Navaneetham - Guruvayoor / Guruvayur

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meant for the common man. The last verse of SrIrAmabhujangam
illustrates this point:
bhujangaprayAtam param vEdasAram
muDarAmacandrasya bhaktyA ca nityam |
paThan santatam cintayan svAntarangE
sa Eva svayam rAmacandrassa dhanya: ||
Whoever recites SrIrAmabhujangam, which pleases Sri Rama, daily with
complete devotion, meditates and contemplates on it, he is fortunate, for
he becomes verily Sri Rama Himself!
When I read this verse for the first time, I was struck by its message and
the boldness of Sri Sankara’s vision. Which religion or school of thought
but Advaita Vedanta, dare make statements like this?
There can be no doubt that Sri Sankara was resorting to this technique
in order to appeal to people of every faith as He tried to reach out the
helpless masses for most of whom Vedanta was far beyond reach. The
following verse from gOvindAshTakam leaves no room for speculation in
the matter of where Sri Sankara himself was coming from when He wrote
these compositions.
satyam jnAnam anantam nityam anAkASam paramAkASam
gOshThaprANAngaNarinkhaNalOlam anAyAsam paramAyAsam |
mAyAkalpitanAnAkAram anAkAram bhuvanAkAram
kshmAmAnAtham anAtham praNamata gOvindam paramAnandam ||
In particular, in praising Lord Govinda or Sri Krishna, Sri Sankara
clearly says the Lord is without any form and it is due to mAyA or
illusion born out of ignorance that people, even devotees, see numerous
forms in Him. This is enough to explain what level Sri Sankara was
operating from when He composed SlOkas to appeal to the hearts of
devotees of different faiths and disposition. By proclaiming “what need do
I have for other forms when a particular form is what fills my heart with
love and joy”, you are not negating other faiths. To the contrary, you are
equating them all, for you know the absolute truth is formless and
attributeless.
What can we say about the devotion of an Advaiti? It is tempting to
conclude, especially if one were given to natural dvaitic or dualistic
disposition, that an Advaiti is perhaps being blasphemous in daring to
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