Thank you Nagaraj!

On Aug 29, 2024, at 9:02 PM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi@gmail.com> wrote:

Talking of tapas in the form of paativratya , particularly your interest in powers from such tapas, pativratopaakhyaana of Mahabharata comes to mind. 

Pativrataa in the story , mentioning the powers coming from her actions, says, 

शुश्रूषायाः फलं पश्य पत्युर्ब्राह्मण यादृशम् | बलाका हि त्वया दग्धा रोषात्तद्विदितं मम ||३०||

In her conversation with Kautsa she adds the lifestyle of a Vyaadha as another example of the same kind as hers. 

While thinking of going to Vyaadha, Kautsa describes such a lifestyle as tapas by describing Vyaadha as tapodhana. 

कृतात्मा धर्मवित्तस्यां व्याधो निवसते किल | तं गच्छाम्यहमद्यैव धर्मं प्रष्टुं तपोधनम् ||३||

Again powers from vyaadha's lifestyle come into play when vyaadha says 

एकपत्न्या यदुक्तोऽसि गच्छ त्वं मिथिलामिति | जानाम्येतदहं सर्वं यदर्थं त्वमिहागतः ||१३||

On Fri, Aug 30, 2024 at 4:34 AM Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Greetings Michael,

Thank you for mentioning an important type of tapas practiced by the chaste wife. This reminds me of the Gītā 17.14:

deva-dvija-guru-prājña-pūjanaṃ śaucam ārjavam

brahmacaryam ahiṃsā ca śārīraṃ tapa ucyate

It seems that brahmacaryam, celibacy, as a śārīram tapaḥ, bodily austerity, can be compared to the self-control of the chaste woman or wife.

Thanks again,

Howard 

 

On Aug 28, 2024, at 2:25 PM, michael baltutis via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Greetings Howard and All,

Recall the related example of the tapas of Sita in the Ramayana. I copy and paste the following passage from my new introduction to Hinduism (Baltutis 2024: 106): 

Kidnapped by Ravan and taken captive to his capital of Lanka, she contrasts his awful behavior with that of the righteous Ram (dharma-atman), reminding Ravan of (and threatening him with) both her shri and her shakti. She tells Ravan:

It is only because I have not been so ordered by Rama and because I wish to

preserve intact the power of my austerities (tapas) that I do not reduce you

to ashes with my own blazing power (tejas), for that is what you deserve.

(5.20.20 [Goldman and Sutherland Goldman 2021: 469])

In this threat, Sita combines social and cultural categories that are often kept separate. As a woman concerned with doing her wifely duties, she saves the demise of Ravan for her husband Ram, a warrior, king, and avatar of Vishnu who regularly relieves the earth of its burden of demonic evil. At the same time, however, she has accumulated through her performance of domestic duties the tapas and tejas that male renouncers typically earn through powerful yogic practices.

Best,

Michael

Michael Baltutis
Professor, South Asian Religions
Chair, Department of Anthropology, Global Religions and Cultures
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Book Review Editor, International Journal of Hindu Studies
What is Hinduism?: A Student's Introduction
The Festival of Indra

  

On Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 10:08:57 AM CDT, Michaels, Prof. Dr. Axel via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

I guess you know the following study (in German): Monika Shee: tapas und tapasvin in der erzählenden Partien des Mahābhārata. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Inge Wezler, 1986.

It’s a detailed philological study. Pp. 204-14 (“tapas, yoga, saṃnyāsa” and ”tapas und Magie”) seem to be especially instructive for your question. If you need a scan, don’t hesitate to let it me know.

Best wishes,

Axel / Michaels

 

 

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of "indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info>
Reply to: Patrick Olivelle <jpo@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 28. August 2024 at 16:12
To: Matthew Kapstein <mattkapstein@proton.me>
Cc: "indology@list.indology.info" <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] tapasya

 

There is also the book by Walter O. Kaelber, Tapta Mārga. 

<image001.png>

Tapta Marga: Asceticism and Initiation in Vedic India amazon.com

 

 

On Aug 28, 2024, at 3:20 AM, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

 

Hi Howard,  

 

For some reason, I think that Heinrich Zimmer,

may have written about this, but I’m away from my library and can’t recall exactly where. Maybe Philosophies of India. He was a Schopenhauerian, which would make good sense here, as the problem of the autonomy or heteronomy of the will seems clearly central to the topic that interests you. 

 

good luck 

Matthew 

 

Sent from Proton Mail for iOS

 

 

On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 05:29, Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Scholars,

Within various genres of Sanskrit literature, perhaps especially itihāsa-purāṇa, we find a pervasive belief that tapasya — serious austerity -- bestows power on the performer, either directly or through the agency of a Deva, Ṛṣi, or other superior being. The examples are almost innumerable.

I’m trying to explore this claim about the power of tapasya. On the empirical side, one can speak of the power of mental discipline and detachment from the body, etc. But of course empirically, there is nothing like the supernatural results obtained by serious ascetics in the ancient literature.

One common apologetic is to attribute or assign such powers to the previous three yugas, with the claim that those powers fail in Kali-yuga.

I bring this up because I am working on a reconstruction of the famous Mahābhārata story of Ambā who performed unimaginable tapasya, and then, as a result, took birth as Śikhaṇḍī and enabled the killing of Bhīṣma at Kurukṣetra.

The facile explanation of course is to invoke the notion of pre-scientific mythology. I am trying to take a more cautious approach. Of course tapasya as a source of power intersects the notion of attaining yoga-siddhis, a process in which tapasya is also heavily involved.

I bring this up in a heuristic, exploratory way and would be grateful for any observations, insights, or theories about this, especially the link between severe self-abnegation and power.

Thanks in advance!

Howard



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--

Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

Dean, IndicA

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra

BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.

Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies, 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education, 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.