Shankara excludes Shiva from the Vishwarupa of BG 11th Chapter

[V Subrahmanian]

 In the BG, the 11th chapter is called the Vishwarupa adhyaya.  Therein occurs this verse:

ब्रह्माणमीशं कमलासनस्थमृषींश्च सर्वानुरगांश्च दिव्यान् ॥ १५ ॥ 11.15

 ब्रह्माणं चतुर्मुखम् ईशम् ईशितारं प्रजानां कमलासनस्थं पृथिवीपद्ममध्ये मेरुकर्णिकासनस्थमित्यर्थः,

brahmānam, Brahma, with four faces; īśam, the Ruler of creatures; kamalāsana-stham, sitting on a lotus seat, i.e. sitting on Mount Meru which forms the pericarp of the lotus that is the earth; 

The other Advaitin commentaries/glosses too give the same meaning as above. 

While Shankara does not say anything about Shiva, even for the word 'īśa' of the words, Ramanuja and Madhwa say that Shiva is there:   

Ramanuja:

ब्रह्माणं चतुर्मुखम् अण्डाधिपतिम् | तथा ईशं कमलासनस्थं कमलासने ब्रह्मणि स्थितम् ईशं तन्मते अवस्थितं 

English translation by Swami Ādidevananda:

Brahma, the four-faced ruler of the cosmic egg. So too Siva (Isa) who is seated in the lotus-seated Brahma, meaning that Siva abides by the directions of Brahma.

Madhwa:

कमलासने ब्रह्मणि स्थितं रुद्रम् - 'विष्णुं समाश्रितो ब्रह्मा ब्रह्मणोङ्कगतो हरः ।

हरस्याङ्गविशेषेषु देवाः सर्वेपि संस्थिताः'' ॥ इति पाद्मे ॥१५ ॥

Madhwa cites a Padma (purana?) verse to say that: Brahmā resorts/relies/dependent on Vishnu, Hara (Shiva) is on the lap of Brahmā. In the various body parts of Shiva all other deva-s reside. 

In the same chapter occur these other references to the term 'Rudra'

पश्यादित्यान्वसून्रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा ।  11.6

Shankara says: पश्य आदित्यान् द्वादश, (12 Aditya-s)  वसून् अष्टौ, (8 Vasu-s) रुद्रान् एकादश,  The 11 Rudra-s (not Shiva)

रुद्रादित्या वसवो   11,22

Shankara says: रुद्रादित्याः वसवो ये च साध्याः रुद्रादयः गणाः  These belong to the 'gaṇa' category. 

Om Tat Sat

[V Subrahmanian]

Please note that what is provided under 'Madhwa' is from his Gitā tātparya nirṇaya.  He has not commented on this in his Gita bhashya. 

regards

subbu

[V Subrahmanian]

Just as in the Vishwarupa Darshana of the Bhagavad Gita, so too in the famous Śiva Gītā of the Padma Purāṇa, in Śiva’s own Vishwarupa (cosmic form), there is neither Śiva nor Viṣṇu:

ब्रह्मेन्द्र रुद्राश्च मरुद्गणाश्च

गन्धर्वयक्षाऽसुरसिद्धसङ्घाः ।

गङ्गादि नद्यो वरुणालयाश्च

वसन्ति शूलिंस्तव वक्त्रयंत्रे ॥ २५॥

https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_giitaa/shivagiitaa.html ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ

The Shivagita has several commentaries and one of which is by a very early Jagadguru of Sringeri Peetham.

warm regards

subbu

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear Subbuji,

I came across a verse quite some years ago, where it says that Hari and Hara are abheda and it is a great sin for one to think of Hari and Hara as bheda (or separate). To my  understanding, according to a purana also, when the created world disappears, Hari is the last to disappear and Lord Hara remains, but I don't recall the verse now.

I hope some of us in our group will recall these verses. 

Regards

Sunil KB

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[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just as in the Vishwarupa Darshana of the Bhagavad Gita, so too in the famous Śiva Gītā of the Padma Purāṇa, in Śiva’s own Vishwarupa (cosmic form), there is neither Śiva nor Viṣṇu:

ब्रह्मेन्द्र रुद्राश्च मरुद्गणाश्च

गन्धर्वयक्षाऽसुरसिद्धसङ्घाः ।

गङ्गादि नद्यो वरुणालयाश्च

वसन्ति शूलिंस्तव वक्त्रयंत्रे ॥ २५॥

https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_giitaa/shivagiitaa.html ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ

I noticed that in that Vishwarupa, Rama saw:

सुरासुराणां संग्रामस्तत्र पूर्वापरानपि ।

विष्णोर्दशावतारांश्च तत्तत्कर्माण्यपि द्विजाः ॥ १९॥

The battle between the gods and asuras, Vishnu's 10 avataras and the events that occurred during those avataras.

Warm regards

subbu