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Re: Significance of Siva Linga
Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:
>
......
>
> Yes, many of the shaivite saints clearly endorsed advaita (esp.
> thaayumaanavar).
>
In many of tAyumANavar's songs, the word vedAnta means only advaita
vedAnta, and siddhAnta means Saiva siddhAnta. He attempts to reconcile
the two philosophical systems through his poems. However, the earlier
tamizh Saiva saints like mANikkavAcakar did not endorse Sankaran advaita
vedAnta. In fact, mANikkavAcakar has criticized advaita in one of his
works, although the south Indian Saiva siddhAnta, like Kashmir Saivism,
is pronouncedly monistic itself.
Over the centuries, there has been a lot of give and take between Saiva
groups and advaita vedAntins. To some extent, this might have been
driven by the fact that vaishNavas set out separate schools of vedAnta
and did not follow advaita. Nowadays, of course, all advaitins are
generally taken to be Saivites, which is not necessarily true. Even the
Encyclopedia Brittanica makes this generalization in some places.
For example, the vIraSaiva nAyakas of ikkerI in Karnataka, followed
Basava's teachings. but they also supported many advaita scholars,
including the famous Appayya Dikshitar, and also the Sankaran advaita
math at Sringeri. In fact, commentaries to the Siva gItA were written by
both vIraSaiva and advaita scholars, under the patronage of the ikkerI
nAyakas. Appayya Dikshitar also tried to defend the Saiva Agamas and
reconcile them with advaita vedAnta, in an effort similar to
Yamunacharya's defense of the pAncarAtra Agamas with respect to smArta
orthodoxy.
S. Vidyasankar
