Sri Sankara

[Guest guest]

The hidden reason for the appearance of Sankaracarya

The hidden reason for Lord Siva, the greatest Vaishnava, is revealed by him in

the Padma Purana, to his wife Parvati Devi:

 

mayavadam asac chastram pracchannam bauddham ucyate mayaiva kalpitam devi

kalau brahmana-rupina brahmanas caparam rupam nirgunam vaksyate maya

sarva-svam jagato 'py asya mohanartham kalau yuge vedante tu maha-sastre

mayavadam avaidikam/mayaiva vaksyate devi jagatam nasa-karanat

 

My dear Parvati, in the form of a brahman in the Kali yuga I teach the imagined

advaita philosophy. In order to cheat the atheists, I describe the Supreme

Personality of Godhead to be without form and without qualities. Similarly, in

explaining the Vedanta I describe the same mayavada philosophy in order to

mislead the entire population toward atheism by denying the personal form of the

Lord."

 

Thus it was to bewilder the atheists that Lord Siva in the form of Sankaracarya

preached impersonalism. However under the guise of this impersonalism he was

able to reverse the atheistic Buddhist philosophy, re-introduce the Vedas and

cultivate the faith of people towards God. Without the effort of Sankaracarya it

would have been impossible for the later Vaishnava acaryas like Madhavacarya,

Ramanujacarya and Nimbarkacarya to once again introduce bhakti yoga, the worship

of the Supreme Lord in His personal form.