[Advaita-l] Re: (no subject)

[Amuthan Arunkumar]

namo nArAyaNAya!

dear shrI devanAthan,

On 8/23/06, Antharyami <sathvatha_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 4)      Sri MElputtUr NArAyaNa pattathri , a revered AdvaitI rightly pointed
> out in NArAyaNIyam  (90-5) that Adi Sankara does not take sides to saiva and
> VaisNava sects. His philosophy transcends beyond such distinctions  wherein
> he affirms Sri NArAyaNa alone as SaguNa Brahman.

while the aim of advaita vedAnta is to establish the reality of
nirguNa brahman, it does allow for saguNopAsanA. however, it is
grossly incorrect to state that only a particular form (with four
hands etc.) and with a particular name (nArAyaNa etc.) is accepted by
sha~Nkara as saguNa brahman. such a narrow view is never acceptable to
sha~Nkara. superimposing a particular name and form on brahman *is
only for the purpose of upAsanA*. the particular name and form can be
that of nArAyaNa or shiva or anyone else that the upAsaka likes.

On 8/23/06, Antharyami <sathvatha_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ie., Adi Sankara attained mOksa only by NArAyaNa sthuthi and emphatically
> mentions not by Siva sthuthi.

this is a very biased and wrong viewpoint that has no basis
whatsoever. mokSha according to sha~Nkara is through j~nAna only. any
form of sthuti can give only the necessary chitta shuddhi to grasp the
truth. and this chitta shuddhi is not necessarily because of viShNu
sthuti alone. it can arise due to shiva sthuti also.

while on this topic, let me also add that the word 'nArAyaNa' does not
necessarily refer only to saguNa brahman. it is also used in AchArya's
bhAShyAs with reference to nirguNa brahman. for instance, the very
first verse of AchArya's gItA bhAShya starts as 'nArAyaNaH
paro.avyaktAt'.

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmRtaH.

-- 
Amuthan Arunkumar R,
Ph.D. candidate,
Dept. Aerospace Eng., IISc. Bangalore.