Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: piLLaiyAr

From the Bhakti List Archives

Parthasarati Dileepan • September 10, 1997 


At 01:58 AM 9/10/97 -0700, Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
>
>Finally, in another recent post, advaitam was compared to a poison which
>came out of the kshIrasAgaram, and that too by a SrIvaishNava AcArya. I
>suppose this outlook both explains and is explained by the fact that
>SankarAcArya's bhAshyas are not well-known among the SrIvaishNava
>communities.


The reference to "poison" comes right from Swami Sri Desikan himself.  The
following is from the original text of chapter 2 from RTS:

Sruthi-patha-viparItham Kshvela-kalpam sruthow cha
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
prakruthi-purusha-bhOga-prApakAmsO na pathya: |
thadh iha vibudha-guptham mrithyubhIthA vichinvantha
yupan^ishadhamruthAbdhE: uththamam SaramAryA: |

(Kshvela-kalpam = equivalent to poison)

Sri Uththmoor Swami's commentary on Srimad RTS called "Saaravisthram" is
also consistent with Srimad Azhagiya Singar's commentary.  Sri Uththamor
Swamy describes these issues in great detail.  The most relevant passage in
Tamil is:

"...athil vEdhabhaahya grandhangaLum, adhvaitham muthalaana
kudhrushti grandhangaLum vishamAgum."


We should realize that the primary audience for Srimad RTS is Sri
Vaishnavas.  In that context hostile outlook towards opposition is probably
not unique to Sri Vaishnava commentators.  I would imagine that they would
hold this view irrespective of how well versed they are (were) with Sri
Sankaracharya's bhashyas.


-- adiyEn