"Bhagavan Maheshvara is the Jagat-karana Brahman"

[K.N.RAMESH]

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"Bhagavan Maheshvara is the Jagat-karana Brahman" ~ so opine the Advaitian Acharyas

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As known to all, Bhagavan Shiva has always been  dear to the Advaitians. He is verily beheld as the Jagat-karana Brahman in the tradition.  This conviction of the Advaitians is deeply rooted in the works of their Acharyas.  Here is a small collection of such verses. 

1)  A verse quoted by Bhagavatpada in his Brahma-sutra bhashya 

‘नाम रूपं च भूतानां कर्मणां च प्रवर्तनम् ।

 वेदशब्देभ्य एवादौ निर्ममे स महेश्वरः’ इति

~ Bhagavatpada, Brahma Sutra  Bhashya (1.3.28)

[ In the beginning, Bhagavan Maheshvara, created from the words of the Veda alone, the names and forms of creatures and also promoted Karma]

Madhusudhan Saraswati ji also quotes this verse in his tika on Sankshepa-shareerika and attributes it to Bhagavan Manu. Similar verses are also found in Kurma Purana and Mahabharata 

Kurma Purana : https://sa.m.wikisource.org/wiki/कूर्मपुराणम्-पूर्वभागः/सप्तमोऽध्यायः ( chapter 7, verses 67-68)

Mahabharata : https://sa.m.wikisource.org/wiki/महाभारतम्-12-शांतिपर्व-238 ( 12,238,94b-95a) 

2. Verse from Bhagavan Sureshvaracharya’s Brihadaranyaka Vartika 

In  his Brihadaranyanaka Bhashya Vartika(1.4) , Shri Sureshvaracharya ji  addresses the Parabrahman as Maheshvara. He says that Maheshvara is verily the Nitya, Shuddha, Buddha Atman (i.e. Parabrahman itself). Yet, owing to Avidya, Maheshvara, who is verily the shuddha Chaitanya, becomes the cause of creation. Thus, Bhagavan Maheshvara is the Jagat-karana-brahman. 

नित्यशुद्धश्च  बुद्धश्च यस्मादात्मा परः स्वतः ।

मुक्तश्चातोऽवसेयोऽसौ सद्वेदान्तोक्तिमानिना ॥ ४९१ ॥

[Because that highest Atman is ever pure, having knowledge as its essence, and, of itself liberated, it is therefore to be ascertained (to be thus) by one who respects that authoritative statement of Vedanta]

एवंभूतोऽप्यसंबुद्धस्वात्मतत्त्वो महेश्वरः॥

आपेदे कारणात्मत्वं नामरूपादिसर्जने ॥ ५९२ ॥ 

[ Maheshvara, even though of such nature( i.e. though being the ever pure Atman), was (yet) ignorant (lit. not enlightened) about his own nature (and therefore) became the cause of creation of name, form etc.]

Tikakara Shri Anandagiri Swamiji makes an interesting remark on the word ‘Maheshvara’ used in the Vartika.

 In our common understanding, Maheshvara is the destroyer of creation and Brahma is the creator. But why does the aforementioned Vartika describe Maheshvara as the creator?   Warding off this objection, Shri Anandagiri Acharya says that Sureshvaracharya ji deliberately uses the word Maheshvara here to convey the fact that the creator of Jagat  is non-different from its destroyer and hence establishing the abheda of Trimurtis. 

स्रष्टुः संहर्तुश्चाभेदमभिप्रेत्य महेश्वरग्रहणम्  || ( Anandagiri Tika) 

We may again object saying that this interpretation is merely a concoction of Anandagiri ji. But there is no room for such a doubt as Bhagavan Sureshvaracharya ji himself asserts Trimurti-abheda in explicit terms in the same work. 

यः पृथिव्यामितीशोऽसावन्तर्यामी जगद्गुरुः ।

हरिर्ब्रह्मा पिनाकीति बहुधैकोऽपि गीयते ॥ ३७७ ॥

~ Vartikakara Bhagavan Sureshvaracharya ( Brihadaranyaka bhashya vartika 1.4) 

3. Shri Sayanacharya’s Mangalacharana verse in his Madhaveeya Vedartha Prakasha 

Bhagavan Sayanacharya ji, the Veda-bhashyakara,  has to his credit the authorship of the most comprehensive commentary on all existing branches of Veda.  He was the disciple of Shri Vidya Tirtha Mahaswamiji, the 11th Acharya of Shringeri. In every single chapter of  his Veda-bhahsya texts, Sayanacharya ji invokes his Guru in the form of Bhagavan Maheshvara in the following manner -

यस्य निःश्वसितं वेदा यो वेदेभ्योऽखिलं जगत् |

निर्ममे तमहं वन्दे विद्यातीर्थ-महेश्वरम् || 

~ Shri Sayanacharya, Madhaveeya Vedartha Prakasha

[ I bow down to Shri VidyaTirtha, who is verily Bhagavan Maheshvara,whose outgoing breath is verily the Veda and who creates the Jagat from the Veda]

Thus, from the aforementioned evidences, we understand that the Advaitian Acharyas have always envisioned Bhagavan Maheshvara as the Jagat-Karana Brahman. 

॥ हर नमः पार्वती पतये हर हर महादेव ॥

॥ भव शङ्कर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