[Advaita-l] Vishnu as vedAntic brahman in Adi and Sabha parva-s

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

It is to counter attack Madhvas and other Vaishnava groups we will
praise Siva's greatness but not to make Vishnu inferior. We believe
both Siva and Vishnu are not different. As a matter of fact there is a
Hari-Hara Vigraha worshipped by many to recognize this.

Yes it is perfectly alright to prove Supremacy of Vishnu but then do
not say Vishnu and Siva are different and Siva is inferior. Because if
you do that you are not following Advaita. This is the point.

On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 9:54 AM, Shashi <raghavadasa at gmail.com> wrote:
> With due respect, in the last few weeks, there have been many posts on the greatness of Lord Siva, how it is Lord Siva who is the cause of the power of the Sudarsana Chakra, how Lord Siva who is the upasana devata of advaita, how Lord Siva is the best deity for Brahmins (I believe the last was Mr. Venkatesh Murthy's post, with copious quotations from Sri Appayya Dikshit) ...and nobody shouted sectarianism then. It's only fair that Lord Vishnu is praised as well, right?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Aug 12, 2016, at 10:53 PM, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>> Namaste
>>
>> You have a very weak case if you are trying to prove Supremacy of
>> Vishnu in an Advaita forum. Advaita does not accept Superior and
>> Inferior Gods like Madhvas. Every God is Supreme for His or Her
>> Upasaka. This is also known as Nahi Ninda Nyaya in Purva Mimamsa.
>> Kindly read also the texts of Appayya Dikshita. Also we accept Vishnu
>> and Siva are One and the Same. Vishnoshca Hrudayam Sivah and Sivasya
>> Hrudayam Vishnuh.
>>
>>
>> 2016-08-13 4:40 GMT+05:30 D Gayatri via Advaita-l
>> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:
>>> Namaste
>>>
>>> It is well known that in the Bhagavad Gita portion of the Mahabharata,
>>> Vishnu has been praised as the Vedantic brahman by Krishna-Dvaipayana. What
>>> is not-so-well-known is the praise of Vishnu in Vedantic terms in other
>>> parts of the Mahabharata. I will present here, instances of such praise in
>>> the Adi and Sabha parvas.
>>>
>>> Just as the Rig Veda begins with the word Agni, indicating the importance
>>> of Agni to the Rig Veda, so also the Mahabharata begins with the word
>>> Narayana, indicating his importance in the scheme of the things of the
>>> Mahabharata. The invocation verse at the beginning of the Adi parva goes
>>> out to Narayana, Nara and Saraswati (all verses taken from the critical
>>> BORI edition). I have used the help of translations given on the internet,
>>> along with the one given by J. A. B. van Buitenen, coupled with my own
>>> understanding of Sanskrit (which I acknowledge is far from perfect).
>>>
>>>
>>> The invocation verse in the Adi parva -
>>>
>>>
>>> नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम् | देवीं सरस्वतीं चैव ततो जयमुदीरयेत् ||
>>>
>>> [The Jaya (Mahabharata) shall be recited after bowing down do Narayana and
>>> Nara, supreme among men, and to the Goddess Saraswati.]
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.1.20-22
>>>
>>> आद्यं पुरुषमीशानं पुरुहूतं पुरुष्टुतम् | ऋतमेकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्यक्ताव्यक्तं
>>> सनातनम् ||२०|| असच्च सच्चैव च यद्विश्वं सदसतः परम् | परावराणां स्रष्टारं
>>> पुराणं परमव्ययम् ||२१|| मङ्गल्यं मङ्गलं विष्णुं वरेण्यमनघं शुचिम् |
>>> नमस्कृत्य हृषीकेशं चराचरगुरुं हरिम् ||२२||
>>>
>>> (The above verses also occur at the beginning of the Harivamsa)
>>>
>>> [I bow to the primeval Purusha, the Lord, first one to receive oblations in
>>> Vedic rituals, one to whom first orisons are sung, one who is the Truth,
>>> one who is symbolized by the one-syllabled (Om), one who is Brahman, one
>>> who is manifest and unmanifest, Eternal, the existent and the non-existent
>>> and beyond the existent and non-existent, the aggregate of the entire
>>> universe, the creator of things high and low, the Ancient one, the supreme
>>> immutable, who is blissful and brings forth bliss, who is Vishnu, the
>>> all-pervading (VIshnu is called Vishnu because he is all-pervading, an
>>> etymology given by Yaska in his Nirukta), the most desirable (by seekers of
>>> salvation), free from all sins and pure, who is Hrishikesha (the Lord of
>>> the senses, who impels the sensory organs), the God Hari, who is the guru
