why ONLY shankara ???

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praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

Few questions may arise in our mind when somebody says 'please stick to

shankara's works for siddhAnta nirNaya (settlement of doctrinal

issues)....., why we have to stick to ONLY shankara's works?? what is the

problem in referring other Advaita Acharya-s works also?? After all they

are also true representatives of advaita vEdAta, authenticated by unbroken

tradition of advaita, knowers of traditions (saMpradAyavits) & also

traditional method of teaching. What is the problem in accepting either or

both bhAmati & vivaraNa interpretations of shankara siddhAnta?? (two major

schools of thought in shankara sampradAya) have they not teaching the

ultimate truth of advaita in one way or the other?? if yes, then what is

the problem in following different methodology in arriving the same truth??

OK, these are all fine & acceptable ...but first thing we should know is

who has studied complete works of bhAmati & vivaraNa in the light of

shankara siddhAnta/bhAshya to arrive at the conclusions that they are true

to shankara siddhAnta & in essence they are teaching the same thing?? For

that matter who has studied whole of prasthAna trayi bhAshya of shanakara

under a tradtional teacher & compared these teachings of shankara with that

of vyAkhyAna-s to declare that all are one and same??!! Ofcourse, there is

a work called siddhAnta lEsha saNgraha by Sri Appaya Dikshitaar in which

Sri Dikshitaar made an attempt to reconcile few of these different

methodologies of teachings...But question is, if they are ultimately

teaching one and same thing what was the need for Sri Appaya Dikshitaar to

do this patch up work??

 

And again, if some person who has painstakingly taken this task of

comparison & clearly shows that these vyAkhyAnakAra-s themselves (bhAmati

& vivaraNa) quarelling each other & not true to the teaching of shankara as

found in prasthAna trayi bhAshya & insisting us to go back to shankara for

true teaching of shankara, what would be the problem in accepting it with

an open mind ?? is not shankara's prasthAna trayi bhAshya self-sufficient

to dispel all our doubts about advaita siddhAnta?? has shankara left out

anything in uncertain to find the answers in vyAkhyAna?? If the answer is

NO, then obviously, for a genuine seeker of truth in jnAna mArga, an

appropriate choice & conclusion would be , when there are somany

differences among vyAkhyAnakAra-s, it is better to go back to mUla instead

of searching shankara siddhAnta in vyAkhyAna...

 

So, the answer to the question why ONLY shankara...is with a counter

question why NOT ONLY shankara?? An aspirant who wants to persue jnAna

mArga as propagated by shankara should realize the fact that at best these

vyAkhyAna-s & post shankara Acharya's works are ONLY means to understand

the true meaning of the original bhAshya and NOT that they are in

themselves an independent authority in determining shankara siddhAnta & we

can quote those references as valid pramANa in siddhAnta

nirNaya......Because, it is in the writing it has been shown that these

vyAkhyAna-s are not unanimous in their opinion as far as shankara siddhAnta

is concerned...

 

Hence, my paramaguruji H.H. Sri Sri Satchidaanandendra Saraswati

mahAswamiji's clarion call is " go back to shankara's prasthAna trayi

bhAshya if you need any clarification in siddhAnta nirNaya because they are

self sufficient to clarify anything & everything in advaita vEdAnta " ....

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar