[Advaita-l] diction of mantras

[Sanjay Srivastava]

Sri Manish wrote:

> Regarding advaita, then shri shankaracharya is only a popular link in
> this chain. Well needless to say, Advaita is eternal. Bhagavada Gita basis its
> whole philosophy on advaita, though samkhya makes the initial base for it. And
> Yoga Vasishtha or maharamaayanam is even before bhagvada gita. Yoga Vasishtha
> will present the culmination of advaita philosophy that could not be found
> anywhere.

It is true that advaita philosophy existed well before shankara; it is
also true that he remains the only link to connect to that tradition.

In the vast history of advaita there has never been any doubt --even
to the opponents of advaita-- that advaita is anything but as taught
by shankara. The doubt has arisen only in the last century after some
modern teachers invented a western instant coffee version of advaita
that starts directly at paramArthika level. Indian philosophers have
been accused of being obsessed with metaphysical questions to the
exclusion of everything else and rightly so. Therefore it is highly
improbable that the other version of advaita that starts directly at
paramArthika level, escaped their attention if such a version existed
at all.

The two versions of advaita--  "traditional" one and the "pop" one--
do not share anything except the term "advaita". Difficult to say
which one is more valid for an aspirant since at the end of the day
most of the followers of "traditional advaita" and the "pop advaita"
alike, still remain in the realm of vyAvahArika reality. However, it
may be good to know the difference. I had found some essays very
useful to me in understanding the difference between "traditional
advaita" and "pop advaita". You may find them interesting too:

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/trad_neo/trad_neo.htm

praNAm