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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, Ullāsa 11

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Chapter 11

Sin, Punishment and Expiation

A hymn to the Goddess, then the sins that harm oneself and others: the king's punishments, witness and oath, the rules on wine, and the expiations.

In this chapter

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 1

श्रुत्वा शाम्भवधर्माणि वर्णाश्रमविभेदतः । अपर्णा परया प्रीत्या पप्रच्छ शङ्करं प्रति ॥ १ ॥

śrutvā śāmbhavadharmāṇi varṇāśramavibhēdataḥ | aparṇā parayā prītyā papraccha śaṅkaraṁ prati || 1 ||

Translation

Having heard the dharmas of Śambhu, by the distinctions of class and stage of life, Aparṇā, with the deepest love, questioned Śaṅkara.

Word by word

śrutvā
having heard
śāmbhava
of Śambhu
dharmāṇi
the dharmas
varṇa
of class
āśrama
and stage of life
vibhēdataḥ
(vibhedataḥ) by the distinctions
aparṇā
Aparṇā
parayā
with the deepest
prītyā
love
papraccha
questioned
śaṅkaraṁ
Śaṅkara
prati
to

Meaning

The eleventh chapter turns to what happens when people do not follow the dharma that the earlier chapters set out. The commentary explains the occasion: in the Kali age most people doubt, are ruled by desire and anger, chase the pleasures of the senses and fall into sin; Pārvatī asks how such people can be freed. She is called Aparṇā, "without even a leaf", because in her austerities to win Śiva she gave up eating even leaves. The chapter answers with a hymn to her, then the two kinds of sin and their remedies: the king's punishment and expiation. These are the penalties of the Tantra's own ideal kingdom, given as the text states them; they describe its teaching, not any present law.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

Oṁ, salutation to Brahman. In the Kali age people are for the most part unbelievers (nāstika), their minds fall into doubt, they are overcome by desire, anger and the rest, they long for every pleasure of the senses, and through not following the good path told by Sadāśiva and following forbidden evil ways, sin of many kinds arises. Then, with the intention "how shall they be freed?", Pārvatī asks Śaṅkara: this he tells with "śrutvā" and the rest. Varṇāḥ: the brāhmaṇa and the rest; āśramau: the householder's and the mendicant's. Having heard the dharmas of Śambhu, the dharmas told by Śambhu, according to the distinctions of these, Aparṇā, Pārvatī, who in her vow (of austerity) gave up even leaves, with the highest love questioned Śaṅkara, the maker of good, Mahādeva.