Tragically misunderstood, the Puranic"world" is in the mass-mind and even in the mind of many intellectuals, the world they are seeing in front of their eyes. This literal meaning of the term "world" would no doubt be inherent in somebody uninitiated in the matter of interpreting ancient scripture but it would also be natural to the bahirmukhi, the one whose attention is fixed outside. But the tales of the Puranas are esoteric in character. They are not historical but reflect deep philosophico-scientific truths. As mentioned while discussing the philosophy underlying the model, the goal of the ancient intellectuals was to highlight through the "story" of the anatomy the conscious intervention of the Lord: and consequent to this realization, the objective of listening to the puranic stories is not to impart historical or geographical, for that matter, teaching, but to awaken the intelligence of the listener so that he becomes aware of the teleological deeds of the Lord. This fruit of listening is encapsulated in the next verse. Naturally such a goal will be best realized when the mind of the listener is focused inward rather than outward, when he becomes antarmukhi instead of bahirmukhi. For then he will become aware of the lord's grace towards him. It is for this reason that Sankaradeva says, there is great profit in listening when one's mind is turned inward (Bh. R. ).
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