Bhakti List Archives

Re:Sankara.

From the Bhakti List Archives

sriram suresh • Thu Jul 08 1999 - 07:02:25 PDT 


Respected members,
                  This is regarding Sri sudarshan's praise of sankara and 
the objection raised by Sri Mani vardarajan from the point of view of the 
aim of bhakti list.

   Sri Sankara really deserves respect for the following :-

   1. At the time when the very authority of vedas was questioned
(leave apart its contents)and the philosophy of Universal void
(Buddhism) was gaining popularity in India along with other perverse and 
baseless philosophies,Sankara was the rising sun,who brought back the vedas 
to its original stand by disproving buddhism and other rebellion theories.
   2. He brought out the significance of vedantha over the karma-kanda       
or the works portion of the vedas.
   3. His Devotional works,works on renunciation like bhajagovindam etc.
   4. Finally taking into account the time in which he completed all this 
i.e within 32 years.Infact he is said to have mastered vedas by his 8th 
year.One really has to appreciate the genius in him.

    Some of the drawbacks of Sri Sankara's philosophy :-


   1. According to Sankara, God is the highest reading among realities in 
the Relative context with jiva and the world following in the sequence.But, 
from the absolute standpoint he introduces a pure conscious being called as 
Brahman from the authority of scriptures,which he says is the only reality 
and the former realities are observed in the same due to a defect called 
avidya which is neither real nor unreal.Finally God according to him is only 
a mind purifier of the seeker,wholatter sublates God and himself into the 
brahman.

      Now the conclusions of the above philosophy is :-
   1. Though God is All merciful,All pervading,All knowing, in the final 
Analysis he is as good as a mirage which does not have an eternal reality.
   2. The seeker is told in the beginning of his saadhana that the god whom 
he prays is only a moral support or a support for building his confidence 
whether in this world or in the next and helps in purifying the mind of the 
aspirant to such an exten

Now, No Bhakti school which holds God as the supreme reality and jiva and 
jagat also as realities according to the same scriptural authority can 
entertain a Philosophy such as one given above by Sankara,where all the true 
emotions between Bhakta and Bhagavan are imaginary and are the expressions 
of a sentimental and Ignorant mind.It is also a great surprise why the Great 
Sankara composed such Gems of devotional work,which are later rejected by 
his own philosophy.
(Personally I feel somewhere a misunderstanding about sankara's work has 
happened in the post-sankara period loading the philosophy of such a rare 
genius,poet and also a bhakta of Narasimha with self contradictions).

Finally I feel both Sri.Sudarshan and Sri.Mani Vardarajan are doing
justice in their own views and i also request our dear bhagavathas to
end this matter afer reading this letter and concentrate ourselves on
our Bhagavan whether the slokhas are according to  Bhagavan Ramanuja or 
Sanakara Bhagavad pada or Bhagavan Madhwacharya.

These are only my views and my main is bringing all our members together and 
head in the direction of our Lord together(Following the famous slokha of 
Rig Veda).

Sri krishnaarpanamasthu

Regards
B.N.Suresh.











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