Chaitanya as Devotional Sankarite

[jijaji]

Sushil Kumar De in his 'Vaishnava Faith and Movement' states that it appears probable that Madhvendra Puri and his disciple Isvara Puri were Sankarite Samnyasins of the same type as Sridhara Svamin.

 

Sridhara Svamin in his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam attempted to COMBINE the Advaita teachings of Sankara with the Devotionalism of the Bhagavatas.

 

Devotion to Krishna or Narayan has never been considered inconsistent with one's belonging to the Sankara Sampradaya, many taught that Advaita realization could be attained through worship of a particular diety as a person or a symbol.

 

The tutelary deity of Sankara himself was Krishna, although his chief disciple, (like Sridhar) worshipped Nrsimha.

 

Around the time of Sridhar Svaimin there seems to have developed a type of 'Tempering' (in S.K.De's words) of the severe monistic idealism of Advaita Vedanta with the 'Devotional Worship' of a personal GOD.

 

Sridhar Svamin reveals this tendency in his well known commentary on the Vishnu Purana, Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, in which he acknowledges Samkara's teachings as authoritative AND considers Bhakti as the BEST means of Advaita Mukti.

 

 

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[This message has been edited by jijaji (edited 08-17-2001).]

[jijaji]

Sridhara Svamin in his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam attempted to COMBINE the Advaita teachings of Sankara with the Devotionalism of the Bhagavatas.

 

 

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[premananda]

Thanks for bringing this up. I have been thinking about it too. But, Sri Chaitanya was given by diksha by Sri Isvara Puri, who is said to come from the Madhva Sampradaya. Madhva himself was a Sankarite in the beginning.

I guess the difference between Sankarites and Ramanujites for example, is that the latter accept the saguna and nirguna brahman, while the former only accepts the nirguna brahman ultimately.

 

P D

 

[Pita das]

And who is Mr De? and from what line is quailifed to present his information to us.

Frist please present this man line.

This has been taught to us by Shree Gouranga

Mahaprabhu who before meeting with or discussing with some one had Surupa Damodara

present this to Him.

If you allow every one who says thier a brain sugeron to cut isnt that also foolish?

 

 

[suryaz]

Originally posted by jijaji:

Sridhara Svamin in his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam attempted to COMBINE the Advaita teachings of Sankara with the Devotionalism of the Bhagavatas.

 

 

To what historical period does Sridhar Swami belong?

 

What are his works?

 

Can you make a character profile?

 

[premananda]

From this page:http://www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1995_Apr_1/msg00052.html:

 

While everybody accepts that SrIdharasvAmin was a great bhakta,

some scholars take him to be an Advaitin and others a Vaisnava SannyAsin.

In his book "The History and Literature of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas and

their relation to other Medieval Vaisnava Schools" , the author Dr.

Sambidananda Das, Bhaktisastri says:

 

"It is difficult to say with certainty to which Vaisnava sect he belonged.

He says of himself at the end of the commentary Suvodhini on the Gita

that he was a Sanyasi (Yati) and disciple of Paramananda. He further pays

his homage to his Guru at the end of his Guru Bhavarthadipika on the

Bhagavata, in which he supremely eulogises Tridanda Sanyas evidently in

preference to Ekadanda. He may have been a Tridandi Sanyasi instead of an

Ekadandin. As Tridanda Sanyas has been adopted in the Vishnuswami, Ramanujiya

and Nimbarkiya sects and Ekadandin in the Madhva Sect (and also in the

Sankarite sect), he must have belonged to one of the first named sects.

In the very beginning of his commentary Bhavarthadipika on the Bhagavata,

he salutes Nrsimha. Next he says that according to the rule of his Sampradaya

or sect and custom of his predecessors, he should make obeisance to Madhva

and Umadhava (Rudra) who are almost identical with and dear to each other.

("ParasparatmaParasparanatipriya").

 

[Note: Nrsimha and Rudra are not accepted in any way in which SrIdharasvAmin

did, in any Vaishnava sect except that of Vishnuswami.]

 

We know that the Vishnuswamins accept Rudra as the first Acarya of the sect,

the official deity of which is Nrsimha. He therefore may have belonged to

the Vishnuswami sect. SrIdhara SvAmin also wrote a poem called Vraja Viraha

dealing with love of Krishna and the Gopis.....We know that from before the

time of Vilvamangala, the Krishna Gopi cult was introduced into the

Vishnuswami sect.

 

(...)

 

The second objection to identifying him with the Vishnusvami sect is that

M.M.H.P Sastri has drawn our attention to SrIdhara SvAmi's "Dvaita Nirnaya"-

 

"The commentator of the Bhagavata and others (SrIdhara) is known to have been

a follower of Sankara's non-dual theory but his Dvaita Nirnaya deposited at

Mimapada in the district of Puri (Orissa) shows that in his advanced state,

he gave up non-dual theory and adopted the dual theory".

 

The general belief that he was a Sankarite non-dualist

which the great Pandit has referred to

has no justification. The Suddhadvaita system of the VishnusvAmi sect has

been misunderstood as the Kevaladvaita of Sankara. We do not find any clue

to justify in calling Sridhara a Sankarite Mayavadi. Sridhara criticises

Sankara's Mayavadism throughout his writings which are the Bhavarthadipika,

the commentary of the Bhagavata, the Suvodhini, the commentary of the Gita,

and the Atmaprakasa, that on the vishnupurana. He accepted Pancharatra

(Bhavarthadipika. i.3.8) while Sankara was hostile to it.

 

His Dvaita Nirnaya is a treatise on the Dvaita system of philosophy of

which Madhva is the official founder. It may be that Sridhara svAmin was

influened by Madhva's system...."

 

> Caitanya MahAprabhu regarded him with great respect. Many of

> the commentators of other schools, in many instances, are content to

> endorse him either expressly or by simply reproducing his comments

> word for word!

 

This is absolutely correct. It is said that Vallabha Acharya submitted

to Sri Caitanya MahAprabhu, his own commentary on the Bhagavata for his

approval, in which he criticised SridharasvAmin's commentary and found

inconsistencies in it to show his scholarship as superior to Sridhara

svAmin's. But MahAprabhu said, " Those who do not obey Svami (meaning

husband) are counted among the prostitutes". (Caitanya Caritamritha

Antya, VII.III). He also says that he could not bear that anybody should

find fault with SridharasvAmi. He adds " It is only through the grace of

Sridhara, the world teacher, that we know the meaning of the Bhagavata."

(C.C Antya VIII, qoted by Dr. Sambidananda)

 

Kesavan

 

 

[jijaji]

Originally posted by Pita das:

And who is Mr De? and from what line is quailifed to present his information to us.

Frist please present this man line.

This has been taught to us by Shree Gouranga

Mahaprabhu who before meeting with or discussing with some one had Surupa Damodara

present this to Him.

If you allow every one who says thier a brain sugeron to cut isnt that also foolish?

 

Go get mad on some other thread Pita..

I am surpised you don't even who S.K.De was? It show's your not well educated in the circles of scholars who have studied Sri Chaitanya in the last century. S.K. De's writing have been quoted in many research books on Sri Chaitanya and his followers.

He was a Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Dacca and in the Postgraduate Research Department of Calcutta University, also Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. He is not so much held for his conclusions on Siddhanta contained within, but as far historical research, he wasw unsurpased in the field of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

According to Professor Edward Dimock..(who wrote the intro to 'Bhagavad Gita As It Is'..."I owe my greatest debt to Sushil Kumar De who wrote the definitive work of Bengal Vaishnavism a model of erudition and graceful prose entitiled 'The Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement'in Bengal, upon which I have drawn unashamedly and gratefully, but was instrumential in my beginning the present work by urging me to continue to examine the seventeenth and eighteenth century phases of the Vaishnava movement. In calcutta in 1955-57, in Chaigo in 1961, and again in Calcutta in 1963-64, he gave me freely and graciously of his time and knowledge."

 

S.K. DE was NOT a Guru..he didn't come in some Vaishnava Parivara..(by the way Pita ...which Parivar of Sri Chaitanya lineage is your diksha taken in...?

 

 

 

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[jijaji]

From Hindunet;

 

Interestingly enough, one of the

first commentaries on the Bhagavata to be widely accepted was written

by Sridhar Svami, who was head of the Sankara Govardhan Math in Orissa.

Despite his background, Sridhar Svami also saw the Bhagavata Purana as

the shining sound incarnation of Krishna for Kali Yuga.

I guess this is not surprising, as the completely wise Ananda Tirtha

had also taken initiation into the Sankara school, but then upon seeing

the inconsistencies of Advaita, went on to comment on Brahma-sutra, Rg Veda, Bhagavata, etc. So, Ananda Tirtha/Purnaprajna Tirtha/Madhvacarya

established the modern Vaisnava school known as Dvaita, having rejected Advaita.

 

 

 

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