[Advaita-l] Advaita Vedanta concepts in the Shiva Purana

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7.23 -

यो रेतसि तिष्ठन्रेतसोऽन्तरो यं रेतो न वेद यस्य रेतः शरीरं यो रेतोऽन्तरो
यमयत्येष त आत्मान्तर्याम्यमृतोऽदृष्टो द्रष्टाश्रुतः श्रोतामतो मन्ताविज्ञातो
विज्ञाता नान्योऽतोऽस्ति द्रष्टा नान्योऽतोऽस्ति श्रोता नान्योऽतोऽस्ति मन्ता
नान्योऽतोऽस्ति विज्ञातैष त आत्मान्तर्याम्यमृतोऽतोऽन्यदार्तं ततो होद्दालक
आरुणिरुपरराम ॥ २३ ॥

the teaching is: All the sense organs operate only because of the
Consciousness, Brahman, called antaryami.  The Antaryami himself is not
seen, heard, thought of, known, by anyone.  He is the one who actually
sees, hears, thinks, knows, etc. Hence he is the unseen seer, unheard
hearer, unthought thinker, etc. There is none other than the Antaryami
Consciousness that is the seer,hearer, etc. Shankara says here:

तत्र यं पृथिवी न वेद यं सर्वाणि भूतानि न विदुरिति च अन्ये नियन्तव्या
विज्ञातारः अन्यो नियन्ता अन्तर्यामीति प्राप्तम् ;
तदन्यत्वाशङ्कानिवृत्त्यर्थमुच्यते — नान्योऽतः — नान्यः — अतः अस्मात्
अन्तर्यामिणः नान्योऽस्ति द्रष्टा ; तथा नान्योऽतोऽस्ति श्रोता ;
नान्योऽतोऽस्ति मन्ता ; नान्योऽतोऽस्ति विज्ञाता । यस्मात्परो नास्ति द्रष्टा
श्रोता मन्ता विज्ञाता, यः अदृष्टो द्रष्टा, अश्रुतः श्रोता, अमतो मन्ता,
अविज्ञातो विज्ञाता, अमृतः सर्वसंसारधर्मवर्जितः सर्वसंसारिणां
कर्मफलविभागकर्ता — एष ते आत्मा अन्तर्याम्यमृतः ; अस्मादीश्वरादात्मनोऽन्यत्
आर्तम् । ततो होद्दालक आरुणिरुपरराम ॥

Hearing that the Antaryami is the impeller, there would be the doubt that
the impeller is someone else and the impelled jiva (his sense organs, etc.)
is different. In order to dispel this doubt, the Upanishad teaches that the
'Antaryami is your very Atma, you yourself.'  So, the jiva (impelled) -
Antaryami (impeller) non-difference is taught here.

In many Upanishad bhashyams Shankara has brought out this idea:  It is
Brahman that is appearing as the seer, hearer, thinker, knower, etc. in
every body.

The Shiva Purana image cited actually says: It is Shiva who is the seer,
hearer, taster, thinker, etc. and it is Shakti who is the seen, heard,
tasted, thought, etc.  The upshot of all this is: the jiva is Shiva, the
Brahman of the Upanishads.

Om Tat Sat

On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 11:57 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Advaita Vedanta concepts in the Shiva Purana
>
> At the very beginning of the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, Shankara Bhagavatpada
> sets the tone of Vedanta by specifying the duality of vishaya and vishayi.
> The former is anatma and the latter is the Atma. The Drk and Drishya,
> Kshetrajna and Kshetra are other names for the same pair. One can see these
> delineated in the Shiva Purana, in the page that is attached here. It is
> in the Seventh Canto called Vayaviya samhita, uttara khanda. A study of
> these verses is a study of the Vedanta.
>
>
> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2250393158307366&set=a.697484646931566.1073741827.100000101118270&type=3&theater
>
> regards
> subrahmanian.v
>