Reference 0001 · Scope: adhyaay 1 only · Lesson 1 · Shlok map
Everyone who speaks in adhyaay 1, and the words it will not stop using. Print this and keep it beside the day's reading.
શૌનક મહર્ષિ
Head of the assembly of munis at the sacrifice. Speaks shlok 1–8. He is not asking as a beginner — he says he has already heard dharma, jnan, vairagya and yoga explained in full, with their fruits.
સૂતપુત્ર ઉગ્રશ્રવા
The storyteller being questioned. Son of Romaharshan. Shlok 8 credits his knowledge to the grace of Baldev, Vyas and his father; the Gujarati adds the six Puranis — Traiyyaruni, Kashyap, Savarni, Akritavran, Vaishampayan, Harit.
સાવર્ણિ મુનિ
The sage in the quoted conversation. Shlok 9 says he asked after hearing the jnan-kand — so he too is asking from the far end of the hard paths, not the near end.
કાર્તિકસ્વામી
Son of Mahadev. Answers shlok 14–19, and in shlok 28 begins the answer that becomes the rest of the granth. Before he speaks he meditates on Vasudev in his heart (shlok 13).
Called in this chapter: स्कन्द Skanda · गुह Guha · कार्तिकेय Kartikeya · षण्मुख Shanmukh · શંકરનંદન Shankar-nandan · કૃત્તિકાપુત્ર Krittika-putra. One person.
Vedvyas — compiler of the Skanda Puran, and by the preface's account the reason this granth exists in this arrangement. Baldev and Romaharshan — Sauti's sources of grace (shlok 8). Mahadev — the head of the chain (shlok 14). Narad and Sanak and the rest — named in shlok 27 only as the shishta, the wise whose approval Savarni wants for any method of worship. Vasudev — meditated on in shlok 13, and the subject of the answer that has not yet begun.
These are the terms you met here — not yet terms you own. Definitions are pinned to how adhyaay 1 actually uses them, which is sometimes narrower than the general sense.
શ્રેય · shreya:
The true good of a living being. આત્યંતિક શ્રેય — atyantik shreya —
is the final, unsurpassable form of it: moksha. Both Shaunak and Savarni ask about this one thing.
Avoid: benefit, blessing.
મુમુક્ષુ · mumukshu:
One who actively wants moksha. The preface says the granth exists for the
નિઃશ્રેયસ of all mumukshu jivas. Avoid: seeker, devotee.
અક્ષય ફળ · akshaya phal:
Imperishable fruit — the specification Savarni adds in shlok 25 that ordinary devata-worship fails.
Avoid: eternal reward.
સાધન · sadhan:
A means — the thing you do to reach a fruit. The entire chapter is a search for one sadhan
with three properties: easy, unobstructed, and imperishable in its fruit. Avoid: practice,
discipline.
ધર્મ · જ્ઞાન · વૈરાગ્ય · યોગ:
The four means already taught, and rejected in shlok 3 as too hard. In this chapter's own gloss:
dharma = the conduct proper to your varna and ashram; jnan = discrimination of self
from not-self (sankhya); vairagya = distaste for everything other than God;
yoga = the eight-limbed discipline. Keep these four together — they travel as a set.
સુકર · sukar:
Easy to do. The word Shaunak and Savarni both put at the centre of the request
(सुकरोपायं, shlok 5). Its opposite here is
દુષ્કર dushkar, hard to do. Avoid: simple, beginner-level.
અંતરાય · antaray:
An obstacle that lands from outside — bad place, bad time, circumstance — and makes success in a
hard sadhan unreachable even for the capable (shlok 3). Avoid: distraction, obstacle in the mind.
કાળગ્રસ્ત · kaal-grast:
Swallowed by time. Savarni's verdict in shlok 21 on the fruits of devata-worship: real, but eaten.
The hinge of his objection. Avoid: temporary, worldly.
દેવતાપ્રીણન · આરાધન · devata-prinan, aradhan:
Pleasing / worshipping a deity — Kartik Swami's first answer (shlok 15), and the answer Savarni
then finds insufficient. Note the mechanism claimed in shlok 16–18: any act, even a small one,
attached to a deity, yields a great fruit. Avoid: puja, prayer.
ઉપાસના · upasana:
Sustained worship of, and dwelling on, a chosen God — the category this granth belongs to. The
preface calls Vasudev Mahatmya the ઉપાસના કાંડ, as against the
કર્મકાંડ (ritual) and જ્ઞાનકાંડ (knowledge) of the
Vishnu Khand's first two parts. Avoid: devotion (too broad), bhakti (a separate term).
ભક્તવત્સલ · bhakta-vatsal:
Tender towards devotees the way a cow is towards its calf — one of the six things Savarni demands
of the God he is asking about (shlok 25).
નિત્યધામ · nitya-dham:
An abode that time cannot move. Set against Jan, Tap and Satya lok, which shlok 22 says end with
the દ્વિપરાર્ધ.
ખંડ · ભાગ · અધ્યાય · khand, bhag, adhyaay:
The Skanda Puran has seven khands; the Vishnu Khand has three bhags; this third
bhag has 32 adhyaay. Every adhyaay ends with an ઇતિ line naming
itself — adhyaay 1's is સાવર્ણિ પ્રશ્નો, “Savarni's question”.
Reading that closing line first tells you what the chapter is about.
હેય · heya:
To be set aside. Used in the preface for karma without bhakti and — more surprisingly — for
atma-jnan without bhakti. This word is why part 3 exists at all.