Vidura's pilgrimage, the boar who lifts the earth, two gatekeepers cursed into demons, and a son who teaches his mother.
What happens in this skandha
Vidura leaves Hastinapura, hears of Krishna's last days from Uddhava, and hears creation explained by Maitreya. Brahma creates; the earth sinks and Varaha raises it on his tusk. The curse on Vaikuntha's gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya explains the birth of Hiranyaksha, whom Varaha slays. The book ends with Kardama and Devahuti, and their son Kapila teaching her Sankhya and devotion.
Episodes in this skandha
The gatekeepers of Vaikuntha are cursed — Skandha 3, adhyayas 15-16 — Four child-sages are stopped at Vaikuntha's seventh gate, and the two guards who stopped them must be born three times as demons.
Varaha raises the earth — Skandha 3, adhyayas 13; 17-19 — A boar no bigger than a thumb leaps from Brahma's nostril, grows to fill the sky, and dives into the ocean for the sunken earth.
Kapila teaches his mother — Skandha 3, adhyayas 21-33 — A mother whose husband has gone to the forest asks her own son how to be free, and he answers with Sankhya and devotion.
Continue through the Bhagavatam
Dvitiya Skandha — Skandha 2 — Shuka's first answer to a man with seven days: fix the mind on the Lord, and here is the shape of everything He holds.
Chaturtha Skandha — Skandha 4 — A father-in-law's insult and Sati's fire, a five-year-old who wins the pole star, and a king who milks the earth.
