As far as the discussion on twitter today about whether the Linga is a phallus or not goes, here's the truth.

Firstly, padma purana confirms it is indeed symbolizing the union of a phallus with a vagina, as it is due to a curse uttered by bhR^igu to mahAdeva+ नारीसंगममत्तोऽसौ यस्मान्मामवमन्यते |
योनिलिंगस्वरूपं वै तस्मात्तस्य भविष्यति

[bhR^igu - "Since you, being engrossed in the company of umA ignored me, you will have the form of yonilinga"]+

Interesting little detail in the mahAbhArata – it is a narrative in which both bhagavAn and bhAgavata get abused in a Sabha.

Krishna was abused by shishupAla in a sabha (Sacrificial area) of yudhiShThira, draupadI was abused by the Kauravas in a sabha (royal court)+ In the case of Krishna, shishupAla tried to deny the greatness of Krishna by saying - राजा जरासंधो महाबलः . योऽनेन युद्धं नेयेष दासोऽयम् इति – “The powerful King jarAsandha, refused to fight with Krishna, saying, “this one is a slave (of kaMsa)”+

A very apt shloka by devarishi narada on the occasion of Shri Rama Navami:

ऋषीणां देवतानां च मानुषाणां च सर्वशः . पृथिव्यां सहवासो ऽभूद् रामे राज्यं प्रशासति (~ droNa parva)

["When rAma ruled his Kingdom, the rishis, gods and men all lived together on the Earth"]+ Note the order – rishis, gods & men. This implies rishis are superior to gods who in turn are superior to ordinary men.

Rishis have high j~nAna & vairAgya; gods have high j~nAna but lesser vairAgya; ordinary humans have less j~nAna & vairAgya+

When proving hari sarvottama in the pAsuram “kANilum uruppolAr” (thirucchanda virutham, credit - @KoyilOrg), thirumazhisai azhwar gives a beautiful explanation of how other gods are not to be worshipped as the supreme being.

Note: Thread not for everyone+ Consider the vAkya- आत्मा वा अरे द्रष्टव्यः श्रोतव्यो मन्तव्यो निदिध्यासितव्यः (~ bR^ihadAraNyaka up.)– “The self is to be seen, heard, thought of & meditated upon”.

Azhwar says this implies that gods other than Brahman should not be seen, heard, thought of or meditated on+

A quality of rAma is that whenever he has a council with his close associates, he listens to what they say, but ultimately makes the decision himself.

For eg: He patiently listened to arguments of bharata, vaShiShTha, jabali etc who tried to convince him to not go to the forest+ In the end, he rejected their arguments and went to the forest anyway.

Likewise, prior to banishing sIta due to rumors among citizens, he summons his brothers and well-wishers, asking for their opinion. Against their opinions, he still decides to banish her+

In the anushAsana parva, pArvati asks mahAdeva - केन कण्ठश् च ते नीलो बर्ह भाति निभः - “Why is your neck blue like the tail of a peacock?”

Shiva gives an interesting answer, in the form of a little known anecdote+ इन्द्रेण च पुरा वज्रं क्षिप्तं श्रीकाङ्क्षिणा मम दग्ध्वा कण्ठं तु तद् यातं तेन श्रीकण्ठता मम

[Shiva - “Once, Indra, desiring my wealth, hurled his vajrAyudha at me. With that weapon my throat was scorched. By that, I have attained the state of having a beautiful (blue) throat”]+

Today, Let us look at why rAma banished sIta. First, we need to understand the AdhyAtmic meaning behind the separation.

In shrI vachana bhUshana vyAkhyAna, mAmunigal explains that her 2nd separation was to highlight her pAratantriyam – quality of existing for bhagavAn's sake+ As she says,

न खल्व् अद्यैव सौमित्रे जीवितं जाह्नवी जले . त्यजेयं राघवम् वंशे तु भर्तुर् मे परिहास्यते (~ uttara kANDa)

[sIta – “lakshmaNa! The progeny I bear cannot stop existing for the sake of rAghava’s lineage. Hence, I did not cast myself into the ganga to end my life.”]+

On this auspicious day of prANa-prathiShTha, let us study what this ritual implies.

It is the establishment (prathiShTha) of bhagavAn who is called “prANa” in the vigraha+ He is “prANa” because – 1) He is the “life” or “breath” of his devotees who sustain themselves by enjoying him in archAvatAra, 2) He protects all by such forms. These 2 guNAs - enjoyment and protection are primary.

Thus, we have the following pramANAs+

rAvaNa worshipped shiva believing he could gain power over the indrAdi devatAs. There was no love or respect in that worship.

Rather, he knew that gods are duty-bound to honor worship by giving boons+

https://twitter.com/DhruvAr_/status/1747452095190716587

It is pertinent to note that vAlmiki mentions rAvaNa worshipped a golden linga. The linga form of mahAdeva is worshipped by those who are not advanced enough to worship him in his manifest form, ie, by people lacking Atma-j~nAna (which the lingarUpI mahAdeva eventually bestows)+

Today, let us look at a dialogue between parashurAma and shiva. In the viShNu dharmottara, there is a section where Shiva describes the guNAs and leelas of nArAyaNa to parashurAma.

This is how parashurAma approaches shiva+ त्वत्तः परतरं देवं नान्यं पश्यामि कञ्चन. पूजयन्ति सदा लिङ्गं तव देवाः सवासवाः

[parashurAma said to rudra – “I cannot perceive any God superior to you. The devas along with Indra as their chief always honor your prime characteristic – your excellence in upAsana.”]+

With all the debate about “कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः” due to the Oppenheimer movie, I thought I would share Acharya Ramanuja’s commentary for the same+ Firstly, “काल:”  does not mean “Death” or “Time” according to the Acharya. Even I had wrongly assumed he meant “Time” without seeing the commentary.

“काल:” refers directly to bhagavAn. It means “One who calculates or measures” (कलनात्)+

KIRATA AND ARJUNA - PART 3

Now, Indra had advised arjuna to get a darshanam of mahAdeva as he felt the latter as j~nAna-prada-mUrti would enable arjuna to surrender.

So, Arjuna commences penances towards mahAdeva+

https://twitter.com/DefiledGod/status/1668486607958319105

तपस्य् उग्रे वर्तमान उग्रतेजा महामनाः दर्भचीरं निवस्याथ दण्डाजिनविभूषितः

[Arjuna who is very wise, of formidable resplendence, performed a fierce penance wearing robes made of darbha, with a staff and deer skin]+

KIRATA AND ARJUNA - PART 2

Despite yudhiShThira & vyAsa asking him surrender, arjuna couldn’t do it.

When one cannot obey an AchArya’s order due to incapability, shAstra permits him to do the next best thing. So arjuna decided to do penances with thirumantra as accessory+

https://twitter.com/DefiledGod/status/1668124491271241728

मनोजवगतिर् भूत्वा योगयुक्तो यथानिलः…इन्द्रकीलं समासाद्य ततोऽतिष्ठद् धनंजयः

[Arjuna, yoked to the thirumantra called “योग”, reached his destination quick as thought, like the wind. He arrived at Indrakila & stayed intending to do penances.]+

KIRATA AND ARJUNA - PART 1

Continuing from the Intro thread.

When yudhiShThira ponders about how to defeat the Kauravas, veda vyAsa comes to him and gives him advice.

He tells him that it is time for Arjuna to acquire celestial weapons+

https://twitter.com/DefiledGod/status/1666315345148383232

श्रेयसस् ते परः कालः प्राप्तो भरतसत्तम . येनाभिभविता शत्रून् रणे पार्थो धनंजयः .

[vyAsa - “Foremost of bhAratAs! The time has come for you to obtain bhagavad anugraha, by which pArtha, called dhananjaya, can conquer foes in battle.”]+

KIRATA AND ARJUNA - INTRODUCTION

The beginning of the narrative concerning the encounter of arjuna with shiva as kirAta, consists of a request made by janamejaya to vaishampAyana to hear the same.

