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The Bhagavata-purāṇa
Madhusudana Sarasvati, Pañcama-skandha-ṭīkā by Vallabhācārya, Subodhini by Balakṛṣṇa Yati, Vaisnava-toșini by Sanātana Gosvāmī, Budharañjini by Vasudeva, Nibandha-prakāśa by Vitthala Dikṣita, Anukramanikā by Vallabhācārya, Ekādasa-skandha-tātparya-candrikā by Brahmananda, Anukramaņikā by Vopadeva. Many other works also have been written on the diverse subjects of the Bhāgavata-purana and some have also summarized it. Some of these works are by Rāmānanda-tirtha, Priyādāsa, Viśveśvara, Purusottama, Śrīnātha, Vṛndāvana Gosvāmi, Viṣṇu Puri and Sanātana.
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Dharma.
The word dharma, ordinarily translated as "religion" "virtue," is used in very different senses in the different schools and religious traditions of Indian thought. It will be useful to deal with some of the more important of these notions before the reader is introduced to the notion of dharma as explained in the Bhagavatapurāna. The Mimāmsā-sūtra begins with an enquiry regarding the nature of dharma, and defines it as that good which is determinable only by the Vedic commands. According to Sabara's and Kumārila's interpretation, the good that is called dharma means the Vedic sacrifices that lead to good results-the attainment of Heaven and the like. The fact that the Vedic sacrifices may bring about desirable results of various kinds can neither be perceived by the senses nor inferred from other known data: it can be known only from the testimony of the Vedic commands and directions. Dharma, therefore, means both the good results attainable by the Vedic sacrifices and the sacrifices themselves, and, as such, it is determinable only by the Vedic injunctions. Desirable results which are attained by rational and prudent actions are not dharma: for by definition dharma means only those desirable results which are attainable by operations which are performed strictly in accordance with Vedic injunctions. But in the Vedas are described various kinds of sacrifices by the performance of which one may take revenge on his enemies by destroying them or causing grievous injuries of various kinds to them, but action causing injury to any fellow-being is undesirable, and such action cannot be dharma. 1 athato dharma-jijñāsā. Mīmāmsä-sutra, I. 1. 1. codana-lakṣano'rtho dharmaḥ. Ibid. 1. 1. 2.
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