Here is an interesting find - everybody knows yudhiShThira committed adharma by not lying to droNa and saying an elephant named ashvattAma was killed.

However, what is not well known is that bhagavAn never asked the pANDavAs to kill an elephant in the first place+
मतिमाञ्श्रेयसेयुक्तः केशवोऽर्जुनमब्रवीत् । नैष युद्धेन सङ्ग्रामे जेतुं शक्यःकथञ्चन । सधनुर्धन्विनां श्रेष्ठो देवैरपि सवासवैः । न्यस्तशस्त्रस्तुसङ्गारमे शक्यो हन्तुं भवेन्नृभिः ।+
[Keshava, intelligent in protecting his bhaktas & devoted to their welfare, told Arjuna, “droNa, that foremost of bowmen, cannot be defeated by direct conflict in battle, even by gods with Indra. He is capable of being killed even by humans, when he lays down his weapons”]+
आस्तीयतांजये योगो धर्ममुत्सृज्य पाण्डवाः । यथा न संयुगेसर्वान्निहन्याद्रुक्मवाहनः
 ।
[Taking recourse to Yoga, ie, bhagavAn (myself), the means to victory, cast aside the conduct of direct conflict, pANDava. So that this one in a golden chariot does not kill us all in battle]+
bhagavAn is asking Arjuna to seek him as the means, and restrain using his own strength in battle against droNa. He is after all "Keshava" - the destroyer of distress.

He includes himself as in "droNa will kill us". If his bhaktas are killed, he too feels "dead"!+
अश्वत्थाम्निहते नैष युध्येदिति मतिर्मम । तं हतं संयुगे कश्चिदस्मै शंसतुमानवः

[It is my opinion that if AshvattAma is killed, he will stop fighting. Let some praiseworthy person (my devotee) tell him that Ashvattama has died]+
Note that bhagavAn has said "मतिर्मम" - it also means, it is his sankalpa to make droNa full of grief at the loss of his son. Note also that bhagavAn never said to kill an elephant. 

Whatever bhagavAn says, is dharma and satyam+
एतन्नारोचयद्राजन्कुन्तीपुत्रो धनञ्जयः । अन्येत्वरोचयन्सर्वे कृच्छ्रेण तु युधिष्ठिरः

[dhana~njayaH, the son of kuntI, was not pleased by these words. All of his other brothers were pleased by it, but yudhiShThira acceded with difficulty]+
"dhana~njayaH" - One who conquered wealth by subjugating others. He is the son of kuntI, a queen.

It means, he has ego over his own abilities and did not want to defeat droNa by restraining himself and seeking bhagavAn's help+
ततो भीमो महाबाहुरनीकेषु महागजम् । जघान गदया राजन्नश्वत्थामानमित्युत

[Then, bhIma, of strong arms, killed with his mace, a great elephant named AshvattAma...]

This is something bhagavAn never recommended. bhIma did it to assuage yudhiShThira and arjuna+
कृत्वा मनसि तं भीमो मिथ्या व्याहृतवांस्तदा

[Keeping the fact (of the dead elephant) in his mind, bhIma uttered a falsity to droNa]+
Why were bhIma’s words false? - bhIma was thinking about the elephant when saying "Ashvattama is dead".

That thought was against bhagavAn’s will that "AshvattAma, droNa's son" was dead. bhagavAn never asked them to kill an elephant, he told them to say droNa’s son was dead+
bhIma had just killed the elephant so he was dwelling on it while speaking to droNa. That falsified bhIma's statement.

droNa did not believe it & inquired yudhiShThira, who talked about the elephant, due to which his chariot fell down on the ground for uttering a falsity+
As yudhiShThira had spoken "asatya" - against bhagavAn's orders, droNa still did not lay down his arms.

But as he lowered his voice while saying “elephant”, droNa was weakened by grief.

But he still continued to fight; dhR^iShtadyumna was no match for even a weakened droNa+
Then, finally, bhIma, composing himself, said,

स वै च निहतः शेते तव पुत्रः सुमन्दधीः । धर्मराजस्य तद्वाक्यं नाभिशङ्कितुमर्हसि

[bhIma said: Slow-witted one! Your son lies in the battlefield, killed! Do not doubt the words of dharmarAja]+
Since bhIma finally said these words, “तव पुत्रः” - droNa laid down his weapons and was killed.

As to how droNa died, there is an incredible tattva about it, which I will explain next week or so.//

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More from @DefiledGod

8 Jan
The final battle between duryodhana and bhIma is more fascinating if you understand that it is the battle between the body (duryodhana) and upAsana (bhIma).

