[Advaita-l] Supremacy of Shiva over Vishnu

[D Gayatri]

//Please don't paint this as prejudice of western views.//

Isn't it prejudice to imply that all western scholars are fools? You may
not have this prejudice, but my post was not directed at you either.


//The analogy of acceptance of western views and inventions such as
computers
etc but non acceptance of western views in matters of Vedanta is not
appropriate here as we are talking of two different spheres of knowledge.
One is worldly knowledge, aparA vidyA, whose knowledge is derived from
pratyaksha pramANa and the other is spiritual knowledge, aparA vidyA, which
depends on shruti pramANa.//


The question of history of the Shankara mutts and the personality of
Shankara, and scholarly analysis of his bhAshyas does not require Shruti
pramANa, since these are available to pratyaksha and anumAna.


//Even in parA vidyA, no one is dismissing *all* the views of *all*
scholars,//

I am not sure how you are able to speak on behalf of everyone here.


//On the other side of the equation, coming to aparA vidyA, to dismiss all
traditional accounts as hagiographies devoid of historical merit is
throwing the baby out with the bathwater.//


By nature, each tradition glorifies itself at the expense of others. And
most traditions have mixed the natural and the supernatural. Naturally,
such accounts are more appropriately called as hagiographies rather than
biographies. For example, if you want to believe the hagiography of Madhva,
you will have to believe that he defeated the best advaitins of his age in
debate, including a reincarnation of Shankara. You will also have to
believe that he directly interacted with Vyasa. If you want to believe all
this, fine. Only a person can decide how much he or she wants to strain his
or her credulity.



On Saturday, 3 September 2016, Venkatraghava