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Post by subi24 on Aug 14, 2012 22:23:53 GMT 5.5
Many belive that the words "vyuptakeshaya cha" (clean-shaven) in Sri Rudram really refers to Sri Adi Sankara. It stands to reason because Lord Shiva is always a "Jadadhaari" (one who wears matted locks) and never known to be with a clean-shaven head. I am giving below the relevant verse and welcome any comments from knowledgeable fellow-devotees.
Anuvaka 5
Namo bhavaya cha rudraya cha namah sharvaya cha pashupataye cha namo nilagrivaya cha shitikanthaya cha namah kapardine cha vyuptakeshaya cha namah sahasrakshaya cha shatadhanvane cha namo girishaya cha shipivishhtaya cha namo midhushhtamaya cheshhumate cha namo hrasvaya cha vamanaya chanamo brihate cha varshhiyase cha namo vriddhaya cha samvridhdhvane cha
Meaning:
Salutations to Him who is the source of everything and the destroyer of all ills. Salutations to the destroyer and to the protector of all beings in bondage. Salutations to Him whose throat is blue and whose neck is white. Salutations to Him of the matted locks, and one who is clean-shaven. Salutations to Him who has a thousand eyes and a hundred bows. Salutations to Him who dwells on the mount and who is in the form of Vishnu. Salutations to Him who showers blessings very much and who bears arrows. Salutations to Him who assumes a small size, and who is in a short stature. Salutations to the great one, who is full of excellence. Salutations to the Ancient One who is loudly praised by the scriptures
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Post by Kanchi Periva on Aug 14, 2012 23:02:42 GMT 5.5
This is a very interesting point debated by many people, especially as Abhinava Sankara has referred to this point in his commentary. Thanks for raising this in the forum.
Let us see what Sri Maha Periva had clarified on this point:
What is meant by kapardin and vyuptakesha? Kapardin means the one who is having jaTA. Vyuptakesha means the one who is having a shaven head. In rudra, names given to Ishvara in succession are opposites in quality. He is jyeShTha and he is kaniShTha. In the same manner, he is the one with jaTA and the one with the shaven head.
But there is something special about kapardi. Kaparda means jaTA. But it does not refer to the jaTA of everyone. Only the jaTA of parameshvara is called kaparda. When mahAviShNu, brahmA, indra, and all the other devas are wearing a kirITa on their heads, it is only shiva, the yogi, who is with jaTA. Only parameshvara who wears the gangA, the moon, the snake, the kapAla, the dhatUra flower etc. has been specifically given the name kapardI. It is therefore a confirmation that this name refers only to parameshvara.
Therefore, the name vyuptakesha which comes immediately after kapardi must also be specific to paramashiva. This name does not appear in between the names such as the carpenters, potters, fishermen, outcaste, thieves etc., but instead between those names which refer to Him as the only one Ishvara who is the Lord of the world. These two names are mentioned in singular referring to Ishvara only. We have seen that kapardi is the asAdhAraNa nAma specific to him; therefore the name vyuptakesha should also be such based on the pattern. This is an important point we should make note of.
Thus, the name vyuptakesha refers to the form of sannyAsin with shaved head, which is specific to paramashiva. There is no mUrti other than our AchArya which can be shown as with a shaven head. Whether it is dakShiNAmUrti, naTarAja or tripurAri, all these mUrtis are with jaTAs. When it is so and the veda clearly refers to a particular mUrti of paramashiva as vyuptakesha, it only refers to the shankara avatAra which is to take place in the future. This is how abhinava shankara who has commented on the rudram has explained this nAma.
