[Advaita-l] Advaitic Parabrahman in sUtasamhitA

[V Subrahmanian]

Bhagavan Veda vyAsa says in the sUta samhitA which is a part of the skanda
purANam that Shiva is the Parabrahman and Vishnu is a functionary who
functions under Him.  Shiva can even take away the power of Vishnu.

In the sUtasamhitA of the skandapurANa 2nd chapter Veda VyAsa says:

इत्युक्त्वा भगवान्रुद्रः स्वं पूर्णं रूपमाविशत् ।
नापश्यन्त ततो रुद्रं देवा विष्ग्णुपुरोगमाः ॥ ११

[Having said that Lord Rudra entered His Full form.  The gods Vishnu, etc.
could not see Rudra then.]

अथर्वशिरसा देवमस्तुवंश्चोर्ध्वबाहवः ।
अन्यैर्नानाविधैः सूक्तैः श्रीमत्पञ्चाक्षरेण च ॥ १३
[The gods, with their hands raised above their heads, sang the praise of
the Lord Rudra with the 'atharvashiras' and other sUktas and also the
panchAkShara.]

I found one devanagari version of the Atharvashiropanishad:

http://www.sarvamantra.com/atharvashir-upanishads/

and found the sentences/mantras cited by Vidyaranya in this version.

Vidyaranya comments for the second cited verse:  'with the mantra 'yo vai
rudra' etc. Thus says the shruti 'ततो देवा रुद्रं नापश्यन् । ते देवा रुद्रं
ध्यायन्ति । ते देवा ऊर्ध्वबाहवः स्तुवन्ति । यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान्’ इत्यादि
। [These are cited from the Atharvashiras upanishad and the foot note gives
the numbers as 1,3. ]

Vidyaranya cites other mantras from the Atharvashiras like 'अहमेकः
प्रथममासं वर्तामि च भविष्यामि च नान्यः कश्चिन्मत्तो व्यतिरिक्तः’ [’I
(Rudra) the One was in the beginning, and continue to be (the One) and will
ever be (One) in the future and none else is there apart from Me.] Mantra
no. 1. This mantra is almost reproduced in the puraaNa as verse no.8.
In ch.1 verse 54 is:
नमः सोमाय रुद्राय शंकराय महात्मने ।
ब्रह्मविष्णुसुरेन्द्राणां ध्यानगम्याय शूलिने ॥

[Obeisance to Soma, Rudra, Shankara the MahAtman. He is the shUlin who
deserves to be known/attained thru meditation by brahmA, vishnu, indra.]

For this verse, while commenting Vidyaranya cites the 'vAyavIyasamhitA':
’रुद्दुःखं दुःखहेतुं च विद्रावयति नः प्रभुः । रुद्र इत्युच्यते तस्माच्छिवः
परमकारणम् ॥ [The verse calls Shiva the Supreme Cause]. This is the
yaugikArtha, etymological meaning given by the vAyavIyasamhitA (which is
different from the rUDhyartha where the very word 'rudra' is popular in
reference to Shiva].  Vidyaranya also  cites the Kenopanishad where there
is the story of the gods arrogating to themselves the victory they had over
the asuras.  Vidyaranya says: Owing to the blessings of Parashiva alone the
devas had vanquished the asuras.  ... Shiva, with a view to protect them
from the fall that would surely come to them owing to their arrogance
appeared before them in a splendorous form...

Incidentally, in the Kenopanishad bhAShyam, for the term 'umA haimavati'
occurring in the upanishad, Shankara writes: umA, the daughter of HimavAn,
who is ever present with the 'sarvajna Ishwara'.  Seeing this one can
(wrongly) conclude that Shankara is pro-shaiva for He calls Ishwara a
sarvajna, evidently holding Shiva to be the Supreme.

In the same chapter of the sUtasamhitA (skandapurana) occurs this verse:

अनन्ता वै  द्विजा वेदा वेदार्थोऽपि द्विजोतामाः ।
अनन्तो वेदवेद्यस्य शंकरस्य शिवस्य तु ।
मायया न स्वरूपेण द्विजा हा देववैभवम् ॥ ३९

[Oh dvijas ! the vedas are infinite and the meaning too is infinite.  The
divine splendor of Shankara, Shiva, who is the One to be known through the
Veda, is infinite, through mAyA, and not in His Actual nature. ]

For this Vidyaranya cites the Taittiriya samhitA 1.8.6.1 mantra 'एक एव
रुद्रो न द्वितीयाय तस्थ ’ [In this anuvAka appears the famous 'त्र्यंबकं
यजामहे ...’ couplet. ]

sAyana who is admitted by some people as Vidyaranya has different view on
the 'Shiva gaining strength from Vishnu' idea, as for instance, in the
sUtasamhitA.

अस्य प्रसादलेशस्य लवलेशलवेन तु
इदं विष्णुपदं लब्धं त्वया नान्येन हेतुना । १४

अन्येषामपि सर्वेषां पदमस्य प्रसादतः।
अनेनेदं जगत्सर्वं विना न भवति स्वयम् ॥ १५

In these verses, VedavyAsa informs Vishnu through the medium of
Nandikeshvara that Shiva is the supreme Lord of the creation and vishnu has
attained his position only through an infinitesimal part of Shiva's power.
All others too derive their positions/power only from Shiva and therefore
the entire creation cannot simply subsist on its own without Shiva.

Just before this sUta the narrator of the purANa addresses the
naimisharanya people and says:

पुरा विष्णुर्जगन्नाथः पुराणः पुरुषोत्तमः
मायया मोहितः साक्षात् शिवस्य परमात्मनः ॥ ४
अहमेव जगत्कर्त मय्येवेदं जगत्स्थितम्
मत्समश्चाधिकश्चापि नास्ति सर्वत्र सर्वदा ॥ ५
मम शक्तिविलासोऽयं जगत्सर्वं चराचरम् ।
अहमेव समाराध्यः सर्वदा सर्वजन्तुभिः ॥ ६
इत्यहंमानसंच्छन्नः स्वात्मभूतं महेश्वरम् ।
अविज्ञाय अंबिकानाथं अनन्तानन्दचिद्घनम् ॥ ७

etc....


In these verses from 1 to 9 Veda Vyasa gives an account of how once upon a
time Vishnu, being deluded by Shiva's mAyaa, started entertaining the idea
that He (Vishnu) was the creator, sustainer of the universe and arrogated
to Himself all the worship all people should offer.  He also thought that
there is none in creation equal or greater than Him.  As a result of such
egoistic thinking, not knowing that Shiva was his indweller,  Vishnu
bossedover all others including BrahmA, etc.  Shiva came to know of
this and
captured Vishnu's shakti and deluded him further.

After this follows how Nandi imparted the true wisdom to Vishnu by showing
Him that Shiva was indeed the All and that all others were subordinate to
Shiva.  Followed by this everyone including Vishnu worshiped Shiva and sang
His praise.  The long praise ends in verse 48 where Veda Vyasa writes:

भक्तचित्तसमासीन ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवात्मक । ४८

The sUtasamhitA has a commentary by name तात्पर्यदीपिका by Sri VidyAraNya
SwAmin. [ A study of the commentary (the entire book is now available in
new print in the Jayalakshmi Indological shop, Chennai) is very useful for
those who would like to get a good understanding of Vedanta, especially
Advaita. ]   For the verses on Vishnu's delusion he writes:

ननु ’अहमेव जगत्कर्ता’ इति जीवेश्वरतादात्म्यप्रतिपादकमिदं महावाक्यं
तदनुसन्धानेऽस्य कथं व्यामोह इत्यत आह - इत्यहंमानसन्छन्न इति ।

Objection: The expression 'I am indeed the creator of the universe' is
instructive of the mahAvAkya that declares the identity of the jIva and the
Ishwara.  How can the contemplation of this declaration amount to
arrogance?  To this question Veda VyAsa replies: being covered by the
egoitistic thinking....

Vidyaranya writes:  by giving up the vAchyArtha and taking up the
lakShyArtha there would remain just the Pure Bliss Consciousness.
Contemplating on this is no offence.  The case with Vishnu was that it was
filled with the egotistic delusion.  That is the reason why Veda VyAsa says
this is foul.  Then, at the conclusion of the prayers of the deva-s, for
the line  भक्तचित्तसमासीन ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवात्मक । ४८ Vidyaranya writes: the
deva-s are praying to Shiva to pardon them for anyone arrogating to oneself
the thinking 'I alone am the Creator'.  Since Shiva is the sarvAntaryAmi of
everyone, including that of Vishnu, the Veda VyAsa expression
भक्तचित्तसमासीन  is justified ('IshvaraH sarvabhUtAnAm hRddeshe arjuna
tiShThati...BG 18th ch.) For the Veda VyAsa expression
ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवात्मक  Vidyaranya cites the MahAnArAyaNa UpaniShad
vAkyam:'स ब्रह्मा स शिवः स हरिः’ इति श्रुतिः .

This shows that such a reading/sentence (in the nArAyaNa sUktam) has
existed even at the time of Vidyaranya and what is more, it is corroborated
by Veda vyAsa's words in the  sutasamhita (skanda PurAna).   In other
words, Veda VyAsa is basing the shruti pramANa for his writing.


There Rudra, as Shiva, is shown as the Supreme who can even make Vishnu
powerless,  Also, in the sanskrit book  'gunjAgarvabhanjanam' the author
cites a shruti passage:  'somaH pavate....janito'ta viShNoh..' and says
that acc. to this Vishnu is born from Shiva and since born, has an end too,
as this passage says:  ' brahmaNo'nte munisreShTha mAyAyAm lIyate jagat.
tadA viShNushcha rudrashcha prakRtau vilayam gatau'  [At the end of the
tenure of brahmA, oh muni, the world will lapse into mAyA (prakRti). then
vishnu and rudra will also lapse into it.'

Evidently in this case the vishnu and rudra are only those holding the
functions/posts and not Para Brahman.  We have to keep this in mind.  In
the sutasamhita case Shiva is Para brahman and vishnu and brahmA and rudra
are only functionaries.  It will be interesting to note this verse of
Saundaryalahari of Shankara:

SAUNDARYALAHARI - VERSE 26

 विरिञ्चिः पञ्चत्वं व्रजति हरिराप्नोति विरतिं
 विनाशं कीनाशो भजति  धनदो याति निधनम्।
 वितन्द्री माहोन्द्री विततिरपि संमीलितदृशा
 महासंहारेऽस्मिन् विहरति सति त्वत्पतिरसौ॥

 *viriñciḥ pañcatvaṁ vrajati harirāpnoti viratiṁ*
 *vināśaṁ kīnāśo bhajati  dhanado yāti nidhanam |*
 *vitandrī māhondrī vitatirapi saṁmīlitadṛśā*
 *mahāsaṁhāre'smin viharati sati tvatpatirasau ||*
 *
*
 *viriñci* – Brahmā; *pañcatvaṁ vrajati* – ceases to exit; *hari āpnoti
viratiṁ* - Viṣṇu also attains His end; *vināśaṁ kīnāśo bhajati* – Yama also
gets destroyed; *dhanado yāti nidhanam* – Kubera also meets with his
end; *vitandrī
māhondrī vitatirapi* – active Indra with other gods;  *saṁmīlitadṛśā*  -
become functionless with their eyes closed; *mahāsaṁhāre asmin* – even in
that great dissolution; *viharati *– enjoying with You; *sati tvat patir
asau *– faithful Consort of Śiva.
“O! Faithful Consort of Śiva! At the time of great dissolution, Brahmā,
Viṣṇu, Yama, Kubera, Indra and other gods cease to exist. But Your Consort
Śiva alone enjoys with You even during the great dissolution.”

My intention is not to rake up any hatred amongst devotees of either Shiva
or Vishnu.  I just wanted to point to Veda Vyasa's words and the
atharvashira upanishat (VedavyAsa mentioning the name of this upanishat in
the suta samhita) and swami Vidyaranya's comments on the Parabrahman nature
of Shiva.  Advaitins have no problem in accepting any deity as parabrahman
since the primary-secondary bhAva is kept in mind while thinking of
parabrahman and other devatA-s.

regards
subrahmanian.v