Naarad's Visit to King Priyavrat
Swaayambhuv Manu lived during the first Kalp. He had two sons by name Priyavrat and Uttaanpaad. Priyavrat was extremely virtuous by nature. In course of time, he relinquished his throne and after distributing his kingdom among his sons went to Badarik Aashram to do penance. Once sage Naarad paid a visit to the hermitage of Priyavrat. Priyavrat received his esteemed guest with all the respect which made Naarad extremely pleased. Priyavrat requested Naarad to narrate about some interesting incident which had occurred in his life.

Naarad Gets Attracted to Saavitree
Naarad narrated an interesting incident happened while he was on his way to meet Priyavrat just the previous day. He said - "I experienced an amazing incident while I was passing by a lake in Shwet Dweep. I saw a divinely beautiful woman who was standing alone at the bank of that lake. I was surprised to find such a beautiful woman at such a lonely place. For a moment I became so infatuated by her beauty that I lost all control over my senses. My lust had made me devoid of all my knowledge and learning. Now, I became very worried and ashamed of my conduct, but the damage had already been made. I immediately realized that she was not an ordinary woman. To my surprise, I saw a form of a divine person visible clearly within her body. Within next few moments two other male forms revealed themselves. Suddenly, all three of them disappeared leaving behind just that divine lady. I was dumbstruck by this amazing incident.

I went to her and asked her identity. The divine lady disclosed to me that she was none other than goddess Saavitree - the mother of all the Ved and since I was unable to recognize her therefore all the knowledge had vanished from my memory. She also revealed to me that the three divine men which had manifested themselves within her body were in fact the three Ved - Rig Ved, Saam Ved and Yajur Ved. After revealing these amazing facts to me she assured me that by taking a bath in that lake I would not only regain my memory of the Ved but also of all my previous births.

Naarad then eulogized Saavitree and thanked her for the blessings showered on him. He then took bath in that lake and to his pleasant surprise he now remembered everything of his past births as had been prophesized by the goddess Saavitree. Priyavrat was very surprised to hear this and requested Naarad to describe some interesting incident related with his past birth. Naarad then narrated the following incidents to him :-

Naarad's Previous Lives
"In Sat Yug, I was born in a Braahman family and was named as Saaraswat by my parents. I was very studious and grew up to become a renowned scholar. The almighty God had blessed me with immense riches and I never experienced any scarcity of any kind in my life. But, very soon I got bored of my monotonous and routine life. It had become clear to me that there was more to life than just worrying about the gains and losses. So, I decided to do penance to attain salvation. So I distributed all my wealth among my sons and went to the bank of the River Saraswatee.

On the river bank of Saraswatee I first prformed the rituals of Shraaddh in the name of my ancestors and then performed Yagya. I also donated lot of wealth to poor people. Being satisfied with all my activities, I then went to Pushkar Teerth and did penance on the bank of River Saraswatee by continuously chanting the sacred Mantra "Om Namo Naaraayanaaya" and Brahm Paar Stotra (appears in 2Padm, 3-Swarg-3;  and in 3Vishnu, 1-Pratham-8 also). Ultimately, Naaraayan became pleased with me and appeared before me. He asked me of my wish and I expressed my desire to get united with his divine form. But, He told me that the world needed me and so this desire of mine could not be fulfilled.

Naarad Gets His Name
He blessed me and gave me my name Naard because I had donated Water (Naar) to my ancestors during the course of performing Shraaddh rituals. Although my wish of uniting with the divine form of Shree Hari had remain unfulfilled but still there was a consolation as I had been fortunate enough to see his divine form with my mortal eyes. Thereafter, I devoted my life to the worship of Shree Hari. After a while I died. After my death, I attained Brahm Lok. I had been adequately rewarded for my devotion toward Shree Hari.

Later on, I manifested as one of the ten Maanas Putra of Brahmaa when he commenced his creation. It was only because of the blessings of Shree Hari that I came to be regarded as "Lok Guru" by the masses. So Hey Priyavrat, if you are also desiring for attaining salvation then you should also follow my example and devote your life in the name of Shre Hari." Thus Naarad completed his story to Priyavrat.

All this was told by Varaah to Prithvi who was listening to it with rapt attention. Prithvi asked whether it is possible for anybody to see Naaraayan with his mortal eyes. Lord Varaah replied - "A man can realize Lord Narayan by having total devotion in any one of the ten incarnations." Even the deities are incapable of this divine experience-what to say about humans.

Brahmaa is also the manifestation of all the three qualities of Sri Hari and actually it is He (Shree Hari) who manifests Himself in the form of Lord Brahmaa - it is He who manifests himself in various natural forms like earth, water, fire, air and sky-it is He who manifests himself in various abstract qualities like consciousness- He is omnipresent and the whole universe is pervaded by him."

My Note
We finish our Sandhyaa Vandan with "Kaayen vachaee Shreemannaaraayan yetu samarpayaami". How apt it is.

Prithvi was anxious to know whether Naarad's sermons had any effect on Priyavrat so she asked Varaah regarding this. Lord Varaah replied - "Yes, Ultimately, Priyavrat could attain the abode of Shree Hari by the virtue of his total devotion.