Atharva Veda (kAnda 6) has a small set of mantras praising the mind (as a symbol of Brahman) for aiding the upAsaka in his Yoga. Again, a similarity to Nammazhwar always hailing his mind in terms such as "kettAye mada nenje" and so on. Here is a brief translation+
namo devavadhebhyo namo rAjavadhebhyaH |

[Salutations to mind associated with desireless activities (karma yoga) that destroy hankerings of sense objects and meditations of the self that destroy desires ruling over the self (jnAna yoga).]+
“deva” refers to contemplations that shine out sense objects, quelled by karma yoga. rAja is lust, that rules over the self, which are destroyed by jnAna yoga or meditation on the self that removes such desires.+
atho ye viShyAnAm vadhAs tebhyo mRtyo namo 'stu te

[Salutations to meditations of Brahman that are destroyers of the group of karmas (bhakti yoga), Salutations to you, mind, who are "Death" to my samsAra!]

Next, each of karma, jnAna and bhakti yoga is taken up separately+
namas te adhivAkAya parAvAkAya te namaH |

[Salutations to your speech (denoting all senses, ie, karma yoga) directed towards Brahman in desireless action, Salutations to your speech (senses) of the form of censure of prakrti, averted from sense objects (jnAna yoga).]+
sumatyai mRtyo te namo durmatyai te idaM namaH

[Mind who are Death to my SamsAra, Salutations to your favorable disposition towards the self and to your disposition of being distant from sense objects]

Next, bhakti yoga is taken up.+
namas te yAtudhAnebhyo namas te bheShajebhyaH |

[Salutations to your qualities (of sama, dama etc) that maintain bhakti yoga, to your manifold knowledge and renunciations that are medicine]+
“yAtudhAna” – those that hold or maintain, “yAt” -  effort of Yoga.

"bheShaja” – Things to know are many, and things to renounce are also many. They are jnAna and vairAgya to various objects. These are medicine for the distress of samsAra.

These qualities lead one to Brahman+
namas te mRtyo mUlebhyo brAhmaNebhya idaM namaH

[Salutations, mind who are death to samsAra, to your roots or various forms of Brahman that are grounds for meditations (mUlebhya) & to meditations on auspicious qualities that guide the self out of samsAra (brAhmanebhya)]+
"brAhmaNa" - One who guides brahma (the self). The meditation on the auspicious qualities displayed by the forms of Brahman destroy karmas and guide the self out of samsAra.

Nice little set of thoughts by the Veda puruSha here. So many parallels to the divya prabandham//

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More from @DefiledGod

2 Nov
Wrt to jnAna and vairAgya being many/in plural, let me give you a small insight on the absolute brilliance of sri vaishnava AchAryAs. We will consider this invocatory stanza (thaniyan) of AchArya nAthamuni:

nama: achinthya adhbudha aklishta jnAna vairAgya rAsayE
nAthAya munayE agAdha bhagavadh bhakthi sindhavE

[Salutations to nAthamuni who is the treasure of both jnAna and vairAgya and the ocean of single minded devotion to bhagavAn.]+
Our AchAryAs while commenting on this shloka, ask a Q - "Why is he a treasure of jnAna and vairAgya? After all they are just 2 things while a treasure implies an abundance". The answer is that there are many things to develop jnAna about and many things to renounce (vairAgya)+
Read 5 tweets
2 Nov
There are so many pAsurams where azhwar advises the mind, just like those mantras did. Few:

uLan kaNdaay nan nenjE! utthaman enRum/

Oh my auspicious Mind! Realise that there is One; who is the Greatest Lord! - PoigaiAzhwar

Sudaradi thozhudhu yezhu en mananE

Seek his divine feet, my mind! - Nammazhwar+
kEttAyE mada nenjE – Azhwar talks to his mind - "Thinking about the great object of attainment at ThiruvAttAru, that Lord Keshava we have acquired, have you become proud that we have attained what is impossible to attain? Are you enjoying this?"+
Read 4 tweets
30 Oct
Producing commentary of shrimad vIrarAghavAchArya, a great Sri vaishnava guru on the bhAgavata shloka 8.7.33+
evaMbhUtaM tvAM ye nindanti te mUrkhAH ityAha -- ye tviti | ye tu tvAm umayA bhavAnyA saha charantaM nitarAM kAminaM katthante pralapanti tathA shmashAne charantamugraM krUraM paruShaM hiMsraM cha katthante, kathaMbhUtam? +
"Those who belittle you (Shiva), who are of (exalted) nature are fools. Those who call you promiscuous for giving umA your body, by calling your activity (of taking away lives) as fierce, your residing in graveyard as uncultured -- what are these type of people? (they are fools)"
Read 8 tweets
30 Oct
--- Thread on Meditation of 18 purANAs ---

padma purANa visualizes 18 purANAs as various body parts of Hari. It is clear that each part corresponds to the starting inquiry of the purANa. I will not post sanskrit here, rough translation of each query+

wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/…
brahma purANa is mUrdha (head). It begins with Q “You know deeds of devAs & dAnavAs, tell us how Universe with devas etc arises & into whom will it dissolve”. So, purANa asks how Brahman is the source of glory of devAs etc. It is the head of viShNu as he is at the crest of all.
+
Padma purANa is the heart. It begins with Q, “How was the lotus along with brahmA produced”. In rAmAyaNa, brahmA tells rAma, “ahaM te hR^idayaM”. In vedic parlance, “heart” stands for “putra” & shows brahmA is an effect of bhagavAn. This purANa is the heart, due to this Q.+
Read 26 tweets
14 Oct
Everyone knows Brahma and Shiva are great gods. But Yama is only next to them in greatness of knowledge. As a dedication to Lord Yama, here is a translation of the beautiful yamāṣtaka by Savitri from brahmavaivarta purāṇa. Translation done in a hurry, so excuse errors if any.+
harērutkīrtanaṃ dharma svakulōddhārakāraṇam| śrōtlṇāṃ caiva vaktlṇāṃ janmamṛtyujarāharam

[Savitri: Yama, who are Dharma personified! Praise of Hari, speaking about his stories or listening to them, result in purification of one's lineage. It removes birth & death.]+
dānānāṃ ca vratānāṃ ca siddhīnāṃ tapasāṃ param| yōgānāṃ caiva vēdānāṃ sēvanaṃ kīrtanaṃ harēḥ||

[Higher than charity, vows, sacrifices, penances, meditation, study of the Vedas is the praise of Lord Hari]+
Read 23 tweets
13 Oct
Some pointed out 108 names of rAma in padma purANa as describing Sivalinga prathiShTa. I had a look at the section:

sarvayajñādhipō yajvā jarāmaraṇavarjitaḥ ।
śivaliṅgapratiṣṭhātā sarvāvaguṇavarjitaḥ ॥

This interested me so I went through the section. Genuine enough+
If you take the time to understand that names in sahasranAmAs & shatanAmAs are not random but telling a story, ie, onnected to each other, you would understand that it is not proper to jump into a name and interpret it as per layman understanding. So let me explain these names+
sarvayajñādhipō yajvā jarāmaraṇavarjitaḥ ।

[The One who presides over all sacrifices (as the object of worship), the One who performs sacrifices for those who cannot do so (as the means of worship), who is devoid of birth and death despite being the antaryAmin]+

Exp below+
Read 11 tweets

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