Was ShrI Shankara a Vaishnava?

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Venkataraman wrote:

> Advaita does not talk of multiple *deities*. We are free to worship
> any one or more of many different names and forms, ALL of which
> represent the ONE and ONLY sat-cit-aananda svaruupam.
>

I agree.  That's why IMO the word polytheism falls short of the mark.  It
is true of Hinduism at the popular level, because nearly everyone worships
Krishna Bhagavan on Janmashtami, Shiva Bhagawan on Shivaratri etc. But at
the philosophical level, Advaita Vedanta does not recognize any difference
between the forms of Bhagawan.

I would answer yes Shankaracharya was a Vaishnava.  And a Shaiva, and a
Shakta, and a Saura, and a Ganapatya, and ...

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>