प्रोवाच मह्यं स दयालुरुक्तो
मुनिः पुलस्त्येन पुराणमाद्यम् ।
सोऽहं तवैतत्कथयामि वत्स
श्रद्धालवे नित्यमनुव्रताय ॥९॥

provÄca mahyaá¹ sa dayÄlur ukto
muniḥ pulastyena purÄṇam Ädyam
so 'haá¹ tavaitat kathayÄmi vatsa
Å›raddhÄlave nityam anuvratÄya

 provÄca - said; mahyam - unto me; saḥ - he; dayÄluḥ - kindhearted; uktaḥ - aforementioned; muniḥ - sage; pulastyena - by the sage Pulastya; purÄṇam Ädyam - the foremost of all the PurÄṇas; saḥ aham - that also I; tava - unto you; etat - this; kathayÄmi - shall speak; vatsa - my dear son; Å›raddhÄlave - unto one who is faithful; nityam - always; anuvratÄya - unto one who is a follower.


Text

The great sage ParÄÅ›ara, as aforementioned, being so advised by the great sage Pulastya, spoke unto me the foremost of the PurÄṇas [BhÄgavatam]. I shall also describe this before you, my dear son, in terms of my hearing, because you are always my faithful follower.

Purport

The great sage of the name Pulastya is the father of all demoniac descendants. Once upon a time ParÄÅ›ara began a sacrifice in which all the demons were to be burnt to death because his father had been killed and devoured by one of them. The great sage Vasiṣṭha Muni arrived at the sacrifice and requested ParÄÅ›ara to stop the deadly action, and because of Vasiṣṭha’s position and respect in the community of sages, ParÄÅ›ara could not deny the request. ParÄÅ›ara having stopped the sacrifice, Pulastya, the father of the demons, appreciated his brahminical temperament and gave the blessing that in the future he would be a great speaker on the Vedic literatures called the PurÄṇas, the supplements of the Vedas. ParÄÅ›ara’s action was appreciated by Pulastya because ParÄÅ›ara had forgiven the demons out of his brahminical power of forgiveness. ParÄÅ›ara was able to demolish all the demons in the sacrifice, but he considered, “Demons are so made that they devour living creatures, men and animals, but why on that account should I withdraw my brahminical qualification of forgiveness?†As the great speaker of the PurÄṇas, ParÄÅ›ara first of all spoke on the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavata PurÄṇa because it is the foremost of all the PurÄṇas. Maitreya Muni desired to narrate the same BhÄgavatam be had heard from ParÄÅ›ara, and Vidura was qualified to hear it because of his faithfulness and his following the instructions received from superiors. So ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam was being narrated from time immemorial by the disciplic succession, even before the time of VyÄsadeva. The so-called historians calculate the PurÄṇas to be only a few hundred years old, but factually the PurÄṇas existed from time immemorial, before all historical calculations by the mundaners and speculative philosophers.