Vedic Religion

[Anand V. Hudli]

A crucial point that Shankara makes along with his refutation of the
 vyUha theory (vAsudeva-saMkarshhaNa-pradyumna-aniruddha) of creation
 of the pancharAtra's is that shANDilya was not satisfied by studying
 the vedas and so he resorted the pancharAtras. It is amazing how
 Ramanuja, Madhva, and other Vaishnava schools end up following
 ShANDilya's footsteps in spite of Shankara's warning!

 The result is a significant shift from Vedic study to the study of
 Agamas in the Vaishnava schools. In Ramanuja's system, there is
 official recognition of the status of the Vedas and their study, although
 he recognizes the Agamas as equally important. But in later schools,
 it is clear that the shift from Vedas to Agamas keeps getting more and
 more pronounced. In GauDIyas, for example, the shift is so great that
 Vedas and their study becomes secondary or can even be viewed as
 unnecessary!

 Anand