Sankara SampradhAyam - 8

[Brhaddhvani]

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Shobha

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. S.R.Marur <smarur at EASI.SOFT.NET>
To: ADVAITA-L at advaita-vedanta.org <ADVAITA-L at advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 1999 11:02 PM
Subject: Sankara SampradhAyam - 8


>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).
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>