Quintessence of the Agama Shatras

  It may be surprising that the printed texts of Agama Shastras known to us are said to be dated back to such and such Century B.C or A.D. However, as the spoken words of the Lord, it is not expected to be dated. God and His words are nitya, eternal. The Lord may speak to anybody, anytime in any language at His will and pleasure. What all needed is that the ardent devotee must be eagerly waiting for Him with rapt attention. It has been stressed here that 'Parameshvara darshanam' is the first ever ordained duty of every jiva and this should take place before one closes his/her eyes for the last time. All the Shastras say the same. First, have the darshan of the Lord with the help of svadhyaya, satsang, nidhidhyasana, study of darshan shastra, take to yoga under a 'siddhi purusha' (attained person), take to satata dhyana (unceasing ,meditation), dharana, and have His vision and hear to His words in the state of samadhi. This is not impossible. Many have attained to it.

   The Lord's words are  very simple. As stated by Bhagavan in the Gita, get rid of all that you have acquired since you entered the earth, got in to soil and water and became food and entered the would- be- father's body to become a spermatozoa and entered the would-be-mother's womb to take a form of life. "Thus one who has acquired all blemishes of flesh and blood, gunas, and started behaving like the bhuta (earthling)". Thus, "you have acquired the blemishes of the soul, that was pristine pure", says the Lord. Now to rewind and attain to the original state of 'sadasada',(existence-nonexistence)! To attain to nirvana, state of 'nothingness, dynamic silence in samadhi is the pure state.

   The Agama Shastra, almost a 200 of them, explain this truth and the methodology to attain to Him. There is adoration of the Lord, worship of the Lord in the Images, icons and idols attributing powers, showing them in number of arms,armaments, mudra, and the like. The joy one attains in worshiping the Lord is enought to unite him/her with HIM! The shastra also speaks of yoga shastra, mantra shastra, many other occult practices admissible under the Vedic system (not the vama marga).

   The ahirbudhnya samhita is full of praise of Narayana, Vasudeva, Lakshmi, Sudarshana andSankarshana and gives almost a hundred thousand mantra to propitiate Him (Narayana) and Her (Lakshmi). Sudarshana is the greatest wonder instrument of Sri Hari Narayana that dispenses all that is necessary for not only good life but liberation as well. Look forward for this wonder wheel of Timeand its mantra.

Ahirbudhnya Samhita- Reality of Existence

  The Agama shastra is supposed  to be the earliest of the spoken words of the Lord and finds the sacred place among the Shreevaishnava who hold Narayana as the supreme Lord. Even the Veda is derived from the Agama shastra, they say. Yamuna and Ramanuja are the staunch devotees of Narayana, and they eulogised devotion, 'Bhakti' as the easiest path to realise brahmn who is Narayana. The ultimate truth is Narayana and everything is Vasudeva!

   Among the hundreds of Samhitas found in the Pancharatra, the most prominent are a dozen and Ahirbudhnya, Sattvata, Jayakhya are important ones that we discuss here. A few statements from the Ahirbudhnya samhita are given here for reference and moire details can be had from the main Text- Surendranath Dasgupta: A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol.III).
 "Ahirbudhnya says, that after undergoing a long course of penance, he received from Sankarshana true knowledge and that this true knowledge was the science of 'Sudarshana', which is the support of things in the world".(Ahir. sam. III.2.5)

.   The ultimate realty is the beginningless, endless, and eternal reality, which is devoid of all names and forms, beyond all speech and mind, the omnipotent whole which is absolutely changeless. From this eternal and unchangeable reality there springs a spontaneous desire or idea, sankalpa. This idea is not limited or bound by time, space, or any substance. 

  Brahmn is of the nature of intuition, of pure and infinite bliss and , He resides in everything everywhere. He is the Self of all. He is like the waveless sea. He has none of the qualities and is absolutely self-realized and complete in Himself. He, the Brahmn, cannot be defined by any expressions such as 'this' or 'such and such''.

   However, for our convenience and understanding of this 'absolute nothingness, the dynamic silence, potential, Brahmn is called paramatman, Atman, Bhagavan, Vasudeva, avyakta, prakruti, pradhana, purusha and the like. When the jiva discards all its accumultaed vasanas, desires, and karma klesha he directly realizes the nature of Brahmn, the absolute reality. This is just like a blind person suddenly gains eyesight!
  The essence of Brahmn is pure Consciousness, chit-shakti.The power of Brahmn, shakti is the source of the universe and as such he is the causeless cause (karanasya karana).His energy is the material cause of the world and He Himself is not the cause of anything. His energy is virya is the seed of the world.His self-sufficiency is tejas and His aishvarya is Majesty, spontaneous creativity or kartrutva..Hence everything we find here, including ourselves is Brahmn.

Yet another perspective on the Gita

It seems the able Minister Sanjaya came down to see the end of the epic War of Mahabharat after the eighteenth day. Failing to see any stains of blood or the remains of the dead bodies after the war, he was wondering whether the war actually happened! Then, he heard some voice and looked in that direction to behold a hazy figure of an old man. This old man was laughing! Ha, ha, ha, you have narrated the events of the war to the Blind King Dhrutarashtra and now want to confirm whether war is really over? He said, it is all an illusion! Did you not hear the Lord, Bhagavan Shree Krishna saying, "Arjuna, there is no Bhishma, Drona, or the cousins of yours here.' Nobody kills or gety killed. When nobody is born how can anybody die? In fact, you and I are always there! Where are you apart from Me? You have gone away from Me since your mind is afflicted with attachment, moha. Give up that moha, you and I are one!
  What is the most surprising thing about the epics, the Gita, etc is that even educated people talk of Draupadi having five husbands and they forget the fact that the Pandava, including Karna, have no father, as such, and Kunti did not bear these kids in her womb for nine months! Drushtadymna had bo parents and Dronacharya had no father! The epic is an imagination, idea, image and creative ability not of Veda Vyasa; there is no Veda Vyasa since it is a pen name of Sri Krishna Dvaipayan, Shree Hari Narayana only as a manifest for.
The symbolism, signs, symbols used in the epics should be understood before talking about Draupadi as a wife of five husbands, or for that matter talking about Hanuman or Ganapati!
  The Mind is the problem.There is nothing unless Mind gives a focused attention on any object of the transient world, that is wavy, vibration!
 Our Pundits and so called intelligent people have made our country, religion, and belief system to erode and invite foreign cults here.

Agama Shastra Samhita

As already stated earlier in these blogs, the collection of shastra, aphorisms, now in prints or manuscript states are virtually, the spoken words of God manifest as Jnyanis, Rishis, yogin or the Seers (mantra drushtara). The intuitional knowledge is the real knowledge, first hand knowledge obtained from divine sources (anahata dhvani heard from parame vyoman/Akash vani). These aphorisms spread over hundred of samhita are now under scrutiny by some renown scholars abroad! Thousands of these manuscripts have been taken away by the British during their Rule and some are in British Library, London and some are in Tanjavoor, Adyar, Jammu, Kathmandu, Mysore, etc. It is said that the most prominent ones (about eleven or so) that are available are in Telugu and the translations are not trustworthy. The Samhitas attributed to Sage Narada found in Bengal is supposed to be spurious. The Ahirbudhnya, Jayakhya, Sattvata are supposed to be good, but need proper editing; but, where are the scholars well versed in these, they ask? The very terms- ahir and budhnya make it a weird head and tail of what? "Is it the head and tail of a snake or Shiva or Vishnu or Sudarshana?" Lakshmi tantra is extremely tough and seems very abstract at places. There mantra, tantra, and yantra, Fine art, sculpture art, shilpa kala, aesthetics as well as temple architecture in these! The mantras are so numerous that run into millions! Some are mantra shastra and Yoga shastra par excellence! The modern pundits cannot make head or tail of these scriptures. Prof Schrader, Curator of Adyar Library, during the British days, has written Introduction tp Pancharatra with  special reference to the Ahirbudhnya, that too only a note on the contents of the Samhita. This is enough for an introduction. Some details are available in Vol. III of the Introduction to Indian Philosophy, by Surendranath Dasgupta, pub. MLBD. 

   There is a doubt as to the antiquity of these scriptures and some scholars are of the view that these are as age old as the universe! since the very origin of the universe is deliberated here! Further, These names such as Narayana, Vasudeva, Samkarshana, lakshmi, Shiva, Sudarshana, etc are so confusing that we cannot understand whether they are Gods, or Rishi, or just characters depicted as humans turned Gods? many of these are also symbolic and do exist in the form of signs,and symbols, insignia like wheels, conches, danda (Rod), or a mase or lotus!
  A brief note on the available Samhita will be given here later.