Is Ashwathama Still Alive?

[indulekhadasi]

 

PS, My user name is that of a great devotee of Krishna confined to the bodily vessel of an Elephant on the battlefield of Kurushetra.

 

CLEVER! LOL! Jai Ashvathama the elephant!

[tackleberry]

 

Is this in the Mahabharata someplace? I would love very much to see a quote from some scripture.

 

I would not doubt Madhvacharya either but I need some proof (either from him or anyone else).

 

Yes, it's given in multiple places, like Madhvacharya's "Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya", which is a commentary on the important events of Mahabharata. Aside from this, there are many other scriptures, where either Madhvacharya or his followers like Vyasa Tirtha, Jagannatha Dasa etc. have given the details of the avatars in both Ramayana and Mahabharata.

 

You might want to read Jagannatha Dasa's "Harikathamrthasara" that enumerates this, but I do not remember which part, it's a very huge work containing many parts. Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya also gives this detail, not only Lord Shiva's incarnation as Ashvatama, but even others such as Dhrtrashtra, Shalya etc.

 

Try tatvavada.org or any other dvaita website, they might have some resources on this, perhaps also links to these works, especially MBTN.

[indulekhadasi]

Thank you tackleberryji, I will look into it.

[omaumom]

This is what i heard from my mom and dad. My dad used to work as a physician in PHC(primary health care center) in Chittoor dist in Andhra Pradesh. he heard one day from a villager who came to see him that they have been seeing this guy who is like 7 feet tall with lot of wounds on his body, some bleeding in the forest. they see him only once in a while and he told them his name is aswathama and he participated in mahabharatha war. they are not scared of him and dont think he is a bad omen. i think it is curse he travels all over india doing puja in siva temples. i will try to find more of the folklore from my area

[indulekhadasi]

How many Ashwathamas are there? One in Andhra pradhesh with specific features, another in Maharastra with different features, one here one there...why are so many people proffessing to be Ashwathama?

[Sunds]

Please look around. There are so many forms of Ashwattama walking around this planet. It is not Ashwattama per say which is important. Even Ashwattama represented a side of humanity which many of us have and that curse is also borne by many of us. When you look at overall evolution of Humanity , one individual does not matter. It is the macro perspective that should be seen.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

Ashvatthama is set to become the Vedavyasa of the next divya-yuga as well as one of the sapta-rishis in the Savarni manvantara. My guess would be that he is engaged in severe tapa on a higher spacial level in the Himalayas. There are said to be three different levels of the Himalayas (as the Vedic conception of space is not 3D but multi-dimensional), and we earthly humans are acquainted with the lowest level of these mountains only. People like Ashvatthama, Krishna Dvaipayana, Kripacharya, Parashurama and even Shri Hanuman as well as countless other advanced personalities inhabit those higher dimensions of space in and around the earth.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

Please read Sri Madhva's Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya. He describes the avatars of various devatas, including Shiva, Indra, Surya, and the rest.

 

 

Then I would have to disagree with Madhva on the basis of the rest of the entire Vedic tradition. As for Lord Shiva, I would go to Shaivas for reliable information on HIM, just like Vaishnavas would be my source for data on Lord Vishnu. And other than this questionable quote from a text originating in a (well-known) highly sectarian and narrow school of thought (what Madhvaites make of Shri Chaitanya and his shiksha bears ample testimony to that), this falsehood that Ashvatthama is Lord Shiva incarnate does not have a leg to stand on, from a scriptural point of view.

 

In passing, Mahadeva does not physically appear in a body on earth. He has no avataras in the same way that Narayana does. Lord Nilakantha's incarnations are in fact personalities empowered with the Lord's intelligence, in about the same way that Vyasa is an avesha-avatara of Narayana. Ashvatthama is no Shiva-avatara, and to insist that he is is nothing more than apostasy. The real, holistic Vedic version is that Shiva is as much God as Vishnu is, and if some Vaishnavas find that hard to swallow, it is their problem and theirs only.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

Madhvacharya accepts Aswathama as an avatar of Lord Shiva. And because Madhvacharya is known to have been very, very meticulous when it comes to pramana, I have no reason to doubt it.

 

I suppose that that explains why almost none of the works he mentions in his writings can be found anywhere. No statement stands on its own in the study of shastra, and a serious student would demand copious corroboration and back-up material from more ancient material for such an illogical and bizarre pronouncement. Far more widely known and accepted is the fact that Hanumanji was an amsha of Devadideva. Knowing Tattvavadis and their biased, parochial positions on a number of issues, I would not be surprised that they fail to mention this completely anywhere.

 

I'd just end by saying that I would never accept any pronouncement by that sect without a heavy caveat and a fat pinch of salt. Their attitude in fact is more of an embarrassment than anything else to world Vaishnavism. In case you didn't know, they do not even accept the Valmiki Ramayana as an original work. In brief, many Madhvaite beliefs rest on their own, and please pardon if I show no hesitation in dismissing this claim out-of-hand.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

 

It's not in the Mahabharata by any stretch of the imagination. Ask tackleberry to reproduce the original verse verbatim and specify the Parva and entire context, then we can look into it. Then again, he can't.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

Perhaps Ashwathama was born by the grace of Lord Shiva, but I am having trouble accepting him as an incarnation.

 

And you're absolutely correct in having reservations regarding this type of nonsense.

[indulekhadasi]

Yes, it seems a little strange that Lord Shiva could oppose the Pandavas on one hand and help the Pandavas on another hand. People like me could perhaps act nice and betray a person at the same time but never ever could Lord Shiva do such a thing. Therefore I found it hard to accept.

[Guest]

Ashwathama is not Shiv Avtaar at all. This is mentioned in none on the Vedic texts or purans. If it is so i would liek to see a shloka from any such scriptures describing so.

 

Secondly Shiv does take avtaars yet Aswathama is not one of them. Shivji also comes onto the Earth when needs be as Himself in the form of maybe a brahmin or the likes, such as when He came for teh darshan of Shri Krishna in Gokul or Shri Swaminarayan in Chapaiya and later on with Parvati on Nandi in the Jungles when Shri Swaminarayan was performing penance at the tender age of 11 as Nilkanth Varni.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

Secondly Shiv does take avtaars yet Aswathama is not one of them. Shivji also comes onto the Earth when needs be as Himself in the form of maybe a brahmin or the likes, such as when He came for teh darshan of Shri Krishna in Gokul or Shri Swaminarayan in Chapaiya and later on with Parvati on Nandi in the Jungles when Shri Swaminarayan was performing penance at the tender age of 11 as Nilkanth Varni.

 

Lord Shiva either personally manifests Himself or empowers a jiva with some of His buddhi when necessary. I maintain that He doesn't incarnate in the same manner that Lord Vishnu does.

[Guest]

Hanumanji is Ansh avtaar though. And Shiv Himself is Sagun Avtaar of Narayan anyway. LOL. The Vedas declare both shiv and Narayan as one and same brahmswaroop.

[LoveroftheBhagavata]

 

Hanumanji is Ansh avtaar though. And Shiv Himself is Sagun Avtaar of Narayan anyway. LOL. The Vedas declare both shiv and Narayan as one and same brahmswaroop.

 

Yes, Hanumanji is an empowered amsha of Lord Shiva, not the Lord directly. Your second statement is a Vaishnava belief, which I respect but do not accept, as I myself am not a Vaishnava, but a Shaivite impersonalist. I will thus not comment on it.

 

 

The Vedas declare both shiv and Narayan as one and same brahmswaroop.

 

 

This I can have no problem with.

[Guest]

Ok let me rephrase it Shiv is the Sagun Avtaar of Supreme reality. There is a Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in all the inumberable universes. The Vedas declare both shiv and Narayan as one and same brahmswaroop.

[kaushika]

 

That question is stupid, even if you see real asvathama, how the hell can you identify him. if you take the identification as the one who is clutching his head and screaming in pain you can find lot of such cases in hospital and mental wards we dont have to go to jungle in search.

 

Even if you genuinely find him how are you going to talk to him , in sanskrit or sign language .

 

Please stop this kind of stupid discussions.

