Post-vedic period and Acharya Sankara

[Guest guest]

Dear saktha bandhus,

 

The post-vedic era witnessed the decline of these sublime ideals of Veda. The

ceremonies were reduced to mere mechanical and too ritualistic form of worship.

In the name of yagas and kratus, the yajamanis, purohitas used to consume liquor

(somarasa pana) and animal sacrifice was the order of the day. Then witnessed

was the period of Sunyavada of Buddha.

 

The women seers to whom the hymns of the Rig Veda were revealed were: -

Rishikas and Brahmavadinis. They were Romasa, Lopamudra, Apata, Kadru,

Vishvavara, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Jarita, Shraddha-Kamayani,

Urvashi, Sharnga, Yami, Indrani, Savitri and Devayani. The Sama Veda mentions

another four: Nodha (or Purvarchchika), Akrishtabhasha, Shikatanivavari (or

Utararchchika) and Ganpayana.

 

There is also reference of evolution of Varna in Purusha Suktam. But it is of

different structure and composition altogether. The varna is purely based on

one’s chitta samskaras. What was the varna of Max Mueller who translated entire

veda into german, Sir Norman Brown – a great Srividya Upasaka, Sir John

Woodroofe. What was the varna of Romain Rolland, the great fresh philosopher,

who translated entire Saundarya Lahari into French Language.

 

Thus, the post-vedic period was the period of confusion, turmoil. The

sanatana dharma became a rudderless ship. Amidst this turmoil and confusion,

there was an advent of Lord Siva with his band of 4 sanyasins. And he was

JAGATGURU SANKARA. The establishment of strict codes and rules of Varnashrama

Dharma goes to his credit. Establishing the panchayatana worship and srividya

upasana in its pristine purity, this great personality disappeared in the

Kedareshwara Linga.

 

Acharya Sankara’s disappearance was a mystery to many of the scholars. Kanchi

Mahaperiyavaal in a long discussion with my gurunatha at Kalavai disclosed some

secrets related to Acharya Sankara.

 

Acharya Sankara was a Maha Yogi. He performed Sukshma Pancheekarana Upasana

and merged in the Kedara Linga at Himalayas. This is a yogic upasana where all

the 5 gross elements of the physical body are dissolved in the respective pancha

bhutas of Nature. That is, the annamaya kosa of the body is dissolved and

merged in Prithvi tattva, Prana Maya kosa of the physical body is merged in

Vaayu tattva and so on and forth. At last, the Jyothi which shines in the

heart is merged with Universal Parama Jyothi of the Universe.

 

The Yogi thus shedding his mortal coil this way does not leave the physical

corpse to the posterity. He just disappears in the thin air. This form of Yoga

was practiced by Acharya Sankara. Sri Appayya Dikshitar merged in Chidambara

Linga in this fashion. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu merged in Puri Jagannath in

this fashion.

 

With regards,

sriram

 

 

 

 

Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now

 

 

[Guest guest]

I do not want to sound like an expert but I think some statements

below need to be countered.

 

, venkata sriram

<sriram_sapthasathi wrote:

 

>> The post-vedic era witnessed the decline of these sublime ideals of

Veda. The ceremonies were reduced to mere mechanical and too

ritualistic form of worship. In the name of yagas and kratus, the

yajamanis, purohitas used to consume liquor (somarasa pana) and animal

sacrifice was the order of the day. Then witnessed was the period of

Sunyavada of Buddha.

 

I think depend on their bent of mind people would tend to interpret

the Vedas in different ways. While I am not a scholar I think Jaminiya

Mimamsa Sutras are the closest to the original spirit. The Brahmanas

and Kalpa Sutras which are the first explanations for the Vedas are

also consistent with Mimamsa. Vedanta is also a part of the Veda's

teaching but it is never disconnected from Mimamsa proper in the

source texts the Upanishads which teach it.

 

Secondly somarasa is NOT liquor. The only liquor used in a Veda yaga

called Sautramani is Sura, which according to the Vedas themselves has

pharmacological properties opposite to Somarasa. There is no

fermentation for soma. It is extracted from the plant as a juice and

mixed with milk or barley water sometimes.

 

 

>> Thus, the post-vedic period was the period of confusion, turmoil.

The sanatana dharma became a rudderless ship. Amidst this turmoil

and confusion, there was an advent of Lord Siva with his band of 4

sanyasins. And he was JAGATGURU SANKARA. The establishment of strict

codes and rules of Varnashrama Dharma goes to his credit.

Establishing the panchayatana worship and srividya upasana in its

pristine purity, this great personality disappeared in the

Kedareshwara Linga.

 

I think we should not characterize the post-vedic period in negative

light. This is a misconception which emerges due to linear ideas of

history that were imposed upon us: Vedic ideal to post-vedic decline.

 

This is not really true. Mahavir and Buddha challenged the Dharma but

that was not bad in itself. When Dharma finally recovered it was on a

much stronger footing because it had to battle and establish itself in

an intellectual struggle. This fueled great creativity on both sides.

Also the very fundamentals of a list like this are a part of the

Post-vedic creativity of the Hindus: Yoga beginning with Vedic roots

developed to what it is in the post-Vedic period. Kulagamas (including

Shrividya), Shaivagamas and Pancharatragamas are all a sample of the

post-vedic creativity. The whole tradition of Kavya, Jyotisha,

medicine, Natya, Kamashastra have developed enormously in the

Post-vedic period. So I do not think anything went wrong in the

Post-vedic period -- in fact our creativity continued undiminished. We

respect the vedas because they are the beginning of all our thought

but it does not mean our thought ended with the Vedas.

 

While Adishankara was a towering figure we must remember that Sanatana

dharma was no floundering ship. The defense of Sanatana dharma

involved many others. We must keep in mind that Bhatta Kumarila and

Mandana Mishra upholding Vedic worship scored great victories against

Buddhists, without which Shankara could not have gotten as far as he

did. Before them Shabarasvamin upheld the Mimamsakas and Vindhyavasa

the Samkhyas to counter the attacks of the Vaidik dharma.

could go on but sorry for the long message,

RR