[Advaita-l] Shankara authenticates Shiva

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 12:12 PM, D Gayatri <dgayatrinov10 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 19 August 2016 at 12:01, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > For Shankara,if Vishnu, or any deity is formed, it is anātmā and abrahma.
> > He has clarified this in the kenopanishat bhashya. The criterion is: if
> the
> > deity is upāsya, as 'he is different and I am different', it is anātmā.
> > Why? The aspirant cannot identify with that deity as 'I am this'. If the
> > deity is 'this' then it is anātma. So, only the nirguna chaitanyam is
> atma,
> > brahma, according to Shankara.
>
>
> Ishwara is not Anatma. Nor is jIva Anatma. They are both the Atman
> with different sets of upadhis. Shankara clarifies this in his BU
> bhAshya. Otherwise he would never have said that Narayana is
> paramatman in his BSB.
>

That Narayana is NB for Shankara. That is why he is citing more NB specific
verses along with that verse.