#Padma Purana

[h0bg0blin-meat]

Krishna, after Arjuni turns back into Arjun: Okay so don't tell about this whole thing to anyone, ever. Promise me.

Arjun: I promise :)

Vyas, later: *writes the Padma Puran and the Krishna-Arjuni incident in detail for the entire world to know*

[blue-lotus333]

Arjuniya - 🪷🤍

“when Arjuna plunged into the water of the lake, which was tinged with the pollen dropped from white lotuses, lotuses opening on moonrise, (other) lotuses and red and blue lotuses, and which was agreeably perfumed with honey-drops, which was shaken by the notes of corpulent swans, whose four banks were decked with jewels, which had ripples due to gentle breezes, she vanished just there. The charmingly smiling one got up and on seeing around, was confused. He instantly saw himself (to be turned into) a wonderful, excellent lady,

who had a slim, fair, charming body like the rays of pure gold, whose age was that of a sparkling youth, whose face resembled the autumnal moon, whose hair was very dark, curly, glossy and shining with jewels, whose curls of hair on the plate (-like forehead) were brightened up due to the rays from the mark of red lead, who had vanquished Cupid’s bow due to the knittings of the creeper-like eyebrows being manifest, whose wagtail-like eyes were dark like clouds and sportive,

whose round cheeks were sparkling due to the bright lustre of the jewelled ear-rings, whose wonderful creeper-like arms were delicate like lotus-stalks, whose sprout-like hands took away all the beauty of autumnal lotuses, who had put on a waist-band made of gold and arranged cleverly, whose hips were shining with jingling girdles, whose beautiful place of hips was covered with a shining garment, whose lotus-like feet were very charming due to the jingling jewelled anklets, who possessed the skill in the various arts of love being manifested, who was endowed with all (good) characteristics,

who was adorned with all ornaments. Due to the illusion of (i.e. created by) the lover of the cowherdesses he forgot whatever belonged to his former body; and after that, being very much astonished, stood there, not knowing what to do.”

- Padma Purana, 61b-74a

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

HI! I've been reading through some old posts and i was wondering if you could explain how Arjun did raas with lord krishna? <3

Hello!

So the bit you're referring to is not actually from the Mahabharat. It's from the Padma Purana's pātāla-khanda.

This tiny story is a part of the dialogue that occurs between two people in the future as is the typical narrative style of these tales. It goes something like:

Arjun is curious to know all sorts of details about the raas-leela- where does it happen, how many gopis are there, who are they etc etc. Krishna is cryptic, as usual, and tells him that a man simply cannot perceive it even if the said man is more precious to him than life itself to him. Therefore, it's no use asking. Arjun is Disappointed™. Krishna is soft for him so he tells him it's fine and that he shouldn't worry about it because he'll see for himself. Then he instructs him to go to a goddess(Tripāsundari, to be exact) who will help him.

Arjun goes to her, prays to her and calls to her. She appears, pleased by his devotion and adoration. She also asks him a rhetorical question, that I personally find funny, which basically is along the lines of "What makes you so special that Krishna is letting you have this one thing that no other mortal, deity or ascetic can have?" She doesn't wait for an answer, because I think she already knew and then proceeds to give Arjun a list of prayer related tasks to worship her properly. After he follows her instructions, she and her friend show him Radha's house and vrindavan. Then she tells him to take dip in an auspicious lake and he does and emerges as a beautiful woman.

(At this point, I will be using she/her pronouns for Arjun/Arjuni because that's what the story says.)

Arjuni rises from the lake, having forgotten everything about her male self. There's a lot of poetic waxing about how alluring and attractive her voice, physicality and personality are. She happens upon a bunch of women(the gopis, obviously) who are equally as beautiful and charming as her. All the gopis are very lovely, actually and ask her who she is and how she happened to end up there and kind of soothe Arjuni's anxiety and then all of them introduce themselves. They say that they used to sages in their past life and are now gopis who participate in raas leela with Krishna.

They take her to lake, play with her, bathe her etc etc. It's all VERY sapphic, trust me. There's also a lot of praying involved. After the initiation is over, Arjuni meets Radha. More praying and devotion.

Pleased by all this devotion, Krishna asks Radha to bring Arjuni to him who promptly breaks out into sweaty excitement upon seeing him.

