[Jagannath] Quoting Puranas (Lord Caitanya)

[Guest guest]

Dear Dina-natha,

We are deviating from astrology. But I see this topic (or similar topics)

coming up again and again. So I will make a few points before I withdraw.

Adi Shankara or Shankaracarya is if

I am correct partial incarnation of Lord Shiva as mentioned in Shiva Purana

and his mission was to bring people back to teachings of Vedas (through

preaching of impersonal (mayavada) philosophy) from Budism that was widely

spread in India at that time. Now you cannot say that any king, teacher

or

Believers in advaita philosophy will consider the teachings of Adi Sankara

as the final truth, while believers in dvaita philosophy will downplay

it, as you did above, saying that Adi Sankara served the 'limited' purpose

of bringing people back to Vedas from "Budhism". While people may agree

on some parts, they interpret some other parts differently.

There are many interpretations and opinions. Naturally, you will be

biased towards the teachings of the school you were initiated into. There

is nothing wrong in that. But I just want you to know that there are many

schools of thought and great philosophers spent their lives without knowing

which is correct. So don't think you do.

As for Puranas, they are full of ambiguities which are interpreted by

different schools in different ways. Today's people read English translations

and think that they understood everything. But no translation or commentary

(English or Hindi or Sanskrit) is necessarily the final word. Different

schools interpret differently. There are many significant differences in

interpretation.

In short, my advice is: don't think that what you read so unambiguously

in an English translation was written equally clearly in the Sanskrit original!

That is not the case always. What you read in a translation or commentary

is only an "interpretation". Remember that.

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha