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BY: SUN STAFF
Sudarshana Chakra Apr 06, 2012 — CANADA (SUN) — A serial presentation the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya Samhita. Contents of the Ahirbudhnya Samhita (Continued) Chapters 43 and 44. On the power of the great Sudarshana Mantra, the root of all Mantras (44. 12), enabling one to cause to appear before oneself the Sudarshana Purusa in persona (with two arms, etc.), clad in a yellow robe, of dazzling splendour. Chapter 43 narrates how Ahirbudhnya, Chapter 44 how Brhaspati, obtains this sight. The latter asking with surprise how He, being known as eight-armed in the world, can now stand before him in a human form, the Sudarshana Purusa declares that He has four forms (vyuha) showing respectively two, eight, sixteen, and sixty-two arms, and moreover a fifth form in which He appears as the All (visvamayarupa). At Brhaspati's request He appears to him in the All-form and finally as eight-armed. Chapter 46. Definition of the ideal Purohita. Preparations for, and description of, the Sudarsana Homa, a, fire sacrifice to be performed for the king. At the end the latter, seated on a consecrated throne, is anointed. Chapter 47. Description of the Mahashanti Karman, a great ceremony to be employed by kings, which alone has the power to avert every evil and secure complete prosperity both in this world and the next. Of former kings who have performed it the following are mentioned: Ambarisa, Shuka, Alarka, Mandhatr, Puriiravas, Rajoparicara, Dhundhu, Shibi, and Shrutakirtana. In this ceremony the Astras divided into eight groups are worshipped with eight different materials and Mantras.
Sudarshana Homa Yantra Chapters 33, 42, 45, 48, 49 , and 50 contain "ancient stories" (puravrtta itihasa, 45. 9) intended to illustrate the effect of the divine weapons and of certain amulets or talismans. Chapter 33. The Sudarshana is the Wheel of Time, the Highest Self the one who turns it and who appears as Brahman, Visnu, and Shiva at the times of creation, continuance, and dissolution of the world, as Buddha to the Bauddhas, as Jina to the Jainas, as the Yajna Purusa to the Mimamsakas, and as the Purusa to the Kapilas, but preferably in His discus form (chakrarupadhara) and always so when He wants to protect some devotee and to check his enemies, to illustrate which the story of Manisekhara is narrated. There reigned in the town of Naicasakha a king called Pramaganda. His son Durdharsa, a Rajarsi and Cakravartin (royal sage and emperor), had by his principal wife Vatsala a son called Manisekhara who married Praci, ascended the throne when his father retired to the forest, and had born to him through Praci seven sons. At that time the demon Vikataksa and his numerous descendants had become the plague of the country, and Vikataksa having obtained from Brahman the boon of invincibility, nothing was left to the king but to apply for help to the Lord Himself. So, in order to learn how to approach the latter, Manisekhara went, on the advice of his Purohita, to the sage Durvasas, and, directed by the latter, to Salagrama on the Sarasvati (the holiness of which place is brought into connection with the Varaha Avatara and described at length in sl. 78 to 86). Here he worships the Lord for one month with arcana, japa, and dhyana, after which He appears to him, eight-armed, etc., and emits out of His breast the Aindra Cakra (being the Astra described in 40.28-24): first one, then ten, then a hundred, etc., filling all space and killing the asuras. Chapter 42, after having described the symptoms betraying the approach of hostile magic (see above p. 131), tells two stories illustrating how the latter may be counteracted. REFERENCES: Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya Samhita by F. Otto Schrader, Madras, 1916
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