[Advaita-l] Names such as 'Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva' are mithyopadhika - Vishnu Puranam

[Sanju Nath]

Dear Sri Subramanian-ji:

Humble inquiry: How do we then reconcile Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha, the 35th
Jagadguru’s vision of Lord Shiva teaching yoga asanas in dream - is Lord
Shiva not real in Vyavaaharik life, just as we are?

Dhanyavaad,
Sanjivendra

On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 6:07 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Names such as 'Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva' are mithyopadhika - Vishnu Puranam
>
> In the Vishnu Sahasra Nama bhashya, Shankara cites a Vishnu Purana verse
> that brings about the identity of the Atman and Brahman:
>
> भूतात्मा चेन्द्रियात्मा च प्रधानात्मा तथा भवान् ।
> आत्मा च परमात्मा च त्वमेकः पञ्चधा स्थितः ।। ५-१८-५० ।।
>
> Sridhara Swamin comments: Bhutatma - the form of the mahabhuta-s (the
> apanchikruta pancha bhutas), indriyatma - the form of the indiryas of the
> jiva, pradhanatma - the form of prakriti, Atma - the jiva who is having the
> first three as upadhis, and Paramatma, the Supreme Self. Brahman alone is
> appearing as all these five types of 'Atman-s'.
>
> The very next  verse there is:
>
> प्रसीद सर्व्व सर्व्वात्मन् क्षराक्षरमयेश्वर ।
> ब्रह्म-विष्णु-शिव्राद्याभिः कल्पनाभिरुदीरितः ।। ५-१८-५१ ।।
>
> O Lord who is verily the kshara and akshara (perishable and imperishable in
> creation), the Self-of-All, the one called by the names such as Brahma,
> Vishnu and Shiva, etc.which are mere imaginary ones.
>
> Sridhara Swamin comments: ....कल्पनाभिः गुणोपाधिब्रह्मादिसंज्ञाभिः
> उद्रीरितः |
>
> [You are called by the imaginary names such as Brahmaa (Vishnu and Shiva,
> etc)., that are based on gunas (such rajas, sattva and tamas).
>
> From the above we conclude:
>
>    1. The Vishnu of the Purana and scriptures is Turiya Vishnu
>    2. The  Trimurtis are mere names such as Brahma, Vishnu, etc.
>    3. They are all based on the three gunas: sattva, etc.
>    4. There are no real entities such as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and
>    others too.
>    5. The Turiya Vishnu is beyond all gunas.
>    6. Not even sattva is the default guna of the Turiya Vishnu (which the
>    uninformed take to be so)
>    7. The Turiya Vishnu is non-different from the Trimurtis.
>    8. Even Vishnu of the Trimurtis is only kalpita name/form/sattva guna
>    9. The Turiya Vishnu has no real default name.
>
> Such is the nature of the Vedantinc Brahman that Shankara and Advaitins
> alone can appreciate. The above idea is anathema for non-advaitins.
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-- 
Sanju Nath