[Advaita-l] Nodern science and Vedanta

[Satish Arigela]

namaste,

>From: Dr. Yadu Moharir <ymoharir at yahoo.com>


 >>i seriously doubt shankara's relationship with pa~nchAyatana. Most likely 
this came after shankara.
>>There is no evidence to say he united various cults.


>You  may very well be correct, but History of Dharmashastra P.V. Kane,  
>Mahamaaopaadhyaaya >citravashastri, mahamahopaadhyaa lakshmanshastri as  well as 
>Mahaadeva shastri Joshi attribute the >pa~nacaayatana puujaa to  Shankaara.

There are others well learned who doubt it. He explicitly is against the worship 
of at least one of the deities among the five. So it is highly unlikely that he 
ever performed a pa~nchAyatana pUja like it is practiced today. In this list and 
elsewhere whenever this was pointed, I noticed people resort of sheer bluffing 
to cover this up.


>It is possible that this case may be similar to attributing all puaraaNaa's to 
>Sage Vyasa.

Probably

>Any authentic or authoritative references would be certainly be helpful.and 
>appreciated.

The gItA bhAShya gives some clues on his hostile attitude towards some devata-s 
widely worshiped in shaiva, smArta and to some extent in vaiShNava circles.

>Having  said all this one cannot help but appreciate the efforts of "advaita"  
>followers who depersonalized >the conventional iconic humanized  representation 
>with various deities using stones from gaNDaki, >narmaada  ......... etc.  
>

Well it is the smArta-s(not to be confused with shankara maTha followers) and 
shaiva-s who for example have been worshipping the shiva linga centuries before 
shankara. The advaitin-s had nothing to do with it. They adopted it from earlier 
smArta-s and shaiva-s.

>Does this not contribute towards the use and practice of advaitic principles for 
>creating a harmonious >society?
Maybe or may be not, but that requires closer examination. But not necessarily. 

For example, the shaiva-s have their own way of building vaiShNava(especially 
nR^isiMha) , shAkta, and other temples related to gaNapati and kumAra and even 
the grAma devata-s. Their "ritual reach" is wide and deep than most people can 
imagine.

Likewise the vaiShNava-s have their own way of building temples to other 
devata-s for example durgA.
In the vaikhAnasa-vaiShNava scriptures, it is clearly mentioned how a temple to 
durgA either within the viShNu temple or independently should be built.

So it is not that the worship of the 5 or 6 deities is something that is done 
only by the followers of shankara.
The usual course for a shaiva includes worshiping of many deities, including 
many forms of viShNu, devI , gaNesha and many other dieities.







________________________________



Dr. Yadu

****************************************


http://en.vionto.com/show/me/Panchayatana+puja

http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/articles/panchayatana_puja.htm

Udasi sect also follows something similar philosophy:

The Udasi sect follows the Panchayatana traditions. These followers, like 
mainstream Sikhs, believe in Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sacred Text of the Sikhs) 
which the Udasis interpret according to Vedanta philosophy and therefore take 
part in both Nirgun Pooja (of reading  Gurbani from Sikh texts and fixing the 
mind on the omnipresent,  indescribable and infinite God,

Shri Jaldhal Vyas had provided the associated shloka for various pa~Nacaayatana 
puujaa:


http://kmahati.blogspot.com/2009/07/panchayatana-puja.html






________________________________
From: Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com>
To: Dr. Yadu Moharir <ymoharir at yahoo.com>; A discussion group for Advaita 
Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Nodern science and Vedanta


>With introduction of pa~Ncaayatana puujaa he
>tred to unite various groups and cults ( saiva, vaiShNava, gaaNapatya, 
>devi uapaasaka ....etc).