Every move of duryodhana & bhIma is worth several janmas of movement in samsAra. That is why vyAsa describes it in detail+
Each time Duryodhana jumps up and strikes bhIma while coming down, it is the body taking the upAsaka to svarga & upper worlds. Then the blow - bringing the upAsaka down when fruits are exhausted.

When Duryodhana jumps crookedly or sideways, it is transmigration to lower worlds+
When bhIma strikes duryodhana, bhakti has an upper hand in controlling the body. The blood on bhIma's face which he keeps wiping off is rajo-guNa caused by the body.

Reading the fight in this manner, as a back-and-forth battle of yogI vs samsAra is fascinating+
Read 5 tweets
5 Jan
Just a small clarification - the purpose of the Veda is to describe the nature, form, qualities and vibhUtIs of the Supreme Brahman.

So, the style of the samhita is that a sUkta will choose a particular guNa of Brahman and start elaborating on it+
During the course of this, the Veda may highlight an avatAra or deed of bhagavAn described in shAstra, as an example of the guNa it is describing.

It is in this vein that the Veda occasionally makes references to incidents in ithihAsa+
In the example I gave, the guNa that the Veda was describing was soulabhya or accessibility, conducive for sharaNAgati. Thus, it highlighted rAma who embodies that guNa+

So, nobody is rushing to misinterpret sUktAs to say, "hey look this sUkta is about rAma wowee so cool!!1!1! +
Read 5 tweets
5 Jan
That is a mantra on rAma, not kR^iShNa.😄

As below,

अहश्च कर्ष्णमहरर्जुनं च वि वर्तेते रजसी वेद्याभिः 
[pApa and puNya which illumine all experiences are terrible and pure  respectively; these two impurities move away by the contempations of Brahman.]+
“अहश्च कर्ष्णमहरर्जुनं” – The term “Day” in shAstra signifies anything that illumines. Karmas illumine experiences.

pApa is illumining terrible experiences – hence “कर्ष्ण” as black in shAstra is a metaphor for pain.

Other is puNya - “pure experience” ie, devoid of sorrow+
These two are both however, impurities or impediments to mukti. Both are dispelled by “वेद्याभिः” – The various contemplations of Brahman.

But that Brahman is far away. How can we meditate on him? The answer is provided in the next half of the mantra+
Read 8 tweets
4 Jan
-- KICHAKA VADHA --

Beginning with my description of some of bhIma's exploits in MB, I start with the killing of kIchaka.

Latter had made improper advances towards Draupadi while the pANDavAs were in virATa. Draupadi asks bhIma to kill kIchaka+
सत्यं भ्रातॄंश्चधर्मम् च पुरस्कृत्य शपामि ते । कीचकं निहनिष्यामि वृत्रंदेवपतिर्यथा

[bhIma: Having placed bhagavAn who is Truth (satyaM), my brothers and righteous conduct in front, I take an oath. I will kill kIchaka just as Indra killed vR^itra]+
bhIma says he will kill kIchaka by virtue of bhagavAn whose greatness as spoken in the Veda is True, his brothers who are bhAgavatas & conduct that pleases bhagavAn & bhAgavatas – services to them.

This means, bhagavad-bhAgavata sambandha will help bhIma kill kIchaka+
Read 26 tweets
20 Dec 21
Whole of rAmAyaNa is a study in how not to do bhAgavata apachAra.

sIta was separated from rAma because she scolded lakshmaNa harshly during the incident of the golden deer+
lakshmaNa's departure from this world in uttara kANDa was sorrowful. Why? Because when Bharata came with his army to the forest, he suspected Bharata of coming to harm rAma and usurp the throne permanently+
Dasharatha's separation from rAma was due to the fact that he cherished rAma more than his other sons. Giving greater love to bhagavAn than his bhAgavatAs is itself not a recommended practice!+
Read 5 tweets
18 Dec 21
For the gIta verse, वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो - "I am alone to be known by all the Veda" - Shri Shankara's bhAShya and Anandagiri's tIka is very illuminating+
Shankara writes:

वेदैस्च सर्वैर्-अहमेव परमात्मा वेद्यः वेदितव्यः । वेदन्तकृत् वेदान्तार्थ सम्प्रदायकृत् इत्यर्थः । वेदवित् वेदार्थवित् एव च अहम् । भगवतः ईश्वरस्य नारायणाख्यस्य विभूतिसंक्षेपः उक्तः+
["I am the Paramatman to be known from all the Vedas. I alone am the propagator of the vedAntic traditions, and I who know the vedAnta"' Thus, the glory of Ishvara, bhagavAn, who is called as "nArAyaNa", are stated]

Anandagiri adds to this bhAShya, commenting as follows+
Read 4 tweets

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