 

if we keep on checking this facts we need to check how can a girl become pregnant when she is still a virgin( you know what i mean). etc etc

 

hello,whoso ever u r, if u are not intersted in these kind of discussions,pl do not post any thing,let people who can give an answer do it,for god's sake.

ms.curious

[kaushika]

 

That question is stupid, even if you see real asvathama, how the hell can you identify him. if you take the identification as the one who is clutching his head and screaming in pain you can find lot of such cases in hospital and mental wards we dont have to go to jungle in search.

 

Even if you genuinely find him how are you going to talk to him , in sanskrit or sign language .

 

Please stop this kind of stupid discussions.

 

if we keep on checking this facts we need to check how can a girl become pregnant when she is still a virgin( you know what i mean). etc etc

[kaushika]

if not geuinely intrested then pl do not post anything rubbish,is that all i can say

[sarang_ag]

I am also curious to know more about it...

 

I had heard about a book in which his reference was mentioned.

 

In that book, A holly Sage had given his experience of his travel of Narmada River from Start to End.

 

In Jungle once he was in deep trouble as he felt in valley but got stuck on Tree in between. He was totally helpless.

Then a man in White Clothes came there and help him pull out.

The Sage saw a big black mark on his forehead. After taking the sage out the Man became invisible in franction of Seconds.

 

Could he be Ashwathama?

[Ashvatama]

 

IS ASHWATHAMA STILL ALIVE??

 

Yes he is, remember the worst punishment for murdering innocent sleeping children is actually no punishment but rather disowned, shunned and ignored by all, even by the Lord of death Yamaraj!! And forced to live in the same body and wonder the earth for thousands of years even when it is greatly decayed.

 

However even Ashvatama's fate, even though it appears to be eternal, is also only TEMPORARY IN THE FACE OF MATERIAL TIME.

 

All karma good and bad, eventally burns out and fades - there is no such thing as 'eternal damnation' or 'eternal Heaven' in the material creation of Maha-Vishnu. EVERYTHING HERE IN THE MAHAT TATTVA IS PERISHABLE.

 

Hare Krsna!

[jeffster]

Hello Lover of the Bhagavat,

Re: your post # 141, I was wondering if you have ever heard of the analogy that likens Lord Krishna to milk and Lord Shiva to yoghurt ? They are of the same essence, but a little different, yoghurt being derived from milk. Also, calling yourself a "Shivaite impersonalist" seems to me a contradiction, since Shiva is a person, not an imperson.

Regards, Jeffster/AM das

[Coconut_Tree]

 

This is what i heard from my mom and dad. My dad used to work as a physician in PHC(primary health care center) in Chittoor dist in Andhra Pradesh. he heard one day from a villager who came to see him that they have been seeing this guy who is like 7 feet tall with lot of wounds on his body, some bleeding in the forest. they see him only once in a while and he told them his name is aswathama and he participated in mahabharatha war. they are not scared of him and dont think he is a bad omen. i think it is curse he travels all over india doing puja in siva temples. i will try to find more of the folklore from my area

hello daas ka daas

 

That is interesting I enjoy hearing stories like this.

Could you ask your folks to ask Aswathama if it would be ok to take a picture of him the next time he visits, it would be great if we had a picture of him

 

Thanks

 

Regards

 

Coconut Tree

 

Oh ok sorry, have just re-read what you wrote i.e. it being one of the villagers that he heard the story from, so never mind...

[neer]

 

After watching the great epic by BR Chopra of Mahabharat im intrigued by 1 thing. Near the end of the battle, Lord Krishna condemns Drona's son Ashwathama to roam the earth till the end of time for his grave sin of trying to kill the unborn parikshit. Lord Krishna also states that he will eternally feel pain from the wound created where a gem was cut out his forehead. He will be alone, deprived of compassion and will always be deprived of help.

So, on this note,now Ashwathama would be alive somewhere in modern-day India right?

Have there been any recorded sightings of him? Have people seen a man apparently clutching his head and screaming from pain in the jungles?

Please help answer this nagging question.

Thank you very much!

Loyal Mahabharat fan.

yes ,he is alive .he is making penance for his poor deeds.i have reades 'kalki puran' it says that he will come to see kalki bhagwan at the end of kalyug.

hare krishna.