(Okay, now, I guess I'm obligated to inform you that what follows is very...sexual in nature. BUT a lot of Indian spiritual texts consider the sexual and the spiritual to be interconnected. Take from this what you will, I guess.)

The text goes on to describe Krishna's body in HEAVY detail (including equating his thighs to tree trunks?) that makes me genuinely worried that whoever wrote this was incredibly horny. He takes her hand and they um... participate in the leela.

When it's over, Arjuni is Exhausted from all the activity and Krishna tells her to go take a dip in the lake again. She does.

(Back to he/him pronouns people, keep up.)

Arjun surfaces and is dejected from the loss of something so wonderful. Krishna consoles him by saying that they are Dear Friends, as the historians say, and that only he knows something that no one else in three loka does. And if Arjun tells anyone what he has experienced he will curse Krishna. Again, hilarious because if you remember I said that this story is being told to us in a dialogue of TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Which means other people already know. Clownery of the highest order, really.

And then they go home. The end?

I hope this helps. I paraphrased a lot but I couldn't just paste the entire thing here. I've given you all the tools to go search for orginal text and translation yourself.

TL: DR Arjun gets instant lake-HRT for one night, participates in the raas-leela, and then goes home.

-Mod S

[darksoundzero]

Padma Purana - Scratching The Surface (in Manifest, 2015)

[twosquareroti]

@eremin0109​ made a post or wrote some tags where she explains that Ved Vyas actually made Arjuna/Krishna canon in the Padma Purana, and it absolutely must be shared.

So Arjuna approaches Krishna in anguish, needing to know about the rasleela.

Krishna decides he’s not going to tell Arjuna about it because Arjuna is going to experience it.

Arjuna approaches Tripurasundari to help him experience this, as per Krishna’s instructions.

Arjuna pleases Tripurasundari and enters a special lake that turns him into a beautiful woman, Arjuni.

Arjuni meets the gopis and is taken to Krishna whose reaction is very 😉💖. Arjuni is so overcome with love and desire that she literally falls to the ground, barely manages to stand up again, and has so many overpowering feelings for Krishna that she trembles, has goosebumps all over, and is sweating. 🥵

Krishna grabs Arjuni’s hand and goes to “”sport”” with her all over the entire forest to the point where Arjuni is exhausted by all the wild “”sport”” they’ve been having. Krishna has to guide her by the shoulder just so that she can walk, and she has to be guided again to go take a relaxing bath in the special lake.

Arjuna gets his male body back once he gets into the lake but is completely broken and depressed because it’s over and he is no longer united closely with Krishna. But Krishna touches Arjuna and brings him back to mental health, and Arjuna goes home “with his mind delighted and having wonderful recollections.”

Vyas shipped it first, what can I say? 🤷🏻‍♀️😉

[indiansareedesigns07]

Hinduism's Puranas: Their Importance

Puranas are revered Hindu texts: The Puranas describe the universe's creation, deities, and Hindu ideology.

Puranas are based on five matters: They cover creation, secondary creation, god origins, Manu's regimes, and historical dynasties.

18 main Puranas: The texts tell mythological stories of gods and goddesses, such as Shiva, Vishnu, and Parvati.

Vishnu Purana is considered a gem: It presents Vedantic realities through mythical stories.

Puranas convey Vedas' message: They make Hindu principles accessible to common people.

[mplanetleaf]

సత్యమేవ జయతే! - ఒక మంచి కథ.. | Satyameva Jayate | MPlanetLeaf

[talonabraxas]

'Vishnu & Lakshmi' Talon Abraxas

The Symbolic Meaning of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi

Lord Vishnu is Hindu Myth

Hindu’s recognise Vishnu as the “protector.” He is the aspect of your personality that can dissolve the ego and uphold new Dharmas that enable you to develop peace of mind and bliss.

Ayurvedic teachings describe consciousness as being present. By taking control of emotions present in the five elements and the three gunas, you can take control of your life and master the energies of universal manifestation.

Vishnu is the higher consciousness that guides us and downloads messages that inform us what the right actions are to take. The problem most of us suffer is not knowing when we receive these messages because we are rooted in base consciousness.

Conscious comes to us as a thought, symbolised by Brahma in Hindu mythology. In the “Padma Purana”, Vishnu gives birth to Brahma who blossoms from the lotus flower that sprouts from Vishnu’s navel.

Brahma is said to be the creator of all things. He is the manifestation of ideas in the physical plane. The Lotus flower symbolises enlightenment, implying that consciousness passed to mortals is the Absolute Truth. The instructions to follow.

The Rig Veda states: “Vishnu is the most ancient of all, yet also the most recent. Nothing and no one creates Vishnu, yet Vishnu creates everyone and everything.”

In essence, the Supreme deity is a creative source but serves a greater purpose as the preserver. Escaping the bonds of the habitual mind is not easy and Vishnu has to keep a check that right actions are being followed.

It is said that Vishnu created the world with the right side of his body – that which is controlled by the left-side hemisphere of the brain. Although there are creative aspects in the right-side of the brain, it is widely accepted that most creative powers arise from the left side of the brain.

The right side of the brain is associated with collecting information and analysis. It’s the sensible part of the brain that talks us through what we should really do.

The Incarnations of Vishnu

All matter is conscious which evolves. As Absolute conscious, Vishnu creates the world through Brahma, and Hindu mythology gives an account of the evolution of Earth in the incarnations of Vishnu.

According to legend, Vishnu has reincarnated nine times so far. They are:

Matsya, the fish Kurma, the Turtle (reptiles) Vahara, the pig (animal life) Narasimha, half man, half lion Vaman, the man-dwarf Parashuram the man with an axe Rama – moral man Krishna – philosophical man Buddha – enlightened man

As consciousness evolves in nature it consistently creates improved versions of itself. But Vishnu can only do this with the help of his wife Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

The Symbolic Meaning of Lakshmi

Lakshmi emerged from the churning of the milky ocean on a lotus flower and subsequently incarnates amongst mankind in various forms. Described as ‘the mother of the world’ the goddess nurtures consciousness.

Lakshmi cleans Vishnu’s feet to show her nurturing nature. In chapter 8 of the Vishnu Purana says:

“Vishnu is meaning, she is speech; Hari is polity, she is prudence; Vishnu is understanding, she is intellect, he is righteousness, she is devotion.”

Lakshmi means ‘goals’ and as the goddess of wealth, beauty and love is said to reside in those that are prospering in life. In Hindu art she is always depicted sitting on a one hundred petal lotus indicated she is pure.

Together with Vishnu, Lakshmi is Absolute Consciousness, or The Truth.

Her four arms represent Dharma (doing the right thing), prosperity, perfection and freedom from mental and emotional bondages.

Other qualities of Lakshmi are portrayed through the elephants she is often pictured with. In Hindu esoteric symbolism, elephants represent strength, wisdom and patience, qualities needed to nurture.

The symbolic meaning of Hindu symbols

In ancient myth and Hindu art, Vishnu carries symbolic objects in his four hands and lies on a bed of floating serpents. The serpents represent the wisdom and peace of a calm mind that is freed from anxious thought.

Vishnu’s other symbols are:

Conch = vibrational frequencies and energetic forces that create and sustain all life in the universe. Scientifically speaking, Vishnu is the personification of the Conscious Universe.

Mace = the destructive nature of the god. It symbolizes the dissolution of ego and negative traits or even the destruction of the universe itself.

Bow or Lotus Flower = Both the lotus and the bow represent awakened consciousness that allows you to see beyond the veil of illusion.

Discus = The spinning discus symbolises Purity of mind and used by Vishnu to destroy demons.

The symbolic meaning of Vishnu and Lakshmi relates to the highest forms of human consciousness that we are aware of. Together they tell us what to do, and give us the ability to nurture Brahma into fruition.

Master Mind Content offers online symbolism courses. We have several in-depth guides that explain how symbolism relates to the body-mind-energy connection. Understanding symbolism can help you make important decisions, improve your quality of life and understand more about the world.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Gender Fluidity, non-heterosexual, and gender variance behavior in mythology.

