Narada.

 

Narada muni went to Vishnu’s abode at Vaikuntha and asked, “Why is Garuda’s (Vishnu’s eagle) statue outside your temple? Am I not your biggest devotee?”

Right then, they heard a loud crash outside. Vishnu said, “Narada, I’ve sent Garuda on an errand. Can you check what happened?”

Eager to prove himself, Narada rushed out. He returned and said, “A milkmaid slipped and fell and broke her pots.”

“What was her name?” Vishnu asked.

Narada went out, returned and said, “Sharada.”

“What caused her to fall?” Vishnu asked.

Narada started getting irritated. But he went out, returned and said, “A snake crossed her path.”

“Did she break all her pots?”

“Go find out yourself!” Narada snapped.

“Find out, Narada,” Vishnu said patiently.

“Why?” Narada asked.

“I might want to buy some milk,” Vishnu said.

Narada went out reluctantly. On returning, he said, “She broke two pots. But she’s willing to sell you milk from the others.”

“And the price of the milk?”

“Oh, I forgot to ask,” Narada said, rushing out.

Right then, Garuda swooped in, oblivious to what happened.

Vishnu stopped Narada and said to Garuda, “There was a crashing noise outside. Could you go and check what happened?”

Then Vishnu whispered to Narada, “Let’s see how he does.”

After a few minutes, Garuda returned and said, “A milkmaid named Sharada got startled by a snake and fell down. She broke two pots of milk and is wondering what to do. I suggested she sell some milk to you. You are the husband of the Goddess of Wealth, after all.”

“And the price of the milk?”

“Four copper coins,” Garuda responded immediately.

Vishnu laughed and his eyes met Narada’s, who realized why Garuda’s statue always stands outside a Vishnu temple.

Real value gets created when you anticipate what people need and give it to them. When you create value for others, you put yourself in a position to receive it too.

Narada  or Narada Muni, is a sage-divinity, famous in Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of the mind-created children of Brahma, the creator god. He appears in a number of Hindu texts, notably the Mahabharata, telling Yudhishthira the story of Prahalada, and he also appears in the Ramayana and the Puranas. A common theme in Vaishnavism is the accompaniment of a number of deities such as Narada to offer aid to Vishnu upon his descent to earth to combat the forces of evil, or to enjoy a close view of epochal events. He is also referred to as Rishiraja, meaning the king of all sages. He was gifted with the boon of knowledge regarding the past, present, and the future.

In Indian texts, Narada travels to distant worlds and realms (Sanskrit: lokas). He is depicted carrying a khartal (musical instrument) and the veena, and is generally regarded as one of the great masters of the ancient musical instrument. This instrument is also known by the name "mahathi",  and he uses it to accompany his singing of hymns, prayers, and mantras. In the Vaishnava tradition, he is presented as a sage with devotion to the preserver deity Vishnu. Narada is described as both wise and mischievous in some humorous tales. He is notorious for being meddlesome, provoking conflict between both the gods and the demons for the sake of their wisdom as well as for his own entertainment. Vaishnavas depict him as a pure, elevated soul who glorifies Vishnu through his devotional songs, singing the names Hari and Narayana, and therein demonstrating bhakti yoga. The Narada Bhakti Sutra is attributed to him. He would usually make his presence known by vocally chanting "Narayana, Narayana" before appearing in a scene.

Other texts named after Narada include the Narada Purana and the Nāradasmṛti (pre 6th century CE text), the latter called the "juridical text par excellence" and representing the only Dharmaśāstra text that deals solely with juridical matters while ignoring those of righteous conduct and penance.

The name "Narada," referring to many different persons, appears in many Hindu legends.  It appears as an earlier birth of Sariputta in the Jataka tales of Buddhism, as well as among names of medieval Buddhist scholars, and in Jainism.

