Acharya Shankara Is Not At Fault

[Bankebihari dasa]

Srila Krishnadäsa Kaviräja Gosvämi, in his book Sri Caitanya Caritämrita Madhya 6/168:

veda nä mäniyä bauddho haya ta’ nästika

vedäçraya nästikya-väda bauddhake adhika

The Buddhists do not accept the authority of the Vedas, therefore they are considered agnostics. However, those who claim to have faith in the Vedic scriptures and yet preach agnosticism in accordance with Mäyävädism are indeed more dangerous than the Buddhists.

Çréla Kåñëadäsa Kaviräja, while comparing Buddha and Çré Çaìkaräcärya, hardly finds any differences, but concludes that Çré Çaìkaräcärya was the stronger atheist of the two. The reasons for this is that the innocent general mass of people, believing Çré Çaìkaräcärya to be a scholar of Vedänta and a theist, will be easily misled by the outwardly theistic appearance of his teachings; and in this way, unknowingly also become atheists. This is one of the most cunning ways that Kali-yuga establishes itself.

The Reasons for Camouflaging Mäyävädism

Although Advayaväda, non-dualism and Advaitaväda, monism are practically the same, Çré Çaìkaräcärya refused to use the term Buddhism in identifying his own precepts, despite knowing fully well that there was no difference between them. He had a specific reason for doing so; it hardly mattered that there was little or no contradiction between his precepts and Buddhism. The real reason was, he had to execute the Supreme Lord’s command. Çréla Kåñëadasa Kaviraja sheds significant light on this matter in Çré Caitanya Caritämåta Madhya 6/180:

äcäryer doña nähi éçvara-äjïä hoila

ata eva kalponä kari’nästik-çästra kailä

Äcärya Shankaräcärya is not at fault, he was simply following the Supreme Lord’s order. He had to fabricate from his imagination a scripture that preached atheism in the name of the Vedas.

On this subject Çréla Bhaktivinode Thäkura has written in Jaiva Dharma:

"Hearing Çré Çaìkaräcärya’s name mentioned, Çré Paramahaàsa Bäbäji prostrated himself on the ground while offering obeisances. He continued to speak: ‘Dear Sir, please always remember – ‘Çaìkaräcäryah Çaìkaräcäryah saksat’, Çré Çaìkaräcärya is Lord Çaìkara (Çévä) himself. Lord Çaìkara is considered to be guru of the Vaiñëavas. Çaìkaräcärya himself was a great Vaiñëava; hence Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu always addressed him as äcärya in veneration. At the time he appeared in India, a guna-avatära (a qualitative incarnation) of his stature was much needed. The cultivation of Vedic scripture and the practice of Varnaçrama (religious principles) in India had become stifled to almost naught by the onslaught of the Buddhist philosophy of voidism. This theory of voidism is an extreme form of atheism. Although it acknowledges a few truths about the true nature of the soul, in essence this theory is totally transient. The Brähmaëa class in India during this period were en masse converting to Buddhism and relinquishing Vedic principles. Just then Çré Çaìkaräcärya, an incarnation of the extraordinarily powerful Lord Çaìkara, Çévä, appeared and re-established the authority and pre-eminence of the Vedas, causing a metamorphosis of Buddhism to Brähmaëism. This was an extraordinary feat. Bhäratvarña (India) and the Vedic culture will forever remain indebted to Çré Çaìkaräcärya.

......

The jéva, living entity, by forgetting Çré Kåñëa, turns his back on the Lord forever. Thus it is seen that when the jéva becomes oblivious of his service to Kåñëa he is captivated by the feelings of ‘so’ ham’, (I am brahman, the Supreme). This feeling releases from within him deep-seated envy toward the devotees, who are surrendered to the Supreme Lord. Thus, the prime cause for the conception of Mäyävädism in the world can be traced to the jéva’s forgetfulness of God and the Supreme Lord’s own will.

excerpts from: Beyond Nirvana

His Divine Grace Paramgurudev Srila Bhakti Prajnan Kesava Goswami