[Advaita-l] Supreme Brahman - the Ruler in Advaita?

[rajaramvenk at gmail.com]

In 16.14, ishwara means the lord only. It is condemned as asuree bhava because it is a false thinking. In reality, he (e.g. Hiranyakasipu) doesn't think that there is ishwara (anisvaram, apratishtam - 16.8). This is very different from the upasana gopalaham referred to in gopala tapani upanishad. 

In 18.43 also ishwarabhava is used to refer to lordliness only. We can't forget that a kshatriya is considered Vishnu on earth. I'm afraid your thinking comes from the contingency of the use of Ishwara given in gaudapakarika, BhG 15 and BhG 8 with respect to nirupadhika brahman. 
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-----Original Message-----
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
Sender: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:01:51 
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
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Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Supreme Brahman - the Ruler in Advaita?

On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 1:58 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> Dear Srinath,
>
> This verse is not about 'I am God' thought.  It is rather the egoistic
> thinking 'I am a / the lord' (someone who is the owner of much wealth).
>

* *I just wanted to point out a non-God usage of the word Ishwara in the
Bhagavadgita itself:

dAnamIshvarabhAvashcha kShAtram karma svabhAvajam  18.43b

Here, the natural traits of a kShatriya is being taught.  One of these is:
IshvarabhAvaH which is commented upon by Shankara thus:

ईश्वरभावश्च ईश्वरस्य भावः, प्रभुशक्तिप्रकटीकरणम् ईशितव्यान् प्रति,...

//isvarabhavah, lordliness, manifesting (exercising) rulership over those
who have to be ruled. //

subrahmanian.v



> There is this popular usage: koTeeswara, A person of much wealth and
> authority is said to be possessed of 'aishwaryam'.  While doing sankalpa on
> auspicious occasions we hear these words 'vijaya vIrya AyuH Arogya
> aishwarya prAptyartham...' Here it is not Godhood that is prayed for but
> worldly wealth/authority.  It is in this sense the Asura buddhi is censured
> here in this verse.  Non-advaitins have mistaken that Bhagavan is censuring
> the (mistaken) advaitic teaching 'aham brahma asmi' in this verse.
> Shankara Himself does not give the advaitic meaning here.
>
>
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