Posted on: 15 Jul 2023
Dattamata Viṃśatiḥ: Verse 6
(Philosophy of God Datta in twenty verses)
स शङ्कर इहागत स्त्वमसि दत्त! नान्यायनो
निवर्तयसि नास्तिकां स्त्रिपथया गिरा गङ्गया ।
सदस्यपि यदस्यतो ऽस्ति तदिति त्रिवाक्कर्षितान्
गुरुत्व मिद मेकसद्वचन पण्डितो ऽवत्सलः ।। 6
Sa Śaṅkara ihāgata stvamasi Datta! Nānyāyano
Nivartayasi nāstikāṃ stripathayā girā gaṅgayā ।
Sadasyapi yadasyato 'sti taditi trivākkarṣitān
Gurutva mida mekasadvacana paṇḍito 'vatsalaḥ ।। 6
[O God Datta! You came here as Shankara, when all were atheists (Buddhists and Pūrvamīmāṃsakas). You have no other way to convert atheists into theists except adopting a three-step formula in Your speech, which is like the Ganga River following three paths (Ganga is said to be the river having three paths i.e., tripathā, which are heaven, earth and the lowest Pātāla world). Your three-step formula attracted and converted atheists into theists. The formula is:- i) You are God, ii) You exist and iii) Therefore, God exists. A Guru or preacher is affectionate towards his disciples and aims at their welfare only and if necessary, even twists the theory, for this purpose. The scholar has no such affection and is rigid of telling the truth only. Hence, Shankara as a preacher, twisted the preaching in view of the conversion of atheists into theists without bothering much about the truth, which can be preached later on once the atheists are converted into theists. Therefore, we should not see what Shankara spoke but we should see the background pressing Shankara to speak in a specific way (No atheist will agree if you say that God exists apart from him. If you want to bring the atheist to the path, you have to say that the atheist himself is God).]