[Advaita-l] Authenticity of 'Srimad Bhagwatam' - Extensive article

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

Adi Sankara in Sutra Bhashya has correctly explained Bhagavata Mata as
Advaita only. Look at this -

भगवानेवैको वासुदेवो निरञ्जनज्ञानस्वरूपः
परमार्थतत्त्वम् ; स चतुर्धात्मानं प्रविभज्य प्रतिष्ठितः —
वासुदेवव्यूहरूपेण, सङ्कर्षणव्यूहरूपेण, प्रद्युम्नव्यूहरूपेण,
अनिरुद्धव्यूहरूपेण च ; वासुदेवो नाम परमात्मा उच्यते ; सङ्कर्षणो नाम
जीवः ; प्रद्युम्नो नाम मनः ; अनिरुद्धो नाम अहंकारः ; तेषां वासुदेवः
परा प्रकृतिः, इतरे सङ्कर्षणादयः कार्यम् ; तमित्थंभूतं परमेश्वरं
भगवन्तमभिगमनोपादानेज्यास्वाध्याययोगैर्वर्षशतमिष्ट्वा क्षीणक्लेशो
भगवन्तमेव प्रतिपद्यत इति

भगवानेवैको वासुदेवो निरञ्जनज्ञानस्वरूपः परमार्थतत्त्वम् Vaasudeva only is
the Paramartha Tattwa. That means other things are Anruta only. This is
also agreeing with Vaasudevaha Sarvam Iti in Geeta. This Vaasudeva is Jnana
Svaroopa. This is also like Brahman in Advaita. That Vaasudeva has divided
Himself into Vaasudeva Vyuha, Sankarshana Vyuha, Pradyumna Vyuha and
Aniruddha Vyuha forms. But in them Vaasudeva is Paramaatma. Sankarshana is
Jeeva, Pradyumna is Manas and Aniruddha is Ahamkaara or Ego. In the four
forms only Vaasudeva is the Cause and others are Effects. Worshipping Him
for 100 years with visiting temples, Puja, Japa and Meditation the man will
become free from defects and become Vaasudeva Himself.

2018-04-01 12:54 GMT+05:30 V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>:

> The correct reading of my two sentences in my earlier post is given here:
>
> Just like there are opinions about the authenticity of the
> Srimadbhagavatam, there are voices raised against the authenticity of the
> Devi Bhagavatam, several Upanishads, some portions in the Mahabharatha,
> Padma Purana, Shiva, Linga Purana, etc. This set consists of those portions
> that  'vaishnavas' could not tolerate as the views of Veda Vyasa.
>
> I wish to add that Advaitins such as Shankara, Sridhara Swamin, Hemadri,
> Sayana and Bhatta Bhaskara have all cited from such texts that are not to
> the liking of vaishnavas.
>
> regards
> subrahmanian.v
>
> 2018-04-01 11:27 GMT+05:30 V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>:
>
>> Just like there are opinions about the authenticity of the
>> Srimadbhagavatam, there are voices raised against the authenticity of the
>> Devi Bhagavatam, several Upanishads, those portions in the Mahabharatha,
>> Padma Purana, Shiva, Linga Purana, etc. This set consists of those
>> 'vaishnavas' who could not tolerate the views of Veda Vyasa. Evidently
>> these texts have come under the scanner of these Vishnu bhaktas as these
>> alleged texts proclaim Shiva or Devi to be the Supreme Brahman and Vishnu
>> to be one of the subordinate deities.  Hence alone the opposition to the
>> Sri lalita Sahasra Nama, Soundarya Lahari, Shivananda Lahari, etc.
>>
>> The bigotry got to such ugly levels that a Srivaishnava scholar has even
>> 'sanitized' the compositions of Sri Thyagaraja Swami to rid it of the weeds
>> of Shiva-paratva!!
>>
>> The Vedantin alone has no problems with all these type of texts for his
>> is Brahmavada and not any 'ism' based theology.
>>
>> Shankara's endorsement of the Bhagavata practices in the Brahma Sutra
>> Bhashya is only an upalakshana for any devotional practice coming under the
>> heading of 'Ishvara Pranidhaanam' of the Patanjali system. Hence alone
>> Shankara has explicitly talked about the worship of a Jnani by archana,
>> pada prakshaalana, pradakshina etc. in the Upanishad/Sutra bhashyams. So
>> any deity that is worshiped by these means is acceptable to Shankara.
>>
>> regards
>> subrahmanian.v
>>
>> 2018-04-01 10:16 GMT+05:30 Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:
>>
>>> Namaste
>>>
>>> Adi Sankara has practically agreed with Bhagavata followers in
>>> Sutra Bhashya 2-2-42 on Supremacy of Narayana. He has said -
>>>
>>> तत्र भागवता मन्यते — भगवानेवैको वासुदेवो निरञ्जनज्ञानस्वरूपः
>>> परमार्थतत्त्वम् ; स चतुर्धात्मानं प्रविभज्य प्रतिष्ठितः —
>>> वासुदेवव्यूहरूपेण, सङ्कर्षणव्यूहरूपेण, प्रद्युम्नव्यूहरूपेण,
>>> अनिरुद्धव्यूहरूपेण च ; वासुदेवो नाम परमात्मा उच्यते ; सङ्कर्षणो नाम
>>> जीवः ; प्रद्युम्नो नाम मनः ; अनिरुद्धो नाम अहंकारः ; तेषां वासुदेवः
>>> परा प्रकृतिः, इतरे सङ्कर्षणादयः कार्यम् ; तमित्थंभूतं परमेश्वरं
>>> भगवन्तमभिगमनोपादानेज्यास्वाध्याययोगैर्वर्षशतमिष्ट्वा क्षीणक्लेशो
>>> भगवन्तमेव प्रतिपद्यत इति । तत्र यत्तावदुच्यते — योऽसौ नारायणः
>>> परोऽव्यक्तात्प्रसिद्धः परमात्मा सर्वात्मा, स आत्मनात्मानमनेकधा
>>> व्यूह्यावस्थित इति — तन्न निराक्रियते, ‘ स एकधा भवति त्रिधा भवति’ (छा.
>>> उ. ७ । २६ । २) इत्यादिश्रुतिभ्यः परमात्मनोऽनेकधाभावस्याधिगतत्वात् ;
>>> यदपि तस्य भगवतोऽभिगमनादिलक्षणमाराधनमजस्रमनन्यचित्ततयाभिप्रेयते, तदपि न
>>> प्रतिषिध्यते, श्रुतिस्मृत्योरीश्वरप्रणिधानस्य प्रसिद्धत्वात् ।
>>>
>>> This means there were Bhagavata followers at the time of Adi Sankara
>>> itself. They must have had some text like Bhagavatam to follow also. How
>>> can anybody say there was no Bhagavatam before Ramanuja? It is not
>>> correct.
>>>
>>> In South India all Tri Matasthas from Advaita, Visistadvaita and Dvaita
>>> have accepted Bhagavatam. In Bhagavatam we can find fine Advaita
>>> Philosophy.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 9:04 PM, Aditya Kumar via Advaita-l <
>>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Namaste,
>>> > http://www.mahapashupatastra.com/2011/12/bhagavatam-of-
>>> > krishna-is-bogus-devi-bhagavatam-is-authentic.html
>>> >
>>> > Dare I say, this settles it ? :D
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> -Venkatesh
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>>
>>
>


-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh