[Advaita-l] Iswara in Upanishads

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Sadaji

I am surprised someone is making such a statement! It is contrary to the
spirit of the Vedas captured in the very famous mantra from mahAnArAyaNa
upaniShad, which most people will know as it is used in nitya pUja -
यो वेदादौ स्वरः प्रोक्तो वेदान्ते च प्रतिष्ठितः।
तस्य प्रकृतिलीनस्य यः परः स महेश्वरः॥
He is there in the beginning of the Vedas as the praNava and he is the one
who is established by the very end of Vedas, he pervades everything in
creation as the primordial prakriti, yet he is beyond it all! That is
Ishvara.

A few other places where the term Ishvara appears -

एष *सर्वेश्वर* एष भूताधिपतिरेष भूतपाल:
Br up. 4.4.22

एष सर्वेश्वर एष सर्वज्ञ एषोऽन्तर्याम्येष योनिः सर्वस्य प्रभवाप्ययौ हि
भूतानाम् mANDUkya 6

Of course there is the famous shvetAshvatara mantra quoted by Sri Subbuji.
Besides these, t plhere are many  instances when Ishvara is referred to in
different names - svayambhU, satyakAma, satyasamkalpa etc.

By the way the very question presupposes a difference between Ishvara and
Brahman. What is the basis for such a presupposition? The same entity that
is referred to by यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते is the one who is also साक्षी
चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च.

Kind regards,
Venkatraghavan

On Mon, 30 Sep 2019, 15:57 kuntimaddi sadananda via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> PraNAms to all
> Someone says that Iswara does not appear in Vedas only Brahman is
> mentioned.
> Any references to Iswara in the Vedas (Vedanta)?
> Hari Om!Sadananda
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>