Varaha Purana 3.13: Adhyaya 3, Shloka 13
Nārada’s Account of a Former Birth and a Hymn to Nārāyaṇa
Pūrva Bhāga · Maṅgalācaraṇa (Invocation) / Nārāyaṇa-stuti
परात्परं चापरमं प्रधानं परास्पदं शुद्धपदं विशालम् । परात्परेशं पुरुषं पुराणं नारायणं स्तौमि विशुद्धभावः ॥ ३.१३ ॥
parātparaṃ cāparamaṃ pradhānaṃ parāspadaṃ śuddhapadaṃ viśālam | parātpareśaṃ puruṣaṃ purāṇaṃ nārāyaṇaṃ staumi viśuddhabhāvaḥ || 3.13 ||
parAtparaM chAparamaM pradhAnaM parAspadaM shuddhapadaM vishAlam | parAtpareshaM puruShaM purANaM nArAyaNaM staumi vishuddhabhAvaH || 3.13 ||
In geläuterter Gesinnung preise ich Nārāyaṇa—den Höchsten jenseits des Jenseits und zugleich die höchste Wirklichkeit; das Pradhāna, das Urprinzip; die höchste Wohnstatt; den reinen, weiten Zustand; den Herrn über das Jenseitige; den uralten Puruṣa.
Sandhi Notes
- परात्परं → परात् + परम्
- चापरमं → च + अपरमम्
- परास्पदं → पर + आस्पदम्
- शुद्धपदं → शुद्ध + पदम्
- परात्परेशं → परात् + परेशम्
Varāha
Listening/receiving instruction through stuti; implicitly reassured by the Supreme’s absoluteness
What is the ultimate ‘parātpara’ reality—Nārāyaṇa as Puruṣa/Pradhāna and supreme abode—and how can it be praised with purified intent?
Nārāyaṇa as parātpara (beyond the beyond), as pradhāna and puruṣa, and as the supreme abode/pure expansive state—uniting transcendence and ontological primacy.
Practice inner purification (viśuddha-bhāva) and contemplate the Supreme as the support of all categories (higher/lower) to stabilize devotion and discernment.
Varāha (as speaker) turns the dialogue toward a stuti of Nārāyaṇa, implicitly instructing Bhū-devī through theological praise.
Varāha’s voice praises Nārāyaṇa as the transcendent ground of both ‘para’ and ‘apara’; the avatāra (boar) is a manifest doorway to the unmanifest Supreme.
Implicit yajña-logic: purified bhāva (viśuddha-bhāva) as the ‘offering’ by which the Supreme is approached.
Bridges Sāṃkhya-Vedānta vocabulary: Puruṣa/Pradhāna and ‘śuddha-pada’ (pure state) point to Brahman/Nārāyaṇa as both immanent ground and transcendent lord.
Implicit: Nārāyaṇa as primeval Puruṣa is the theological ground for later avatāras (including Kṛṣṇa), though not named here.
Varāha Purāṇa: stuti clusters that employ Sāṃkhya terms (puruṣa/pradhāna) in Vaiṣṇava framing
FAQs
It functions as a conventional Purāṇic stuti (praise-invocation) that frames the discourse with cosmological and philosophical epithets, a common manuscript feature used to establish authority and thematic orientation.
No geographic location is named in this verse; it is primarily a doctrinal invocation describing transcendence and primordiality.
The verse foregrounds inner purification (viśuddha-bhāva) as a prerequisite for speech and study, presenting an epistemic-ethical stance rather than a prescriptive social rule.
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