[Advaita-l] Anandagiri says 'Shankara is refuting the Vaishnava doctrine'

[V Subrahmanian]

Anandagiri says 'Shankara is refuting the Vaishnava doctrine'

In the Brahmasutra Bhashya for the 'Bhagavata/Pancharatra' refutation,
2.2.42,etc. the tone of the Bhashya has given a wrong picture to some
non-Advaitins who harbor the idea 'Shankara has refuted lock stock and
barrel the Pashupata doctrine but has not done so with the
Bhagavata/Vaishnava/Pancharatra doctrine.'

Anandagiri, who has the sole distinction of commenting on the entire
Prasthana Traya Bhashya and the Brihadaranyaka and Taittiriya Vartika of
Sureshwaracharya, says on this adhikarana bhashya:

माहेश्वरमतनिरासानन्तरं वैष्णवमतं निरस्यति -

उत्पत्तीति ।

यद्वा पञ्चपदार्थवादिनि निरस्ते चतुर्व्यूहवादिनं निरस्यति -

उत्पत्तीति ।


[After having refuted the Maaheshwara doctrine, the Vaishnava doctrine is
taken up for refutation. Or the doctrine that admits 'five padarthas'
having been annulled, the doctrine of 'chaturvyuha'
(pancharatra/vaishnava/bhagavata) is being dealt with.]


वेदाविरुद्धांशमुपेत्य विरुद्धांशनिरासायाधिकरणमित्याह -

उच्यत इति ।



[Those aspects that are non-contradictory to Vedanta are admitted and only
those that are in discordance with the Veda/Vedanta are refuted.]


This maxim, 'para matam apratishiddham anumatam bhavati' is cited by
Shankara himself in the BSB and in several instances we see he has given
due credit/appreciation to various tenets of the opponent schools such as
Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Yoga, Sankhya and even Bauddha for their
Vedanta-friendly aspects.


Shankara says in this Bhagavata school instance:
यदपि तस्य भगवतोऽभिगमनादिलक्षणमाराधनमजस्रमनन्यचित्ततयाभिप्रेयते, तदपि न
प्रतिषिध्यते, श्रुतिस्मृत्योरीश्वरप्रणिधानस्य प्रसिद्धत्वात् ।

[Worship of Bhagavan by means of .....devotional practices...that is not
objected to (by the Vedantin) since Ishwara Pranidhana (a term in the
Patanjali Yoga sutra) is popular in the Shruti and Smriti.]

Elaborating upon what Shankara means by those words Anandagiri says:

वाक्कायचेतसामवधानपूर्वकं देवतागृहगमनमभिगमनम् ।
पूजाद्रव्याणामर्जनमुपादानम् । इज्या पूजा । स्वाध्यायो जपः । योगो ध्यानम् ।

[Going to the temple with controlled mind, body and words, procuring the
items for worship, the actual worship, performing japa, meditation...
these are the devotional practices.]


What is to be carefully noticed here is: Shankara has stated that worship,
etc. of Ishwara is popular in shruti/smriti. This aspect, by this very
statement of Shankara, is applicable as non-contradictory to the Pashupata
doctrine too.  This is because, Shankara has said in the BSB itself:
 Brahman/Ishwara can and does take on a form,  including the ones spoken of
above, to bless/help an aspirant in his sadhana.:
स्यात्परमेश्वरस्यापि इच्छावशात् मायामयं रूपं साधकानुग्रहार्थम् ।
(1.1.vii.20) (Ishwara, out of compassion, takes on, by His Maya, a form to
grace the spiritual aspirant.//

So, for Shankara, 'Ishwara' in 'Ishwara Pranidhaanam' is not confined to
one particular deity/form; it offers an extremely wide choice of forms that
Ishwara could assume. That the shruti, smriti, itihasa and purana have
countless instances of worship of a variety of deities, many of which
Shankara has himself cited in various bhashyas including the Vishnu Sahasra
nama. The above statement in the BSB is in the context of holding that
Brahman of the Vedanta has no default form.

The word 'Ishwara/Parameshwara' has been employed by Shankara in the
context of Nirguna Brahman. One, of the countless instances, is the bhashya
for the Ishavasya first mantra. Even the ईश्वरः ईशनशीलः नारायणः सर्वभूतानां
सर्वप्राणिनां हृद्देशे हृदयदेशे अर्जुन..in the Bh.Gita 18.61 bhashya is
about the Consciousness abiding in the 'cave of the intellect' buddhi
guhaa, (yo veda nihitam guhaayaam...) that is to be realized for moksha,
is  Nirguna Chaitanyam.  In Advaita, 'Narayana' is not any particular
deity, murti-vishesha, but the adhishThanam of the creation. Names such as
Vishnu, Narayana, Vasudeva have etymological derivations.  For example,
Anandagiri clarifies in BSB 1.2.12

पारमेव विशिनष्टि —

तदिति ।

व्यापनशीलस्य ब्रह्मणः स्वरूपं तदित्यर्थः । परमं कार्यकारणातीतं पदं तदेव
ज्ञेयं नान्यदित्यर्थः ।  for the Bhashya quote of the Katha Upanishad
 ‘सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम्’ (क. उ. १ । ३ । ९)
<https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Kathaka?page=1&id=Ka_C01_S03_V09&hl=%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%BD%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF%20%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D>
इति
परमात्मानं गन्तव्यं कल्पयति । Anandagiri is giving the svarupalakshana of
Brahman व्यापनशीलस्य ब्रह्मणः स्वरूपं तदित्यर्थः  [the all-pervading Brahma
svarupam]  an adjective 'vyapanashilasya' that Shankara has himself given
in the Kathopanishad bhashya for this mantra.

Anandagiri concludes the gloss on the above adhikaranam, summing up the
purport of the bhashya thus:   भागवतशास्त्रप्रणेतुः सर्वज्ञतया
भ्रान्त्यभावेऽपि
वेदाविरुद्धतान्त्रिकानुष्ठानवासुदेवार्चनाद्येकदेशप्रामाण्येऽपि
जीवजन्मादिवाक्यप्रणयनान्यथानुपपत्त्यैव प्राणिनां विरुद्धधीद्वारा
दुरितफलदानाय व्यामोहकत्वम् ।

[Even though the proponent of the Bhagavata doctrine, being omniscient, is
free of misconception, bhraanti, despite that doctrine being a pramana, in
part, for the devotional practices that are not opposed to the Veda, by the
reason of holding the 'origin for jiva', etc. thereby misleading people,
bringing about the fruit of sin, duritya, it (this doctrine) is deceiving,
vyaamohakatvam.]

On the last mentioned point, see also:
https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/pasupata-and-pancharatra-composed-as-mohaka-sastra-s/


Om Tat Sat