Will it be enough if we say that when rudram specifically mentions a person with shaven head as shiva svarUpi, it is specifically our AchArya? It will be satisfying only if some other authority is also shown. This is where we examine the purANas. It is the way of our elders that the meaning of the veda should be understood only through purANAs and itihAsas.
itihAsapurANAbhyAM vedaM samupabr^iMhayet |
The puraNas and itihAshas are upabrAhmaNas of the veda and give detailed explanations. The one who has learnt itihAsa, purANa along with the veda is a great scholar or a bahushruta. One who tries to investigate the meaning of the veda without the knowledge of itihAsa and purANa is alpashruta. It is at the very sight of such a person that the veda shudders in fear. But why is the veda afraid? It is afraid because it thinks: He will pull me anywhere to his liking, and will ascribe meanings to mantras as he likes. Therefore, one should investigate the purANas to find out who is that vyuptakesha who is the shivamUrti. It is said in vAyu purANa:
chaturbhiH saha shiShyaistu shankaro.avatariShyati |
abhinava shankara also found out from the itihAsa named shiva rahasya and got confirmation and declared in his commentary that vyuptakesha refers to shankara avatAra. Let us now consider shiva rahasya. The divine stories which have greater authority than the purANas are called itihAsas. Both rAmAyaNa and mahAbhArata are itihAsas. Similarly the itihAsa which concerns shiva is shiva rahasya. It consists of more than fifty thousand shlokas and the weel-known dharma shAstra grantha nirNaya sindhu accepts it as an authority. subrahmaNya gave upadesha of it to sage jaigishavya and hence it is referred to as a compilation of jaigishavya. Subrahmanya also does not state that he himself has given upadesha to the sage. He only says that he gave as upadesha the itihAsa which parameshvara had told ambA long ago.
Just as rAmAyaNa consists of seven kANDas, shiva rahasya has been divided into twelve parts. In the ninth part, the life stories of great shiva bhaktas have been described. The stories of the sixty-three nAyanmArs are also found here. In the same manner, the story of our Acharya is also present. The stories have been narrated in such a manner that what is going to happen in the future has been seen through jnAna dR^iShTi.
The object of shiva rahasya is to specifically deal with shiva bhakti. Advaita j~nAna mArga which is important for our AchArya is not important for this book. But AchArya was also a bhakta avatAra just as he was a j~nAna avatAra. He was a great bhakta of Ishvara, viShNu and ambA. Although he himself was of the svarUpa of parabrahmam, he operated as a bhakta in order to show to people bhakti as a preliminary step to jnAna. He undertook pilgrimages to several holy places, composed stotras, conducted pUjA and observed anuShThAnas, thus showing himself as bhakta.
As a devotee of ambA, he wrote saundaryalaharI and other stavas and established shrIchakra in several temples. He sang bhaja govindam throughout the country. In the mutts established by him, he has established chandramoulIShvara as an important mUrti. He was always adorned with vibhUti and rudrAkSha. He has given us stotras such as shivAnandalaharI related to shaivam. He has thus been accorded a place in shiva rahasya as he has helped in the propagation of shiva bhakti. Although AchArya wrote commentaries related to advaita vedAnta and preached them all over the country and made the scholars accept them to earn the title advaitapratiShThApanAchArya, all this is not important for shiva rahasya. Importance has been given only to the fact that AchArya obtained from Ishvara the five sphaTika lingas which have been installed at five places.
The objective of shiva rahasya is to enable shiva sAyujya, which is mokSha to be obtained through shiva bhakti. But Acharya has also stated that bhakti, be it to any god, is only a preliminary to j~nAna and it is only through j~nAna vichAra that mokSha is attained. AchArya cannot be included in the list of those like the sixty-three nAyanmAras and haradatta who had given all the importance only to shiva bhakti and shivasAyujya. Therefore, if achArya had not been given a place in shiva rahasya the objective of which is only to establish the greatness of shiva and shiva bhakti, it can be expected. Instead of that, he has been mentioned in this work as Ishvara avatAra. This is a valuable authority.
The eleventh chapter of the ninth part entirely deals with the life story of AchArya. It starts with parameshvara telling ambA:
keraLe chAchalagrAme viprapatnyAM madamshajaH | bhaviShyati mahAdevi sha~NkarAkhyo dvijottamaH ||
madaMshajaH: one who is born of my aspect, paramashiva speaks thus to ambA, addressing her mahadevi.
In kUrma purANa, there is mention of Ishvara having taken the avatAra of Acharya:
kariShyatyavatAraM svaM sha~Nkaro nIlalohitaH | shrautasmArtapratiShTharthaM bhUtAnAM hitakAmyayA ||
nIla means blue and lohita means red. Thus, the fact that parameshvara who is with shakti i.e. who symbolizes ardhanArIshvara is Himself to going to incarnate as AchArya is mentioned here. Ishvara thus incarnated with the objective of establishing the vedic shrauta and smArta practices. Now let us look at li~Nga purANa:
nindanti vedavidyAMshcha dvijA karmANi vai kalau | kalau rudro mahAdevaH sha~Nkaro nIlalohitaH | prakAshate pratiShThArthaM dharmashcha vikR^itAkR^itiH | shivaM viprA niShevante ena kenApi sha~Nkaram | kalidoShAn vinirjitya prayAnti paramAM padam ||
There is also a purANa called bhaviShyottara which deals with future. It states thus:
kalyAdau dvisahasrAnte lokAnugrahakAmyayA | chaturbhiH sahashiShyaistu sha~Nkaro.avatariShyati ||
There is yet another purANa named brahmANDa purANa. In the latter part of this purANa, lalitA sahasranAma and lalitopAkhyAna appear. One part of this purANa is mArkaNDeya saMhitA. It consists of hundred kANDas. In the 72end kANDa and 7 and 8th parispandas, Acharya’s story is told:
lokAnugrahatatparaH parashivaH saMprArthito brahmaNA chArvAkAdimataprabhedanipuNaM buddhiM sadA dhArayan | kAlaTyAkhya purottame shivaguroH etc.
Thus, not only in shankara vijayas, but in Rg veda, rudra, shiva rahasya, markaNDeya saMhitA, viShNu dharmottara, vAyu purANa, kUrma purANa, li~Nga purANa, bhaviShyottara purANa, saura purANa (vyAkurvan vyAsyasUtrArtham etc.), in all these it has been said that shrI shankara bhagavatpAda was not an ordinary human being but an avatAra mUrti.
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Post by radha on Aug 15, 2012 8:12:36 GMT 5.5
SRI GURUPYO NAMAHA:,RESPECTFUL PRANAMS TO SRI ADI SANKARACHARYAL AND KANCHI MAHA PERIVA. HARA HARA SANKARA,SIVA SIVA SANKARA,JAYA JAYA SANKARA HARA HARA SANKARA.
The message is elaborate and well explained Great pain has been taken,it seems, to explain the attribute "VYUPTAKESHAYA CHA " to SRI PARAMESHWARA.
Namakam:Five Namo bhavaya cha Rudraya cha |1| Namah sharvya cha pashupataye cha |2| Namo nílagrivaya cha shiti kanthaya cha |3| Namah kapardine cha vyuptakeshaya cha |4| Namah sahasrakshaya cha shatadhanvane cha |5|Namo girishaya cha shipivishtaya cha |6| Namo maddhushta maya ceshumate cha |7| Namo hrasvaya cha vamanaya cha |8| Namo bruhate cha varshíyase cha |9| Namo vruddhaya cha samvrudhvane cha |10| Namo Agriyaya cha prathamaya cha |11| Nama ashave ca jiraya cha |12| Namah shrighriyaya cha shibhyaya cha |13| Nama urmyaya ca‐ vas‐van‐ya‐ya cha |14| Namah srotasyaya cha dvípyaya cha |15
Kanchi Maha Periva Thiruvadigal Saranam
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Post by subi24 on Aug 16, 2012 1:38:46 GMT 5.5
Thanks to the administrator for providing a very nice and detailed explanation on the subject. The best part is the ample support from Itihasas and Puranas. This is precisely the type of knowledge we need to disseminate among the members.
Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara
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