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Re: SANKARA'S POETRY

From the Bhakti List Archives

V.Srimahavishnu • March 19, 1999 


On Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Sudarshan Madabhushi wrote:

 
> Dear bhAgavatOttamA-s,
> 
> As inveterate SriVaishnavites not all of us may be inclined to agree 
> with the philosophy of Sri Sankara 'bhagavatpAda' but his poetry is an 
> altogether different matter.
 Is it so? 
> 
> Sankara's Sanskrit poetry is a magnificent blend of lofty thought and 
> intense feeling. His hymns like the famous "bhaja-gOvindam" and 
> "soundarya-lahari" indeed stir the mood of thoughtful "bhakti" in both 
> SriVaishnava and non-SriVaishnava reader alike.
  the thing is that  paramaikAntins(or even a person trying to imitate
them) never enjoys stOtras on anya dEvatAs, how beautiful they may be.  
   There is one blasphemous SlOka in "soundaryalaharI" which makes the so
called soundaryalaharI a "durgandhakUpam" and one of the ugliest
works in sanskrit.that SlOka does not deserve to
be mentioned in this great list where  bhAgavatas talk to each other about
the Vaibhavam of purushOttaman pundarIkAkshan vEngadavan emberumAn
Sriyahpati SrIranganAthan(bOdhayantah parasparam) and enlighten people
like me (upadEkshyanti jnAnam).
   I am very sorry to know that SrI VaishNavas like Smt Mani Krishnaswami
sang this stOtram and one T R Srinivasa Iyengar wrote a commentary on it.
    The only option left for a SrI VaishNava who is all in praise for
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
Sankara's stOtras on PerumAL is to assume that Sankara had not written
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this SlOka  and it was a later inclusion.
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    I plead BhAgavatas not to discuss it further in this forum.
                            lakshmI narasimha charaNau  SaraNam prapadyE
                                         dAsan
                                    V.Srimahavishnu