Why Krishna as Buddha & Siva as Sankaracharya differed on vedas??
Two questions about these incarnations from the devotees:
(1) Vaishali Kulkarni:
“Hare Prabhuji, While I was reading Sri Chaitanya charitamrita….1.7.110……I understood that Sri Shankaracharya under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, purposefully misinterpreted the Vedic version to present Mayavada philosophy. Lord Shiva himself informs of this in Padma Purana. My question is, what were the prevailing circumstances then which made the Supreme Lord order Lord Shiva to do this… that is misleading the people on purpose.”
(2) “Jitender Nehra:
Supreme personality of god head know as savior of vedas Then why he, in his Buddha incarnation he hidden the truth of veds? Why god ordered …to shankarcharya to misinterpret real knowledge of vedas? For this my i’m quoting a text from “(Addressing Lord Siva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead said:] ‘Please make the general populace averse to Me by imagining your own interpretation of the Vedas. Also, cover Me in such a way that people will take more interest in advancing material civilization….”
REPLY:
This is JUST A TWO STAGE CLEANSING PROCESS.
You have written only about Sankaracharya (Adhi Shankara). But, this involves Buddha also.
Krishna Himself said in Bhagavad Gita that the Vedas originated from Him. So, Krishna is the source of vedas.
(Does Krishna as Paramathma direct bad deeds also from our heart? READ HERE!)
The Full form of vedas given by Krishna spoke about the worship of both the personal and impersonal form of Supreme. They gave emphasis both for rituals for beneficial/fruitive purposes and gradually for the ways to attain the Supreme Goal of life.
Then, Krishna, who came as Buddha had to deny vedas.
Then, Lord Siva who came as sankaracharya gave Vedas again, as requested by Krishna.
Why should the vedas be given, denied and re-established again?
Why Krishna as Buddha & Siva as Sankaracharya should contradict on vedas?
Why it happened?
Read these details based on Srimad Bhagavatham:
(i) Sankaracharya was an incarnation of Lord Siva, who was requested by Lord Krishna, to propagate Mayavadi philosophy, impersonalism, for the purpose of defeating Buddhism and re-establishing the Vedic culture in India.
(WORSHIPING KRISHNA AS A PERSON AND AS PARAMATHMA – DIFFERENCE! READ HERE!)
The historical reason for this was that after Krishna departed from this planet 5,000 years ago, India gradually degraded to such an extent that the people were killing cows and justifying it by a gross misinterpretation of the Vedic scriptures.
Not only this, many brahmanas started to suppress other communities in the name of Vedas. This gave sufferings to innocent people.
Therefore, being kind upon the poor cows and suppressed people, Krishna appeared in the form of Lord Buddha to stop the cow killing by teaching the principles of karma and non-violence along with a voidistic (no belief in God and scriptures) philosophy which denied the Vedas.
Such emergency action saved the cows and suppressed people, but Vedic culture was, for the time being, forgotten.
(How Paramathma (Supersoul) and Krishna are the same? Is Paramathma a Person? READ HERE!)
(ii) Now, Krishna felt that the need arose to bring vedas again to limelight.
Therefore, to restore Vedic culture again, Lord Krishna requested Lord Siva to appear as Sankaracharya (Adhi Shankara), who presented a version of Vedic philosophy that was acceptable for those who were following Buddhism. Sankaracharya also preached that all are god, similar to Buddhism.
Philosophically they are very near. Sankaracharya gave emphasis to the impersonal side of Vedic teachings (ie, all are god – ie, oneness) so that the Buddhists also would find it acceptable to adopt the Vedic culture and teachings. Since he did not emphasize too much of the ritualistic side of vedas, all sects of people could accept the vedic life that looked near to Buddhism that has no ritualistic approach.
In this way, Sankaracharya was successful in defeating Buddhism and re-establishing Vedic culture in India.
(THREE FORMS OF KRISHNA, THE DIVINE SUPREME PERSON! READ HERE!)
This is a brilliant arrangement by Krishna to stop the misuse of vedas.
But, before leaving this world Sankaracharya renounced his earlier impersonal Vedic misinterpretation and instructed his followers to accept the ultimate Vedic conception, the personal conception of God, like this:
bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
bhaja govindam mudha-mate
samprapte sannihite kale
na hi na hi raksati dukrñ-karane
MEANING:
“You intellectual fools, just worship Govinda, just worship Govinda, just worship Govinda. Your grammatical knowledge and word jugglery will not save you at the time of death.”
Unfortunately, his followers did not follow his final instruction. Instead they tenaciously clung to impersonalism because they felt gratified by the false impersonal conception that the living being is God.
However, the trend changed in due course of time. As a latest example, Sri Kanchi Sankaracharya Sri Chandrasekarendra Sarasvati, who came in the lineage of Adhi Sankara has clearly said that Govinda is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his speeches that have been collected in the name of VOICE OF GOD.
(Why Krishna alone is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Why Shiva Purana says Shiva as Supreme? READ HERE!)
Vedas were discouraged by Buddha to avoid misuse of vedas. Sankkaracharya re-established vedas.
Ok, fine.
Now, You may ask: “Wont the vedas be misused again since they have been re-established by Sankaracharya?”
He did not establish the actual form of vedas as they are. Since Sankaracharya had avoided giving emphasize to the Personal form of God and ritualistic portion of vedas and he emphasize to the impersonal side of vedas, such misuse came down remarkably.
Hope you are clear now about the purpose of the visit of Krishna as Buddha & Siva as Sankaracharya and about why they differed on vedas?
(THE DETAILS ABOUT FOUR SAMPRADHAYAS! READ HERE!)