that purpose, Daksha asked his sons to go to secluded places so that they can perform penance and create progenies. However, Narada disturbed them every time and filled their mind with the virtue of austerity. Thus, Narada succeeded in creating hurdle in the path of Daksha’s task and angry Daksha cursed Narada that he would never get a permanent place for himself and thus keep on wandering from one place to another, playing on his Veena called Mahati. Fortunately, this curse turned into boon for the others as while wandering around Narada changed many lives for good.
The legend of Prince Dhruva
The legend of Lord Brahma’s son Uttanapada is also worth mentioning in this context. As per the legend, Uttanapada had two queens Suneethi and Suruchi. He had two sons namely Dhruva (form Suneethi) and Uttama (from Suruchi). Uttanapada was always more inclined towards his second queen Suruchi and son borne by her, Uttama. As a result, Dhruva always felt neglected and in one such incident he left his palace and started roaming around the nearby jungle. Here, he met Narada who advised him to meditate on the name of Lord Hari, i.e. Lord Vasudev to free himself from worldly sorrows and superficial pleasures. With his unconditional devotion to Lord Vasudeva, Prince Dhruva was able to raise himself above worldly bondage and superficial attachments.
The legend of Ratnakara, aka Valmiki
Ratnakara was a callous burglar who used to ransack the passersby in the jungle and even kill them if they would show resistance of any kind. Once, he plundered a group of pilgrims and when they fought him, he abducted them. When Sage Narada learnt about this episode he came to Ratnakara as an ordinary passerby. Upon seeing Narada, Ratnakara instantly blocked his way and ordered him to give away all his belongings. Narada then told him that he is just an ordinary man who owns nothing.
Narada, with his inherent tactics, involved Ratnakara into reflective talks. He also asked Ratnakara to contemplate on the fact that whether his family would share his sins as they share his spoils? This question provoked Ratnakara and he went to ask his family members whether they were ready to partake in his sins. Unfortunately, none of the family members were ready to share his sins. This incident changed Ratnakara completely for the better and the best. He accepted Narada as his guru and as suggested by his guru he started meditating upon Lord Rama. Ratnakara was later named as Valmiki, who authored the Ramayana after listening to the story of Lord Rama from Sage Narada.
Narada cursed Nala & Koobara
Nala and Koobara were the sons of Kubera and were known for their arrogance. Once the two sons, along with their wives were bathing in the Lake Acchoda when Narada happened to cross the lake. Upon seeing Narada, the two wives quickly came out of the lake and dressed themselves up, while Nala and Koobara didn’t come out and stood naked amid the lake. Lord Narada got extremely infuriated and cursed the brothers to turn into terminalia trees on the earth. After the brothers realized the unusual powers of Narada they repented and apologized to Narada after which the sage assured them they will be relieved from the curse by Lord Krishna himself on the earth.
Narada’s Divine Secret
As mentioned in many sacred scriptures, Narada played the role of the divine secret teller and his presence was eminent in many yugas.
According to a famous Purana, once Jnana (Knowledge of God) and Vairagya (Detachment), sons of Bhakti Devi (Pure love for God), became unconscious and their mother became extremely worried about them. During this time, Narada requested Sage Sanatkumara to recite Srimad Bhagavatha after which Vairagya and Jnana immediately become alive. Thus, Narada also proclaimed that such is the power of Srimad Bhagavatha that even during the Kaliyuga if it is recited both Jnana and Vairagya would become alive.
When Shri Krishna’s grandson Aniruddha (son of Pradhyumna) suddenly disappeared, Narada revealed to Krishna the secret behind the abduction of Aniruddha.
Again, Narada played an important role in bringing out the worst in Kamsa, the ruler of Mathura, to let this world know about his demonic instincts. Narada once told Kamsa that the eighth son of his sister Devki would kill him. As a result, Kamsa went on a killing spree and killed all the seven sons of Devki-Vasudeva and the eighth son, Shri Krishna, born to them killed Kamsa.
When Lord Krishna killed demon Shishupala, a divine light left his body which merged within Krishna. Seeing this miracle, Yudhishtira was shocked and wanted to know why it happened. At this juncture, Sage Narada told Yudhishtira that Shishupala was indeed a divine gate-keeper at Vaikuntha in one of his previous births. He was destined to get killed by Lord Krishna in this birth. Shishupala thus became a free soul who finally got merged into Almighty himself.
Literature by Narada
· Naradiya bhaktisutra (about devotion to god)
· Naradasmruti
· Naradapancharatra
· Laghunaradiya
· Bruhannaradiya
· naradapurana
· Naradasamhita
· Naradopanishad
· Naradaparivrajakopanisad
· Sangita makaranda
· Raganirupana
· Panchamasarasamhita
· Dattilnaradsamvad