>>> (preceptor) of all creatures, those that move and those that move not.]
>>>
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.1.124
>>>
>>> यदाश्रौषं कश्मलेनाभिपन्ने; रथोपस्थे सीदमानेऽर्जुने वै | कृष्णं
>>> लोकान्दर्शयानं शरीरे; तदा नाशंसे विजयाय सञ्जय ||१२४||
>>>
>>> (Dhritarashtra recounting to Samjaya, the Vishvaroopa Darshana episode of
>>> the Bhagavad Gita)
>>>
>>> [When I heard that Arjuna has been seized with cowardice and sat down on
>>> his chariot and Krishna showed him all the worlds within his own body, then
>>> Samjaya, I lost hope of victory].
>>>
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.1.193-195
>>>
>>>
>>> भगवान्वासुदेवश्च कीर्त्यतेऽत्र सनातनः | स हि सत्यमृतं चैव पवित्रं पुण्यमेव
>>> च ||१९३|| शाश्वतं ब्रह्म परमं ध्रुवं ज्योतिः सनातनम् | यस्य दिव्यानि
>>> कर्माणि कथयन्ति मनीषिणः ||१९४|| असत्सत्सदसच्चैव यस्माद्देवात्प्रवर्तते |
>>> सन्ततिश्च प्रवृत्तिश्च जन्म मृत्युः पुनर्भवः ||१९५||a
>>>
>>> [The eternal and unchanging blessed Lord (Bhagavan), vAsudeva (Krishna) is
>>> glorified here (in the Mahabharata). He is true, he is right, he is pure
>>> and holy. He is the eternal Brahman, supreme and immovable, the everlasting
>>> Light, of whose divine exploits, the wise tell the tales. From Him begins
>>> the existent that is not yet, and the non-existent that becomes.
>>> Continuity, pravritti, birth, death, rebirth (are from Him)]
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.19.13
>>>
>>> अध्यात्मयोगनिद्रां च पद्मनाभस्य सेवतः | युगादिकालशयनं विष्णोरमिततेजसः ||१३||
>>>
>>> [(The ocean is the bed of) the boundlessly powerful Vishnu, the one with
>>> the Lotus-navel, who sleeps in Adhyatma yoga nidra at the beginning of the
>>> yuga]
>>>
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.57.83-87
>>>
>>> अनुग्रहार्थं लोकानां विष्णुर्लोकनमस्कृतः | वसुदेवात्तु देवक्यां
>>> प्रादुर्भूतो महायशाः ||८३|| अनादिनिधनो देवः स कर्ता जगतः प्रभुः |
>>> अव्यक्तमक्षरं ब्रह्म प्रधानं निर्गुणात्मकम् ||८४|| आत्मानमव्ययं चैव
>>> प्रकृतिं प्रभवं परम् | पुरुषं विश्वकर्माणं सत्त्वयोगं ध्रुवाक्षरम् ||८५||
>>> अनन्तमचलं देवं हंसं नारायणं प्रभुम् | धातारमजरं नित्यं तमाहुः परमव्ययम्
>>> ||८६|| पुरुषः स विभुः कर्ता सर्वभूतपितामहः | धर्मसंवर्धनार्थाय
>>> प्रजज्ञेऽन्धकवृष्णिषु ||८७||
>>>
>>>
>>> [Vishnu, whose fame is great, who is worshiped by all the worlds, the
>>> Unmanifest, Akshara, Brahman, and Cause, to favor all the worlds became
>>> manifest in Devaki by Vasudeva–God without beginning or end, the Lord,
>>> Maker of the universe, who is without attributes as well as the
>>> imperishable Soul (Atman), and Nature, the ultimate Source, the Man, the
>>> Maker of all things, the Yoker of Being, the stable Intransient, the
>>> Unending, Unmoving God, the Swan, the Lord Nārāyana, whom they call the
>>> unaging, sempiternal Place, supreme and everlasting. He is the ubiquitous
>>> Purusha, Maker (kartA), and Grandfather of all creatures; and so in order
>>> to further the growth of Dharma, he was born amidst the Andhaka-Vršnis (as
>>> Krishna).]
>>>
>>> Mbh: 1.61.90
>>>
>>> यस्तु नारायणो नाम देवदेवः सनातनः | तस्यांशो मानुषेष्वासीद्वासुदेवः
>>> प्रतापवान् ||९०||
>>>
>>> [The eternal god of the gods with the name Narayana, descended on the earth
>>> with a portion of himself among mankind as the majestic vAsudeva]
>>>
>>>
>>> Mbh: 2.35.22-25
>>>
>>> (These are the words of Bhishma)
>>>
>>>
>>> कृष्ण एव हि लोकानामुत्पत्तिरपि चाप्ययः | कृष्णस्य हि कृते भूतमिदं विश्वं
>>> समर्पितम् ||२२|| एष प्रकृतिरव्यक्ता कर्ता चैव सनातनः | परश्च
>>> सर्वभूतेभ्यस्तस्माद्वृद्धतमोऽच्युतः ||२३|| बुद्धिर्मनो महान्वायुस्तेजोऽम्भः
>>> खं मही च या | चतुर्विधं च यद्भूतं सर्वं कृष्णे प्रतिष्ठितम् ||२४||
>>> आदित्यश्चन्द्रमाश्चैव नक्षत्राणि ग्रहाश्च ये | दिशश्चोपदिशश्चैव सर्वं
>>> कृष्णे प्रतिष्ठितम् ||२५||
>>>
>>>
>>> [Krishna alone is the origin of the worlds as well as their dissolution,
>>> for Krishna's sake is all that exists here offered. He is the Unmanifest
>>> Cause and the Sempiternal Doer, higher than all creatures; it is thus that
>>> Acyuta is the eldest. Spirit, mind, the Large One, wind, fire, water, ether
>>> and earth, and the fourfold creation, all rest upon Krishna. The sun, the
>>> moon, the stars, the planets, the points of the compass and the
>>> intermediate points—it all rests on Krishna.]
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Gayatri
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>>
>> -Venkatesh
>> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh