Form of Visnu as guru

[Ashok Aklujkar]

On 25-05-2006 23:59, "Martin Gansten" <Martin.Gansten at TEOL.LU.SE> wrote:
>> >I would disagree with this. Even if the verse is a eulogy on the author's
>> teacher, it is hardly a coincidence that he chooses to speak of him as
>> conquering Madhu and Kaitabha, two demons killed by Vishnu as Hayagriva. I
>> find it quite likely that the author had this particular form in mind, as it
>> is also the one most naturally associated with a teacher (represented as
>> displaying the teaching mudra and holding a book, etc).<
> 
> I distinguish between there being a suggestion in the verse and the suggestion
> being necessary to understand the purport of the verse in the specific
> context. In Bodha-saara verses 1.5, 6, 7, 8, 11-15, the guru is said or
> indicated to be superior to Vi.s.nu, Hari-Brahma-Hara, Rudra-Hari-Ca.n.dii,
> Devataas (in general), and Iißvara (of Kåß^ or in general), respectively.
> Details of specific incarnations or forms of the divinity are not uniformly
> mentioned and, where they are mentioned, they are mentioned only to build up
> an expression that can be exploited (through punning in a broad sense) to
> assert the superiority of the guru.
> 
>> >Interpreting the metaphor to suggest that the guru actually excels the deity
>> seems to me to be overstating the case, unless it is borne out by the
>> remaining verses (which I have not seen).<
> 
> Pl see above.
> 
>> >It is, after all, not the case in puranic and other religious lore that
>> 'Vishnu bestows only a lakshmi that binds one to the world'; on the contrary,
>> Vishnu is said to grant moksha even to the demons killed by him.<
> 
> Precisely because the author is aware of the mok.sa-bestowing quality that is
> attributed to the deities mentioned above that he can proceed to write the
> kind of verses he has written, that is, claim or suggest that the guru can
> bestow mok.sa in a better or more convenient way. The author's commentator, in
> fact, begins by stating Vi.s.nu's mok.sa-bestowing as a puurva-pak.sa.
> 
> 
> ashok aklujkar