Text 39]
Lord Brahmā Satisfies Lord Śiva
193
TEXT 38
कृत्वोरौ दक्षिणे सव्यं पादपद्मं च जानुनि । बाहुं प्रकोटेऽक्षमालामासीनं तर्कमुद्रया ॥३८॥
kṛtvorau dakṣiṇe savyam pāda-padmam ca jānuni bāhum prakoṣṭhe 'kṣa-mālām āsīnam tarka-mudrayā
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. In his right hand he held rudrākṣa beads. This sitting posture is called vīrāsana. He sat in the vīrāsana posture, and his finger was in the mode of argument.
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 also 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.
TEXT 39
तं ब्रह्मनिर्वाणसमाधिमाश्रितं व्युपाश्रितं गिरिशं योगकक्षाम् ।