ABSTRACT
In the third Chapter J G Suthren Hirst will look at implied dialogue in Śaṃkara’s commentary on the Brahma-sūtras. According to most commentators, the second pāda of the second adhyāya of the Brahma-sūtras is primarily concerned with the refutation of opponents to Vedānta. In his Advaitin commentary, Śaṃkara c.700 Ad makes this crystal clear in his vocabulary of rejection, invalidity and so forth. Even where he accepts that some of the opponents’ views may be acceptable, he is categorical in his rejection of what is incompatible with his Advaitin view. Under such circumstances, is it even possible to consider these arguments as ‘dialogues’? In this Chapter, Suthren Hirst will re-examine Śaṃkara’s approach to the Bhāgavatas in the light of work on Pāñcarātra texts by Colas, Rastelli, Bock-Raming and others. Beginning with Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya 2.2.42–45, but considering this material in the light of Śaṃkara’s broader corpus too, she will argue that Śaṃkara is indeed conducting a dialogue with different Vaiṣṇavas, not simply refuting them, in the context of contemporary brahminical repositionings.
