[Advaita-l] Did Madhusudana Saraswati Reconcile Bhakti and Advaita?

[श्रीमल्ललितालालितः]

*श्रीमल्ललितालालितः <http://www.lalitaalaalitah.com/>
lalitAlAlitaH <http://about.me/lalitaalaalitah/bio>*



On Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 09:17, Kalyan K <kalyankc.81 at gmail.com> wrote:

> you could be right on what you say about madhusUdhana
> saraswati. I have heard that even though Sri madhusUdhana was an advaitin,
> he did not agree with Sankara on some issues.
>

Second hand information (not knowledge) is most hazardous. And quoting this
to influence others is more so.
The places where madhusUdana differs from bhagavatpAda are not those which
can prove him non-advaitic. Definitely I'm comparing their views on same
text as bhagavdgItA, etc., where commentaries of both are available.
Moreover, wherever madhusUdana show another explanation, he does it in a
humble manner, sometimes by showing reverence to bhagavatpAda and his words
and showing triviality of himself and his words. See gUDhArthadIpikA on
gItA.


> If this is correct (and I do
> not know if it is), then we could have the former advocating bhakti as the
> highest goal even though Sri Sankara advocated jNAna.
>

Advocating bhakti as supreme goal in rasa-shAstra or bhakti-shAstra doesn't
prove one in conflict with advaita-view. If he does same in advaita-texts,
then this will be true. But, he didn't do so.
Moreover, the rebranded bhakti is not a problem - is already made clear.