Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 Namaste, In Shankara's Gita Bhashya, he has consistently defined Bhakti as Devotion of Knowledge (esp. XVIII:55), or j~naana nishhThaa. In this context, the thrust of the quotation appears apt. Regards, s. >"Madhava K. Turumella" <madhava >advaitin >advaitin >RE: Bhakti - According to Shankara ? >Tue, 13 Jun 2000 16:48:36 +0300 > >Dear Daveji, > >As far as I knowledge goes, this statement is from the famous text "nArada >bhakti sutras" authorship attributed to Sage Narada. He said Bhakti is the >highest. Sri AdiShankara might have quoted this verse for the purpose of >commenting on certain points, but definitely this is not written by Sri >Shankara. > >Yours, >Madhava > > >Dave Sirjue [dsirjue] >Tuesday, June 13, 2000 3:57 PM >advaitin > Bhakti - According to Shankara ? > > >Namaste Friends and Scholars, > >I'm interested to find out the authenticity of the following >comment made by the scholar Sarkar and attributed to Adi >Shankara. Unfortunately he does not mention the text. >Does anyone know which of Shankara's text >includes the following quote ? > >"Moksakarana samagryam bhaktireva gariyasii" >- "Of all the ways to attain salvation the way of Bhakti >or devotion is the greatest "- > >I understand there were many personalities bearing >the name Sankara subsequent to Adi Shankara. >Is there some confusion with regards to which are >the authentic works of the Acharya ? > >Adi Shankara an exponent of Brahaman is said to have >even worshiped the goddesses Ganga, Saraswati and so on >a manifestation of Maya - a concept which he argued against >and refuted vehemently in his works on "atma-vidya". > > Best >~dave > > > > > > >------ >@Backup- Protect and Access your data any time, any where on the net. >Try @Backup FREE and recieve 300 points from mypoints.com Install now: >http://click./1/5467/5/_/489436/_/960900896/ >------ > >Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy >focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives >are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To >from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other >contact, Email to <advaitins > > >------ >beMANY! has a new way to save big on your phone bill -- and keep on >saving more each month: Our huge buying group gives you Long Distance >rates which fall monthly, plus an extra $60 in FREE calls! >http://click./1/3821/5/_/489436/_/960906287/ >------ > >Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy >focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives >are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To >from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other >contact, Email to <advaitins > > ______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 Namaste Friends and Scholars, I'm interested to find out the authenticity of the following comment made by the scholar Sarkar and attributed to Adi Shankara. Unfortunately he does not mention the text. Does anyone know which of Shankara's text includes the following quote ? "Moksakarana samagryam bhaktireva gariyasii" - "Of all the ways to attain salvation the way of Bhakti or devotion is the greatest "- I understand there were many personalities bearing the name Sankara subsequent to Adi Shankara. Is there some confusion with regards to which are the authentic works of the Acharya ? Adi Shankara an exponent of Brahaman is said to have even worshiped the goddesses Ganga, Saraswati and so on a manifestation of Maya - a concept which he argued against and refuted vehemently in his works on "atma-vidya". Best ~dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 Dear Daveji, As far as I knowledge goes, this statement is from the famous text "nArada bhakti sutras" authorship attributed to Sage Narada. He said Bhakti is the highest. Sri AdiShankara might have quoted this verse for the purpose of commenting on certain points, but definitely this is not written by Sri Shankara. Yours, Madhava Dave Sirjue [dsirjue] Tuesday, June 13, 2000 3:57 PM advaitin Bhakti - According to Shankara ? Namaste Friends and Scholars, I'm interested to find out the authenticity of the following comment made by the scholar Sarkar and attributed to Adi Shankara. Unfortunately he does not mention the text. Does anyone know which of Shankara's text includes the following quote ? "Moksakarana samagryam bhaktireva gariyasii" - "Of all the ways to attain salvation the way of Bhakti or devotion is the greatest "- I understand there were many personalities bearing the name Sankara subsequent to Adi Shankara. Is there some confusion with regards to which are the authentic works of the Acharya ? Adi Shankara an exponent of Brahaman is said to have even worshiped the goddesses Ganga, Saraswati and so on a manifestation of Maya - a concept which he argued against and refuted vehemently in his works on "atma-vidya". Best ~dave ------ @Backup- Protect and Access your data any time, any where on the net. Try @Backup FREE and recieve 300 points from mypoints.com Install now: http://click./1/5467/5/_/489436/_/960900896/ ------ Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other contact, Email to <advaitins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 Shankara was the author of the Saundarya Lahari, which consists of hymns of praise to the Divine Mother. http://www.vedanta.com/getpage.cfm?file=titles/10000192.html&userid= While we don't know too much historically about the life of Sri Shankara, we do know that he confessed his devotion to Shakti in the writing of this work, which essentially makes him a bhakta devotee of the Divine Mother. It makes perfect sense to me that later in his life he came to love Mother. All those years living as a fully realized being and still, the world persisted in his awareness. What to do except fall in love with It. --jody. advaitin , "Dave Sirjue" <dsirjue@m...> wrote: > Namaste Friends and Scholars, > > I'm interested to find out the authenticity of the following > comment made by the scholar Sarkar and attributed to Adi > Shankara. Unfortunately he does not mention the text. > Does anyone know which of Shankara's text > includes the following quote ? > > "Moksakarana samagryam bhaktireva gariyasii" > - "Of all the ways to attain salvation the way of Bhakti > or devotion is the greatest "- > > I understand there were many personalities bearing > the name Sankara subsequent to Adi Shankara. > Is there some confusion with regards to which are > the authentic works of the Acharya ? > > Adi Shankara an exponent of Brahaman is said to have > even worshiped the goddesses Ganga, Saraswati and so on > a manifestation of Maya - a concept which he argued against > and refuted vehemently in his works on "atma-vidya". > > Best > ~dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 "Dave Sirjue" <dsirjue@m...> wrote: > "Moksakarana samagryam bhaktireva gariyasii" > - "Of all the ways to attain salvation the way of Bhakti > or devotion is the greatest "- > > I understand there were many personalities bearing > the name Sankara subsequent to Adi Shankara. > Is there some confusion with regards to which are > the authentic works of the Acharya ? Vivekachudamani, verses 31-32 - moksha-kAraNa-sAmagrayaM bhaktir eva garIyasI | sva-svarUpa-anusaMdhAnaM bhaktir ity abhidhIyate || 31 || sva-Atma-tattva-anusaMdhAnaM bhaktir ity apare jaguH | 32 ab | If the first line is from the Narada Bhakti Sutras, it is possible that it is a quotation in Vivekachudamani also. Academic scholars are in two minds about whether this is an authentic text. Some of them think it is authentic, most don't. There is some speculation that it must have been written by Sri Sankara Bharati, one of the later Sankaracharyas listed in the Sringeri Matha lineage. For the traditional perspective, the question is immaterial. Yes, there have been many Sankaracharyas after the first Sankaracharya, but texts written by them are also meant to convey the central message of Advaita. Vidyasankar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2000 Report Share Posted June 13, 2000 > moksha-kAraNa-sAmagrayaM bhaktir eva garIyasI | ^^^^^^^^^^ Sorry, the word should be sAmagryAM Vidyasankar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 2000 Report Share Posted June 14, 2000 - Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vsundaresan <advaitin > Tuesday, June 13, 2000 7:35 PM Re: Bhakti - According to Shankara ? > > > > moksha-kAraNa-sAmagrayaM bhaktir eva garIyasI | > ^^^^^^^^^^ > > Sorry, the word should be sAmagryAM > > Vidyasankar > > Dear Vidyasankar, I stand to be corrected on spelling errors, both English and Sanskrit. (Really I don't proof read on a forum.) But the question remains - do you agree that the statement is attributed to Acharya Shankara ? Thanks ~dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 2000 Report Share Posted June 14, 2000 advaitin , "Dave Sirjue" <dsirjue@m...