[Advaita-l] Shankara authenticates Shiva as the son of Brahma

[Venkatraghavan S]

Resending this to the list, original message was too big.

"Thus, for Shankara bhagavatpAda, Shiva is a created entity."

Not true.

If you see Kenopanishad bhAshya for mantra 12 in the third khanda, it is
clear that BhagavatpAda considers Lord Shiva to be the sarvajna Ishvara
himself.

Here is the Kena mantra which talks about Indra approaching Brahman in the
form of Yaksha(a brilliant form of a pillar of light). As soon as an
arrogant Indra nears that pillar of  light, the light disappears. Indra is
disappointed and feels chastened. Uma devi then appears in front of him.

स तस्मिन्नेवाकाशे स्त्रियमाजगाम बहु शोभमानामुमां हैमवतीं तां होवाच
किमेतद्यक्षमिति ॥ १२ ॥

He beheld at the very spot a lady, very beautiful and of golden lustre, Uma
Haimavati. He asked her, who is this Yaksha.

In the bhAshya to this mantra, Shankara BhagavatpAda explains the meaning
of Haimavati. He says:
उमैव हिमवतो दुहिता हैमवती नित्यमेव सर्वज्ञेनेश्वरेण सह वर्तत इति

(Alternatively)  Haimavati means, the daughter of HimavAn, the HimAlayas -
Uma who is eternally together with the omniscient Ishvara.

Who else but Lord Shiva could BhagavatpAda have in mind when he was
referring to as that Omniscient Ishvara who Uma is always associated with?

By all means say that Vishnu is the Vedantic Brahman, but please do not say
that Shiva is not, and please do not try to superimpose your parochial
views on Shankara BhagavatpAda. BhagavatpAda did not consider Lord Shiva to
be anything but Ishvara himself - as he did Lord Vishnu.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 13 Aug 2016 10:51 a.m., "D Gayatri via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> The point of the article is that by quoting from this portion of the
> Mahabharata, Shankara authenticates it as not an interpolation. I mention
> this specifically since the 12th and 13th parvas of Mbh have many
> interpolations. It is also incorrect to say that Shankara is not bothered
> about Shiva being the son of brahma, since in the brihadaranyaka upanishad
> bhAshya, 1.4.11, Shankara says that Rudra-Pashupathi is also a created
> entity. Thus, for Shankara bhagavatpAda, Shiva is a created entity.
>