COMMERCIAL EDS. + CRIT. EDS.

[mani at srirangam.esd.sgi.com]

Another important point made by Mr. Vidyasankar, implicit
though it may have been, is that the subcommentatorial tradition
in Advaita Vedanta has in all probability preserved the words
of Sankaracarya as best as anyone could have.  We are speaking
here of philosophical treatises such as his Brahma-sutra
and Upanishad bhashyas, of course, and not his stotras and
other possibly apocryphal compositions.

Since nearly each word of the bhashyas was elucidated in
great detail by commentators such as Anandagiri and others
within a couple of centuries of Sankara's passing, I would
wager that any variations in the text of the Acharya's major
works would be philosophically unimportant. The critical
edition would shed no new light on Sankara as a thinker or
as a writer.

This opinion is based on my examination of works of a 
similar nature, such as van Buitenen's edition of Ramanuja's 
Vedarthasangraha. The task of putting together such a critical 
edition would probably serve no use other than as an academic 
exercise.

Of course, Dominik's point is well taken that we do not
know for sure unless we do the work. I just don't think the
fruits will be worth the effort.

Mani