Re: Advaithis and Sriman Narayana
From the Bhakti List Archives
• July 25, 1997
As regards use of Vibhuti by advaitins - For all advaitins, the prime issue is vaidika-dharma-mArga. Worshipping nArAyaNa or worshipping Siva can be done in various ways, but orthodox advaitins will only endorse the vaidika way of worship. All brahmacArins are supposed to do samidAdhAnam after sandhyAvandanam daily. At the end of this fire ritual, the bhasma from the homa-agni is applied on different parts of the body, uttering the words medhAvI bhUyAsam, tejasvI bhUyAsam etc. Before this, the ashes are mixed with water, uttering a prayer to rudra (mAnastoke tanaye etc.) Granted, this prayer asks rudra not to harm us, but it also requests rudra to show us the benevolent side. There you see, here is a 100% vaidika rite which involves application of bhasma, after praying to rudra. Just before the samidAdhAnam, at the end of the sandhyAvandanam, we worship nArAyaNa as the savitRmaNDala-madhyavartI, dvArakAnilaya etc, and finish the sandhyA by dedicating everything to nArAyaNa (kAyena vAcA etc.). This is also vaidika karma. Now, in terms of philosophy, advaita will hold jnAna superior to karma, but within the realm of karma, vaidika karma is superior to the rest. We stick to this standpoint. I see absolutely no contradiction between worshipping nArAyaNa and wearing bhasma on the forehead. There is no contradiction in the different vaidika nityakarmas and there is no contradiction in the smArta practice. A learned member of this list, like SrimAn Sadagopan, might have more to say in this regard. Vidyasankar
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