Sandilya Bhakti Sutras : Date

Narada Bhakthi Sutras refer to s’AnDilya twice.

1. Adhyaya 1, Sutra 18 : refers to the views of s’Andilya.
2. Adhyaya 5, Sutra 83 : refers to kumAra (the son of Siva), Vyasa, Suka, the son of Vyasa, s’Andilya, Garga,Vishnu, kaunDinya, s’ESa, uddhava, AruNi, the student of Dhaumya, Bali, Hanuman and vibhISana, the brother of Ravana रावण as the bhakti AcAryAs.

Who was Sandilya ?

We know him as

• the spiritual guide of the Ikshvaku king Dilipa, a purvaja, of Sri Rama श्री राम,
• the priest of Trisanku
• the priest of Nanda, Sri Krishna’s adopted father,
• one of the rishis who conversed with Bhishma on his bed of arrows.
• the one who performed the putrESTi yagnyam, for s’AtAnika, the son of Janamejaya.
• the father of Sankha and Likhita, the smriti kartas
• one who is mentioned in bRhatAraNyaka upaniSad
• the author of a passage called s’AnDilya vidyA, also referred to in the Sandilya Sutras.
• the author of Sandilyopanishad
• the author of Sandilya Samhita

Based on this traditionalist consider him extremely long lived and modernists tend to dismiss this either as a fable or as a family name.

However, in my research on Yuga Durations documented in detail here : How many kinds of Yugas are there?, I have seen and shown that the Yuga definitions grew in duration taking more and more planetary alignments into consideratation from the time of Brahma (5 years) to the time of Aryabhatta (4,320,000 years). Regular readers are by now familiar with this concept but new readers are advised to read the article, How many kinds of Yugas are there? and follow the links to the supporting articles in that post before reacting.

Once we know that the definiton of Yuga lengths grew over time, and that they were short in the beginning,  it is not at all difficult to understand that some of the long lived RSis (rishis) like Valmiki, Veda Vyasa वेद व्यास, Sandilya and others spanned several yugas. They may have lived for hundreds of years but not definitely not millions of years. Interested readers may study Generations between Rama and Krishna. as well as Generations previous to Sri Rama and How long did ancient Indians live?

Date of Sandilya Sutras

1. Kasyapa is mentioned in sUtra 29
2. bAdarAyaNa is mentioned in 30 and 91
3. The 83rd Sutra refers to the superiority of  bhakti  to karma, gnyana and yoga according to ‘s’abda”. While sabda is generally taken to mean Vedas, some scholars treat it as a reference to the Bhagavad Gita, since Bhagavad Gita was also spoken by Sri Krishna himself. I take it to mean Vedas.

I would put Sandilya Bhakti Sutras earlier to the Narada Bhakti Sutras, which I put earlier to the Bhagavad Gita which was the at the time of  Bharata War, 27 years before 3102 BCE.

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Satya Sarada Kandula

Writer, Researcher, Photographer
http://ancientindians.net
Founder and Professor
http://ancientindiansuniversity.com

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Vasishta addressed Indra as Chakri! RV_07.020.01.1

All of us born in the last century think of Vishnu as Chakri. Vishnu has this sudarshana chakra also used by Sri Krishna.. and if someone has been really bad, they should watch out for it, it can take a man’s head off.

A discovery channel program actually demonstrated a weapon like a chakra that could be used for exactly the same purpose, from the Punjab Region. So I have no doubt that Sri Krishna hurled his chakra with great force and strength at that horrible s’is’upAla of no redeeming features.

I was very surprised and delighted to see that Vasishtha applied this same epithet to our ancient hero the divine Indra!

RV_07.020.01.1{01} ugro jajñe vīryāya svadhāvāñcakrirapo naryo yat kariṣyan
RV_07.020.01.2{01} jagmiryuvā nṛṣadanamavobhistrātā na indra enaso mahaścit

sAyaNa tells us that chakri means one who accomplishes the intended goal. (kartA eva)

So Indra is ugra (which we generally think means anger, but it means one full of ojas), svadhAvAn – means strong, (svadhA is also a vedic word used during yajnas), who was born for valourous  deeds (vIryAya jagnye).

Indra is narya or narahita, a benefactor of humankind.

yat kariSyan, apah cakrih – he accomplishes what he has/decides to do.

He is a protector or trAta. He enters the yajnyagruha (nrSadanam) with his rakshanas (avobhih) and protects us from mahascit (major) Enasah (sins).

• Indra : Deva or Rshi?
• Devas: Human or Divine?
• http://ia331310.us.archive.org/2/items/rigveda015232mbp/rigveda015232mbp.pdf

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Indra : Deva or Rshi?

Prerequisites :

1. Devas: Human or Divine? : Vaishnava writers in english use the word demigod or man-god to refer to the devas. It is possible to interpret the devas in human, astronomical, spiritual, extra terrestrial, divine and so many other ways. This article discusses that.
2. Deva Bhashas : Sanskrit And Tamil? : There is evidence in the the puranas well as sthala puranas to indicate that the deva-home was the south-eastern coast of India. This article consolidates exploration of all that data.
3. Aditi and Kasyapa, Adityas – Suras, Daityas, Danavas : To understand the relationships between all the kulas.
4. Indra : This article looks at the human, heroic, natural, divine as well as astronomical interpretations of Indra.

Discussion :

Many (4 to 12) of the important Devatas of the Rg Veda Mantras were Adityas ie sons of Aditi and Kasyapa., for eg Indra, Viwaswan, Varuna and Mitra. Aditi was the daughter of Daksha and granddaughter of Brahma. Kasyapa rshi was the son of Marici and the grandson of Brahma. (See : Daksha : He named the fixed stars!, Brahma)

So Indra and his brothers including his Daitya step brothers were  genetically 100% brahmans. Contrast this with his second cousin Ravana, Ravana and his siblings were half brahman, 1/32 rakshasa, 3/32 deva, 3/8 gandharva. (See Rakshasas for the detailed lineage of Ravana).

While Indra is the Devata of many of the Veda Mantras and his great-uncle Vasishtha was the rshi of some of these mantras, there is one mantra in which, Vasishtha is the devata and Indra is the rshi.

• (Click here for the devatAs of Vasishta’s Veda Mantras : 7th Mandala : “trayastrims’am sUktam : vasiSTaputrAh, vasiSTah devatah : Please note that the Devatah for these mantras are Vasishta’s sons and Vasishta himself. Thus we learn that the Devata is the luminary who is the object of worship.  The rshis for these mantras are vasiSTah for his sons and vasiSTaputrAh  indrah va rSayah for Vasishta himself. That means that Vasishta’s sons and Indra worshipped Vasishta and Vasishta worshipped his sons”, See Also  Difference between Mantram – Slokam)

So both genetically and from the Veda Mantras, we see that Indra was a brahman and a rshi.

• Contrast with Ravana who was half-brahman and not a rishi at all. (Please also bear in mind that in the Krta (Satya) Yuga, there was only one varna, so when I say brahman, I refer to jathi and not to varna. See : Indian Caste System: Then and Now: Jati, Varna, Kula.)

In movies and paintings we see Indra with a golden crown and jewellery, clean shaven, unlike the rshis of his time whom we see with long beards, matted hair in a top knot and wearing only the yajnopavitam. We also see that he is the king of the devas.

• From the puranas and itihasas we know that Indra was a heroic fighter and a strategist who did a lot of the back ground planning such that Sri Rama, the descendant of his brother Viwaswan (Surya), could defeat his (Indra’s) cousin Ravana. See Indra.
• We know that Indra fought and killed Vrtra with a weapon made from dadIci maharshi’s backbone. We know that Indra was defeated by Ravana’s son Meghanath, who then took on the title Indrajit. We know that Jambavantha and Indra fought alongside each other.
• While shaving is a waste of time for rshis, flowing beards are a nuisance for warriors. Perhaps this why we perceive Indra as clean-shaven.

It is also interesting that Brhaspati, (the son of Angiras and grandson of Brahma) was the guru of the devas and therefore of Indra also, and that his son Bharadwaja is rishi of many mantras of which Indra is the luminary.

• As I was struggling yesterday to understand Bharadwaja Maharshi’s mantras to Indra, I prayed to my (our) forefather Bharadwaja to help me understand what all this was all about and all this is was what was revealed to/or struck my mind.
• Brihaspati was a grandson of Brahma and thus an uncle of Indra. Bharadwaja was thus Indra’s cousin.
• One of the many possible interpretations of these Veda Mantras might be that Bharadwaja was reminding his cousin Indra of his great strength and heroism so that he could defeat their common enemies and protect their godhana, and other forms of wealth etc. “win! protect us! you can do it!”. (No wonder then that Pandu selected Indra to father one of his sons! It makes me very curious about what mantras Durvasa taught Kunthi.. but that is a whole other matter!)

For more on meanings of Veda Mantras, Books, Links, Dictionaries and other related information you can explore http://satyaveda.wordpress.com

See Also : Chandra Deva, Atri’s son and Indra’s Uncle

Om Tat Sat.

Authorship and Copyright Notice: All rights reserved – Satya Sarada Kandula.