[Advaita-l] Paul Hacker's erroneous view

[Venkatraghavan S]

You're right I had forgotten, thanks for pointing out. Just like the Ganges
flows back to Lord Vishnu's feet, this knowledge-Ganga leads to moksha, the
तत् विष्णोः परमं पदं of Katha Upanishad.

Regarding the upamAna prayoga, true that is there too and will be in any
poetic imagery, but it is important to note the reference to the
equivalence of Shankara with Lord Shiva in the writings of Shankara's
direct disciples. It being a poetic device does not preclude the existence
of the belief, it only strengthens it.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 3 Sep 2016 3:21 p.m., "D Gayatri" <dgayatrinov10 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 3 September 2016 at 19:27, Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > In addition to Padmapadacharya, Sureshvaracharya and Totakacharya also
> > refer to Shankaracharya as Lord Shiva himself in their works.
> >
> > 4.76 of Naishkarmya Siddhi
> > विष्णोः पादानुगाम् यां निखिलभवनुदं शंकरो$वाप योगात् ।
> > सर्वज्ञं ब्रह्मसंस्थं मुनिगणसहितं सम्यग् अभ्यर्च्य भक्त्या ।
> > विद्यां गंगाम् इवाहम् प्रवरगुणनिधेः प्राप्य वेदान्त दीप्तं ।
> > कारुण्यात् ताम्  अवोचं जनिमृतिनिवहध्वस्तये दुःखितेभ्य: ।
> > I duly reverenced Shankara, ever established in Brahman, surrounded by a
> > host of sages. Having obtained this knowledge proclaimed through the
> > Upanishads, this knowledge that is like the Ganges and leads to moksha
> > which Shankara brought down to earth through yoga, I have set forth this
> > work out of compassion for the suffering jivas so that their stream of
> > births and deaths may end.
> >
> > Here Sureshvaracharya compares himself to Bhagiratha who brought the
Ganges
> > (knowledge) to earth through the mediation of lord Shankara.
>
>
> Two things I want to point out here -
>
> 1. You seem to have missed the reference to Vishnu completely in your
> translation! The Ganga flows from the foot of Vishnu.
>
> 2. This is an upamAna and not an incarnation theory. If you believe
> this is an incarnation theory, then Sureshwara would be the
> incarnation of Bhagiratha!
>
> Sureshwara describes Shankara as bearing the name of Shiva in his
> Taittiriya vartika (bhava-nAma-bhRto-yateh, 3.10.48-49, reference,
> Life and work of Shankaracharya, by Govind Chandra Pande). There is no
> mention that Shankara is the incarnation of Shiva. Once again, there
> is only a mention of similarity of names, but not identity.