For the purpose of this thread, and keeping it short cuz even though this is my off month to finally rest from burn out, I've got publishing obligations, signings, and stuff to do -- we're keeping-- this to South Asian mythology:

I've already done a thread about third sex/intersex and trans (Hijra) in South Asian culture and the portrayals in a pop culture IP recently - Monkey Man by Dev Patel --

This is a short primer really:

Harihara - the union representing totality/oneness of all existence is the being born of the union of Shiva and Vishnu (who at prior to this morphs into Mohini, the female celestial temptress who Shiva becomes besotted with and tries to get intimate with), Vishnu changes back amidst this and the two fuse into a being. The ability of celestial beings | gods | goddesses to morph, change shape and gender in Vedic to Hindu mythology is well-established/normal. But there are many legends about Mohini, including the birth of her (Vishnu, his female avatar form being Mohini) son, Shasta, with Shiva. Mohini is also known as a femme fatale archetype, seducer, temptress, as well as someone known for destroying/seducing demons to their doom.

One thing to remember is that the Vedic religion and its stories are old, older than our records because the stories, songs, poetry of it all existed before written records and were transmitted orally. There are also varied versions of the epics, such as Tamil recountings of Mahabharata for example, in where one such example exists.

Krishna also takes the form of Mohini to marry Aravan (in Tamil) Iravan otherwise to give Aravan the chance to experience love before his death. There is a festival celebrated to this in the month of Chitrai (April/May) at the Koothandavar Temple dedicated to Iravan during which, Hijras (the third sex, transgender, intersex, and or eunuchs as well) celebrate Krishna/Mohini marrying Aravan and then mourn Aravan/Iravan's death as he sacrificed himself.

It must be noted that there is artwork and mention throughout the wide spread of Vedic upwards stories (and how many interpretations, takes, and varies stories there are) of same sex and yonic/non-vaginal sex relationships, births, and more.

There's also inter-being...?

Erotica/romance authors help me out here? Inter...celestial sex?

Apsara, devas, asura, humans, demigods. Look, lots of sex of all kind happens, and it's normal.

There's also the story of Arjuna to consider: when he refuses the seductive advances of Urvashi, she curses him to be a Klba, or member of the third gender. Later when Arjuna adopts the name of Brihannala, the curse takes effect as Arjuna dresses in women's clothing, and because of this, Arjuna is able to gain entrance to the kingdom of Virata in the Padma Purana and teach the high arts of music, singing, and dance, to the king's daughter and princess. Later, he is turned into a woman when he wishes to take part in Krishna's mystical dance which only women may attend.

Then there is Ila, a character cursed by Shiva and Parvati to change genders each month.

NOTE: there are MANY versions of the story of Ila, but it is canonical they changed gender -- known as Sudyumna as a woman, and Ila as a man.

Ilā is considered the chief progenitor of the Lunar dynasty of Indian kings – also known as the Aillas.

Continuing. In one story, Ila marries Budha (not Buddha the former king and founder of Buddhism), but Budha that is the god Mercury -- Budha is aware of Ila's origins as a man and changing status, but only marries Ila in his feminine state, and honoring that part of them as his wife and only when Ila is in that state. He does not enlighten Ila to the changing effect as each gender is unaware of the other and those lives.

The tale of Ila's transformations is told in the Puranas as well as the Indian epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

This is just a little thread. Anyways, I'm off now to sign nearly 2000 pages (won't finish today) and have an achey hand while I do more research and trying to improve the prose style I want for book three of Tales of Tremaine.

❤️ thank you. Remember, be kind.

[mysticmartinez]

Sri Radha said "I am Lalita Devi Herself, and in the world am known as Radha. As Kamakala, I manifest as Vasudeva. My true form is female and in my eternal self I am female. Yet as Lalita, I become male in the form of Krishna. In reality, there is no difference between myself and Krishna."

- Maha Padma Purana

[h0bg0blin-meat]

I have a headcanon.

So this is before Vasant realizes he's aroace. And in this he's a God and not any avatar.

So basically Vasant (accidentally) oversees the whole Arjuni incident and wonders what's so special about Krishna's leela that made even Arjun, Shiva and Narad to fall for him as women.

So he approaches Krishna with the same request, and the latter is like "Shit you saw it all didn't you?" and Vasant is like "Heheh". After a bit of convincing, Krishna finally gives in (thanks to Vasant's superpower aka puppy eyes) and instructs him to do the same thing he asked Arjun to do.

So after the bath, Vasanti sees Krishna for the first time, and feels..... Absolutely nothing different. Like yeah he's pretty and beautiful, but she doesn't feel the overwhelmingness she saw Arjuni feel, to the point that she passed out twice. She approached Krishna and he took her hand, asking how she's feeling. He could see that she was a bit clueless and nervous, given she forgot her male form completely, but couldn't find any feeling that even remotely resembled the feelings of the other gopis.

