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Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Feb 2

There is a curious story of Mankanaka occuring in the vana parva.

It illustrates the importance of understanding the futility of a difficult path like j~nAna yoga without meditation on Brahman. Translating it here+

पुरा मङ्कणको राजन्कुशाग्रेणेति नःश्रुतम् । क्षतः किल करे राजंस्तस्य शाकरसोऽस्रवत् ।स वै शाकरसं दृष्ट्वा हर्षाविष्टः प्रनृत्तवान्

[Mankanaka was pierced by kusha grass. From the wound, vegetable juice came out (instead of blood). Seeing that, he was joyous & started dancing]+

Mankanaka was pursuing j~nAna yoga, meditating on the true nature of the jIvAtma.

He had subsisted on roots as part of his austerities and to indicate his vairAgya was meritorious and successful, his blood had become vegetable juice+

Read 22 tweets

Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Jan 31

My thoughts on the "mAyA-sIta" story.

Some purANAs carry the story that sIta herself was not abducted by rAvaNa, and that agnideva protected her while a “mAyA-sIta” spent the time in ashoka vana.

I did some reading+

Firstly, it is not possible for sIta to *not* be abducted. The vAlmiki rAmAyaNa refers to itself as “सीतायाः चरितम् महत्” – the great story of sIta.

Hence, removing her abduction would nullify many tattvArthAs+

Secondly, the abduction was not by force, but of her own volition. Recall that during the battle, rAvaNa could not even move an unconscious lakShmaNa, then how could he lift sIta away?

Purely because she herself willed it to. She kidnapped him, not vice-versa!+

Read 18 tweets

Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Jan 27

Interesting fact - many believe that Krishna instructed Arjuna to continue the fight with karNa when he was on the ground, and asked for a reprieve to extricate his chariot.

In reality, when karNa asks for time out in consideration of yuddha-dharma, bhagavAn sort of accepts it+

Krishna stops the fighting, but reprimands karNa by reminding him of his past sins, and how he can remember dharma now, when he wasn't aware of dharma earlier.

bhagavAn only reprimands him, but does not resume the fight. This indicates he had given karNa the reprieve he wanted+

Then look what happens,

क्रोधात्प्रस्फुरमाणौष्ठो धनुरुद्यम्य भारत

[karNa, his lips quivering with rage (on hearing vAsudeva’s words), lifted up his bow]

karNa, incensed by bhagavAn’s speech, actually took up his bow and initiated the fight again from the ground+

Read 4 tweets

Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Jan 26

The greatness of Hanuman as an AchArya is highlighted by the pity he felt even for rAvaNa.

Coming to Lanka, he sees rAvaNa's wives enjoying opulences.

बभूव बुद्धिः तु हरि ईश्वरस्य | यदि ईद्ऱ्शी राघव धर्म पत्नी |इमा यथा राक्षस राज भार्याः | सुजातम् अस्य इति हि साधु बुद्धेः

[Hanuman, the Lord of Monkeys, of a mind devoted to the welfare of all, thought, “If only rAvaNa had allowed rAma and sIta to be enjoying like how he (rAvaNa) is enjoying with his wives, this Lanka need not be destroyed”]+

Hanuman is the Lord of monkeys, just as rAvaNa is the leader of rAkshasAs.

He feels that protecting rAma who came seeking sugrIva for help (and hence sIta) is his responsibility and so wishes they were enjoying like those under rAvaNa’s protection are enjoying comforts+

Read 11 tweets

Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Jan 24

-- DRONA'S MUKTI --

A great rahasya in MB - droNa, upon death attained mukti.

Due to grief over his son, he felt helpless to even continue living – “Akinchanyam”. He had only one goal – bhagavAn, for freedom from misery. This is “ananyagativam”.

Thus, he performed sharaNAgati+

सन्न्यासाय शरीरस्य योक्ष्यमाणः स वै द्विजः'। सर्वाण्यस्त्राणि धर्मात्मा हातुकामोऽभ्यभापत

[That noble minded dvija, intending to join with the self (in meditation) for the sake of surrender & desirous of casting aside all his weapons…]+

“सन्न्यासाय” – nyAsa vidyA or surrender. “शरीरस्य” – jIvAtma, which is the body of Brahman & subservient to him, the self. ShvetAshvatAra Up. also calls the jIva “देहम्”.

DroNa wished to meditate on the self as a शरीर of Brahman, reflecting on it’s subservience for surrender+

Read 23 tweets

Dark Saint

@DefiledGod

Jan 12

I had earlier pointed out how "secular" texts like kAma sUtra, charaka samhita and Sushruta samhita attribute their knowledge to bhagavAn.

The sUrya siddhAntha, a text on astronomy, also begins with an invocation to nArAyaNa as follows+

अचिन्त्याव्यक्त रूपाय निर्गुणाय गुणात्मने . समस्तजगदाधार मूर्तये ब्रह्मणे नमः

[Salutations to the Supreme Brahman whose nature is incomparable & is not manifest in his avatArAs, who is free of blemishes & full of kalyaNa guNas, whose form is the support of the whole Universe]+

“अचिन्त्याव्यक्त रूपाय” – His divine nature which is incomparable & not manifest to anyone even in his avatArAs. “रूप” means nature here. Only the liberated can see this nature.

“निर्गुणाय गुणात्मने” – One who has no blemishes of triguNAs, & is full of auspicious attributes+

Read 8 tweets

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