Lord Buddha and Sri Sankracharya

[sudhaya]

 

Lord Buddha--incarnation of Lord KRSNA

Sankracharya--incarnation of Lord Siva

 

What were there purposes?

 

I still get confuced, I know that Lord Buddha taught ahimsa,

but did he come also come to refute imperonalism, and what about Sankracharya?

[Avinash]

Ahimsa (nonviolence) is in itself a great virtue. Lord Buddha taught nonviolence towards all living beings. Therefore, if we say that Lord Buddha came just to preach nonviolence, then also he had a great purpose. Please note. I am not saying that he did not have any other purpose. He might well have, which I am not aware of. But, what I am trying to say is that the purpose of teaching nonviolence is in itself a great purpose.

 

The discussion on whether personalism is right or whether impersonalism is right is all fine. But if we do not feel love and respect towards other beings, then such a discussion is mere dry speculation.

[Guest guest]

<font color="red">Jaiva Dharma chap. 18-</font color>

 

Babaji: No. In no place do the Vedas teach the mayavada philosophy. Actually, the mayavada philosophy is identical with Buddhism. In the Padma Purana Lord Shiva tells Parvati:

 

"The mayavada philosophy is impious. It is covered Buddhism. My dear Parvati, in the form of a brahmana in Kali-yuga I teach this imagined mayavada philosophy."*

 

Vrajanatha: O master, why did Lord Shiva, who is the best of Vaishnavas and the leader of the demigods, do such a wicked deed?

 

Babaji: Lord Shiva is a guna-avatara of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At one time the demons had taken to following the path of devotion in order to fulfil their own sinful lusty desires. Seeing this the merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead, concerned for the benefit of the true, sincere devotees decided to deter the demons from following the path of devotion. With this in mind, He called for Lord Shiva and told him, O Shiva, that the demons in the mode of ignorance are now preaching the path of pure devotional service is not good for the world. Please write a book to bewilder the demons. Conceal the truth about Me and preach the mayavada, impersonal philosophy. The demons will then leave the path of pure devotional service and take shelter of impersonalism. That will be very pleasing to My genuine pure devotees. Of this there is no doubt. The great Vaishnava Shiva unhappily accepted this order of the Supreme Lord. However, he placed the Lord order on his head and obediently preached the mayavada philosophy. How can there be any fault, then, for Lord Shiva, the spiritual master of the entire world?

 

 

<font color="red">Jaiva Dharma chap. 10-</font color>

 

Vaishnava dasa: Why do you say that? We say that Sri Sankara Svami is an incarnation of Lord Shiva Himself. Sriman Mahaprabhu taught us to honour him with the title Acarya. The only thing is we do not accept his mayavada philosophy. The mayavada philosophy is not the religion taught in the Vedas. Actually, it is covered Buddhism. In order to give the demons a stable life, by the Supreme Lord's order the acarya distorted the true meaning of the Vedas, Vedanta, and Bhagavad-gita, and taught the Advaita-vada, the philosophy of an impersonal God. Is the acarya at fault for that? Do people criticise him? Buddha was an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. He preached a philosophy opposed to the Vedas. Do the followers of the Vedas criticise him? If someone says, "It is not good for the Supreme Lord and the demigod Shiva to act in that way", then I reply: Why not? They are never cruel or unjust. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the protector of the universe, and His assistant Lord Shiva are both all-knowing and the givers of all good. They are never cruel or unjust. Their actions have a deep purpose the small individual souls have no power to understand. Therefore They should not be criticised. Because they are not intelligent enough to understand the purpose of the Lord, people may criticise Him, saying "It is not good for the Supreme Lord to act in this way. He should have acted in that way." Intelligent people never talk like that. Why was the impersonalist philosophy needed then to control the demonic people? Only the all-powerful Lord knows. Why is there a need to create the various life-forms and then destroy them at the end? We have not the power to know. These are the pastimes of the Lord. Persons who are devoted to the Lord feels bliss to hear of His pastimes. They are not eager to say the Lord acted wrongly or to question the virtue of the Lord's actions.

 

<font color="red">Jaiva Dharma chap. 2-</font color>

 

When he heard the name "Sankaracarya" the paramahamsa babaji at once offered dandavat obeisances. Now he spoke the following words: "O noble-hearted friend, one should always think: 'Sankaracarya is Lord Shiva himself.' Sankaracarya is actually the spiritual master of all the Vaishnavas. That is why Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu honours him with the title acarya. Sankaracarya is a perfect Vaishnava.

 

"When Sankaracarya appeared in Bharata varsa there was great need for a guna-avatara of the Lord. The voidist philosophy of Buddha had already practically destroyed the teachings of the Vedas and the duties of varnasrama-dharma. Voidist Buddhism even denied the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although it did hint at the existence of the individual soul, Buddhism denied the soul's true eternal nature. At that time the brahmanas had practically become Buddhists and practically abandoned the religion of the Vedas.

 

"At that time extraordinarily powerful Lord Shiva descended as Sankaracarya to this world, re-established the authority of the Vedas, and transformed voidist Buddhism into the philosophy of Vedic impersonalism. For succeeding in this extraordinary work, the world will be long indebted to Sankaracarya.

 

"Every work in this world may be considered in two ways. Some work is useful in the context of a certain period of time, and other work is useful for all time. Sankaracarya performed work that was very important for that particular period in history.

 

From his efforts many good results came. Sri Ramanujacarya and Sri Madhvacarya built the palace of pure Vaishnava religion on the walls and foundation created by Sri Sankaracarya. Therefore Sankaracarya is a great friend of the Vaishnava religion. He is one of its founding teachers. The benefit created by Sankaracarya's teaching is now enjoyed, without any effort on their part by the Vaishnavas.

 

"Individual souls still in the grip of material bondage urgently need to understand their relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual soul is different from and superior to the gross and subtle material bodies in the material universes. The Vaishnavas and Sankaracarya agree on this point. They do not disagree on the spiritual nature of the individual soul.

 

"Liberation is defined as becoming free from the material world. Both agree on this also. Up to the stage of liberation Sankaracarya and the Vaishnavas agree on many points.

 

"By worshipping Lord Hari one purifies his heart and attains liberation. Sankaracarya teaches this also.

 

"However, about the state of existence that is superior to impersonal liberation Sankaracarya is silent. Sankaracarya knew well that if the individual soul employed the worship of Lord Hari as the way to proceed on the path of liberation, the soul would begin to taste the pleasures of devotional service and would eventually become a pure devotee of Lord Hari. It is for this reason that Sankaracarya, after showing the true path, did not reveal anything more about the secrets of Vaishnava religion.

 

"They who carefully study all his commentaries can see that this was Sankaracarya's hidden intention. It is only they who waste time merely circle the outskirts of Sankaracarya's teachings who stay far away from the Vaishnava religion.

 

"Being one with the Supreme Lord and attaining love for Him are, in one sense, the same thing. However, they who narrowly define oneness with the Lord in terms of Sankara's teachings make a claim that the monist unity is a superior stage of self-realization above love for the Lord.

[Guest guest]

SB 11.4.22: To diminish the burden of the earth, the unborn Lord will take birth in the Yadu dynasty and perform feats impossible even for the demigods. Propounding speculative philosophy, the Lord, as Buddha, will bewilder the unworthy performers of Vedic sacrifices. And as Kalki the Lord will kill all the low-class men posing as rulers at the end of the age of Kali

 

SB 10.40.22: Obeisances to Your form as the faultless Lord Buddha, who will bewilder the Daityas and Danavas, and to Lord Kalki, the annihilator of the meat-eaters posing as kings

[sudhaya]

 

Thankyou very much for this info.

 

....then came srila Madhavacharaya..

[Guest guest]

Its very bad...to call people who are following Mayavada philosophy as demons.

 

I am born in a Madhva brahmana family and a follower of teachings of Madhva, Since childhood my neighbours and many close people have been Smarthas. They have such nice qualtities in them. How can you call such people as demons just because they are following Advaita.

 

Please dont forget that there are certain good points in Advaita also.