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Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
Adi Shankara is Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva wears a snake around his neck. The answer to the perplexing question of what constitutes Advaita lies in seeing Lord Shiva with the snake around his neck.
No man can see the Truth of Advaita. Only Lord Shiva Sees It. The eyes of mortal beings open and close in the Third Eye of Shiva that is always Open. That Eye alone sees Advaita.
Adi Shankara's words are a double-edged sword. It is both this way and that way. Seeing any one way is not seeing what Shankara Sees.
To see the Truth of Advaita, the sword of discrimination has to pierce the Twilight-Junction where the Day meets Night to reveal the Splendorous Sun that never rises and sets. In the Sunlight all things are Seen and nothing is lost.
Adi Shankara speaks in riddles. A riddle presents a contradiction. The comfort of having an established Advaita philosophy does not exist. It can only be as Adi Shankara has given it to us - both this way and that way. By its very nature, the articulation of Advaita is a riddle.
The comfort of having established philosophies that are either this Way or that Way is found in vishiShTAdvaita and dvaita among many other Ways. It is not the Way of Advaita that has no Way that may be spoken about. Those who cross swords with Advaita cross swords with the illusions of their own making.
The glint of the Sword flashes in the brilliance of the Sun and it blinds the eye. The path lies however on the razor's edge of the Sword flashing in the Sun. It is the Sword of discrimination that cuts across all riddles to unriddle all that has been riddled. There is nothing lost in it except the knots of the riddles.
And there is a great riddle in Shankara Himself:
Shankara shows the Truth. Shankara hides the Truth. Shankara both shows and hides the Truth. One aspect of Shankara is Rudra. The Shakti of Rudra is called Raudri. Raudri is the power that prevents one from seeing the Truth.
Sri Madhvacharya said that Sri Shankaracharya is Rudra who had come to confuse people. Sri Madhvacharya does not speak an untruth. It is true that Shankara prevents one from seeing the Truth. It is also true that Shankara is the supreme revelation of Truth. It is the very nature of Shankara to wear a snake round His neck. It is the very Nature of Lord Shiva. It is the very Nature of Truth that It is such. It is the Nature of Advaita, the Vision of Lord Shiva.
Brahman created all these beings. After creating them, Brahman entered them. The words of Advaita are the words of Brahman directed by Brahman to Brahman when Brahman is ready to exit what Brahman has entered. He exits in the same manner as He enters. The man that He once entered and is now exiting is left behind in the ashes of the funeral pyre. It is all the lIlA of His Eternal Existence.
o that Lord Shiva, who came in the form of a saMnyAsin as the jagat- guru, Adi Shankara, I pray that I may be able to offer my head so that the man who can never see the Truth may be burnt to ashes. Only Lord Shiva is always Seeing.
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