[Advaita-l] Brahman (Hari) alone appears as the jiva - Shankara in Haristuti

[V Subrahmanian]

Brahman (Hari) alone appears as the jiva - Shankara in Haristuti

In the Vedantic work titled 'Hari Stuti' (also called HarimeeDe stotram),
Shankara brings out the idea of the Upanishads:  Brahman alone appears as
the samsari:

क्षेत्रज्ञत्वं प्राप्य विभुः पञ्चमुखैर्यो भुङ्क्तेऽजस्त्रं
भोग्यपदार्थान् प्रकृतिस्थः ।
क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रेऽप्स्विन्दुवदेको बहुधास्ते तं संसारध्वान्तविनाशं हरिमीडे ॥ २७॥
युक्त्यालोड्य व्यासवचांस्यत्र हि लभ्यः क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञान्तरविद्भिः
पुरुषाख्यः ।
योऽहं सोऽसौ सोऽस्म्यहमेवेति विदुर्यं तं संसारध्वान्तविनाशं हरिमीडे ॥ २८॥


Him, the Infinite, who, assuming the condition of the individual self and
dwelling in nature, incessantly enjoys the objects of enjoyment through the
five gateways of the senses, and who, though one, appears as different in
different bodies like the moon reflected in the waters - that Hari, the
destroyer of the darkness of samsara, I praise.  (27)



Him who is named Purusha and who is realised, even in this world, as "He
who is I is that Supreme Lord and I am verily he" by those who
intelligently investigate the teachings of Vyasa (the Brahma Sutras of
Vyasa) and understand the distinction between the field and the knower of
the field, Kshetra, the field or the body, and Kshetrajna, the knower of
the field or the individual self - that Hari, the destroyer of the darkness
of samsara, I praise. (28)

The purport of the BG.13th chapter is captured well (see also the last
verse and bhashyam of the 13th chapter)  in these two verses. Shankara has
cited a verse, from a source not so far known, in the Vishnu Sahasra Nama
bhashya:  स्वमायया स्वमात्मानं मोहयन्द्वैतमायया । गुणाहितं स्वमात्मानं लभते
च स्वयं हरिः ॥ [By his own Māyā, deluding himself with the illusion of
dvaita, Hari Himself comes to see himself endowed with guṇas.]

The analogy of 'different bodies like the moon reflected in the waters' is
brought out by Shankara by another citation from the Brahma Bindu Upanishad
in the Brahma sutra bhashya 3.2.18:
यत एव च अयमात्मा चैतन्यरूपो निर्विशेषो वाङ्मनसातीतः परप्रतिषेधोपदेश्यः, अत
एव च अस्योपाधिनिमित्तामपारमार्थिकीं विशेषवत्तामभिप्रेत्य
जलसूर्यकादिवदित्युपमा उपादीयते मोक्षशास्त्रेषु — ‘यथा ह्ययं ज्योतिरात्मा
विवस्वानपो भिन्न बहुधैकोऽनुगच्छन् । *उपाधिना क्रियते भेदरूपो* देवः
क्षेत्रेष्वेवमजोऽयमात्मा’ इति, ‘एक एव हि भूतात्मा भूते भूते व्यवस्थितः ।
एकधा बहुधा चैव दृश्यते जलचन्द्रवत्’ (ब्र. बिं. १२) इति चैवमादिषु ॥ १८ ॥

   Thus, for Shankara, Hari (not any formed deity but Nirguna Brahman) is
the one that appears as the samsari.  This position is antithetical and
anathema to non-advaitins.  They can never accept the formed person Vishnu,
which is Brahman to them, to be appearing as the samsari jiva.

Om Tat Sat