[Advaita-l] Shankara authenticates Shiva

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 11:19 AM, D Gayatri <dgayatrinov10 at gmail.com> wrote:

> We have already seen that the JU does not convey the supremacy of
> Shiva in any way.


There is no competition to prove any supremacy. That concept is unvedantic.
Only theistic schools have that. The JU only holds the Shatarudriyam as
moksha sadhana and Rudra is the deity there shown as manifesting as the
whole creation. Rudra is the one giving the pranava upadesha there.  The
setting is Varanasi.


> The Shvet Up, will be taken up shortly. Shankara
> never quotes any abheda verses in his authentic bhAshyas like BSB.


VSN is authentic bhashya for sampradayavits. The views of the academics
have no place here.


> And in Prashna upanishad, Shankara is praising prANa (brahman) itself as
> the destroyer and not Umapati.


The Upanishad says:

इन्द्रस्त्वं प्राण तेजसा रुद्रोऽसि परिरक्षिता ।
त्वमन्तरिक्षे चरसि सूर्यस्त्वं ज्योतिषां पतिः ॥ ९ ॥
भाष्यम्
किंच, इन्द्रः परमेश्वरः त्वं हे प्राण, तेजसा वीर्येण रुद्रोऽसि संहरन् जगत्
। स्थितौ च परि समन्तात् रक्षिता पालयिता ; परिरक्षिता त्वमेव जगतः सौम्येन रूपेण
। त्वम् अन्तरिक्षे अजस्रं चरसि उदयास्तमयाभ्यां सूर्यः त्वमेव च सर्वेषां
ज्योतिषां पतिः ॥
Rudra is none other than Umapati, Pashupati. You can never prove that the
two are different. Rudra is the deity of samhāra, Brahman with that upadhi.
Vishnu is another upadhi with sattva guna upadhi.


> In the BSB he says that whenever words
> like prana or Akasa are used as the supreme cause, they should be
> taken to mean brahman and not anything else.
>

Yes. Brahman cannot do anything, even creation, without the Shakti, says
Shankara in the BSB tadadheenatvaat sutra.

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