The Puranas
After the age of the Vedas, we come to the age of the Puranas. The Vedic Age was undoubtedly the Diamond Age of human spirituality. We find that the rest of the history of Sanatana Dharma draws its inspiration and sustenance from this vast storehouse of spiritual power.
Following the Vedic Age, there appears to be a lull in Indian spiritual thought. This might be due to the fact that the highest peak which could be scaled by the spiritual mind had already been conquered. However, these truths are too lofty for the ordinary human mind to grasp, so we find that another wave of spirituality was brought into Bharat by the Puranic sages, Vyasa and Valmiki. This was surely our Golden Age. Vyasa was the author of the eighteen Puranas as well as the epic known as the Mahabharata, while Valmiki was the author of the Ramayana.
Without the Puranas, the Vedic religion, however sublime, would have slipped into oblivion like the ancient Egyptian, Macedonian, and Cretan cultures. Though these cultures had attained high levels of spirituality, they have been wiped off the face of the earth because they had no communication with the masses. It is due to the genius of the rishis that Sanatana Dharma has preserved its spiritual culture by keeping the truths and traditions alive among the masses as a whole, and not confining them to a few erudite scholars! This was a master plan of the rishis, which was both scientific and practical. It helped to divert the mind away from its indulgence in the lower fields of sensuality and fix it on a higher place of thought.
The esoteric truths of the Vedas, Brahmasutras, Upanishads, etc., were presented to the common man in a veiled form through the Puranic stories, rituals, and symbols. This diluted form of the highest spirituality was much more palatable to the ordinary human being. There was a section of people known as sutas who would memorize the Itihasas and the Puranas and go from village to village, repeating these stories which were so simple that even a child could understand. This ensured that the great truths of the Vedas were handed down from generation to generation.
The Puranas have deep psychological and metaphysical wisdom preserved in their stories. They present us with the idea that we are all, in reality, the Atman, which is nothing but the Supreme Reality of the Brahman. In the Puranas, Vyasa wove stories around the various gods, incorporating the Vedic truths so that they could be understood even by children and uneducated people.
The forms of gods are like algebraic symbols devised by Vyasa to aid us in our ascent to the highest state of Brahman. Their esoteric significance will be dealt with later. Like the gods, human beings are expressions of Brahman and are placed on an evolutionary scale that enables them to take a leap forward and experience themselves as the unconditioned reality of Brahman. The religion followed by the masses in Hinduism is what has been given by Valmiki and Vyasa in the Itihasas and Puranas.
For any religion to serve its true purpose, it must have its head in the heavens and its feet planted firmly on the ground. The Puranas were the master plan of the rishis, which ensured that the highest standards of ethics and morality were given in the form of Puranic stories that would benefit every type of person. The virtues portrayed in the characters were imprinted in our minds. The Puranas and Itihasas portray every type of virtue we must cultivate and every type of vice we should avoid. Can there be a better example of truth than Harischandra, of righteousness than Yudhisthira, of moral perfection than Sri Rama, and of chastity than Sita and Savitri? On the other hand, we find characters that portray lust like Ravana and arrogance and envy like Duryodhana.
The examples are endless, and they all push us towards human perfection in a far more impactful manner than just a set of commandments! The stories also tell us that though fate seems irrevocable, it can be reduced and even overcome by prayer and penance! There are numerous such episodes in the Puranas that convey these messages with great clarity and charm.
In other words, the Vedic truths were embedded in the Puranas so that all people, even a child, could consciously and unconsciously imbibe them. The Puranic stories were told to Hindu children while in their mother's lap at an age where they could easily absorb them. This ensured that they lived a Vedic life even though unconsciously. These truths were woven into the very fabric of the lives of even peasants so that they lived a spiritual life even without knowing. This is why Hinduism has been called a "Way of Life" rather than a religion.
By this compassionate act of theirs, the Puranic sages ensured that the ancient way of righteous living - the Sanatana Dharma - crept into the lives of every man, woman, or child in ancient India. It was not reserved for a chosen caste as the study of the Vedas was. Their plan was to help everyone reach the goal of all religions, which is to unite with the Supreme, even though they were illiterate and had no chance to read or understand the significance of the great ideas of the Vedas.
The art of symbolism, which was brought out in the Puranas, was perfected by the rishis. Unfortunately, this art has not been studied by the modern generation. Moreover, the 200 years of British rule almost wiped out all traces of this great way of life. This was done by doing away with our ancient educational system and replacing it with the Macaulian western system, which brainwashed the elite into seeing the mere 2000-year-old civilization of the West as superior to our own 30,000-year-old civilization. The Hindus were taught to reject our age-old Puranic beliefs and consider them as meaningless, superstitious nonsense. This belief was further reinforced by another 70 years of imperial rule. It is only now that the Hindus have started to awaken and realize the greatness of their own dharma. Let us all unite to bring up this ancient and immortal dharma, by following which the whole world can unite as one family (Vasudeva Kudumbakam), which was the dream of the rishis!
The Itihasas like Ramayana and Mahabharata are not mere stories. Rama and Krishna are historical figures who were born on the holy soil of Bharat. The British did their best to convince the Indians that they were all mythological figures, and unfortunately, we started to believe them, even though we have all the evidence that exists geographically and is embedded in our belief system to prove their historicity. The places they lived and traveled can still be seen in this country. The ancient city of Dwaraka, which was submerged in the ocean as described in the Mahabharata, has been discovered by underwater divers. Ayodhya, the city of Rama, which was a point of great controversy, has now been accepted as the capital city of Rama.
Modern Hindu parents should encourage their children to read the Puranas and the stories of these great avatars so that they will understand and appreciate the glory of their own culture.
Names of the 18 Puranas
1.    Brahma; 2. Padma; 3. Vishnu; 4. Shiva; 5. Bhagavata Maha Purana; 6. Narada; 7. Markandeya; 8. Agni; 9. Bhavishya; 10. Brahmavaivartaka; 11. Linga; 12. Varaha; 13. Skanda; 14. Vamana; 15. Kurma; 16. Garuda; 17. Brahmanda; 18. Matsya.
Of these the greatest is the Bhagavata Maha Purana.
The great stories of the Puranas came to me quite late in life, and still, they fired my imagination and fulfilled a longing for the depiction of another, higher reality which I am sure is shared by almost all humans. We all love a good tale! Each country has its heroes, but mostly they are war-like heroes,fighters, often outlaws and outcasts, following their beliefs in the face of all obstacles, showing a type of bravery that is perhaps beyond the possibilities of most people. But the characters of, for instance, the Mahabharata, portray, as said in the blog, all characteristics. Such fascinating characters, in all their complexity and fascinating duality! for instance Karna...how I love him. So brave, so generous, yet so desperate and pained by the dual fate of being an absolute hero and yet living out his life always in the face of obstacles seemingly planted at his very birth. The choices he had to make...often so tragic! I am so grateful for these teachings. Hari Aum!