Aurobindo about Advaita

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

>
> >Westerners popularizing Gita, Advaita and Sankara really stuck.
> >Look at Sankara's popularity with that of Abhinava Gupta.
> >Abhinava who created new fields in Sanskrit with theories/commentaries
> >on rasa/natya/dhvany/kashmir saivism etc., remains closeted
> >in a small circle. But, Sankara fills in well for nationalist/political
> >agendas.

 [[[
 Well, if you look at the contemporary scene, there is lot more Western
 interest in Abhinavagupta and Tantric studies than in Sankara and Vedanta.
 Tantra with its traditional concern with power will also fill in quite
 admirably for political purposes. It remains to be seen how Indians
 re-appropriate Abhinavagupta. ]]]

  This is exactly the problem. Very lop-sided "construct" of old India.
 Look at how many are studying Kashmir Shaivism. Silburn, Padoux et al
 in France, Gnoli, Torella et al in Italy, Muller-Ortega etal., in USA.
 But Tamil Shaivism with an order of magnitude of more texts, dating to
 much earlier times remains untouched. Look at Tamil iconography,
 Shaivaite imagery NOT found anywhere else, etc.,

 Take Tirumantiram, for instance. One of the earliest *tantric*
 works in India.Its author cannot postdate Sundarar of Narasimhavarman.
 Sunadarar lists Tirumantiram author as a Nayanmar.
 No Indologist has so far turned his mind to Tirumantiram.

 Regards,
 SM

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