Question: giita dhyaanam.h

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 12 Jan 2000, Shrisha Rao wrote:

> I doubt that very much, although I have heard claims to that effect.  The
> Varaha, as other texts of its class, is very much cast in the mold of the
> Pancharatras, and would not praise the 'Gita as `advaitAmR^itavarshhiNIM',
> etc.  The Varaha is in the form of a discourse given by Vishnu in the
> Varaha form to Bhudevi, and mainly concerns itself with rules for
> Vaishnava worship and cleanliness.  Many of these (such as requiring one
> to wash one's feet and perform `Achamana' after attending to calls of
> nature) are doubtless accepted by Smarta-s, but one is not aware of any
> classical Advaitin quoting the Varaha as a source text.
>

Yes actually it is the Gita Mahatmya which is from the Varaha Purana.
It is a samvad between Varaha Bhagawan and Bhudevi as you say.

> Come to think of it, the use of the term `Advaita' to refer to the
> doctrine which is now the referent for it, does not seem to have been
> common before the 14th century or so (Shankara does not seem to use the
> name in that sense, so that for example `Advaita as taught by Sri
> Shankara' would in fact be a contradiction in terms in that sense).
>

It would only be necessary to be more specifc after the rise of novel
rival interpretations.

> Also, at least two verses in the gItA-dhyAnaM -- `vasudevasutaM devam.h'
> and `yaM brahmA varuNendrarudramarutaH' -- are actually from the Bhagavata
> P.
>

Ok.

> Therefore, a better educated guess might be that it is a collection of
> relevant verses from various sources.  The person(s) who did this, and the
> time(s) when it was done, is not clear.
>

I agree.  But it does seem to be pretty widespread.  All the editions of
the Gita I've seen have those shlokas.

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

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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