[Advaita-l] [advaitin] rAma-krishna-shiva-durga etc. are not same in shAstric vyavahAra!!!

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Feb 11, 2023 at 12:55 PM Kaushik Chevendra <
chevendrakaushik at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste sir.
> The only reason i am contending diffence between isvara and Surya devata
> etc is that they have specifically been stated to be jeevas attaining the
> post due to punya karma.
>

Dear Kaushik,

There are statements that are hard to reconcile within the Bhashya, etc.
texts.  While generally there is a thinking that Hiranyagarbha/Brahmaa is a
jiva, there is a contradicting statement also:

In the Brihadaranyaka Bhashya Vartika, Sureshwaracharya, a direct disciple
of Shankaracharya, has said:

यः पृथिव्यामितीशोऽसावन्तर्यामी जगद्गुरुः ।

हरिर्ब्रह्मा पिनाकीति बहुधैकोऽपि गीयते ॥

[The Br.Up. ‘he who, stationed in the pṛthvī devatā impels the
mind-body-organs of that devatā….’ who is the antaryāmī, jagadguru, even
though one, is variously spoken of as Hari, Brahmā and Pinākī (Śiva).]

Anandagiri: कथं श्रुत्यवष्टम्भेन ईश्वरस्य कारणत्वं, मूर्तित्रयस्य इतिहासादौ
सर्गस्थितिलयेषु यथायोगं कर्तृत्वश्रुतेः, अत आह । यः पृथिव्यामिति । प्रकृतो
हि ईश्वरः स्वरूपेण एकोऽपि मूर्तित्रयात्मना बहुधा उच्यते पृथिव्यादौ तस्यैव
अन्तर्यामित्वेन स्थितिश्रुतेः, न च तद्विरोधे पुराणादिप्रामाण्यं
सापेक्षत्वेन दौर्बल्यादिति भावः । स पूर्वेषां गुरुरितिन्यायेन अन्तर्यामी
इत्यस्य व्याख्या जगद्गुरुरिति ।

 Anandagiri says: How is it that while Isvara  is the jagatkāraṇam
according to the Shruti,  the itihāsa, etc. say that there is the causehood
as appropriately assigned to the trimūrti-s in creation, sustenance and
dissolution? [the idea is: while the shruti says Brahman, Ishvara, is the
jagatkāraṇam, we find the itihāsa, purāna, etc. distributing that to three
different entities functionally?] The above verse of Sureshvara is
answering this question: Even though Ishwara is one only, he is spoken of
as many, Hari, Brahmā, Pinākī. Why is it that Ishwara is admitted to be one
only? Since it is one Ishwara alone (not many) that is taught in the shruti
as the antaryāmin. If the purāṇa-s, etc. say something different (three
different individuals performing distinct functions), then since these
texts are dependent on the Shruti for their prāmāṇya, they do not enjoy the
status of the shruti; they are durbala, weak, only when they say something
contradictory to the Shruti. Since He, Ishwara, is the Guru of everyone
(including devatā-s) this antaryāmin, Ishwara, alone gets the epithet of
‘Jagadguru’.


In the Samanvayadhikaranam (tat tu samanvayaat) sutra bhashya, Shankara
cites  the famous mantra of the Shvetashvataropanishad:

तथा ‘एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा । कर्माध्यक्षः
सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च’ (श्वे. उ. ६ । ११)
<https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/svt?page=6&id=SV_C06_V11&hl=%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B7%E0%A5%81%20%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A2%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%C2%A0%E0%A5%A4%20%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A7%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%20%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9A>
 इति, ‘स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम्’ (ई. उ. ८)
<https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Isha?page=NaN&id=IS_V08&hl=%E0%A4%B8%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9B%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A7%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A7%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D>
इति,
च —

Anandagiri, in the gloss Nyayanirnaya, explains the mantra in his own words:

निर्गुणत्वान्निर्दोषत्वाच्च ब्रह्मात्मनि द्विधापि संस्कारो नेत्युक्तम् ।
इदानीं तस्मिन्गुणदोषयोरभावे मानमाह —

तथाचेति ।

मूर्तित्रयात्मना भेदं प्रत्याह —

एक इति ।

यथाहुः - ‘हरिर्ब्रह्मा पिनाकीति बहुधैकोऽपि गीयते ‘ इति अखण्डजाड्यं
व्यावर्तयति —

देव इति ।


What is very interesting is that Anandagiri, while explaining the word
'EkaH' in the mantra, raises an objection: Is not Brahman endowed with
threefold  difference on the basis of the Trimurti-s? The word 'Ekah' is in
refutation of such a difference. Anandagiri cites a line: 'One alone is
spoken of as many as Hari, Brahmaa and Pinaaki.'

We recognize this line to be from the Vartika of Sureshwaracharya on the
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya.

For the gloss on the Bhashya for the Bhagavadgita verse:

देवद्विजगुरुप्राज्ञपूजनं शौचमार्जवम् ।
ब्रह्मचर्यमहिंसा च शारीरं तप उच्यते ॥ १४ ॥

Anandagiri says, for 'deva' it is brahma vishnu shiva, etc.

तत्र शारीरं तपः निर्दिशति -


देवेति ।
 देवाः - ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवादयः  Here we observe that the 'Deva' is specified
to mean the Trimurti-s, and 'etc'.

It is interesting to look at some verses of the Anubhuti Prakasha of Swami
Vidyaranya for the Shvetashvataropanishat:

In verse 99 he says:

विष्ण्वादीनाम् ईश्वराणां परमं तं महेश्वरम् |
देवानां परमं देवं विदामोऽस्य प्रसादतः ||

Let us realize that Divine Being, by its own grace, who is the god of gods,
who is the Supreme Lord of lords such as Vishnu.

In  103  he says:

सर्वप्राण्यतरात्माऽसौ अध्यक्षः सर्वकर्मणाम् |
सर्वभूताश्रयः साक्षी निर्गुणः शुद्धचिद्वपुः ||

He is the innermost self of all beings, the supervisor of  all actions. He
is the support of all beings, the Witness, Nirguna, Pure Consciousness.

Then the author goes on to say: those who realize this (stated above) are
blessed and are liberated. The sage Shvetashvatara (after whom this
Upanishad is named) realized this Entity and communicated this vidya to
other sannyasins.

So, from the above we know that it is Nirguna Brahman that is the ultimate
God. All other deities including Vishnu were discounted from this status.

If we are to hold that Shankara has not accepted any other deity as Ishwara
(which means jagatkaranam), then we will have to say the popular stutis
like Ganesha Pancharatnam, Subrahmanya Bhujangam, etc. that Sringeri
peetham holds as that of the Acharya, are not authentically so.

Actually there is a popular name of Surya as Hiranyagarbha.
https://www.wordzz.com/12-names-of-lord-surya/

We cannot also say that Swami Vidyaranya is not in our sampradaya; he was a
pontiff f the Sringeri Peetham.

So, no finality can be arrived at in this regard.

warm regards
subbu


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