[Advaita-l] Three more commentaries on the 'Shiva Gita'

[V Subrahmanian]

Three more commentaries on the 'Shiva Gita'

Apart from the commentary by the 16 - 17 CE Sringeri Acharya, there are
three more known commentaries to the Shiva Gita of the Padma Purana:

The book by Dr.P.K. Sundaram (on Siva Gita: Translated into English with
notes and introduction by Dr. P.K. Sundaram , a noted Advaitic scholar.
published by Centenarian Trust in Chennai., 1997) mentions  the following
three commentaries:

1. Tatparyaprakasika by His Holiness Jagadguru Paramashivendra
Saraswati,printed in 1906 by Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam. The revered
author is none other than the Guru of Sri Sadashivendra Saraswati (whose
samadhi is in Nerur, T.N.) who is an extremely highly honored and revered
Acharya for Advaitins. He has penned 'vritti' -s, short concise
commentaries for the Brahma Sutras and the Patanjali Yoga Sutras.  He has a
number of Advaitic works in verse form such as 'Atma Vidya Vilasam',
'Dakshinamurti Dhyanam', 'Svapnoditam', 'Manoniyamanam', etc.  He has also
composed a number of songs that are extremely popular in the Carnatic music
field. One such is 'maanasa sanchara re'.  Jagadguru Paramashivendra
Saraswati is very well known for a work 'Vedanta Naama Ratna Sahasram', a
compilation of a 1000 names of Brahman from the Upanishads. This work has
his own commentary consisting of copious citations from the Shruti,
Mahabharata, Puranas, etc.


2. Brahmananda Saraswati, disciple of Sadashivatirtha, a para-sishya of Adi
Shankaracharya and

3. the commentary 'Balanandini' by Hari Pandita, s/o Lakshmi Harahiri.

The number of commentaries go to enhance the esteem of the Shiva Purana as
a medium of Moksha Shaastra. Shankara has always stated in his commentaries
that the 'background story in an Upanishad is only a stuti, eulogy, to the
vidya, instruction, contained in the Upanishad.'  Thus Advaitins alone
emerge as the true 'saara graahi-s' of Vedantic works, paying not much
value that is unnecessary to the story, persons involved, etc. For others
the chaff is more important than the grain.

Om Tat Sat