A wandering sage with a vina who turns up at every turning point — once a maidservant's son, now the teacher of teachers.
Appears in
Vyasa's unrest and Narada's story — Skandha 1, adhyayas 4-6 — The man who divided the Vedas and wrote the Mahabharata sits by the Sarasvati unsatisfied, until Narada tells him why.
Dhruva's tapas — Skandha 4, adhyayas 8-12 — A five-year-old turned away from his father's lap goes into the forest to find a seat no one can take from him.
The allegory of Puranjana — Skandha 4, adhyayas 25-29 — A king finds a city with nine gates, falls in love with its queen, and forgets the friend he left at the door.
Prahlada and his father — Skandha 7, adhyayas 3-7 — A boy asked what the best thing he learned at school is answers 'devotion to Vishnu' — to the father who wants Vishnu dead.
The nine yogis and King Nimi — Skandha 11, adhyayas 2-5 — Nine sages answer nine questions from a king: who a devotee is, what maya is, how to cross it, and what the Lord looks like in each age.
Embodies
Devotion as the highest dharma — The Bhagavatam's own thesis (1.2.6): the highest dharma is devotion with no motive, which nothing can interrupt.
Who is a teacher — A son teaches his mother, a madman teaches a king, and an ascetic learns from a pigeon, a python and a courtesan.
Questions to explore
What did Narada learn as a maidservant's son that made him a sage?
Why does Narada so often appear where a story turns?
Why did Narada teach Prahlada's mother while Prahlada was still in the womb?
