The GK, mANDUkya controversy and some other stuff

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:

> > evaM gauDairdrAviDair naH pUjyairayam arthaH prabhAshhitaH |
> > aGYAna mAtropAdhissann aham Adi dR^ig IshvaraH || (IV.44)
> >
> > Thus this doctrine has been proclaimed by the venerable ones of our school,
>  the
> > gauda and the dravida. The Lord himself, with only ignorance for his
 adjunct,
> > is the witness of the ego, etc.
>
> Both Sankaracarya's statement "atroktam vedAntArtha sampradAyavidbhir" and
> the above quote by Suresvaracarya leave no room for doubt that the verses
> of GK I are not considered to be Sruti by advaitins.

I forgot to give some info. GK I.16 seems to be an  important verse in
the tradition. sha.nkarAchArya goes into some detail explaining the
verse in the GK bhAshhya. He quotes it in his BSB. sureshvarAchArya
quotes it in his naishkarmya siddhi. Interestingly enough the same verse
is quoted in the mAnasollAsa (first chapter) also.

Giri quoted from the Apastamba sUtra:

> aatmalaabhaanna paraM vidyate || 2||
>
> There is nothing higher than the Self.

The mAnasollAsa begins with a similar verse:

 AtmalAbhAt paro lAbho nAstIti munayo viduH |

 The sages say that there is no attainment greater than the attainment
of the   self