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

[Bhaskar YR]

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?

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Same question arises with regard to rAmakrishna's pratyaksha darshana of kAli mAta.  Yes, during tOtApuri training about Advaita jnana he did not even care to go to temple till the experience of nirvikalpa samAdhi.  But  even after realizing the ultimate in nirvikalpa samAdhi, he never ever said kAli is kevala kalpita.  So is the case with saNta-sharaNa-s darshana-s of their ishtadevata (dhruva's darshana of nArAyaNa, prahlAda's darshana of narasiMha, markandeya's darshana of sadAshiva etc.) For that matter if I am right, HH even after the experience of NS, never ever said shringeri shArada, chandramoUleshwara etc. is kevala kalpita characters.  Anyway, IMHO there is a big valley of difference in saying trimurthy-s are brahman and trimurthy-s are kevala kalpita characters.  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar