[Advaita-l] Re: Saguna brahman and iswara

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

Shankaracharya observes parameshvarasyApichchhAvashAnmAyAmayaM rUpaM
sAdhakAnugrahArtham "Parameshvara through Maya assumes forms at will to
fulfill the needs of the sadhakas"

praNAm prabhuji
Hare Krishna

The above observation of Sri Shankara bhagavad pAda always obfuscate the
aspirants in advaita sampradAya.  How come, a hard core proponent of
nirvishesha. nirvikalpa parabrahman can say parabrahman himself *at will*
assumes names & forms through mAya??  does this not contract the shruti
pratipAdya siddhAnta i.e. nirviSEShatva of parabrahman?? when shruti saying
parabrahman is sarvEndriya vivarjita / sarva guNAtIta etc.,   how can
parabrahman/he/she/it has *will* to assume names & forms??  .  So, here
question is,  whether parabrahman himself taking the help of mAya &
assuming somany auspicious forms to help the sAdhaka-s  OR saviSeShatva of
parabrahman is mere adhyArOpita by shruti-s just to accommodate the manda &
madhyama adhikAri-s??  Considering the shruti purports in a nutshell,
former is highly impossible proposition for an advaitin.  So, what is left
with us now is *adhyArOpita guNa viSEshatva* of parabrhman is meant for
sAdhaka-s who cannot rise tothe level of the absolutely featureless pure
brahman.  Shankara clarifies this subsequently in apratIkAlambanAdhikaraNa
sUtra bhAshya  (while replying to pUrva pakshi's objections on para & apara
brahman)  that the saguNatva with names & forms & conditioning adjuncts of
apara brahman is due to avidyA.  We can see the similar opinion from
bhagavad pAda's parama guru Sri goudapAdAchArya also in his kArikA-s.

In short,  we can conclude that the *same reality* can be called
*parabrahman* when it is made the subject of enquiry (nidhidhyAsana)  as
reality in entirety, aparabrahman with names & forms  as recommended in the
shruti-s for the sake of upAsana & that same reality once again labelled as
Ishvara with omniscient (sarvagna), omnipotent (sarvashakta) qualities when
it is thought of as the cause & ruler of this phenomenal world (nAma
rUpAtmaka jagat).  But it has to be very clearly noted that this
distinction is acceptable only from the thought position ( adhikAra
yOgyata) of the student of shAstra & there is absolutely no distinction or
difference allowed in brahman itself.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar