[Advaita-l] Shankara authenticates Shiva as the son of Brahma

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 4:12 PM, D Gayatri <dgayatrinov10 at gmail.com> wrote:

> //In the Prashnopaniishat bhashya Shankara has stated Rudra is the
> world-annihilating entity.//
>
> In the BSB, Shankara says that all such words like prANa etc. that occur
> here,  must be taken to mean the supreme Brahman only and no body else. The
> second brahmasUtra also states that it is Brahman alone that is the cause
> of creation and destruction. In BSB 2.1.1, Shankara quotes a purANa which
> says that Narayana alone is everything, he is the cause of origin and
> dissolution of everything. Thus Brahman alone is the cause and no one else.
>

That only confirms that Shankara holds the word 'Rudra' to connote the
Supreme Brahman even as the other names do. Along with that puranic verse
in BSB 2.1.1 Shankara quotes another verse which has the word nirgunam
showing that it is no deity.
‘स ह्यन्तरात्मा भूतानां क्षेत्रज्ञश्चेति कथ्यते’ इति चोक्त्वा,
‘तस्मादव्यक्तमुत्पन्नं त्रिगुणं द्विजसत्तम’ इत्याह ; तथान्यत्रापि ‘*अव्यक्तं
पुरुषे ब्रह्मन्निर्गुणे सम्प्रलीयते*’ इत्याह ;
The kshetrajna in advaita is nirguna chaitanyam and the avyakta has its
source in it and also dissolves into it, the nirguna.   For Shankara the
Supreme Brahman is beyond the avyakta; a deity will be within the avyakta.

By the way, could you pl. show that sentence where Shankara says //all such
words like prANa etc. that occur here,  must be taken to mean the supreme
Brahman only and no body else. //   ?

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