[Advaita-l] Was that a prophecy too from Shankara?

[V Subrahmanian]

Shankara as the champion of Vedanta darshana:



In the Taittiriya Upanishad Bhashya, Shankara roars like a lion,
proclaiming how, in the face of a volley of schools lined up against him,
he, the lone soldier, tasked to fight them all and uphold the grand
monistic position of the Vedanta:

बहुप्रतिपक्षत्वात् ; एकत्ववादी त्वम् , वेदार्थपरत्वात् ; बहवो हि
नानात्ववादिनो वेदबाह्याः त्वत्प्रतिपक्षाः ; अतो ममाशङ्का - न
निर्णेष्यसीति । एतदेव मे स्वस्त्ययनम् -
यन्मामेकयोगिनमनेकयोगिबहुप्रतिपक्षमात्थ । अतो जेष्यामि सर्वान् ; आरभे च
चिन्ताम् ॥

[Translation: //Objection: Because there are many opponents. You are
a monist since you follow the Vedic ideas, while the dualists are many who
are outside the Vedic pale and who are opposed to you. Therefore I
apprehend that you will not be able to determine.

Reply: This indeed is a blessing to Me that you brand Me as sworn
to monism and faced by many who are wedded to plurality. Therefore I shall
conquer all! And so I begin the discussion.//]


What Shankara said then has remained true to this day!!

All those schools that appeared post-Shankara, Bhaskara's Bheda-abheda,
Yadavaprakasa, Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, SrikanTha, Madhva's Dvaita,
Nimbarka, Vallabha, and some others, have, in unison, stood against
Shankara, even though they proposed systems different from each other in
some or many ways.

What is striking is the declaration of Shankara, which reflects the
situation then, where the non-Vedantic dualists were Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya,
Vaisheshika, Pashupata, Pancharatra, Charvaka, Bauddha and Jaina, now has
taken the form of a set of other systems who claim they are followers of
the Veda, has not changed as far as the Advaita Vedantin is the sole
philosopher against whom are arrayed the so many others.

Shankara has stated in the Brihadaranyaka Bhashya that all those who swore
by the Upanishads are unanimous in the 'jiva-brahma aikya' though there
were differences in their dispensation. That was the situation then.

Perhaps this was foreseen by Shankara, who has been the pivot for
refutation by all the others.

regards

subbu