476
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 9]
upāyān —means;  yathā —as it is;  mune —O sages;  nānā —various;  ākhyāna —by recitation of historical narrations;  itihāseṣu —in the histories;  varṇayāmāsa —described;  tattvavit —one who knows the truth.
TRANSLATION
Then he described the occupational duties of different orders and statuses of life, citing instances from history, for he was himself well acquainted with the truth.
PURPORT
Incidences mentioned in the Vedic literatures, such as the  Purāṇas ,  Mahābhārata  and  Rāmāyaṇa , etc., are factual historical narrations which took place sometime in the past, although not in any chronological order. Such historical facts, being instructive for ordinary men, were assorted without chronological reference. Besides that, they happen on different planets, nay, in different universes, and thus the description of the narrations is sometimes measured by three dimensions. We are simply concerned with the instructive lessons of such incidences, even though they are not in order by our limited range of understanding. Bhīṣmadeva described such narrations before Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira in reply to his different questions.
TEXT 29
धर्मं प्रवदतस्तस्य स कालः प्रत्युपस्थितः । यो योगिनश्छन्दमृत्योर्वाञ्छितस्तूत्तरायणः ॥२९॥
dharmam pravadatas tasya sa kālaḥ pratyupasthitaḥ yo yoginaś chanda-mṛtyor vāñchitas tūttarāyaṇaḥ
dharmam —occupational duties;  pravadataḥ —while describing;  tasya —his;  saḥ —that;  kālaḥ —time;  pratyupasthitaḥ —exactly appeared;  yaḥ —that is;  yoginaḥ —for the mystics;  chanda-mṛtyoḥ —of one who dies according to one’s own selection of time;  vāñchitaḥ —as desired by;  tu —but;  uttarāyaṇaḥ —period when the sun runs on the northern horizon.