[Advaita-l] Chronology and Traceability

[Anand N]

Dear Subbu and Raghavji,

I agree with the line of thought. Ours is a living and lived tradition, so
documentation is probably rare to find.
So the wishful thinking on my part that I could see the clear development
of one form of God, as Subbuji put it in a chart or
with clear references to each text that may have mentioned it, is probably
tough to find.

If we stretch this idea, I was thinking for e.g. in the last century we
have had great sages, one such being
Vashishta Ganapati Muni. He has composed several works on Goddesses for
e.g. Indrani, Uma, Renuka etc ( I personally did not know the
existence of Indrani or Renuka or other Goddesses being mentioned in these
works)
Or his own student Brahmarishi Devavrata has composed a work Chando
Darshana which is considered to be similar to Rg Veda.
These great souls or their works do not have so much attention now.

To extend or extrapolate what you were saying, we could say that these
works and the Gods and Goddesses being adored in their works
could come in vogue in the next hundred years or so, depending on what the
Acharyas/Shishtas at that period influence.

Your thoughts, comments are welcome :-)

Om Namo Narayanaya,
Anand


On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 at 02:34, Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Anand ji
> One additional aspect to consider is this. These post-Vedic forms of
> Ishvara such as Ayyappa etc., are not merely cultural or imagined entities.
> Rather they can be regarded as discoveries by shiShTas of some aspects of
> Ishvara.  They are empirically (vyAvahArika) real.
>
> Just as modern science brings to our attention new understanding and
> technological experiences such as space travel, telecommunication etc., our
> sages/shiShTas too by their devotion, discovered (i.e., they were blessed
> by Ishvara) with these revelations of the chronologically later forms and
> the corresponding worship of Ayyappa, benign aspects of Vinayaka etc. The
> idea is that they are not merely culturally imagined memes like Sherlock
> Homes, Superman, Star Wars characters etc.
>
> Om
> Raghav
>
> On Tue, 20 Apr, 2021, 2:30 am Anand N via Advaita-l, <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Subbuji! This was a very convincing explanation with which I
> can
> > put my doubts to rest.
> > The examples of Ayyapa and Matrikas are indeed very apt and interesting!!
> >
> > Namaste,
> > Anand
> >
> > On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 at 06:55, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Apr 18, 2021 at 10:15 PM Anand N via Advaita-l <
> > > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Namaste,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> So can we do a bidirectional traceability between our current image of
> > >> Gods
> > >> and the Vedic Gods? Is there a clear chronological development and
> > >> transformation of our Gods and our practices?
> > >>
> > >
> > > This can be admitted in the Vedic religion.  Shankaracharya, on the
> basis
> > > of the Taittiriya Upanishad itself, has held 'ShiShTachaara' as an
> > > important pramana.  That is, the conduct, actions, of 'noble minded'
> > > persons, is authority for one to follow, emulate.  So, over time, Vedic
> > > gods have got more defined forms, attributes, etc. which the
> 'shishTa-s'
> > > have accepted, devised, etc. and put into practice.  One example is,
> for
> > > instance, the Ayyappa worship.  One may not find Ayyappa in the Veda
> but
> > it
> > > is here for all to see, its impact, its acceptance, etc.  The Sringeri
> > > Acharyas have visited Sabari Mala and worshiped the Lord there.
> Another
> > > instance is the 'Sapta Maatrika' worship.  While Shankaracharya in the
> > Gita
> > > Bhashyam has specified this Sapta Matrika group as 'bhUta, spirit',
> over
> > > the centuries these Matrikas have evolved and graduated to mainstream
> > > worship.  There are temples dedicated for Sapta Matrikas.  The earlier
> > > Sringeri Acharya consecrated such a temple and gave a benedictory
> > discourse
> > > there imploring upon people to come and conduct religious activity
> there.
> > > See here:  https://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/saptamatrika/         and
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrikas
> > >
> > > So, a clear cut chart may not be possible for us to prepare but an
> > > evolution, over centuries, takes place, is not to be denied.
> > >
> > > In all this, is the far reaching statement of Shankaracharya is to be
> > seen
> > > as the guiding factor:
> > >
> > > Shankara says in the BSB, Brahman/Ishwara can and does take on a form
> 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.)
> > >
> > > There is simply no limit to such forms.
> > >
> > > regards
> > > subbu
> > >
> > >
> > >> Om Namo Narayanaya,
> > >> Anand
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