Sankara SampradhAyam - 8

[Dr. S.R.Marur]

Similarly, even in the sphere of upAsanA, vEdAs don't proclaim
either 'Vishnu alone is superior and Shiva is inferior' or
'Shiva alone is superior and Vishnu is inferior'. vEdAs consider
all the deities as [*the manifestation of*] the same paramAthmA and
view all of them equally. In rudram, every thing would have been
referred to as the Shiva svarUpam [*form*]. Purusha sUktham may see
every thing as Vishnu svarUpam. In some other place, varunA himself
would have been referred to as paramAthmA; IndrA would have been
identified as paramEshvarA; Agni as the only primordial godhead
[*Muzhu-mudhaR-kadavuL*]; SuryA as the primordial God etc. Thus, it
can be seen that, whenever vEdic sUkthAs refer to any deity, they
identify it as the paramAtman Himself. Infact, vEdAs have
unequivocally concluded that 'There exists only one satyA; many names
have been give to it by gyAnis'(yEkam-sat-viprAhA-bahuthA-vadhanthI).

Even the dharma shAstrAs (smrithIs), which follow exactly the vEdAs,
don't subscribe to the exclusive superiority of any particular
deity - neither of Shiva nor of Vishnu nor of ambAl nor of any other
[*vEdic*] deity. But still, both shruthi and smrithi approve of
the principle of ishta dEvathA - worship of any deity, towards which
the mind naturally flows and gets absorbed in, out of bhakthi, as the
primordial godhead. Following this [*advice*], while doing upAsanA
specially for their ishta dEvathA(s), smArthAs offered worship to
other dEvathAs also, without engaging in any nindhanA, through
panchAyathana pUjA.

As the karmA theory of vEdAs got into a loop of misinterpretation
and confusion [*kuzhaRupadi*] by the stand of mImAmsakAs that,
"Every thing is kArmA", in the later days even the vEdic path of
upAsanA got trapped into a similar situation wherein fights regarding
the superiority of respective ishta dEvatAs became quite common.

Thus, when both the paths of karmA and bhakti were in a state of
confusion [*due to wrong interpretations and practices*] and when
even the gyAna mArga was brought down to a similar state by
Bhudhists, our AchAryAl took avathAr and rectified and brought
every thing back to its original shape/position and gave a
step-by-step procedure [*for spiritual evolution i.e. karma-bhakti-
gyAna*]. ACHARYAL HAS NOT CREATED ANY NEW PATH ON HIS OWN BUT ONLY
RENOVATED THE ORIGINAL ONE [*ie the vEdic path*]. When the path
of sanAdhana vEda dharmA, also known as smArtha sampradhAyam
became ridden with stones and thorns, HE JUST CLEANSED THAT SMARTHA
WAY, by removing those stones and thorns but DID NOT CREATE A NEW
PATH.

For those who accepted the vEdic dictum of ishta dEvathA upAsana -
gAnapathyAs who worshipped pillayAr [*GanEshA*] as the primordial
godhead, KaumArAs who worshipped SubramanyA, sAkthAs who worshipped
ambAl, saivaites who worshipped IshvarA, vaishanvaites who worshipped
Vishnu, SaurAs who worshipped SuryA - He cleansed all their paths
[*of any non-vEdic practices*] and brought them under the vEdic fold.
That is why He is known as Shanmatha sthApanAchAryA. He establised
this to facilitate the worship of one's ishta dEvathA with out
having to indulge in the nindA [*abuse*] of anya-dEvathA(s). As shown
by the verse'Adithyam-ambikAm-viushnum-gananAtham-Maheswaram', He got
all the smArthAs to do panchAyathana pUja for these five mUrtis, as
it was in vogue originally. (As all the vaidhIka karmAnushtAnAs
related to Agni are said to reach Subrahmanya, one of the deities of
the shanmathA, it can fairly be concluded that AchAryAl has chosen
not to include Him [*Subrahmanya*] in the panchAyathana).

Therefore, NO NEW SAMPRADHAYA SUCH AS 'SHANKARA SAMPRADHAYA' HAS EVER
GOT CREATED. WHEN THE ORIGINAL SMARTHA SAMPRADHAYAM OR THE VEDIC
PATH BECAME DILAPIDATED IN BETWEEN, IT GOT REJUVENATED AND BROUGHT TO
LIFE BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE BY SHANKARA. Therefore, if any one
refers to it as 'Shankara sampradhAya', then it is wrong; even if I
had referred to it that way, then also it is wrong.


[Note: Parts of sentences which are given in bold in the
       Tamil original, are reproduced here in capitals]


                                   .... to be continued

Regards,

Sudhakar

----------------------------------------------------------------
Translated from,
HH Sri Chandhra sEkharEndhra Saraswathi Swamiji, 'Sankara
SampradhAyam'. Deivathin Kural (in Tamil), Vol. II, Second
Edition, ed. rA. Ganapathi, Vanathi padhippagam, Chennai,
pp: 119-157 (1980).
-----------------------------------------------------------------