Fw: Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sankaracharya : Vinayaka and anya-devatA

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

A knowledgeable member has asked me to

forward

this message on his behalf.

 

Replies may be directed to the oppiliappan

list.

 

ramanuja dasan,

-Shreyas

 

-

 

>

>

> Please see

http://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/ for the

Bhagavad gita

> bhAShyas of various Acharyas

>

> yAnti devavratAH devAN pitRR^in yAnti

pitRvratAH

> bhUtAni yAnti bhUtejyO yAnti madyAjinO'pi

mAm ||9.25||

>

> A rough literal translation would be

> "The votaries of the devas go to the devas,

the votaries of the manes

> reach them. Those who worship the bhUtas go

to the bhUtas and those who

> worship me come to me."

>

> Sankaracharya's bhAShya here:

> "yAnti gacchanti, devavratAH dEvEShu vratam

niyamO bhaktiShcha yeShAm te

> devavratAH| pitRR^in yAnti pitR^i-vratAH

ShrAddhAdi kriyAparAH

> pitR^ibhaktAH| bhUtani

*vinAyAka*-mAtR^igaNa-chatubhaginyAdIni yAnti

> bhUtejyAH --bhUtAnAm pUjakAH| yAnti

madyAjinaH madyajanashIlAH

> *vaishNavAH* mAm eva yAnti| *samAnE api

AyAsE* mAm *eva* na bhajanti

> *ajnAnAt* tena te alpa-phala-bhAjAH

bhavanti ityarthaH| na kEvalam

> madbhaktAnAm *anAvRitti-lakshaNam

anantaphalam* sukArAdhanashcha aham"

>

> English Translation of Sri Sankaracharya's

Sanskrit Commentary - Swami

> Gambhirananda (an advaitin from Ramakrishna

Mutt)"

>

> Deva-vratah, votaries of the gods, those

whose religious observances

> [Making offerings and presents,

circumambulation, bowing down, etc.] and

> devotion are directed to the gods; yanti,

reach, go to; devan, the gods.

>

> Pitr-vratah, the votaries of the manes,

those who are occupied with such

> rites as obsequies etc., who are devoted to

the manes; go pitrn, to the

> manes such as Agnisvatta and others.

>

> Bhutejyah, the Beings such as *Vinayaka*,

the group of Sixteen (divine)

> Mothers, the Four Sisters, and others.

>

> And madyajinah, those who worship Me, those

who are given to worshipping

> Me, the devotees of Visnu; reach mam, Me

alone. Although the effort

> (involved) is the same, still *owing to

ingorance* they do not worship *Me

> exclusively* . Thereby they attain lesser

results. This is the meaning.

> 'Not only do My devotees get the

everlasting result in the form of

> *non-return* (to this world), but My

worship also is easy.'

> ----------------------

>

> English Translation of Sri Sankaracharya's

Sanskrit Commentary - Swami

> Gambhirananda (an advaitin from Ramakrishna

Mutt)

>

> "Deva-vratah, votaries of the gods, those

whose religious observances

> [Making offerings and presents,

circumambulation, bowing down, etc.] and

> devotion are directed to the gods; yanti,

reach, go to; devan, the gods.

>

> Pitr-vratah, the votaries of the manes,

those who are occupied with such

> rites as obsequies etc., who are devoted to

the manes; go pitrn, to the

> manes such as Agnisvatta and others.

>

> Bhutejyah, the Beings such as *Vinayaka*,

the group of Sixteen (divine)

> Mothers, the Four Sisters, and others.

>

> And madyajinah, those who worship Me, those

who are given to worshipping

> Me, the devotees of Visnu; reach mam, Me

alone. Although the effort

> (involved) is the same, still *owing to

ingorance* they do not worship *Me

> exclusively* . Thereby they attain lesser

results. This is the meaning.

> 'Not only do My devotees get the

everlasting result in the form of

> *non-return* (to this world), but My

worship also is easy."

> ----------

----

>

>

> At face value it seems like the context

does not even demand exclusive

> bhakti to Vishnu (the word "eva = only" is

conspicuous by its absence).

> Moreover Sankaracharya could have easily

translated this as "one who

> worships the nirguNa brahman reaches

nirguNa brahman alone" (as he has

> done at other places when the word mAm

occurs). Not only does he say that

> people who worship Vishnu exclusively will

get moksha he says people who

> worship others (he specifically gives the

example of Vinayaka) will not.

> He further points out that even if the

methods of pUjA are the same and

> the effort required is the same, worship of

Vishnu alone is the purport of

> this statment.

>

> Other advaitin subcommentators like

Sridhara Swami and Sri Madhusudana

> Sarasvati make this amply clear (though to

be fair they were well known

> for their Vaishnava leanings). Madhusudana

Saraswati eplicitly uses the

> word "devatAntara" which I thought was an

exclusively Sri Vaishnava usage

> till I read it.

>

> This is not to misappropriate Sankaracharya

or other advaitAcharyas as

> supporting us but one must note that

exlusive devotion to Vishnu is

> neither something that only "dualists" do

out of parochialism (since they

> don't understand that in the end "All is

One") nor is it something that

> belongs in the realm of theology (as

against philosophy).That

> Sankaracharya chose to casually add words

that the context seemingly did

> not demand (and not bother to offer

explanations as he does elsewhere)

> shows that this understanding was atleast

reasonably widespread amongst

> vedAntins so that very few (if any) would

have objected. Sankaracharya has

> done exactly this at a few other places in

his Bhagavad Gita bhAShya as

> well.Interestingly enough Ramanujacharya

has chosen not to comment that

> this verse implies the necessity of

exclusive devotion to Vishnu.

>

> We must be all be committed to learning the

Truth under the feet of our

> Acharyas. That the Shiva-Vishnu etc fight

was hardly sectarian as long as

> it was confined to Vedantins can be clearly

seen by the way Acharyas have

> approached this matter in the past. It is

laity like us who have dragged

> it into something akin to other ridiculous

fights prevalent like God is

> greater than Allah. Towards that end we

must get rid of preconceived

> notions and try to determine what the

Scriptures say by approaching our

> respective Acharyas. As a final note one

must atleast follow what Tridandi

> Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji repeats often :

"Respect all but worship your own"

>

> dasan

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

New and Improved Mail - Send 10MB messages!