New article: Understanding the Mahabharata - Part 2

We have published a new article on certain important sections of the Mahabharata. Hope this is interesting and clarificatory for our readers.

This is the second part of the Mahabharata series, where we take up 3 sections which elaborate the nature of the Supreme Being (Vishnu), the nature of the realized, subservient self (Shiva) and the nature of the means (PancarAtra). 

The section describing the nature of the supreme being is the praise of Krishna by Shiva in the Harivamsha. When Shiva arrives at the spot where Krishna is performing penances for progeny, he immediately extols Krishna as the Supreme Being. We have provided a translation of this section, as the first part of the article.

The section describing the nature of the subservient self is provided in Ashwattama’s praise of Shiva enshrined in the Sauptika Parva. Ashwattama invokes Shiva to accomplish his end (the destruction of the Pandavas) and for this purpose, he embarks on a magnificent stuti of Shiva that clearly illustrates his true nature. Out of all the Shiva stutis present in the texts, this one composed by Ashwattama can be considered to be the most precise one in describing the nature of Shiva in a clear manner.

The final section is taken from the Santi Parva and describes the greatness of the pAncarAtra Agama which is the means to attain the Lord. In the course of this description, the section also compares and contrasts the Shaiva Agamas and elaborates the true nature of the tattvas associated with such veda-bAhya darshanas.

Here is the complete article:
https://narayanastra.blogspot.com/p/undersetanding-mahabharata-part-2.html