Let us first study how he made the request+ अत्यद्भुतं महाप्राज्ञ रोमहर्षणम् अर्जुनः.भवेन सह संग्रामं चकाराप्रतिमं किल . पुरा प्रहरतां श्रेष्ठः संग्रामेष्व् अपराजितः

[Janamejaya - Wise one! The battle between bhava & arjuna the foremost of warriors, who was formerly undefeated in battle was hair-raising without parallel]+

Yesterday I quoted Aditya purANa which says tAmasa purANAs glorify hari only.

In accordance with that, today I will explain netrapUja story as per Linga purANa. The story's inner meanings establish the supremacy of Hari only+ स्नापयामास च विभुः पूजयामास पंकजैः । परीक्षार्थं हरेः पूजाकमलेषु महेश्वरः ॥ गोपयामास कमलं तदैकं भुवनेश्वरः

[Lord Hari bathed & worshipped a Linga with flowers. For testing Hari, one lotus flower from the flowers meant for worship was hidden by maheshvara, lord of the world]+

This week, let us study the tAmasa purANAs in some detail.

EngalAzhwan quotes a couple of Aditya purANa shlokAs which points out the import of all 18 purANAs. Explaining it here+ विष्णुः ब्रह्मा शिवो विष्णुः विष्णुः आदित्य एव च । सर्वं विष्णुमयं ब्रह्मन् इति पौराणीकम् वचः॥ एवमेव पुराणेशु दशसु अष्टेशु न अन्यथा । (~ Aditya purANa)+

- Jayadratha Vadha (Part 2) -

In the previous thread, I pointed out that Krishna wanted arjuna to kill vR^iddhakShatra the father of jayadratha as well, as he was a kaivalyArti, to give him a better birth as a bhakti yogI.

Krishna now instructs Arjuna on how to accomplish this+

https://twitter.com/DefiledGod/status/1657986682749341696

सोऽयं तप्यति तेजस्वी तपो घोरं दुरासदम्। समन्तपञ्चकाद् अस्माद् बहिर् वानरकेतन

[Krishna - “Bearer of the banner of Hanuman! Even now, that tejasvI vR^iddhakShatra is tormenting himself with difficult, fierce penances (kaivalyopAsana) outside samantapanchaka (kurukshetra)”]+

Small note about Kaivalya- since we are talking about this in context of Jayadratha's father.

Vedanta Desikan opines Kaivalya is an obstacle but eventually leads to bhakti yoga by bhagavad anugraha. But he says in tAtparya chandrika that some Acharyas felt Kaivalya led to mukti+ Basically, AchArya says, "It is likely not mukti sthAna, but this is not a major issue regardless".

The other Acharyas who state Kaivalya is mukti, do so on the strength of the sahasranAma shloka "muktAnAm paramA gatiH"+

- Jayadratha Vadha (Part 1) -

To help Arjuna kill Jayadratha, Krishna hid the Sun with his Chakra, breaking avatAra-maryAda despite his “human” birth.

अब्रवीत्पाण्डवं तत्र त्वरमाणो जनार्दनः.धनंजय शिरश् छिन्धि सैन्धवस्य दुरात्मनः.अस्तं महीधरश्रेष्ठं यियासति दिवाकरः+ [Then janArdana spoke to the pANDava, in haste, due to concern for his welfare - “Quickly cut of the head of this wicked Saindhava, as the Sun has vanished behind Sudarshana, the praiseworthy supporter of the Earth]

“जनार्दनः” - Krishna, who destroys the foes of Arjuna by will+

Today is the thirunakshatram of 3 great Acharyas - Madhurakavi Azhwar, Thirumalai Anantazhwan and Nadadur Ammal.

Let us briefly enjoy their guNAs and significance in our sampradaya+ Madhurakavi Azhwar was the first to openly declare that the best means for moksha is AchAryAbhimAna, by his devotion to Nammazhwar.

So much so, that "AchAryAbhimAna" is called "Madhurakavi Nilai" by all AchAryAs+