question of the sages 2

Suta obliged with good grace. "After compiling the various divisions of Vedic knowledge in a form suitable to the age that had started, Vyasa had been wondering whether his work was really complete. Suddenly his guru Narada appeared to answer his doubts. Narada explained to Vyasa that in his writings he had neglected the most important thing: the detailed description of the glories of the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan Vishnu, of his forms and his activities. These transcendental stories have the power to transform the lives of those who hear them, as Narada himself had directly experienced. In his previous lifetime, Narada had been born from a maidservant of humble origins, and as a child he had helped his mother to serve a group of sadhus during a period of various months covering the rainy season and autumn. Those great sages were pleased with the boy and allowed him to listen to their discourses, that were specifically centered on the activities of the various divine manifestations. The company of the devotees had purified the child's consciousness to the point that he had lost all material attachments and he only wanted to engage in the search for the Lord. So when he left his body he obtained the blessing of taking a new birth as the direct son of Brahma, the creator. After Narada's visit, Vyasa focused on working on the Bhagavata and later he transmitted it to his son Sukadeva, another great spiritual personality who had already attained the level of complete liberation from all material attachments." The narration of the Bhagavata begins right after the battle of Kurukshetra, when the few survivors were resting in their tents. The five sons of Pandu (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva) were camping at the margins of the battlefield, together with their family. Drona's son, Asvatthama, was determined to avenge his master, the evil Duryodhana who had been defeated in battle, and in the middle of the night he sneaked into the tent of the five sons of Draupadi, the queen of the Pandavas. Then he beheaded them in their sleep. Caught red-handed, Asvatthama fled but was pursued by Arjuna, and when he realized he had no way to escape, he launched the terrible nuclear weapon called brahmastra. Arjuna destroyed the missile and captured Asvattham, taking him back to the camp in front of Krishna, Draupadi and the other Pandavas, for them to decide about his punishment.