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

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 6:22 PM Sanju Nath via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> 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?
>

Dear Sanju,

Lord Shiva is a form of Brahman. It is quite real in vyavaharika life. You
would appreciate that that very Swamiji, when in Nirvikalpa Samadhi or as
explained in the particular chapter of YEP where he meditated on the
Ultimate Truth, would not see the Shiva form.

regards
subbu

>
> 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'.
> >
>
>