Or are only a few of them genuine and a lot of things have just been added? I have questions related to 2 major Puranas: “The Garuda Purana” and the “The Kalika Purana”.
These are relevant questions. One by one, the answers are as follows.
There are several Puranas, but only a few are regarded as authentic. Broadly speaking, they belong to the class of literature that is called Smriti, to remember, unlike the Vedas and Upanishads that are Shruti, inspired, revelatory. Smritis are regarded as authentic only if they find their justification in the Vedas. Many stories in the Puranas are to be taken as symbolically or as an allegory, not literally true.
The authentic Puranas are mainly The Srimadabhagawatam, Vishnu Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana and some would say Shiv Purana. Garud Puran is debatable. Especially, the stories and descriptions of hells and heavens do not conform to the truth of spiritual experience by any other mystic. We can easily discard them as add-ons.
Is true that there is a yamraj and soul gets heaven and hell according to its deeds. Yamraj punishes the soul in narak. Different types of punishment are there, like getting eaten by a crocodile, being boiled in hot water, being beaten hard. Jo womaniser hai uska alag dand. Jo alcoholic hai uska alag punishment, jo gau hatya karte uska alag dand and non-veg khaane wale ko woh jaanwar dand dete hai. Aur jinhone khaya hai non-veg, woh janwar ban jaate hain.
There is a being or entity called Yama, but his task is to restrain the soul from a rapid climb to its divine state. He limits the play of bodily life. His whole organisation works to destroy bodily life when it arrives at certain conditions predetermined by the forces of destiny. He has no power to punish or reward. He simply carries the soul after its departure through the realms beyond until it rests in the Divine. His is a ferry service from this world to another. If you have lived a beautiful life full of goodness, you are ferried across nicely in a good boat across smooth streams along beautiful paths. If the consciousness is crude, the passage is rough, turbulent, dark. That is all.ย
But on earth, the case is totally different: drinking alcohol has become a fashion even among youth. Muslims sacrificing cows and consuming them is an everyday story. Toh inka kya hota hai. Kya jo Garud Puran mein likha hai, wahi inka haal hota hai sach mein.
When one engages in evil, Hindu or Moslem or any other ism, one simply shrinks inside as a flower shrivels in polluted air. It is this that generates inner suffering.
2)The Mother ke kisi book mein padhe the ki she told one of her disciples to eat meat as his body required it. Aapke bhi kisi lecture mein dekha tha ki if the mother says to eat eggs, you have to eat eggs. Isn’t this breaking the traditional law of spirituality where a sadhak has to be Satvik and vegetarian? Sri Aurobindo was against meat-eating, I think.
Meat eating was debarred only for the Brahmins, never for all. Kshatriyas ate meat and so could the others. Of course, it was not something that was encouraged, but there was no blanket ban either, except for meat of certain developed animals, especially the cow.ย
3) Total 14 realms bataye jaate hain. Highest being Satyalok and lowest is Patalok. Is it true ki sachme aisa hota hai? Isme occult world kaha aata hai? Aapne ispe kya padha hai? How does one get thrown to Patalok and elevated to Satyalok? Ours is Bhulok (Earth Realm)
There are 7 realms from Matter to pure Spirit. There are 7 below that are its shadows. Yes, there is a talk on planes of consciousness where you will find it.ย
I have heard and read ki jo log Suicide karte hai woh 1 realm kho dete hai as it’s breaking the laws of nature. Nothing can be done. The same state of mind carries on after suicide. The problem increases many times and there is no one to help. Isko reverse nahi kiya jaa sakta hai. But ek din aap apne lecture mein kisi ka example de rahe the aur bol rahe the ki Maa k paas even suicide ko reverse karne ka bhi power hai. Which is true??
Yes. Suicide is the worst or darkest form of exit because the person tries to cut the thread of karma abruptly. Yes, by completely surrendering to the Divine Mother’s Grace, even these darkest karmas can be canceled.ย
4) Last question on the “Kalika Puran”
It’s said that ki bali pratha is clearly written in Kalika Puran. How to do it? Which animal to trace it? All details are clearly mentioned. And even about the Bali and tantrik practices to be carried out at Kamakhya Shaktipeeth. And the importance of bali and how only bali can please Maa Kali, Maa Tara, Maa Kamakhya and not normal offerings.
It is not an authentic Purana. There are several other places where it is contradicted. It was anyways the lowest form of offering, to the dark mother, Rudra form of Kali, practiced by those who stood on the lowest layers of evolution.ย
Ek side bola jaata hai ki Maa is “premswaroopini” and then how is she supposed to take bali? Yeh humko aaj tak nahi samajh aaya, bechare us jaanwar ki kya galti. Bhagwan Ramkrishna Paramhans also used to worship Maa kali but unhone kabhi bali nahi di aur naaahi Dakshineswar Temple pe bali hota hai. So tell me what is correct the Puranas or the Real Gurus.
Yes. All the great Masters have denounced this outdated practice that finds no support in the authentic scriptures.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
