[Advaita-l] mUlAvidyA in sUta samhita

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 2:26 PM H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste Subrahmanian Ji,
>
> Reg  <<  The shloka along with the commentary 'Tatparya dipika' of 14th
> Century CE (sometimes admitted to be of Swami Vidyaranya, but really not
> so) is available here for viewing >>,
>
> Please refer to the 30th upanyasam by Sri HH, last 10 minutes. Sri HH
> states as his considered view that the commentary could only be that of
> Swami Vidyaranya, in his pUrvAshrama, under the name Madhavacharya. He
> mentions that there could have been no second person of that name with such
> extraordinary understanding of various granthas and masterly presentation
> capabilities to have come up with such a Commentary.
>

That is the opinion of many Advaitins. However, in that commentary, at the
beginning, mangala shloka of the commentator, we have:

After a general shloka on Para Brahman, we read:

नमः श्रीशंकरानन्दगुरुपादाम्बुजन्मने.....(the famous opening shloka of the
Panchadashi).  This shloka here has been put within  [  ] by the
editor/publisher.

श्रीमत्काशीविलासाख्यक्रियाशक्तीशसेविना |
श्रीमत्त्रयम्बकपादाब्जसेवानिष्णातचेतसा ||

वेदशास्त्रप्रतिष्ठात्रा श्रीमन्माधवमन्त्रिणा |
तात्पर्यदीपिका सूतसंहिताया विधीयते ||      At the beginning of these
shlokas is the opening remark: श्रीमद्विद्यारण्यकृततात्पर्यदीपिका..

Sri Vidyaranya's mangala shlokas are of a different type altogether.  He
would say the 'vaageeshaadyaaH sumanasaH...' and pay obeisance to the
Kings, his Guru/brother, etc.

The shlokas seen here are of a Shaiva Vedantin, of the same name, which
scholars say existed then.

And at the end of the entire commentary, in the colophon, is stated:

इति श्रीमत्काशीविलासाख्यक्रियाशक्तिप्रमभक्त......श्रीमाधवाचार्येण....]

Seeing all these as not fitting to the popular Swami Vidyaranya, scholars
have concluded that this commentary, even though very eminently Advaitic,
with copious Upanishadic quotes, is by a different person. You can notice,
in the shloka he says 'madhava mantri' and in the end says
'madhavacharya'.  Another feature I have noticed is that Swami Vidyaranya
cites from his own Panchadashi copiously or sparingly in his other works.
Here, I have not come across this.  Maybe I have not, because I have not
read this from end to end.

warm regards
subbu

> Regards.
>
>
>>>
>>>