Narada

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Narada

Narad redirects here; for the village in Slovakia, see Nárad
Nárad

N?rad is a village and municipality in the Dunajsk? Streda District in the Trnava Region of south-west Slovakia....
.

Narada (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
: ????, narada) or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana

Bhagavata purana

The Bhagavata Purana is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hinduism literature, and is Sanskrit for "The Book of God". Its primary focus is the process of bhakti yoga, which is Sanskrit for "Union with God through devotion for Him", in which Krishna is unequivocally declared to be Svayam Bhagavan....
, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets, loka
Loka

Loka , a word in Sanskrit, in Hinduism and Hindu mythology, means world, dimension, plane, abode, and/or place or Plane ....
s in Sanskrit.

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Are there Narada temples? If yes,where & if not,why not?

Encyclopedia

Narad redirects here; for the village in Slovakia, see Nárad
Nárad

N?rad is a village and municipality in the Dunajsk? Streda District in the Trnava Region of south-west Slovakia....
.

Narada (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Bhagavata purana

Veena

Veena is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family....
, which he uses to accompany his singing of hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
s, prayer

Prayer

Prayer is the act of communicating with a deity or spirit in worship. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting divine providence, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's emotional expression....
s and mantra

Mantra

A mantra can be defined as a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of creating transformation. Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra....
s as an act of devotion

Bhakti

Bhakti is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning devotion. Within Vaishnavism bhakti is only used in conjunction with Vishnu, Krishna or of the associated avatar, who are the source of attractiveness....
to his lord, Vishnu

Vishnu

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
. In the Vaishnava tradition he is held in special reverance for his chanting and singing of the names Hari
Hari

In Hinduism, Hari is another name of and , and appears as the 650th name in the Vishnu sahasranama of Mahabharata. In Sanskrit "Hari" sometimes refers to a colour, yellow, or fawn-coloured/khaki ....
and Narayana
Narayana

Narayana or Narayan is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu, and in many contemporary vernaculars a common Indian name. Narayana is also identified as the original man, Purusha....
and his promoting of the process of devotional service, known as bhakti yoga

Bhakti yoga

Bhakti Yoga is a term within Hinduism which denotes the spiritual practice of fostering loving devotion to God, called bhakti. Traditionally there are nine forms of bhakti-yoga....
as explained within the text accredited to Narada himself, known as the Narada Bhakti Sutra. Narada is also said to have orated the maxims of the Naradasm?ti

Naradasm?ti

The is a part of the Dharmasastras, an Indian literary tradition that serves as a collection of legal maxim relating to the topic of dharma. This text is purely juridical in character in that it focuses solely on Procedural law and Substantive law law....
(100BC-400CE), which has been called the “juridical text par excellence” and represents the only Dharmasastra

Dharmasastra

Dharmasastra is a genre of Sanskrit texts and refers to the sastra, or Indic branch of learning, pertaining to Hindu dharma, religious and legal duty....
text which deals solely with juridical matters and ignoring those of righteous conduct and penance.

Son of Brahma

According to legend Narad is regarded as the Manasaputra referring to his birth 'from the mind of Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hinduism god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman....
', the first living being as described in the Puranic universe. He is regarded as the Triloka sanchaari, the ultimate nomad who roams the three loka
Loka

Loka , a word in Sanskrit, in Hinduism and Hindu mythology, means world, dimension, plane, abode, and/or place or Plane ....
s of Swargaloka (heaven

Heaven

Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the atmosphere or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English, however since at least AD 1000, it is typically also used to refer to an afterlife plane of existence in various religions and spirituality philosophy, often descri...
), Mrityuloka (earth, literally: "place of death") and Patalloka (nether-world). He does this to find out about the life and welfare of people. He was the first to practise Natya Yoga

Natya Yoga

Natya Yoga, popularly known as Dance Yoga, the all-inclusive spiritual path of action, is a combination of mainly Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga with many elements of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga....
. He is also known as Kalahapriya as he playfully causes quarrels amongst Gods (devas

Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, spirit, demi-god, Celestial, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence....
), Goddesses and people.

Narad Muni has a specifically important place among the Vaishnava

Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu or his associated avatars, principally as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
traditions. In the Puranic scriptures, he is listed as one of the twelve mahajanas

Mahajanas

Mahajanas is a word for the twelve delegated agents of the Lord Vishnu who have the duty to bring to the people the message to follow the path of devotion to service....
, or 'great devotees' of God (Vishnu

Vishnu

Gandharva

In Hinduism In Hinduism, the Gandharvas are male nature spirits, husbands of the Apsaras. Some are part animal, usually a bird or horse. They have superb musical skills....
in his previous birth before becoming a rishi

Rishi

A rishi denotes a poet-sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, credited also as divine scribes. According to post-Vedic tradition the rishi is a "seer" or "shaman" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness....
he is in the category of a devarishi

Rishi

Enlightenment

The Bhagavata Purana describes the story of Narad's spiritual enlightenment: In his previous birth Narad was a gandharva (angelic being) who had been cursed to be born on an earthly planet due to some offense. He was born as the son of a maid-servant of some particularly saint

Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
ly priests (brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin is the class of educators, law makers, scholars and preachers of Dharma in Hinduism. It is said to occupy the highest position among the varna in Hinduism of Hinduism....
s). The priests, being pleased with both his and his mother's service blessed him by allowing him to eat some of their food (prasad

Prasad

Prasada is both a mental condition of generosity, as well as a material substance that is first offered to a deity and then consumed . Literally, a gracious gift....
) previously offered to their lord, Vishnu.

Gradually Narad received further blessings from these sages and heard them talking about many spiritual topics. When his mother died from a snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate legless carnivore reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears....
's bite, taking this as an act of God (Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of panchadeva, and his supreme status is declared in the Hindu sacred texts like Yajurveda, the Rigveda and the Bhagavad Gita....
), he decided to roam the forest in search of enlightenment in understanding the 'Supreme Absolute Truth'.

Reaching a tranquil forest location, he, after quenching his thirst from a nearby stream, sat under a tree in meditation (yoga

Yoga

Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in both Buddhism and Hinduism....
), concentrating on the paramatma form of Vishnu within his heart as he had been taught of by the priests he had served. After some time Narad experienced a vision wherein Narayan (Vishnu) appeared before him, smiling, and spoke "that despite having the blessing of seeing him at that very moment, Narad would not be able to see his (Vishnu's) divine form again until he died". Narayan further explained that the reason he had been given a chance to see his form was because his beauty and love would be a source of inspiration and would fuel his dormant desire to be with the lord again. After instructing Narad in this manner, Vishnu then disappeared from his sight. The boy awoke from his meditation both thrilled and disappointed.

For the rest of his life Narad focused on his devotion, meditation upon and worship to Vishnu. After his death Vishnu then blessed him with the spiritual form of "Narad" as he eventually became known. In many Hindu scriptures Narad is considered a partial-manifestation (avatar

Avatar

Avatar or Avatara , often translated into English as incarnation, literally means descent and usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes....
) of God, empowered to perform miraculous tasks on Vishnu's behalf.

Narada

Son of Brahma

Enlightenment

Footnotes

See also

External links