panchayatana puja

[Vivek Anand Ganesan]

--- ShrI Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:
> According to the Digvijayas the situation was not good at
> that
> time.  There were many sects and philosophies that
> misinterpreted or were
> completely against the Vedas.  Amongst the astikas much
> energy was
> misspent in arguing over whether Shiva Bhagawan was
> superior to Vishnu
> Bhagawan or both were inferior to Mataji etc.  To
> alleviate this and to
> get people thinking of the Advaita bhava, this puja was
> started.

    I request clarification of a few doubts regarding this.

1. I have heard that the Panchayatana puja and the Smartha
   tradition were both very old ( i.e. since vedic times ).
   Adi Shankara revived these and re-instated them.
   Or, did he actually institute them?  Are there any
   evidences for pre-Shankaran origins of the Smartha
   tradition ( like temples, monuments etc. )?

2. At least in Tamil Nadu, most of the conflict between
   shaivites and vaishnavites seems to have occurred AFTER
   ShrI Shankara.  This has lead to some views that there
   was sectarian squabbling by the various bhakti cults
   which put paid to the essendtial "unity" of gods.
   So, did ShrI Shankara unite what were disparate elements
              OR
       did ShrI Shankara establish a unified, undivided
       tradition which was later on split in to sects?

Thanks.

-Vivek.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.
>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Tue Mar 28 16:21:27 2000
Message-Id: <TUE.28.MAR.2000.162127.0800.ADVAITAL at LISTS.ADVAITAVEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 16:21:27 -0800
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: T Swaminarayan <tvswaminarayan at YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Advaita and Christianity
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On 27-3-2000 Kartik wrote:
When Ramana says, "All religions are the same," surely
it makes perfect
sense to you? Or do you ask him whether or not he
specifically included
the Heaven's gate cult when he used the term "all
religions"? Does it
really require so much clarification?

Is it not time that we pause a while and ruminate as
to where this thread is leading us to? Do we all not
know that Religion ends where Philosophy begins?Why
are we talking about the various religions in this
forum which is devoted to Advaita as preached by
Shankara?Surely, Shankara did talk about religion to
many of his followers who were not ripe enough to
transend it! Even though Shankara preched Advaita with
Scriptural authority he also composed Saundarya Lahiri
in praise of the Shakti Goddess -Kali (Ref:
Panchayatana thread in this discussion somewhere).
Surely Shankara also established the Shadmathas with
six gurus to propogate them to the  respective
religious masses.

Nanyotosti Dhrishta, Nanyotosti Shrota, Nanyotosti
Mantha,Nanyotosti Vigyata, Eshata Atma Antaryami
AMRUTAHA!

Hari Om !

Swaminarayan


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.