• Opening
• Teachings

Opening

The Brahmanda Purana is is named after the "cosmic egg" (Brahma-anda), and is one of the eighteen major Puranas. It is listed as the eighteenth of them in almost all the anthologies.

It is among the oldest Puranas. The earliest core has been edited over time, and there are many versions.

The Purana contains rich praise of the goddess Lalita - who represents Brahman, Spirit -, and a set of chapters on Advaita and devotion, verses that may have been composed and added to this Purana as late as in the 15th century, estimatedly.

Any original version of the Brahmanda Purana has not come to the fore yet. The tradition and other Puranas hold that the Brahmanda Purana had 12,000 verses. However, the version published by Venkateshwar Press contains 14,286 verses. An Indonesian version of Brahmanda Purana is shorter, lacks superfluous adjectives but contains all essential information and does not contain the prophecy-related chapters found in the published extant Indian version. Thus, older versions of the Indian text may have been smaller, in a different style, and without prophecy-related sections.

The text is non-sectarian, reveres "all gods and goddesses", and denounces all animal sacrifices. Its philosophy is a blend of the Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga. Some Bhakti and Tantra themes are woven in.

Suta Romaharsana was once asked by sages to recite Brahmánda Purana for them, and got to it. He taught:

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Teachings

The Lord sustains the worlds. The creator of the world is the lord of past, present and future. The creator of the world knows full well the reality about the world. The mighty creator of the universe holds the knowledge of reality. The knowledge of the supreme, eternal Brahman was taught to sages. (1.1-14)