[Advaita-l] Chakilam Venkatesh - Controversy???

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 7:04 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Sangeerth ji
> I appreciate your mentioning the sutras timestamps. There is no brahmasutra
> 2.2.43 “avirodhāt ca” as mentioned by him. I understand your angst.
>
> The content of what he said is fine but he could have been more careful in
> discussing such a sensitive topic.
>
> I can surmise that he was referring to the place in the Brahma Sutras
> (2.2.54), where Shri sankara refutes Bhagavata-mata. The words he meant by
> the context were “vipratiṣedhasca” (the bhāgavata theology
> is self-contradictory) and asaṅgataiṣā kalpanā (baseless/unconnected are
> such imaginations).
>

Dear Raghav ji,

In this video, Vishwas is making a claim: Shankara was confused about the
Pancharatra/Bhagavata:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS-xk9qiPo4   watch from 9.17 onwards.
'Shankara is not certain about what the Pancharatra says.'  He says:
Shankara has two pakshas about Pancharatra.  The second one is revealed by
Shankara's comment to a subsequent sutra 2.2.44 विज्ञानादिभावे वा
तदप्रतिषेधः ॥ ४४ ॥: अथापि स्यात् | (lit. 'It may be this way too.' This has
given rise to the conclusion that Shankara is taking up/guessing another
prameya of Pancharatra.

Let's see what Shankara's commentator say for that: Bhashya Ratnaprabha:

सङ्कर्षणादीनामुत्पत्त्यसम्भवेऽपि व्यूहचतुष्टयं स्यादिति
सूत्रव्यावर्त्यमाशङ्कते -


अथापि स्यादिति ।

The meaning of the sutra that Shankara takes is:
 Even if Sankarshana, etc. are admitted to be endowed with all Ishwara
attributes, the defect of the impossibility of their births cannot be set
aside. The vā in the sutra means 'api'.  So, there is no way one can say
that 'Shankara is taking two pakshas'  and that 'he is not sure what the
Pancharatra says'. Asper Shankara, the Sutrakara is giving one more reason
to conclude the utpatti is asambhava.   Shankara himself says here:

 न चैते सङ्कर्षणादयो जीवादिभावेनाभिप्रेयन्ते , किं तर्हि ? ईश्वरा एवैते
सर्वे ज्ञानैश्वर्यशक्तिबलवीर्यतेजोभिरैश्वरैर्धर्मैरन्विता अभ्युपगम्यन्ते —
वासुदेवा एवैते सर्वे निर्दोषा निरधिष्ठाना निरवद्याश्चेति । तस्मान्नायं
यथावर्णित उत्पत्त्यसम्भवो दोषः प्राप्नोतीति । अत्रोच्यते — *एवमपि**, (this
is the meaning of the word vā in the sutra as per Shankara) * तदप्रतिषेधः
उत्पत्त्यसम्भवस्याप्रतिषेधः, *प्राप्नोत्येवायमुत्पत्त्यसम्भवो दोषः*
प्रकारान्तरेणेत्यभिप्रायः ।


It has also the following senses: (a) and, as well as, *also*
Monier Williams Colognenglish
<https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/csl-apidev/servepdf.php?dict=MW&page=910,1>
वा is sometimes interchangeable with च and अपि,
Thus, Vishwas is superimposing his own confusion/ignorance of what the
Sutrakāra and Shankara say on Shankara.
warm regards
subbu



>
> But your point about wrong quotations is correct.
> Om
> Raghav
>
> विप्रतिषेधाच्च ॥ ४५ ॥
> विप्रतिषेधश्च अस्मिन् शास्त्रे बहुविध उपलभ्यते — गुणगुणित्वकल्पनादि
> लक्षणः । ज्ञानैश्वर्यशक्तिबलवीर्यतेजांसि गुणाः, आत्मान एवैते भगवन्तो
> वासुदेवा इत्यादिदर्शनात् । वेदविप्रतिषेधश्चभवति — चतुर्षु वेदेषु परं
> श्रेयोऽलब्ध्वा शाण्डिल्य इदंशास्त्रमधिगतवानित्यादिवेदनिन्दादर्शनात् ।
> तस्मात् असङ्गतैषाकल्पनेति सिद्धम् ॥
> ४५ ॥
>
>
>
>