Re: [INDOLOGY] Yama/niyama in PÄ Å›upata and Yoga

[Dr. T. Ganesan]

On 26-04-2016 21:53, Rafal Kleczek wrote:
> T/he īśvāra-praṇidhāna of the PYŚ, for example, often takes on a more 
> sectarian flavor in the later texts, such as //śaṅkara-pūjanaṃ in the 
> //Śivayogadīpikā//. ///

Sankarapuujanam need be taken to be 'a sectarian flavour'. For, Isvara 
denotes only Siva as we find in all the Upanishads and other texts; 
Svetasvataropanishad repeats this word many times and it can not be 
interpreted in other ways.

As Kalidasa says in the invocatory verse of his drama, Vikramorvasiyam,

vedānteṣu yamāhurekapuruṣaṃvyāpya sthitaṃrodasī /

yasminnīśvara ityananyaviṣayaḥśabdo yathārthākṣaraḥ/


Isvara denotes only Siva from the early period. Kalidasa is of the firm 
view that the entire Vedanta corpus (vedānteṣu) proclaims Siva to be the 
highest Reality (puruṣa) that pervades all the universe. Kalidasa and 
Patanjali definitely belong to very early period. Thus by 
īśvāra-praṇidhāna it is fully plausible and also possible, that 
Patanjali meant only worship of Siva. And, worshipping a supreme God 
need not be interpreted as ''sectarian''. One cannot ''worship'' a 
supreme reality which is nirguna.



Ganesan

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