"Erm.... The water was cold... I guess."

".....What."

Krishna was a bit astounded, ngl, but then realization hit him and he was like "OHHHH" in his head. He started laughing while Vasanti just stood there, completely oblivious.

After he stopped laughing and put his arm around her. "Oh you silly goose!"

"But... I'm a human?"

Krishna shook his head in laughter, pat her on her shoulder. "Of course you are." He said in a sarcastic tone and nodded.

Vasanti had never been more confused.

Yall can continue the story.

[blue-lotus333]

Krishna x Arjuniya 🦚☁️

“Arjuniya, having seen in confusion on the left side of the pleasing goddess Radhika, propitiating and offering a tāmbūla to him of a bright smile, was overcome with the passion of love. Then Sri Krishna, who knew everything, knowing her to be like that, seized her hand, and he the lord, the great master of magical art secretly sported with her in the entire pleasure-forest.”

- Padma purana, 177b-196a

(Art by _shirosawa on twitter)

[krishnaart]

💥HARE KRISHNA MAHA MANTRA💥

“Even if one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offensively, one can nullify these offenses by continuously chanting without deviation. One who becomes accustomed to this practice will always remain in a pure transcendental position, untouchable by sinful reactions.”~Padma Purana

[darksoundzero]

Padma Purana - Some Kind of Shelter (2021)

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

trans arjuna real?

that aside his time as Brihannala varies as him either being cursed to be a eunuch or a hijra, which sometimes gets translated as being like a eunuch but is more like a third gender category that includes transgender women, intersex people and eunuchs.

independently of THAT there's also another story in the Padma Purana where Arjuna really wants to know what Krishna's relationship with his Gopis are like so he goes and makes some devotions to the goddess Tripurasundari on Krishna's recommendation who then has him bathe in a magic lake that turns him into a full on girl (and also hard resets his memory). And then she hangs out with Krishna and the Gopis and has a nice time and everyone is very happy and nice and friends.

Both times he does turn back into a guy but at the very least its cool that he has a more relaxed relationship with it all.

[rhianna]

Dharmapuri is a pilgrimage and archaeological site in Telangana (not to be confused with many other villages and towns in India that are named as Dharmapuri). 

Dharmapuri of Telangana is a large village (small town) located on the west bank of Godavari river in the Jagtial district at its border with the Mancherial district.

It is home to several historic Hindu temples. These temples were damaged and a few destroyed in the 14th and 15th-centuries conquest of Deccan region, with one temple converted into a mosque by Rustumdikhan in the mid 15th-century during the Islamic rule of this region from Hyderabad. A new main temple was rebuilt by the Hindus after the 15th-century and re-dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. It serves as the primary pilgrimage attraction of Dharmapuri.

The temple finds mention in the 10th-century Puranic tourist guide Dharmapuri Kshetra Mahatmya, as well as in the Padma Purana and Brahmanda Purana. The site's significance and temple fame is mentioned in a Kurikyala inscription by Chalukyas of Vemulavada. Believed to be a major Vedic studies and manuscripts preservation center in antiquity and called one of the Dakshina Kashi, it has been a major Vaishnava pilgrimage site, considered as one of nine Narasimha pilgrimage centers (devasthanam) in the Deccan region. Narasimha is one of the major avatars of Vishnu, one particularly popular in Deccan (Telangana, Andhra, east Maharashtra), in Karnataka and in northern Tamil speaking regions of India.

The Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple has two major gopurams, the Pedda Gopuram being the primary. After the entrance is the damaged four pillared pavilion (kalyanamandapam) , which is from the Kakatiya era. The pillars are intricately carved with Hindu legends about Vishnu, as well those of Shaiva and Shakti traditions of Hinduism. There are bands of cultural scenes, Hindu festivals, kama and artha scenes as well.

The temple architecture is Dravidian, and illustrates the Hindu temple architecture found in vastu sastra texts. It includes a square temple water tank, called the Brahma pushkarini (Brahma koneru).

The temple hosta a major 13-day festival every March-April. It is called the Brahmotsavalu. This attracts numerous regional Hindus to the pilgrimage site.

P. Madhusudan

Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication

Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, Dharmapuri Telangana -