[Advaita-l] Shankara and Kriya Yoga

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 4:20 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> It wil be very kind of you if you kindly tell us where did Adi Shankara
> claim himself that he was an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
>

While Shankara Himself has not claimed this, Padmapada in his PanchapAdikA
takes the name of vinAyaka, if not in prayer, in extolling Shankara:

vinA vinAyakam apUrva-shankaram (the last line of the third verse at the
commencement of the panchapAdikA)


 Bhagavatpaada Shankara is none other than Shiva *without the
vinAyaka*with Him.  There are names like 'shambhusUnuH' as epithet of
Ganapathi.
This AchArya Shankara is a sannyAsi with sannyAsi disciples (this is said
by Padmapada in the first two lines of this same verse) and therefore no
'family' is depicted. Dr.Mani Dravid Sastrigal said that it is a 'vyatireka
alankAra' adopted in the said verse, where Shankara, the Acharya, is
'contrasted' with Shankara, the Lord. It also throws light on the belief
even during the Acharya's time that Shankaracharya was the incarnation of
Shiva.

regards
vs