The twenty questions of Parikshit

Parikshit submissively asked the following questions to Sage Suka after hearing about the Yajna Purusha.

The twenty questions of Parikshit

1)      To whom and in what manner did Narada impart the knowledge of Bhagavata?

2)      The Atman is spirit and non-material. How does it come to have a body that is material? Is there any cause for this or is it purely accidental?

3)      Man has many distinct organs and limbs. The supreme Virat purusha also has the same as per your description. What then differentiates God from man?

4)      In what does the Supreme Being remain when he disassociates himself from the Atma – Maya?

5)      We have heard that the world and their protectors are formed from his limbs and the world and their protectors constitute His limbs. Which of these contradictions are true?

6)      What are the lengths of time involved in a Kalpa, Vikalpa. How do we understand time with its division of past, present and future? What is the span of different types of beings like man, devas etc.

What are the actions of time in its micro and macro aspects?

7)      What realms can man attain through his actions?

What is the origin of different worlds like Bhu, Patala etc?

8)      What are the internal dimensions of Brahmananda, what is beyond it?

9)      What are the stipulations of Varnashrama society?

10)   What are the incarnations of the Lord?

What are Yugas and what are duties pertaining to particular Yugas?

11)   What are common duties of man and what are their special duties? What duties are to be followed by people following different trades, by Rajarshis and by people facing emergencies?

12)   The number of categories like Mahatattwa etc, their nature, effects

13)   How to worship the supreme being and how to do yoga with eight steps?

14)   How do the yogis destroy the linga sarira?

15)   What are the nature of scriptures like vedas, subsidiary vedas and dharma shastras, itihasas and puranas?

16)   What is Dharma, Artha, Kama?

17)   How do Jivas emerge from the Lord?

18)   What is the origin of atheism?

19)   Explain about the bondage and liberation of Atman.

20)   How the Lord does limit himself in Maya and how does he disassociate from it?

Sage Suka was mightily pleased by these questions and answered all these questions one by one in the course of his exposition of Bhagavatam.

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