Glad to be back

[Anand Hudli]

Greetings, everybody. I am happy to rejoin the advaita list after a
rather long absence. I happened to notice some discussion about
Appayya Dikshita. He is indeed a towering figure among later
advaitins. He is said to have advocated Shiva-advaita and is
credited with having written a commentary on SrikanTha's bhaashhya
on the Brahma suutras. According to some, he is said to have
turned toward nirguNa-brahman in his later years, in keeping with
 the standard position of advaita regarding various Gods. But there
 is no doubt he was a great proponent of bhakti. One story has it
that he wanted to show a disciple of his how intense bhakti should
be. Appayya Dikshita asked his disciple to administer him some
substance which would make him temporarily insane. He also asked the
disciple to carefully note down whatever he uttered in the state of
insanity. The disciple did as he was told and to his amazement, in
the state of insanity Appayya Dikshita composed beautiful verses about
Shiva. The moral of the story is that a true bhakta never stops
thinking about God, regardless of his/her mental condition.

 Anand


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