[Advaita-l] the qualification to be an advaita guru

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 4:58 AM, Raghav Kumar <raghavkumar00 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Many of the Vedic Rishis like Pippalada etc of the Prasnopanishad would
> seem
> to fulfill that high benchmark of "omniscience" for an advaita-Guru.
> BhaShyakAra says in the sambandha bhashya to this upaniShat -
> "vidyA....pippalAdivat-sarvajna-kalpair-AcAryair vaktavyA na sA
> yena-kenacit
> iti..." (this BrahmavidyA can be expounded only by acharyas like Pippalada
> who are almost omniscient, not by anyone or everyone.) The use of the
> suffix 'kalpa' ("equal to/ resembling/ almost) in the
> word "sarvajna-kalpaiH" might seem to detract from PippalAda's omniscience,
> but the entire Upanishad shows Pippalada Maharshi to be practically
> onmiscient and not merely a knower of jagat-mithyAtvam and vAkya-mimAmsA
> (to
> deliver nice and useful lectures on Vedanta).

RV: What is the commentary on kalpa if any?