Mahabharata

In the Mahabharata, Narada is portrayed as being conversant with the Vedas and the Upanishads and as acquainted with history and Puranas. He has a mastery of the six Angas (limbs of knowledge): pronunciation, grammar, prosody, terms, religious rites and astronomy. All celestial beings worship him for his knowledge - he is supposed to be well-versed in all that occurred in ancient kalpas (time cycles) and is termed to be conversant with Nyaya (justice) and the truth of moral science. He is a perfect master in reconciliatory texts and good at differentiating in applying general principles to particular cases. He can swiftly interpret contraries by references to differences in situations. He is eloquent, resolute, intelligent and a possessor of powerful memory. He knows the science of morals, politics; he is skilled in drawing inferences from evidence and very proficient in distinguishing inferior things from superior ones. He is competent in judging the correctness and incorrectness of complex syllogistic statements consisting of 5 proponents. He is capable of arriving at definite conclusions about religion, wealth, pleasure and salvation. He possesses knowledge of this whole universe and everything surrounding it. He is capable of successfully answering Brihaspati himself while arguing. He is a master of the Sankhya and Yoga systems of philosophy, conversant with sciences of war and treaties and proficient in drawing conclusions by judging things, not within direct knowledge. He knows about the six sciences of a treaty, war, military campaigns, maintenance of posts against the enemy and strategies of ambushes and reserves. He is a thorough master of every branch of learning. He is fond of war and music and incapable of being repulsed by any science or any course of action.

The Bhagavata Purana describes the story of Narada's spiritual enlightenment: He was the primary source of information among the devas, and is believed to be the first cosmic messenger upon the earth. In his previous birth, Narada was a gandharva (a musical being) who had been cursed to be born on earth for singing glories to the "demigods" instead of Vishnu. He was born as the son of a maidservant of some particularly saintly priests. The priests, being pleased with both his and his mother's service, blessed him by allowing him to eat some of their food (prasada), previously offered to their deity, Vishnu.

Gradually, he received further blessings from these sages and heard them discussing many spiritual topics. During the four months of rainy seasons when the sages did not leave their hermitage and stayed together, they used to recite various deeds of Vishnu, and from there Narada used to hear these stories. After his mother died, he decided to roam the forest in search of enlightenment in understanding the 'Supreme Absolute Truth'.

Reaching a tranquil forest location, after quenching his thirst from a nearby stream, he sat under a tree in meditation (yoga), concentrating on the paramatma form of Vishnu within his heart as he had been taught by the priests he had served. After some time Narada experienced a vision wherein Narayana (Vishnu) appeared before him, smiling, and spoke: "that despite having the blessing of seeing Him at that very moment, Narada would not be able to see His (Vishnu's) divine form again until he died". Narayana further explained that the reason he had been given a chance to see his form was that his beauty and love would be a source of inspiration and would fuel his dormant desire to be with Vishnu again. After instructing Narada 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, Narada focused on his devotion, meditation upon and worship to Vishnu. After his death, Vishnu then blessed him with the spiritual form of "Narada" as he eventually became known. In many Hindu scriptures, Narada is considered a shaktyavesha-avatara or partial-manifestation (avatar) of God, empowered to perform miraculous tasks on Vishnu's behalf.

The Shiva Purana describes a legend in which Narada's penance alarmed Indra, who sent Kamadeva to disturb his austerities. Due to the fact that the sage was meditating in the Himalayas and under Shiva's favour, he was protected by the deity's maya (illusory power) and hence remained undisturbed. When Narada learnt of this, still confounded by Shiva's maya, he falsely attributed this event to his own mental prowess and grew proud of his achievement. Heeding Shiva's suggestion to break the pride of the sage, Vishnu praised the qualities of Narada, but also warned him to not be delusional. The sage turned a deaf ear to this warning. Vishnu extended Shiva's maya to create a great and prosperous city in Narada's path. The king of the city, Shilanidhi, introduced his beautiful daughter, Shrimati (an incarnation of Lakshmi), to the sage, who grew desirous of marrying her. He travelled to Vaikuntha, requesting Vishnu to grant him the deity's form so that Shrimati would choose the sage as her husband during her svayamvara ceremony. Vishnu promised to grant Narada what would be beneficial for him, granting him his own form, but the face of a monkey. Believing his wish had been granted, Narada grew assured that Shrimati would choose him, but soon realised what had transpired. Vishnu attended the ceremony in the form of a king, and Shrimati chose him as her husband instead. Enraged, Narada cursed Vishnu to also be separated from the woman he loved and would only be saved by one with a monkey-face. When his maya was dispelled, Narada begged forgiveness from Vishnu. The deity instructed the sage to visit the abodes and praise the qualities of Shiva, and the latter journeyed to the deity's abode in Kashi.

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana and some other texts, Narada enquired Vishnu about the nature and greatness of maya. The deity guided him towards a lake, in which the sage took a bath. The sage was transformed into a woman. She married a king named Taladhvaja and was a mother to his many sons. After some time, Vishnu dispelled the illusion and restored Narada to his true male form. Narada came to understand the concept better, but concluded it was still mysterious to him.

Worship

Narada temples are few, most prominent being Sri Narada Muni Temple at Chigateri, Karnataka.

Some adherents believe that it was Narada who was reborn as Purandara Dasa as a Haridasa (servant of Vishnu). He emphasised his works on Vithala, another form of Vishnu and the presiding deity of the temple in Pandharpur.

In Jainism, there are a total of 9 Naradas in every cycle of Jain Cosmology; current cycle's Naradas were Bhima, Mahabhima, Rudra, Maharudra, Kala, Mahakala, Durmukha, Narakamukha and Adhomukha.

The Naradiya Purana (Sanskrit: नारदीय पुराण, Naradiya Purana) or Narada Purana (Sanskrit: नारद पुराण), are two Vaishnavism texts written in Sanskrit language. One of the texts is termed as a Major Purana, also called a Mahapurana, while the other is termed as a Minor Purana (Upapurana), also referred as Brihannaradiya Purana.

Unlike most Puranas that are encyclopedic, the Brihannaradiya text is focussed almost entirely on Vishnu worship, while the Naradiya text is a compilation of 41 chapters (20%) on Vishnu-worship and rest of the chapters (80%) cover a wide range of topics including a large compilation of Mahatmya (travel guides) to temples and places along the river Ganges and neighbouring regions.

The Naradiya Purana is notable for dedicating eighteen chapters on other Puranas, one entire chapter summarizing each Major Purana. It is also notable for its verses extolling Buddha in chapter

Manuscripts of nearly all the major puranas acknowledge the existence of a major purana named either Narada or Naradiya, suggesting it was an important text in Hindu history. Yet, unlike other Puranas which either appear in the major or minor purana lists, the Naradiya text appears in both lists. This caused significant confusion to 19th and early 20th century Indologists. The confusion was compounded by the fact that the content of the text manuscripts they found seemed to follow similar scope and focus, except that the Brihannaradiya Purana text with about 3,500 verses was slightly bigger than the other with about 3,000 verses.

Later discovered manuscripts and scholarship established that the Narada or Naradiya is the major purana, Brihannaradiya is the Upapurana. The Naradiya Purana consists of two bhagas (parts), with the first called Purvabhaga and second called Uttarabhaga. The Purvabhaga has four padas with the total of 125 chapters. The Uttarabhaga has 82 chapters, which embeds the Rukmangada-carita.

The Brihannaradiya Purana has no parts or padas, and a total of 38 adhyayas (chapters).

The Naradiya Purana texts, like other Puranas, exist in numerous versions, but with less variation than other Puranas. Wilson states that both texts are of likely recent composition, probably 16th or 17th century, because the five manuscripts he reviewed had verses mentioning certain events after Islamic invasion and control of the Indian subcontinent. The other unusual part of the manuscripts he examined, states Wilson, is that the descriptions of ritual worship of Vishnu in the text are "puerile inventions, wholly foreign to the more ancient" ideas in the Purana genre of Hindu texts.

Rajendra Hazra, in contrast, states that the core verses of the texts were likely first composed over various centuries, as follows: he dates the Vishnu-bhakti focussed text Brihannaradiya Purana to the 9th-century; he places the first 41 chapters of Purvabhaga and the first 37 chapters of Uttarabhaga to have been composed before the 11th century; and, the rest he states is of likely a comparatively later origin. The Naradiya Purana, states Hazra, was likely composed after the Brihannaradiya Purana.  It is unknown, adds Hazra, whether the extant manuscripts of the Naradiya Puranas are same as the 9th and 10th-century originals, but we know that the verses quoted in medieval Hindu Smriti texts with these texts cited as source, are missing from the currently surviving manuscripts.

Rocher states that the composition date of each Purana remains unclear. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom the major and minor Puranas were written:

As They Exist Today, The Puranas Are A Stratified Literature. Each Titled Work Consists Of Material That Has Grown By Numerous Accretions In Successive Historical Eras. Thus, No Purana Has A Single Date Of Composition.  It Is As If They Were Libraries To Which New Volumes Have Been Continuously Added, Not Necessarily At The End Of The Shelf, But Randomly.

The Padma Purana categorizes Naradiya Purana as a Sattva Purana (which represents goodness and purity). Scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as "entirely fanciful" and there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification.

The Brihannaradiya Purana (also Brihannarada Purana) is focussed on bhakti (devotion) towards Vishnu.  It describes the festivals and ritual ceremonies of Vaishnavism. Many chapters of the text are part of the Mahatmya, glorifying the river Ganges, pilgrimage and travel centers such as the Prayāga (the confluence of the rivers Yamuna and Ganges), and Kashi (a sacred city). The text also includes chapters on ethics and duties of members of various varnas and ashramas, vratas, and summaries on the samskaras.

Naradiya Purana

The Narada Purana (also Naradiya Purana) follows the style of the Brihannaradiya Purana in the first 41 chapters of Purvabhaga, but the rest of the first part and second part are encyclopedic covering a diverse range of topics. The encyclopedic sections discuss subjects such as the six Vedangas, moksha, dharma, adhyatma-jnana (monastic life), Pashupata philosophy, a secular guide with methods of worship of Ganesha, Narasimha, Hayagriva, Rama, Krishna, Hanuman, Shiva, and Lakshmi. The text also glorifies goddess Radha as the mulaprakriti, one whose soul and love manifests all other Hindu goddesses.

The text's secular description and verse of praises are not limited to different traditions of Hinduism, but also other traditions. For example, chapter 1.2 extols Buddha.  This contrasts with Kurma Purana which is disdainful of Buddhism without mentioning Buddha, but similar to the praise of Buddha in other major Puranas such as chapter 49 of the Agni Purana, chapter 2.5.16 of the Shiva Purana, chapter 54 of the Matsya Purana and various minor Puranas.

Chapters 92 through 109 of Purvabhaga are notable for summarizing the 18 major Puranas, one entire chapter dedicated to each.This has been an important benchmark in comparison studies, and as evidence that the Puranas were revised after the composition of Naradiya Purana, since the summary in these 18 chapters is significantly different from the extant manuscripts of the major Puranas. Other topics covered in the verses of Uttarabhaga include flora and fauna, food, music, dance, dress, jewellery, weapons, and theories on war.

The Naradiya Purana also contains Rukmangadacarita, a legend of king named Rukmangada, whose belief in Vishnu is repeatedly tested by an enchantress in the form of an apsara named Mohini, one that became subject of plays and dance arts in Indian culture. After Rukmangadacarita, the text predominantly is a compilation of geographic Mahatmyas or travel guides for pilgrimage along river Ganges starting with Haridwar, through Banaras (Kashi) towards Bengal, and nearby regions such as Gaya in Bihar and Nepal.