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āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

May 13

Anyone who ignores the Brāhmaṇa texts of the Veda & the Karmakāṇḍa, and treats them as if they are non-existent, in their overall narrative on the meaning of the Veda, no matter how eloquent they are or sagacious they sound, cannot be authoritative, let alone a Ṛṣi.

Problem is even those who affirm the Vedatvam of the Brāhmaṇa texts ignore their importance & their overall interpretative framework makes Śrauta rituals & Karmakāṇḍa redundant & meaningless.

How good is your system if it does not, for example, have a stimulating explanation for why the Hautra Brāhmaṇa give 100s of correspondences (bandhas) between a particular Śastra (not Śāstra, but Śastra which is a particular combination of Ṛk-mantras) & the day/time of a particular sacrifice (To give a generalised form: “Let Hotṛs recite X-Śastra for Nth day of Y ritual as X contains word A & A is related to N”).

Where does this tie in with soteriology & metaphysics? Does this have a meaning beyond fulfilling desires? What was & is the point of all this? Are these rites still relevant given the advent of later rites & paths? What is the relationship between the old rites & new rites/knowledge?

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āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

Jan 1

Many Hindus have a very poor appreciation of the importance of ritual/spiritual technology & what it can do. A robust & powerful ritual/metaphysical technology can transform even the most primitive (whether apparent or actual) of religions into something very profound & this can create an extremely strong attachment to the Deity & its coterie which undergird that system, including becoming subjected to that Deity’s limitations (if the Deity is truly not transcendental or “enlightened”).

It’s precisely because of this potential one has to be very careful because getting initiated into a system with such ritual technology can leave a very deep mark/stain “on” the soul (figuratively, since the soul can’t be stained & the actual locus of the mark is the innate malaśakti obscuring the soul but this gets very technical), which can be very difficult to remove without a truly competent master.

Such a mark can prevent a soul from progressing towards the higher end of spiritual traditions & obstruct them from realizing the fruit even if they get initiated into such a higher-end Sampradāya. This is why, in the Siddhānta, prior to Dīkṣā (initiation), a rite called Liṅgoddhāra has to be first performed for a convert from another system in order to remove the mark (Liṅga) from the initiate, though many teachers (particularly those who are completely outside Saṁskṛta scholarship, are exclusively vested in the Tamizh tradition & are not well-versed in the Āgama) are sadly not well-equipped to do this.

Many Hindus often find it cool to clap back with retorts like “all these Abrahma religions are barbaric & worship false gods”, mirroring what the Abrahmas say. What they don’t get is that we have to confront them precisely because they are real & they have complex spiritual technologies which work but are ultimately not beneficial.

In this regard, those in a position to understand should be able to see something like the below & see in it a diminished version of a similar technology used by the Śaiva-Mantramārga (particularly the Siddhānta) &, to a much lesser extent, the Pāñcarātrikas. It also shows how the use of a proper, ritual technology (even if ultimately limited) can transform a religion even if the base framework is primitive/crude .

The below table is based on the Yahudas’ Kabbalah. What parallel concept/ritual technology in the above-mentioned Āstika Sampradāyas does it remind you of?

Screenshot in above tweet missed the last column. See this:

Further correspondences:

1. Map between the worlds in above table & different prayers

2. Correspondence between the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet & the sefirot (these are emanations within Yahava; like his Guṇas/Kalās)

Based on these, some of you can see the parallel ritual technology used in Siddhānta-Śaivam (and rarely these days in the Pāñcarātra).

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āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

Nov 22, 2023

https://twitter.com/shardula23/status/1727262088664645904

While certain paths are open to MahāmlecchādayaH by initiation, a problem they undeniably present is that they can’t be content with being passive spectators. They have to be leaders & reshape the path/system in their image. No ritual space can be closed off to them.

https://twitter.com/shardula23/status/1727262088664645904

A certain Āṅglika Mantravādī of the “Adhvamata” of the Cīnas in this realm is a good example of this tendency. Another example is this priest initiated into the Pāñcarātra, who has taken it upon himself to waive off the applicability of adhikāravidhi for…well…himself.

Many of them are simply not interested in or devoted to preserving the integrity of a Sampradāya’s teachings & practices. If it’s a space that appeals to them, they want to own that space & will undermine traditional institutions & rules in play, if that is deemed necessary.

Read 5 tweets

āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

Nov 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/ghorangirasa/status/1720132834600636927

Came, by chance, across a passage from Aitareyabrāhmaṇa that ties in with the point in the thread below as to how in rituals, the ritualist is given a taste of the universal power (sarvārthakriyā) that becomes manifest in Paramukti. Explanation of the Śruti in subsequent tweets:

https://twitter.com/ghorangirasa/status/1720132834600636927

The Śruti speaks of how the Agnihotrī leads (nayati) humans & all other beings as dakṣiṇā (ritual fees) to the Devas through the evening Agnihotra (hence the rest of creatures in the evening).

He leads the Devas themselves & all other beings as dakṣiṇā to humans through morning Agnihotra (from other Śrutis, we know that Devas preside over cognitive faculties). This is why when a human wakes up, he finds himself charged with the will to go places & do things.

Read 6 tweets

āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

Oct 25, 2023

Śāstra fails to be taken seriously because of 2 reasons:

1. Where it does contain precious teachings, it fails to be taken seriously because of arrogance on part of a small-minded reader.+++

+++
2. There is an undeniable bit of genuinely uninspired, over-the-top frivolity, which cannot be taken seriously but unfairly offers a justification for some to not take seriously the śāstravākyas in No.1. Such tripe should have been tempered, done away with or explained away.

We did have a culture of auditing Śāstras, although this is not a free-for-all exercise but an authority reserved for only Śiṣṭas.

Read 12 tweets

āṅgīrasaśreṣṭha

@GhorAngirasa

Oct 14, 2023

Dharmadānaparāyaṇā - A name of the old, widowed Goddess.

A very literal & simplistic meaning: She who is devoted to Dharma & Dāna (gift/charity).

A better but still very lay meaning: She who is devoted to the gift of Dharma (righteousness) by destroying the Adharmikas. +++

How a Saiddhāntika will see this beautiful name in light of Tattvajñāna. In the Siddhānta, Śiva’s grace, which is His inseparable Śakti, is seen as being in contact with sentients & insentients at all times. This is explained beautifully in Śrīmat-Mṛgendrāgama 👇🏾

Sentients are souls; insentients are our individual karmas, māyeyas (things made of Māyā such as bodies, cognitive instruments appended to these bodies, worlds & objects in these worlds) & the individuated powers of mala, each 1 binding each sentient.

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