[Advaita-l] BhAmAti vs VivAraNa

[Praveen R. Bhat]

Namaste Dev Babuji,

On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 9:57 PM Dev Babu via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> My doubt:  which one of this school is more popular?
>
Both are popular, since both works are studied by traditional followers for
mokSha,
as the differences are only academic details that do not go against the
basic tenets of
Advaita Vedanta.

In MAdhaviya Sankara Vijayam 13th Sarga: - Shloka 53, Sankara gave ShApam
> that "Any Varttikam that has been initiated against the Guru;s Wishes will
> not gain prominence - hence, PadmapAdachArya's  Varttikam got burnt and
> only Panca Padiks remains.
>
​Please revisit the shlokas again; it is not Bhagavatpadacharya who gave a
curse,
there was no reason for it! It was Sureshvaracharya who cursed those works
which had
not begun with blessings from the Guru, since his work called
Naishkarmyasiddhi (NS)
was indeed blessed by the Guru.


> Also, Sankara Blesses Suresvaracharya in Shloka 73, that " Thou shall be
> born again as VAchaspati and you will carry out a Vishesha commentary to my
> BhAshya - which is BhAmati, and that will shine forth until Pralayam.
>
​Bhagavatpadacharya says prArabdhakarmaparipAkavashAt​. This has to be seen
in the
light of the fact that jnAni's prArabdha may continue across janmas.


> So, By taking above as PramAnam, is not BhAmati more popular?
>
​No. Just because Bhamati will be the guide doesn't mean that Bhamati alone
will be the guide.
​


> Which one of the above is held as Authoritative by Our Revered Sringeri
> Acharyals?
>
​Both, which is why even Bhamati is taught after Vivarana in Sringeri.​ The
differences,
as mentioned earlier, do not take away the result of advaita mokSha from
either.

A
​nybody who has studied NS would tell you that it is based on Vivarana.
Now, the tradition
says that the same author wrote Bhamati too in another janma, driven by
prArabdha. How
can one be wrong! Both differ only in prakriyA, leading to the same goal.
If you study
Vidyaranyacharya's Panchadashi, you see both prakriyAs across various
chapters.

Moreover, pure vivaraNa is EJV that caters to uttamAdhikAris. This could
also be the reason
as to why
Bhamati
​ that rejects EJV​
​would remain to be popular since it would be a guide
for all
adhikAris.
​
​
gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat
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