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sridatta1 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 627 Location: india

Shankara preached monism for atheist, dualism for theists diplomatically

155. Ekakonamaatro bhrantah stotranidarshanaat.

Translation: Shankara was misunderstood as the preacher of one angle of monism only through His commentaries. This can be disproved because the second angle of dualism was very clear through His prayers.

Explanation: Shankara is misunderstood today as the author of the commentary pertaining to atheists only and is misunderstood as the preacher of monism, which states that every soul is God. The other angle of commentary that it deals only with the case of specific soul of human incarnation was forgotten. At least, this angle was made very clear in His prayers and these prayers, which show that soul is a servant of God, are now completely neglected. If the commentary had only one angle of monism, Shankara should not have composed the prayers in which the monism is completely absent and dualism is well established. Therefore, the prayers are indication of the second angle of the diplomatic commentary.