Shankara on Ishvara

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praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

The discussion thread *brahman and Ishvara*, sofar has seen various notes,

comments & clarification from well known scholars, saints & seers like Sri

Dayananda Saraswati, Swamy Vivekananda, Neem Karoli Baba, Ramakrishna

Parama Hamsa etc. etc. It is indeed required to have the thoughts of those

noble souls on the very complex concept of Ishvara especially when we are

trying to understand this concept from the perspective of non-dual

philosophy...But, to my surprise, we are not trying to understand this

concept based on what our mUlAchArya shankara bhagavadpAda said in his

prasthAna trayi bhAshya..When we see his sUtra bhAshya, we would come

across some startling evidences which definitely demands the suitable

answers from those who personifies the brahman on the basis of theology &

says there is no difference between *god* realization and Atma jnAna.

Below is my short & hurried attempt to clarify certain things on the

concept of Ishvara. No need to mention, this is *my understanding* of the

subject based on my guruji's teachings.

 

We, the Indians, with the theological background, traditionally worship

various gods & goddesses with various names & forms. We say Ishvara is

sarva shakta (omnipotent), sarvajna (omniscient), bestower of karma phala

(karmAdhyaksha) etc. etc. Interestingly, herein South India, Ishvara means

shiva bhagavAn (not nArAyaNa/vishNu or any other god :-)), when someone say

" I am going to Ishvara temple* we invariably understand that he is going

to shiva temple..In paNchAyatana pooja also while offering pooja to shiva,

we recite the maNtra : IshAnaH sarvavidyAnAM, IshvaraH sarvabhutAnAm,

brahmAdhipati, brahmaNOdhipati, brahmAshivOme astu sadAshivOm...etc...For

us (South Indian smArthA-s) Ishvara means shivabhagavAn he is also called

maheshvara (supreme lord) , rudra, vishvEshvara (kAshi vishvanAtha) (lord

of the universe), manjunAtha etc. etc. and our traditional belief system

goes like this Ishvara has the mAya as his potency and with it he does the

creation work and delude the jIva-s and put them in bondage. To get rid

of this mAyA bandhana (bondage), jiva has to surrender to god/Ishvara and

by IshvarAnugraha (grace of god) one will get solvation or mOksha...

 

Now, if we analyse this process of solvation from the non-dual

philosophical view point, the seeker of truth in the path of knowledge

(jnAna mArga) first would ask how can there be a lord-hood (Ishitavya) in

absolute non-dual brahman?? To exercise the power of lord, dont we require

the duality i.e. ruler and the ruled?? how come this duality is possible

when shruti saying there is absolutely no duality in brahman?? (neha

nAnAsti kiMcana)..vedAnta's answer to this question is, for the teachings

sake, first it accepts the universe and its seed form (avyakta rUpa) which

in turn conjured up by avidyA (from adhyArOpa drushti), then brahman is

considered as the substratum of this false appearance. Since there is no

other source apart from brahman to this jagat, vedAnta superimposes the

qualities of omniscience, omnipotence etc. on this brahman & calls it

Ishvara. So, from this vyAvahArik view point, vedAnta attributes the

Ishvara/lord hood on brahman whereas in ultimate reality brahman is never

ever changeable, mutable, subject to vikAra & it is ONE and THE SAME.

Ishvara, jeeva, jagat bhedha holds good only in transactional reality of

the world...There is no god and his influence on jeeva in absolute non

dual reality...Hence shruti assertion *atra deva adeva* (bruhadAraNyaka

upanishad)..

 

More to follow next week or this week end...

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

 

PS :

 

(a) I must confess here that, the above is the observation & understanding

of my mind which is immersed in advaitic teaching:-)) ...but in heart I am

a dAsAnudAsa (slave's slave) of my beloved lord bhagavAn Sri Krishna...But

I dont think this dAsabhAva would come in the way of my understanding of

advaita vEdAnta as propounded by shankara bhagavadpoojyapAda:-))

 

(b) onceagain I request the prabhuji-s of this list to clarify whether

there is any difference between apara brahman & Ishvara according to

advaita??