[Advaita-l] 'Turiya' Shiva and Vishnu

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Sun Nov 11 13:17:43 EST 2018


'Turiya' Shiva and Vishnu

सायण says for the name 'trayambaka':

त्रयाणां ब्रह्मविष्णुरुद्राणाम् अम्बकं पितरम् - ie., the father of Brahma,
Vishnu & Rudra. [The Sayana Bhashya for the Rg.Veda mantra is attached.
59th सूक्तं of 7th मण्डलं from ऋग्वेदः .. The Rsi for this sUkta is
मैत्रवरुणिः वसिष्ठः ]. [Thanks to Sri Venkata Sriram ji for the Sayana
bhashya reference]

There are 12 Rks in this sUkta and the 12th (last) Rk is called
मृत्युविमोचनी ऋक् ie., a verse which frees the devotee from death.

Though not directly related to 'trayambaka', for the name 'Keśava' in the
Vishnu Sahasra nama - Shankaracharya, alternatively, has given an
etymological meaning: कश्च अश्च ईशश्च त्रिमूर्तयः केशास्ते यद्वशेन वर्तन्ते
स केशवः ।

[Brahmā, Vishnu and Shiva are the trimūrti-s - all of whom are under the
control of that entity which is called Keśava.]

Just as Trayambaka is an entity 'above' the Trimurtis, Keshava too is
'above' the Trimurtis. This idea of the Supreme Brahman as transcending the
Trimurtis is admitted by Kamban too. In Advaita this is known by the term
'Turiya'. Turiya can be looked upon through any name such as Shiva (Para
Shiva) and Vishnu (Keshava as determined by Shankara above). The Para
Vishnu idea is found in the Vishnu Puranam too:

सृष्टिस्थित्यन्तकरणीं ब्रह्मविष्णुशिवात्मिकाम् ।
स संज्ञां याति भगवानेक एव जनार्दनः ॥ १,२.६६ ॥
स्त्रष्टा सृजति चात्मानं विष्णुः पाल्यं च पाति च ।
उपसंह्रियते चान्ते संहर्ता च स्वयं प्रभुः ॥ १,२.६७ ॥

[One Supreme, called Janardana, takes upon the names Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva with relation to creation, sustenance and destruction.] Here, the
Turiya Vishnu is denoted by the name 'Janardana'.

Also read a post here: [ Contains image of Sayana bhashya as well in
comments section]

https://tinyurl.com/y9bwjk9n

regards
subbu


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