суббота, 19 января 2019 г.

"Pancaratra Samhitas & Early Vaisnava Theology" #by Mitsunori Matsubara# [Motilal Banasirdass - 1994]

DOWNLOAD (English):

FULL EDITION (148MB, with the research part, which is not worth of attention and a time waster, see my annotation below): 

Only Part #2 (44MB, English translation of the first 7 Chapters of "Shree Ahirbudhnya-Samhita", only this part is recommended by me for the study!!!):

English annotation by Vishnudut1926: I have mixed feelings about this research - it seems that the author (Mitsunori Matsubara) got totally puzzled by the entire PanchaRatra tenets and failed to comprehend them.  

What I definitely did NOT like in this edition: 

1. Mitsunori Matsubara follows to some very absurd and offensive theories by western sanskritologists. For, example on the page 101 Bhagavan Shree Narayana is attempted to be traced to, sorry for the stupid quote, "jala-devatas". See this offensive quote below or on #flickr, #plurk:

Of course, the absurd ideas of this kind are offensive not only to Vaishnavism, but to Hinduism in its entirety. 
2. Another point of epic fail - Mitsunori Matsubara fails to note, that the so-called "Shree Narada-PanchaRatra" and 5th Chapter of "Brahma-Samhita" have nothing to do with the Orthodox Vaishnava PanchaRatra at all, because both belong to just Radha-Krishna Tantras of spurious Bengali origins, BUT NOT TO the original brahmanical Vaishnava PanchaRatra of South India. 

When we speak about Vaishnava PanchaRatra, we always speak about Granthas compiled by Bhagavan Shree Narayana for Narayana-prapannas from South India (nArAyaNaparAyaNAH kvachitkvachinmahArAja draviDeShu - see the predictions about Narayana-prapannas in this Kali-Yuga from "Shree Bhagavata-Purana", 11.5.39-40), so any PanchaRatra Grantha always must speak about:

  • either about Bhagavan Shree Narayana/Bhagavan Shree Vishnu (for example, "Shree Parama-Samhita" - #link to pdf-scan
  • or about Shreemati Lakshmi-Devi ("Shree Lakshmi-Tantra") 
  • or about Nitya Suris (for example, "Shree Ahirbudhnya-Samhita", which is devoted to Shree Sudarshana-Chakra) or 
  • or about Shreemati MahaLakshmi-Devi and Bhagavan Shree Narayana Together ("Shree Lakshmi-Narayana-Samhita", for example). 
  • or about Shree Vasudeva and Vyuhas ("Shree Sattvata-Samhita"). 
  • or about serious Orthodox Vaishnava Worship ("Shree Iswara-Samhita" - #link to pdf-scan).

If you scroll through more correct researches, for example, by Otto Schrader or by Swami Vijnananda, you will notice, that both researchers attribute various Radha-Krishna-Tantras and other Avatara-Tantras to "APOCRYPHAL OR SPURIOUS SAMHITAS".

See 2 quotes below or on #flickr, #plurk, #dropbox, #ge.tt:

Why? Because Samhitas/Tantras of this kind always follow to the very absurd and ridiculous ideas about Shree Krishna-Avatara (Shree Radha-Krishna) being the Supreme ParaBrahman, they contain very bizzare Vyuha theories, they are overburdened by oversimplifications, by very childish Bengalese/Assamese/North Indian ideas and very sentimental, poetic "dance-and-sing" Radha-Krishna-Bhakti for shudras and women.  
Moreover, various Radha-Krishna Tantras have nothing in common with Sattvika Vaishnavism and Orthodox Vaishnava-PanchaRatra. 
As you know, Shree Radha-Krishna Cult and descriptions of Goloka/Vrindavan hails only from Rajasika/Tamasika Puranas ("Shree Brahma-Vaivarta-Purana", "Shree Devi-Bhagavata-Purana", "Shree Skanda-Purana"), BUT NOT FROM SATTVIKA VAISHNAVA-PURANAS. 
There is no place for rajasika Shree Radha-Krishna Cult in purely Sattvika-Vaishnava Puranas such as "Shree Bhagavata-Purana", "Shree Vishnu-Purana" and "Shree Garuda-Purana". 
So, "Shree Narada-PanchaRatra", 5th Chapter of "Brahma-Samhita" and other apocryphal Tantras of this kind actually belong to rajasika Bengal Shaktism/Krishnaism, but not to Sattvika Vaishnavism and Orthodox Vaishnava PanchaRatra! 
And, back to Mitsunori Matsubara, good news - he pays attention to the fact, that 5th chapter of "Shree Brahma-Samhita" and "Shree Narada-PanchaRatra" differ from the entire Vaishnava-PanchaRatra, because they contain bizzare ideas about Vyuhas and Avataras (pages 33-34 - the screenshot below, see also on #flickr, #plurk):


What I liked in Mitsunori Matsubara's research: 

This edition contains the English translation of the first 7 Chapters of "Shree Ahirbudhnya-Samhita" - it is great for those who can't have an access to various Sanskrit editions, but would like at least to get acquainted with the Grantha. 

Still, back to the research part, if you are interested in the solid, top-notch and trustworthy surveys regarding Shree Vaishnava-PanchaRatra, then I recommend to turn to the very native and purely Vaishnava investigation by Dr. V. Varadachari -  "AGAMAS and SOUTH INDIAN VAISHNAVISM" by Dr. V. VaradachariRangAcharya, 1982 edition - #LINK TO PDF-SCAN IN MY E-LIBRARY

Additionally to this post see also:

1. My special selection of brilliant Pramanas from "Shree AhirBudhnya-Samhita" in Sanskrit-English - ###LINK

2. Correct scheme of Vyuhas according to "Shree AhirBudhnya-Samhita" - ###LINK

Vishnudut1926, Moscow, 19-January-2019