Devanagari
कृत्वोरौ दक्षिणे सव्यं पादपद्मं च जानुनि ।
बाहुं प्रकोष्ठेऽक्षमालाम् आसीनं तर्कमुद्रया ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
kṛtvorau dakṣiṇe savyaṁ
pāda-padmaṁ ca jānuni
bāhuṁ prakoṣṭhe ’kṣa-mālām
āsīnaṁ tarka-mudrayā
Synonyms
kṛtvā
—
having placed
;
ūrau
—
thigh
;
dakṣiṇe
—
at the right
;
savyam
—
the left
;
pāda
—
padmam — lotus feet
;
ca
—
and
;
jānuni
—
on his knee
;
bāhum
—
hand
;
prakoṣṭhe
—
in the end of the right hand
;
akṣa
—
mālām — rudrākṣa beads
;
āsīnam
—
sitting
;
tarka
—
mudrayā — with the mudrā of argument .
Translation
His left leg was placed on his right thigh, and his left hand was placed on his left thigh. [This sitting posture is called vīrāsana.] In his right hand he held rudrākṣa beads, and his finger was in the mode of argument.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
His left foot was on his right thigh and his left hand was placed on his left knee. He had beads on his right forearm, and his right hand showed the tarka-mudrā.
He was seen sitting in this typical posture. Yoga scriptures describe the posture:
eka-pādam athaikasmin vinyased ūru-saṁsthitam
itarasmiṁs tathā bāhuṁ vīrāsanam idaṁ smṛtam
Vīrāsana is defined as placing each foot on the opposite thigh, and placing the hands on the thighs.
The tarka-mudrā is described as follows:
tarjany-aṅguṣṭhayor agre mithaḥ saṁyojya cāṅgulīḥ
prasārya bandhanaṁ prāhus tarkamudreti māntrikā
Reciters of mantra define the tarka-mudrā as placing the tips of the forefinger and thumb together while spreading the other fingers.
Purport
The sitting posture described herein is called
vīrāsana
according to the system of
aṣṭāṅga-yoga
performances. In the performance of
yoga
there are eight divisions, such as
yama
and
niyama
— controlling, following the rules and regulations, then practicing the sitting postures, etc. Besides
vīrāsana
there are other sitting postures, such as
padmāsana
and
siddhāsana.
Practice of these
āsanas
without elevating oneself to the position of realizing the Supersoul, Viṣṇu, is not the perfectional stage of
yoga.
Lord Śiva is called
yogīśvara,
the master of all
yogīs,
and Kṛṣṇa is called
yogeśvara.
Yogīśvara
indicates that no one can surpass the
yoga
practice of Lord Śiva, and
yogeśvara
indicates that no one can surpass the yogic perfection of Kṛṣṇa. Another significant word is
tarka-mudrā.
This indicates that the fingers are opened and the second finger is raised, along with the arm, to impress the audience with some subject matter. This is actually a symbolic representation.