Obtaining the Mahapuranas

[Eric11235]

Vannakam everyone,

It has been a while since I was last on and a lot has happened. This period has been trying and while my faith hasn't diminished, my rituals and practice have. I have decided to reinvigorate my physical devotion to Santana Dharma that along with study of the 4 Vedas, Mahabharata, and Ramayana, I would also like to read the 18 Mahapuranas. However there are a few issues:

1. I have searched the ends of the internet for electronic versions and my search has returned mostly fruitless ends.

2. I cannot buy anything due to various issues which I will not divulge.

3. I do not have room for physical copies and since getting my nook, I have become happier with ebooks as a method of reading (The vedas, Mahabharata, and Ramayana lie within my nook which is how I have access to them and if anyone would like to know where I found them I would be happy to share).

So basically, if anyone knows a place where I could find free versions of the english translations of the Mahapuranas, that would be most excellent and I would be most appreciative. I will continue my searching fruitless though it may be

Namaste

[Sahasranama]

Do you understand Hindi?

[Eric11235]

Vannakam Sahasranama

I am not versed in languages (very well) other than english, which is why I have trouble finding these writings, however, I do believe I found what I am looking for and thus, this thread might have been rendered moot.

[saidevo]

namaste Eric.

To start with, I suggest you can read a comprehensive account of the major purANas here:
http://www.gita-society.com/section3/HinduPuranas16.htm

[Eric11235]

Vannakam Saidevo

Thank you for the link, it should prove most useful in my further studies

[Ramakrishna]

This period has been trying and while my faith hasn't diminished, my rituals and practice have.

Namaste Eric,

This part just stood out to me. I think a lot or most, if not all Hindus or any people of faith go through these phase(s). I myself have had this happen to me periodically. Although I have never had a time when I ceased to be a Hindu or identify myself as a Hindu, I have had times when my faith and belief in Hinduism remain strong, but my actual practice and sadhana greatly diminish or become nonexistent. This usually lasts a few weeks or (at the worst) months, and then I realize I need to get back on the path. Your plan sounds great, best wishes.

Jai Sri Ram

[SanathanaDharma]

Dear Friend,

A small collection of sacred texts found online in English....

Very Important Note: Due to our previous deeds, we are still on this planet earth during the Kali Yuga...
Kali Yuga is that period of time where ignorant people, in the name of knowledge, spread highly adultrated
corrupt information...most of the texts we have today are adultrated and this adultration still continues

....many of the stories, rituals in the Puranas, Vedas and whatever scripts we have today have high amount of adultrated content
added by ignorant people over the course of time...but the fact is some of the information
still remains pretty much untouched and real....To give you a comparision, lets take the following example.....

STORY
Newton was enjoying a beautiful day sitting under an apple tree..he was watching the beautiful women dressed in bright colored clothes walking around chatting...
he also saw a few young boys playing hide and seek and noticed one of them was cheating too...
the sky was blue..the air was fresh...the grass was green..it was spring time...the trees were full of fruits..
the color of the apple was red which reminded Newton about his(secret) lady Love's lips...
which again reminded him of those playful days he and his girl friend use to spend on the side walk of river thames
discussing the beauty of astro-nuclear-hi-fundo-trigonometry....while he was lost in her thoughts, one of the apples from the tree fell down...
Newton stopped thinking about his girl friend and started thinking about apple falling down...
he wondered why it fell down and not in any other direction...and he finally discovered "Gravity" and then he showed everyone how we stand on earth and not fall off it...
hail gravity...[Point:this is how the Puranas, Punya Katha, etc are as of today]

LOGIC
Newtons law of gravity: Every point mass attracts every single other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points.
The force is directly proportional to the productof the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses.
[Point:this is how unadultrated contents like Bhagavad Gita,Sankhya Yoga, etc are as of today]

Point of above explanation: One can keep on talking for centuries to come about the beauty of the women he saw,
the loyalty of his secret girl friend...the ways one can spend a romantic walk beside thames, color of sky...
Newton's character(if he was a racist or not, for thinking about the "color" of his girl friends lips...or if he was a sexist for staring at beautiful women...
or what on earth is gravity...or the different ways one can make scientific discovery(sitting under a tree, staring at people..or having the healthy habbit of eating apples)...
thus creating man made groups, man made ideologies, contreversies, etc...
OR

One can learn the law, the logic behind it..and apply it for some useful purpose and make use of it as real knowledge....

so, my dear friend, I would request you to consider the context and meaning of dharma as a scale and then proceed ahead reading the sacred texts...

Our sacred texts are a treasure which needs to be protected and not corrupted...

Another important note: Many of the puranas contain phrases or stories where either Vishnu or Shiva or Shakthi is shown as supreme and others as less powerful...example Vishnu
is supreme so Shiva and Shakthi are defeated by Vishnu...my sincere advice please skip such logicless stories....because...Vishnu, Shiva and
Shakthi are all Parabramha swaroopi..Hence they are all one and the same...its only ignorant people, who, under deep darkness caused by their ignorance,
see difference between the Parabramha swaroopis....and such people have adultrated the sacred texts...

please read the beautiful texts, enjoy the bhakthi part present in every text and relish the divine nectar....

Links to Sanatana Dharma scripts
==================================================================================================== ========
PURANAS
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/index.htm)
Contents:
Vishnu Purana
Good:
- The author has given a very precise translation of Vishnu Purana
- References provided are really useful
- Adultration is minimum
Bad:
- The author has no idea about Sanathana dharma from core, hence is confused sometimes
Link:
http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/ (http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/)
Contents:
Srimad Bhagavatam(Bhagavatha Purana)
Good:
- The author has given a very precise translation of Bhagavata Purana
Bad:
- The purports mainly give narrow personal opinion at times
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/gpu/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/gpu/index.htm)
Contents:
Garuda Purana
Good: Many of the actual rituals are mentioned
Bad: Too much of adultration...not worth finding logic anywhere....
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/db/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/db/index.htm)
Contents:
Srimad Devi Bhagawatam
Good: Some of the stories are very beautifully given
Bad: Too much of adultration...not worth finding logic anywhere....

==================================================================================================== ======
VEDAS
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/index.htm)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/wyv/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/wyv/index.htm)
Contents:
Yajur Veda [Krishna]
Yajur Veda [Shukla]
Good: Perfect translation of the Vedas available as it is
Bad: Difficult to understand as it is literal translation
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vedaread.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vedaread.htm)
Contents:
Rig Veda
Good:
- A very good summary of Rig veda
- Easy to understand
Bad:
Not a exact translation, but a summary
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sv.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sv.htm)
Contents:
Sama Veda
Good:
- A very good understandable translation
Bad:
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/index.htm)
Contents:
Atharvana Veda
Good:
- A very good understandable translation
Bad:
==================================================================================================== ==
MAHABHARATHA
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/index.htm)
Contents:
Vyasa Mahabharatha in Sanskrit and transcoded in English
Good:
Excellent sanskrit script
Bad:
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm)
Contents:
Vyasa Mahabharatha in English, with Sanskrit reference
Good:
Excellent translation
Bad:

==================================================================================================== =
RAMAYANA
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rys/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rys/index.htm)
Contents:
Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit and transcoded in English
Good:
Excellent sanskrit script
Bad:
Link:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm)
Contents:
Valmiki Ramayana in English, with Sanskrit reference
Food:
Excellent translation
Bad:
==================================================================================================== ==
SRI BHAGAVAD GITA
Link:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/ (http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/)
Contents:
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Good:
Excellent word by word translation
Bad:
Please read only the translation for unbiassed understanding
Link:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/ (http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/)
Contents:
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Good:
Very good word by word translation
Bad:
Please read only the translation for unbiassed understanding, not the purports
===================================================================================================
UPANISHAD, MANU SMRITHI, etc
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm#vedas (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm#vedas)

[Eric11235]

Vannakam Everybody,

Thank you for the support, and thank you for the links provided SanathanDharma, I do have some of those works already, And I love sacred-texts.com, fantastic site. I find that study of sacred texts brings me close to the supreme, even if it is only in a miniscule way in relation to the universe. So again, thank you all.