[Advaita-l] A 5th Century AD view of Vedanta (Some Comments)

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Raghav Prabhuji
Hare Krishna

In this context, I was wondering whether Acharyas Audolomi and Ashmaratha and manDana Mishra are termed *Advaita vedAntic* Acharyas or just vedAntic Acharyas.(given the not inconsiderable divergence between their and Adi Shankara's positions)

>  Among the vedAntins (prior to bhagavatpAda or at the time of bhagavatpAda)  there is no qualms in admitting the vedAntic truth that jevEshwara ekatva or the identity of the jeevAtma and paramAtma  shankara clarifies in bruhadAraNyaka bhAshya if I am right.  

I ask this in the context of your statement 'there is some evidence to hold that he (Bhavya) was not talking of advaita, but something else altogether.'

>  bAdarAyaNa in sUtra and shankara in sUtra bhAshya talks about Audulomi, Ashmarathya and kAshakrutsna ( in the first first adhyAya, fourth adhikaraNa), in essence inspite of difference of opinion among these three Acharya-s with regard to present state of jeevAtma, they were unanimous with regard to the Ikyata or identity of the jeevAtma with the paramAtma in the state of final release or mOksha.  So, in a way we can safely conclude that they were too Advaita Acharya-s, though shankara rejected their doctrines in the sUtra bhAshya.  By the way, kAshakrutsna's doctrine that paramAtma himself without undergoing any modification whatsoever is the jeevAtma and he (jeeva) is not the other self comes very close to advaita's vivartavAda.  Anyway, my opinion 😊

I was wondering whether it is  tenable to hold that there were other earlier  *Advaita vedAnta* Acharyas who held positions different from Sri Shankara? (This is different from just saying that there are vedAnta Acharyas before Shankara.)

>  of course plenty we can find in prasthAna traya.  More on this, if time permits.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar