Avatarhood

[Hemant]

The whole discussion on Avatarhood of Sri Sankara appears to me as irrelevent. Not only is avatarhood not indispensable to the Advaita doctrine it can be a positive hinderance to a dispassionate spiritual inquiry. Advaita is meta-theistic and not at all theistic as the religious mentality demands.
             In the Gita Sri Krishna declares his Avatarhood quite emphatically. Nowhere in his writings does does Sankara claim a similar status. The Brahma Sutras of Badarayana are aphoristic and extremely cryptic. In interpreting these Sankara got a maximum of latitude for developing his philosophic doctrine. Sankara's development of his ideas is unique in the charm of its style and the cohesiveness of its arguments. In the commentry on the Brahmasutras and those of a few of the upaniSads notably the bRhadAranyaka and the chanDogya is contained the essence of Sankara's philosophical position which is based on rigorous logic and does not demand any religious faith whatsoever.
             It is a fact that the daSAvatAra tradition recognises Lord Buddha as the ninth avatAra. Sri Sankara however does not figure in this list.
                    alakhanirnanjana !
                                           Hemant
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