[Advaita-l] Padmapāda's Concern

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Namaste,

Quote
<सूत्रज्ञताऽहंकृतिरस्ति नो मे सूत्रार्थविद्भ्योऽस्तु नमो गुरुभ्यः, तथापि
यत्पृच्छसि तद्ब्रवीमि ।

There are many who know the meaning of Bhagavan Veda Vyasa’s Brahma Sutras,
and I salute them all. Hence, I do not claim to be the sole person to know
the meaning of the Sutras of Veda Vyasa. Yet I shall answer whatever be
your question.
Unquote

Pardon me if I appear to be fault-finding, but I could not resist writing that in the Sanskrit verse the name of Vedavyasa in person is not mentioned.

Regards,

--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 7/18/16, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

 Subject: [Advaita-l] Padmapāda's Concern
 To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>, "Advaitin" <advaitin at yahoogroups.com>
 Date: Monday, July 18, 2016, 9:33 AM
 
 Tomorrow is Guru Purnima. We are
 blessed to hear an Upanyasam in which
 Sringeri Jagadguru explains the humility of Adi Shankara
 when Bhagavan Veda
 Vyasa came in disguise:
 
 The Jagadguru talked about the importance of humility. Some
 turn out to be
 very well learned. But they harbor a feeling of superiority.
 Humility must
 be in proportion to the extent of learning. One only needs
 to understand
 the example set by Sri Adi Shankaracharya, when Bhagavan
 Veda Vyasa came in
 the guise of an elderly Brahmana. The Brahmana said to the
 Acharya – “I
 hear that you have written a Bhashya on the Brahma Sutras,
 Will you provide
 an answer to a question and explain a Sutra?”. The
 disciples were angered
 that their Acharya was being questioned thus, but the
 Acharya replied:
 
 सूत्रज्ञताऽहंकृतिरस्ति
 नो मे
 सूत्रार्थविद्भ्योऽस्तु
 नमो गुरुभ्यः, तथापि
 यत्पृच्छसि
 तद्ब्रवीमि ।
 
 
 There are many who know the meaning of Bhagavan Veda
 Vyasa’s Brahma Sutras,
 and I salute them all. Hence, I do not claim to be the sole
 person to know
 the meaning of the Sutras of Veda Vyasa. Yet I shall answer
 whatever be
 your question.
 
 Such was the humility exhibited by Sri Bhagavatpada. The
 Brahmana asked a
 question from the 3rd Adhyaya of the Brahma Sutras and the
 debate raged
 over for seven days.
 
 It was Padmapada, the disciple of the Acharya who realized
 that the elderly
 Brahmana was Bhagavan Veda Vyasa Himself:
 
 शङ्करः शङ्करः
 साक्षात् व्यासो
 नारायणो हरिः ।
 तयोर्विवादे
 संप्राप्ते किंकरः किं
 करोम्यहम् ॥
 
 
 Sri Adi Shankara is Lord Shankara Himself while Veda Vyasa
 is Sriman
 Narayana Himself. What can be done if these two get engaged
 in a debate?
 
 Bhagavan Veda Vyasa revealed Himself and praising the
 Acharya for His
 commentary on the Brahma Sutras, said:
 
 गोविन्दशिष्यस्य कथं
 दुरुक्तम्
 How can the Shishya of Govinda Bhagavatpada
 misinterpret?”
 
 Bhagavan Veda Vyasa was pleased with the Acharya’s replies
 and blessed that
 His commentary would shine forever and remain unparallleled.
 That is why
 eventhough other commentaries were written on the Brahma
 Sutras after the
 time of Sri Adi Shankaracharya, His commentary stands
 foremost.
 
 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Tzn0OfpcE
 
 Sources:
 http://vijayayatra.sringeri.net/bhavani-march-11-2012/
 http://vijayayatra.sringeri.net/coimbatore-march-20-2012/
 http://vijayayatra.sringeri.net/ongole-november-9-2012/
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