[Advaita-l] varNAsharama system at the time of shankara

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

When searching for Sri VidyA prabhuji's quote on AnimAdi siddhi-s (subtle
powers) of yOgi-s, I found that it appears in the shankara's commentary on
dEvatAdhikaraNa  of vEdAnta sUtra (1-3-26 to 1-3-33) wherein discussion was
about whether dEvata-s have eligibility to attain brahmajnAna or
not....While reading through bhAshya on 1-3-33, I've observed one important
assertion of shankara that is about system of varNAshrama dharma existing
at  that point of time...Here shankara implies that at that time
varNashrama system was not strictly in order..Shankara says here :
idAnImIva cha kAlAntarepi avyavasThita prAyAn varNAshrama dharmAn
pratijAnIta, tatascha vyavasThAvidAyi shAstraM anarThakaM syAt...Inspite of
this avyasTha of varNashrama system, shankara in the very next adhikaraNa
talks about vedAdhikara to non-dvija-s & stree-s & clears his stand that
though sUdra-s & stree-s donot have adhikAra in vEda-s, they are eligible
to have vEdAntic Atmaikatva jnAna through smruti & purANa texts...

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar