Clarifications on Sankara's posts.

[Guest guest]

I have had the opinion that Sankara does teach the most ancient form

of Vaishnavism. But with deeper study, I realized it is not so. This

post seems to reflect the misconceptions I had and I wanted to take

the step to clarify.

> Three very important quotes from Sri

> Chandrashekarendra Saraswati extracted from the link:

> 1. ", there are some who hold that Sankara worshipped

> only MahA vishnu. They quote this NArayana smaranam

> and Vishnu sahasranAma bhAshyam etc as the supportive

> evidence for their claim. In addition to that, they

> also point to the fact of establishing the Ishvara or

> the saguna Bhraman, which does all these

> lOka-vyavahAra, to be none other than NArAyanA

> Himself, by AchAryAl, while elaborating about Him

> [*Ishvara*] in His BhAshyAs."

>

> : This shows that Shankara always gave the position of

> Ishwara to Narayana in his bhashyas as we knew

> previously. This admission comes from the foremost

> Guru of Advaita in modern times.

>

Sri Chandrasekarendra Sarawati Swamigal or Mahaperiyaval as he is

called by those who respect him does not say that Sankara gave the

position of Ishwara to Narayana. He is quoting the opinion of Sri

Vaishnavas here when he says "there are some who hold that Sankara

worshipped only MahA vishnu". Then he quotes Sankara to say how it is

incorrect understanding of Sankara's works. Then he explains how

Narayana & Siva refers to one Ishwara or Nirguna Brahman based on

Advaita Siddhanta.

 

It is according contemporary Sri Vaishnavas that Sankara holds only

Narayana as Saguna Brahman. Even I got that first impression because

he will out of context quote Vishnu as the Supreme. But when I

studied more elaborately, I learnt that Sankara does not give any

exclusive position to Sriman Narayana as Sri Vaishnavas say. He

considers the Kesava, Govinda, Narayana and Siva as Saguna Brahman in

his bhashyas on the gita, upanishads and sahasranama. In his slokas,

he gives this position to Shakti, Ganesha, Subrahmanya also. I am not

giving the exact references to keep the post small.

 

Sri Vaishnavas have the interesting quote "sankarites are prachanna

bauddhas, vyavaharika vaishnavas and antaranga saktas" because

sankarite philosophy is covered buddhism, and they accept narayana as

supreme at a vyavaharika level but they are actually saktas who have

assumed the garb of vedantins. I cant help recollect what David

Ogilvy, the master of advertising said,"A good caption is a great

substitute for facts".

 

> 2. "Purusha sUktham may see every thing as Vishnu

> svarUpam. "

>

> :Again the fact the Purusha suktham refers to Vishnu

> is admitted by the highest authority on Advaita. Some

> self-proclaimed authorities have been known to

> question this claim in very recent times.

>

 

But Sankarites say that Sri Rudram refers to Lord Shiva. They hold

that both Sri Rudram & Purusha Suktam refer to one Ishwara. So it

would be half truth to say that Advaitins accept the supremacy of

Vishnu without saying that they accept Siva - Vishnu unity. Sri

Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, now charged with murder, illicit affairs

and other cases - has written a book on Siva - Vishnu unity. He

elaborates on the opinion of Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamigal

staed in "Theivathin Kural".

 

> Thus Shankara wanted people to get into Bhakthi,

> though he implemented his desire in an indirect manner

> as described in Padma Purana.

>

 

Sankara clearly states that devotion is the supreme path because it

is easy for one who is embodied. But he says that for a rare few who

have developed firm knowledge, the path to nirguna brahman is direct.

It need not be through the path of gods where there is a promotion to

the world of gods. According to him even the lord cannot prevail

against such a person because he is the lord's own self.

[Guest guest]

"Sri Chandrasekarendra Sarawati Swamigal or

Mahaperiyaval as he is called by those who respect him

does not say that Sankara gave the

position of Ishwara to Narayana. He is quoting the

opinion of Sri Vaishnavas here when he says "there are

some who hold that Sankara worshipped only MahA

vishnu". Then he quotes Sankara to say how it is

incorrect understanding of Sankara's works. "

 

: NO, By no means does he say the it is only the

Vaishnavites opinion, as you claim. He says the

Vaishnavites use the fact that Sankara referred to

ISwara as Narayana alone in his bhashyas to justify

their claim that Sankara was a Vishnu worshipper. To

clarify things fully, I shall post an alternative link

in the next para. The question here is not whom

Sankara gave the position of IShwara to, the question

here is why Sankara chose only the name 'Narayana' in

his bhashyas.

 

There is an article called "Namo Namah" where Maha

Periyava hypothesises the reasons why Adi Sankara

referred to Ishwara as 'Narayana alone' in his

bhashyas. The link is

ttp://www.kamakoti.org/miscl/namoh1.html

 

This link unambiguously accepts that Sankara used the

name 'Narayana alone' when referring to Ishwara in his

bhashyas.

 

excerpts

--------

"Therefore, wherever Vedanta refers to Paramatma as

Jagat-karana-sakthi, Prapancha-mahasakthi,

Saguna-bhramman, Iswaran, with an implicit suggestion

of attributed Form, where Murthy Rupa is indicated,

the Acharya has used NARAYANA as the name…"

 

 

 

" So it would be half truth to say that Advaitins

accept the supremacy of Vishnu without saying that

they accept Siva - Vishnu unity. "

: I have never claimed that Sankarites accept the

supremacy of Vishnu. All I am saying is that Sankara

in his works has given preeminence to Vishnu, as

discussed in the previous link and it is upto us to

analyze the reasons for that.

 

 

"Sankara clearly states that devotion is the supreme

path because it

is easy for one who is embodied. "

: Sankara's works are frozen. We have to analyze the

reasons why he gives preeminence to Narayana in his

works unlike Advaitins who simply choose to ignore

this phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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