Veer Rasa

Every question on the site tagged Veer Rasa, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.

Concept
Vīra Rasa

The heroic sentiment of Indian aesthetics — the mood of courage and valor, held up in devotional hymns and worship as the counterpart to the romantic Shringar Rasa.

22 notes from our sources

Notes from our sources

How can emotional disposition (Bhava) modulate recitation without distorting the meter?
Reciting with a heroic disposition (Veera Bhava), such as aspiring for the destruction of enemies, can add intensity and fierce emotion rather than gentleness — this is acceptable and without fault, as long as the underlying meter's structure is preserved.
Why is the rudraksha mala compulsory in Bhairav worship?
Because their energy is so immeasurable and unlimited that when the Bhairav tattva begins to be present in the body and in the aura, then along with a protective bhava an ugra bhava also grows within you. You will become one who protects and nourishes his family, your patience will greatly increase and you will fight to the death for your family — but the ugrata will come in equal measure. So that the ugrata does not become unbalanced and no vikshobha arises in the body from the effect of the mantras, a rudraksha mala must be at the neck.
The speaker's own experience of reciting the Chandi Charitra daily
He says he too used to do it a great deal before; now he has almost forgotten it. About ten or twelve years ago he used to do the nitya paath of the Chandi Charitra. It felt good to recite; it is a stuti of Bhagavati and is in veer bhava, and there is enjoyment in doing it.
Why must a kavach or the Hanuman Chalisa be recited in veer bhava?
Because reciting it slowly will not give that much effect, but if you do it in an ugra bhava, in a veer bhava, then atma-bala grows strong from within, and these shaktis then become frightened and withdraw. But you will understand this only if you accept it. There is no standing, he says, for any negative shakti to mount upon you if you begin to do the Hanuman Chalisa well, in veer bhava.
The loving mode will not work here: the recitation must carry veer bhava, so that prachandata enters the material being charged.
Do not recite it comfortably, he says — not in an entirely gentle mood, "dattatreyaya anaghaya". That loving mode will not work there. Your energy must be so fierce, you must recite with such veer bhava, that prachandata comes to be present in the material being charged. The mantra must carry that bhava of yours.
Mental weakness is precisely what the other side exploits
You should not think that a tantra prayoga has occurred in your house and then feel yourself helpless and lose in your mind — that someone will kill me, that such a thing will happen to me. Everyone takes advantage of that very mental weakness, the speaker says. Instead, invoke Hanuman ji once with a hunkar; invoke Bhairav ji once with a war-cry, with the same bhava with which you shout.
Who used to do the veer bhav sadhanas of the shamshan kshetra?
The veer bhav sadhanas of the shamshan kshetra used to be done, the speaker says, by a king's soldiers, a senapati, one who takes part in war, a kshatriya or one who does kshatriya-related work, or one who performs tantra-related siddhis for the welfare of society; such people would go and stay in a settled manner and perform siddhi. Not as today — Shani is troubling, so off to the Shamshan Kali temple; enemies to be destroyed, everyone arrives at the Shamshan Kali temple.
When does reciting a hymn like Lalita Saubhagya Pradan Stotra require formal initiation?
Hymns like Lalita Saubhagya Pradan Stotra require formal Diksha when performed with heroic/aggressive intent (Veer Bhava); many specific hymns to Goddess Lalita are prohibited without initiation.
Why switch to an aggressive recitation tone during Chandi Path under fear or black magic, and what must follow it?
Reciting Chandi Path in an aggressive, heroic tone under fear or black-magic affliction heightens the deity's fiery aspect into an explosive protective force, but a peaceful hymn (Shanti Stuti) must always follow to pacify that energy before final offerings and Aarti.
Veer rasa in sadhana: why a practitioner cannot be passive
The speaker says every dev shakti a person worships has a heroic character — no shakti without strength is ever served — so a sadhak who sinks into meekness after worship, staying silent where fierceness is called for, is not doing sadhana but pretence. He calls "jahi vidhi rakhe Ram" a line people use selectively, only to dodge standing up for the wider Sanatani community. This heroic capability, he says, is granted by every deity alike — Dattatreya, Krishna, Narasimha, Shiva — not only by the Bhairav forms.
Passing veer rasa to the next generation: ancestors' courage and the hymns to teach children
The speaker says that being able to sit peacefully today doing bhajan-pujan rests on the boil in one's ancestors' blood and the kripa of the dev shaktis they earned by it — and that blood must not be allowed to go bad. Do not wait for calamity to cry "Ram, save us"; that bhaav is not for everyone. Prepare now, and sow capability in your children: teach them not only shringar stotras, which are necessary, but hymns of Veer Rasa too — Mahishasura Mardini, Aigiri Nandini, and the Tandava stotra of the family's own ishta, since a tandava exists for every deity.
Kaal Bhairav Ashtakam: daily recitation or only in adversity
The speaker rejects the teaching, given by some, that the Kaal Bhairav Ashtakam should not be recited daily but only in adversity. Which of you, he asks, is living in a time of such comfort — a crorepati, free of illness, with a family in full happiness — that you have no adversity? Recite the ashtakams without worry. He adds a wider rule: choose at least one veer-pradhan shakti to serve, and take up the veer svaroop of your own ishta — a devotee of Krishna should worship Krishna's heroic form too, not lose himself only in Bal Mukund and forget the leelas in which Krishna slew enemies and danavas.
Can a whole family perform deepdaan together?
Yes — the speaker says all doing it together is most excellent. If there are five or ten members in the family, let them all hold lamps together and, sitting together, do japa of Bhagavati's thirty-two namavali in an ugra, vira bhava — one chakra vidhi, that is thirty-three times, by the chakra vidhi. Then, he says, no one has the standing to raise an eye at that family.
Narasimha tore open Hiranyakashipu seated on that very threshold
He points to the day Bhagavan Narasimha sat upon that chaukhat and tore open the chest of Hiranyakashipu, drew out the entrails and wore them as a garland — and refers listeners to the Sahasrabahu Narasimha stotra, which he says may be found on the Sahasrabahu channel on YouTube, for that whole tandava and where he sat to perform it.
Calm here means lava within and stillness outside, not cowardice or sweetness
Calm, he says, does not mean that he will become a coward and turn sweet. The one possessed of samarthya will remain calm: there is turmoil within him, but he is calm; on need arising, the flame is about to burst out. Inside there is fire, there is lava, completely. This, he says, is the samarthya and capacity of the mantras.
Why does anger arise after japa of the Narsingh mala mantra?
A listener who has taken a sankalp of 108 japa of the Narsingh mala mantra daily for 108 days in a temple, for the destruction of a-vichar, says anger began to rise in his mind after the first japa. The speaker says the japa of Bhagavan Narsingh is with ugra bhav, veer bhav; when the bhav is such and the devata's subject is such, some presence of anger will indeed occur from the ugrata. Do kshama prarthana and the rest, and recite a stuti afterwards — from that anger will not come. Keep it saumya.
Why is a sadhak told to keep control over his breath?
The speaker explains it through the previous questioner: if he is doing the japa of Narsingh's mala mantra with ugra bhav, with the veer bhav that is the mantra's own real bhav, he will get the most excellent fruit — it should indeed be with ugra bhav. But when the samarpan of the puja happens, at that very time the samarpan of that bhav should also be made at the deity's feet, so that the bhav, the veerta, the ugrata does not remain within your body; otherwise anger will come to you without cause and you will not be able to control it.
Is Narsingh a saumya shakti?
The speaker says that although Narsingh is a param Vaishnava shakti, look at his ferocity — he bathed in blood and wore Hiranyakashyap's entrails around his neck as a garland, so angered was he. Do you think, he asks, that he is a saumya and peaceful shakti? He is ugra Narsingh, a maha ugra shakti.
Learn to do stuti, and learn to sing it
Now you are a sadhak, so how will you bring bhav of this kind — for this, he says again and again, learn to do stuti, learn to sing stuti. Listen to the stutis of Pandit Hiramath ji if you do the sadhana of Shiva ji; learn to sing the stuti. If you do Bhagavati's, then learn to sing Bhagavati's stuti, in whichever bhav you like, in whichever lay, in whichever sur and taal you like. If veer bhav is to your liking, do the Mahishasura Mardini in veer bhav; if you wish to do it in saumya bhav, then do it accordingly.
Which form of Krishna has almost no worshippers left?
Very few, almost negligible, he says, worship the form of Bhagavan Krishna standing at Kurukshetra or engaged in the wars of his lifetime — the one known as Ranchhod Das ji. The stories of Bhagavan's veerta, he says, you will very rarely get to hear.
Worshipping Pitambara's ugra form with the 36-akshari, the office boss becomes the target
Suppose we work in some office and our boss abuses us and speaks wrongly — this happens normally. And suppose we are worshipping the ugra form of Bhagavati Pitambara, doing the japa of the 36-akshari daily. Now the 36-akshari japa is done in Veer bhav; we are doing the japa in Veer bhav, so whenever we think about the enemy, who will appear there as the enemy? There the enemy will appear as that boss who spoke wrongly to us. The whole energy will become centred upon him.
The image shown is Narasimha Bhagwan with fire issuing entirely from his mouth, as it was when he manifested in wrath
He points out the image being seen in that day's video: Narasimha Bhagwan with fire issuing entirely from his mouth. When he manifested, he says, it was just so — fire was issuing from his tongue in wrath.
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