[Advaita-l] Vaidika Saiva Siddhanta

[V Subrahmanian]

On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 7:48 AM Keshava Mahadeva via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Some interesting info about Vaidika Saiva Siddhanta:
> http://shaivam.org/scripture/English-Articles/1379/vaidika-saiva-siddhanta


We also read from the literature by the Saiva Nayanmars like Sundaramurti,
Jnanasambandha, that there were agnihotris who were Shiva bhaktas.  Their
period is prior to Shankara and Ramanuja.  Also, the family of Bhavabhuti,
the author of the Uttara Rama Charitam, of 7 CE, pre-Shankara, is stated to
be of the Yajnika lineage of the Krishna Yajur Veda.  Bhavabhuti himself
was named SrikanTha and his father was NilakanTha. In any case there is
enough evidence in the more recent, that is, pre-Shankara period, for the
existence of Vaidikas who were devoted to Siva.  This belies the claim by
the author of the Tamil booklet 'Sankararum Vainavamum' on p.10 about the
falsity of the claims of Saiva siddhantins' basis in the shruti, smriti,
etc. for their doctrine. Also this author makes the claim that 'Appayya
Dikshita and his supporters concocted several upanishads that supported a
'saiva advaita' and included them in  the corpus of 108 Upanishads.'  One
can see from Vidyaranya's commentary to the Suta Samhita that the
Upanishads such as Atharva Shiras, Shvetashvatara, Brihajjabala, etc. were
already there several centuries before Appayya Dikshita. Narayanashrama and
Shankarananda who preceded even Vidyaranya (13 CE) have commented on the
Atharva Shikha, Atharva Shira, Kaivalya, etc. Upanishads that clearly bring
out Siva paratvam. Thus, the claims of the Tamil author are contradicted by
facts.

regards
vs

>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>