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The Bhagavata Podcast
The Bhagavata Podcast invites listeners on an engaging journey through the Bhagavata Purana, more commonly known as the Srimad Bhagavatam. Each episode features conversations between scholars, many of whom are also practitioners, as they reflect on and analyze a chapter of this text together. The podcast offers a unique blend of academic rigor and personal insight, providing fresh perspectives that illuminate the beauty and uniqueness of the Bhagavatam.
In each episode, host Dr. Måns Broo, an esteemed scholar and Gaudiya Vaishnava practitioner, invites expert guests to reflect on a chapter of the Bhagavata Purana. Following a linear progression through the text, the discussions explore the philosophical, theological, and literary dimensions of the Bhagavatam, offering both traditional insights and modern academic interpretations. This thoughtful approach enables listeners to journey through the Bhagavata Purana chapter by chapter, uncovering the intricate teachings of this work.
The Bhagavata Podcast is an initiative supported by the Gaudiya Studies Research Programme of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, furthering the mission of connecting living traditions with academic exploration.
The Bhagavata Podcast
1.12 The Child Who Survived a Nuclear Weapon | Bhagavata Podcast with Jayananda Das
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Before he could be born, the last of the Pandava line was nearly destroyed by a weapon of devastating power. What saved him, and what that survival meant, is the subject of Canto 1, Chapter 12.
Jayananda Das (Dr. Janne Kontala) and host Bhrigupada Das explore the birth narrative of Parikshit, the king whose impending death will eventually prompt the entire recitation of the Bhagavatam. The episode examines the Vedic understanding of birth omens and astrological signs, the significance of Parikshit's name (the one who examines), and what it means that he entered the world already searching for the divine light that had protected him in the womb.
This chapter is the origin story not just of a king but of the Bhagavatam's central narrative frame. Understanding it changes how you read everything that follows.
The Bhagavata Podcast is produced by the Gaudiya Studies Research Programme at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Each episode brings together scholar-practitioners, trained in both Indology and lived Vaishnava devotion, to read this text closely and seriously.