[Advaita-l] Shankara cites the Kaṭharudropaniṣad

[V Subrahmanian]

Shankara cites the Kaṭharudropaniṣad

In the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad 3.5.1 (kahola brāhmaṇam) bhāṣyam Shankara
discusses the śruti-prāmāṇya for sannyāsa and while replying an objection
says:

न, ‘यज्ञोपवीतं वेदांश्च सर्वं तद्वर्जयेद्यतिः’ (क. रु. २) इति श्रुतेः ।
[From the Advaitaśāradā]  [Swami Madhvananda's translation: Reply : No, for
the Śruti says, 'The monk should give up the holy thread, the study of the
Vedas, and all such things' (Ks. 4 ; Kr. 2).]

At the beginning of the book, Swami M gives the abbreviations:

Kr.  Katharudra Upaniṣad
Kś  Kathaśruti Upaniṣad

Olivelle in his book 'Samnyāsa Upaniṣads: Hindu scriptures on
Renunciation....' says on p.8:

//Some of the later Upaniṣads appear to be expansions of older ones.
Others, such as the Laghu-Samnyāsa and the Kuṇḍikā, as well as the
Kaṭhaśruti and the Kaṭharudra (which occurs only in SR - Southern
Recension), appear to be different recensions of the same text.//


The Kaṭharudra Upaniṣad, at the beginning itself details the Sannyāsa
krama. The 'Yatidharma sangraha' on p.19 of the pdf (by Sri Viśveśvara
Saraswati, Guru of Sri Madhusūdana Saraswati 15CE) cites from this
Upaniṣad:


// यज्ञोपवीतं वेदांश्च सर्वं तद्वर्जयेद्यतिः // [This is the line cited by
Shankara in the Br.Up.bhāṣyam stated above]


In the Panchadaśī 10.2 is this verse:

परमात्माऽद्वयानन्दपूर्णः पूर्वं स्वमायया ।
स्वयमेव जगद्भूत्वा प्राविशज्जीवरूपतः ॥ १ ॥

1. Before the projection of the world the Supreme Self, the secondless,
all-bliss and ever complete, alone existed. Through His Maya He became the
world and entered into it as the Jiva, the individual Self.

विष्ण्वाद्युत्तमदेहेषु प्रविष्टो देवताभवत् ।

मर्त्याद्यधमदेहेषु स्थितो भजति मर्त्यताम् ॥ २ ॥

2. Entering the superior bodies like that of Vishnu, He became the deities;
and remaining in the inferior bodies like that of men He worships the
deities.

From the above verses we come to know that it is Brahman with association
of Māyā takes the bodies, forms, such as Viṣṇu. That shows that the forms
such as Viṣṇu are products of Māyā.

That the bodies such as Viṣṇu are entities within creation is brought out
by many Upaniṣads such as the Atharvaśirā/śikhā, etc. The Kaṭharudropaniṣad
too says explicitly:

After stating the Supreme Creation is at the hands of Śiva:


तानि भूतानि सूक्ष्माणि पञ्चीकृत्येश्वरस्तदा ।
तेभ्य एव विसृष्टं तद्ब्रह्माण्डादि शिवेन ह ॥ १५॥


Upon effecting the panchīkaraṇam of the sūkṣma bhūta-s (subtle elements),
Śiva created the world consisting of Brahmāṇḍa, etc. from those elements. (That
is the reason perhaps the Upaniṣad got the name 'kaṭharudra')

The Upaniṣad continues:

While there is a popular expression 'brahmādi-stambānta' (starting from
Brahmā up to the smallest creature) to denote the entire gamut of the jīva
category, the KR uses a unique expression:

अस्यैवानन्दकोशेन स्तम्बान्ता विष्णुपूर्वकाः ।
भवन्ति सुखिनो नित्यं तारतम्यक्रमेण तु ॥ २९॥


[All (jīva-s) up to the tiniest creature, starting from Viṣṇu (instead of
Brahmā) onward, always derive joy from this ānanda kośa on a relative scale
depending on their status.] In the Taittiriya we have the ānanda tāratamya
from the human up to Brahmā. The ānanda derived by these entities are
finite and Brahman-Ānanda alone is infinite.

Om Tat Sat