[Advaita-l] Bagavatham

[Antharyami]

Hari Om,

Bhaskar ji,

DEvi bAgavatham is not a purANa. purAnA's are classified satvik rajasik and
tAmasic just according to the deity they sponsor to. sAtvik renders mOksha
as they talk about Lord Vishnu. sAtvik purAnAs do not speak about Shiva
Vishnu equality. They are purely vishNu centric.

Also regarding your question on Adi Shankara's quotes stating NarayaNa alone
as the saguNa Brahman, there are innumerable quotes that may be
stated.inmundakOpaNishad bAshya 2-4 he states, ' EsatEvO Vishnuranta:
pradama sarIri
trailOkgadEhOpadi: sarvEshAm bUtAnAm antharAtma'. gIta bAshya 3-30; mayi
dEva paramEswara sarvajna sarvAtmani vAsudEvE , 8-5 paramEswaram VishNu ,
4-35 mayi vAsudEva paramEswarE, 7-14 : Iswarasya VishNu, 7-15: paramEswaram
NArAyaNam, NarAyana BrahmO jAyatE – NarAyaNa rudrO jAyatE – NarAyaNa indrO
jAyate for which Adi shankara commented wisely. Particularly in 8-16 gItA
bAshya Adi shankara states ' kim puna: tvatta: ananya prApta: puna:
AvartantE iti? uscyatE A brahmabuvAnAt brahma Buvanam brahma lOka ityatta: A
brahma buvanAt saha brahma lOkEna lOkA: sarvE punarAvartana svAbAva:  .. mAm
Ekam upEdya tu kauntEya ie., is there any chance that those who worship
dEvatAs other than you to come not again to samsAra ? brahma buvanam is
sathyalOka , such lOkAs whatso ever other than paramapada leads to temporary
residency not eternal.
Further more, on your opinion about smArtas wearing the pure chandan, let me
attach my opinion here. The prAcIna smarta cult was the genealogical origin
for various sects prevailing hitherto. As you rightly pointed out advaitins
during the period of Adi Shankara, Adi Shankara himself and his followers
wore pure Gopi chandan only without basma (vibUthi) dhAraNam. It was late
after appayya dIkshitha, a smArta 'so called' advaitin speaks the greatness
of wearing vibUthi which was until then common only among shaivites. Pure
advaitins do not acknowledge the practice of Basma dhAraNam.
-- 
Antharyami
[J.Devanathan]