> wrote: > > > moksha-kAraNa-sAmagrayaM bhaktir eva garIyasI | > > ^^^^^^^^^^ > > > > Sorry, the word should be sAmagryAM > > > > Vidyasankar > > > > > Dear Vidyasankar, > > I stand to be corrected on spelling errors, > both English and Sanskrit. > (Really I don't proof read on a forum.) My correction was to my own earlier post. > But the question remains - do you agree that > the statement is attributed to Acharya Shankara ? > Taking the Vivekachudamani text to be authentic, yes. However, I would also ask that the sentence be read in conjunction with the rest of the verse and the next verse, where bhakti is further defined. It would be alien to the spirit of Sankara's teaching to associate a different meaning with the word bhakti in this context. Regards, Vidyasankar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 17, 2000 Report Share Posted June 17, 2000 Thank you Vidyashankarji, I will change my opinion. I was under the impression that somebody else has written it and inserted it into the VivekachooDAMani. I thought this and a few other slokas are "prakshipta". I felt that these slokas are undermining the main importance of Shankara's teachings. That is why I said these are not written by Shankara. Thank you very much. I remain yours, Madhava Vidyasankar Sundaresan [vsundaresan] Thursday, June 15, 2000 2:20 AM advaitin Re: Bhakti - According to Shankara ? advaitin , "Dave Sirjue" <dsirjue@m...> wrote: > > > moksha-kAraNa-sAmagrayaM bhaktir eva garIyasI | > > ^^^^^^^^^^ > > > > Sorry, the word should be sAmagryAM > > > > Vidyasankar > > > > > Dear Vidyasankar, > > I stand to be corrected on spelling errors, > both English and Sanskrit. > (Really I don't proof read on a forum.) My correction was to my own earlier post. > But the question remains - do you agree that > the statement is attributed to Acharya Shankara ? > Taking the Vivekachudamani text to be authentic, yes. However, I would also ask that the sentence be read in conjunction with the rest of the verse and the next verse, where bhakti is further defined. It would be alien to the spirit of Sankara's teaching to associate a different meaning with the word bhakti in this context. Regards, Vidyasankar ------ Old school buds here: http://click./1/5536/5/_/489436/_/961024787/ ------ Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other contact, Email to <advaitins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 17, 2000 Report Share Posted June 17, 2000 "Madhava K. Turumella" <madhava@h...> wrote: > Thank you Vidyashankarji, I will change my opinion. I was under the > impression that somebody else has written it and inserted it into the > VivekachooDAMani. I thought this and a few other slokas are "prakshipta". > I felt that these slokas are undermining the main importance of Shankara's > teachings. That is why I said these are not written by Shankara. Thanks. In general, I find that arguments about one or the other verse being an interpolation in a work can be made in multiple ways. They seem like obvious solutions to questions of authenticity, but in reality, they create more problems than they solve. Unless we have strong reasons to question particular verses, we should not do so. Strong reasons would be things like a traditional commentator remaining silent about a verse, or some other author quoting the relevant section, but without the particular verse. The authenticity of the entire Vivekachudamani has been questioned by academic scholars. Prof. John Grimes (Michigan State Univ.), who has written a wonderful book on Ganesha, is working on this text, and he thinks it can be shown to be authentic. Tradition, of course, regards it as Sankaracharya's text. Whatever the case may be, the statement about bhakti is in the same spirit as what the Sivanandalahari hymn says and what Swami Madhusudana Sarasvati talks of, as the various stages of bhakti. Readers might be interested in viewing http://users.erols.com/ramakris/sringeri/talks/nov2195.html, and http://users.erols.com/ramakris/sringeri/talks/oct0596.html, for details. Best wishes, Vidyasankar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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