101. श्रीशेशभेदरहितः Śrīśeśa-bheda-rahitaḥ

One who did not differentiate between Viṣṇu and Śiva

Since Śrī is an epithet of Goddess Lakṣmī, ‘Śrī-īśa’, the Lord of Śrī, refers to Lord Viṣṇu, while ‘Īśa’ is a popular epithet of Lord Śiva. His Holiness was bheda-rahita, One who did not differentiate, between Śrīśa and Īśa, that is Viṣṇu and Śiva.

The Purāṇa declares, “Though the great Lord is spotless, devoid of qualities and just one, in view of the functions of creation, preservation and destruction, He manifests as a trinity.”²⁵⁶ It is the same formless Brahman that assumes various divine forms, which is why the Upaniṣad says, “Salutation to Śiva who is of the form of Viṣṇu and to Viṣṇu who is of the form of Śiva. Just as Viṣṇu is of the nature of Śiva, Śiva is of the nature of Viṣṇu.”²⁵⁷ Not only is the perception of non-difference between Viṣṇu and Śiva advocated, the apprehension of difference between Them is regarded sinful - ‘śrīśeśayor-bheda-dhīḥ (the notion of difference between Śrīśa and Īśa)’²⁵⁸ is listed as one of the ten nāma-aparādhas or offences relating to the chanting of the Lord’s names.

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The dhyāna-śloka of the Narasiṁha-mantrarāja carries the import, “I worship Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha whose essential nature is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, who is immaculate, who is established in yoga, whose countenance is very pleasing, who is glorious with numerous ornaments, who has three eyes, who bears (in His four hands) the (sudarśana) cakra, the pināka (bow) and the signs of granting fearlessness

264 101. Śrīśeśa-bheda-rahitaḥ and boons, who is lustrous like the sun, who is fair in complexion like the moon, who has (the set of hoods of) the king of snakes (Śeṣa) serving as an umbrella over Him and who dwells in the middle of the ocean of milk.”²⁵⁹

Once in the course of His evening walk, His Holiness casually chanted this verse and then told a disciple who was with Him, “God, who is formless and of the nature of absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, appears as Śiva, Viṣṇu, Ambā and so on for the sake of His devotees. The form of Narasiṁha described in this dhyāna-śloka is itself suggestive of the actual non-difference between Śiva and Viṣṇu. That Narasiṁha is an incarnation of Viṣṇu is well known. Here, He is spoken of as being with Lakṣmī, the consort of Viṣṇu, as bearing the cakra, the weapon of Viṣṇu, and as having the hoods of Śeṣa as His umbrella, like Viṣṇu. Further, He is said to be in the middle of the ocean of milk. This too fits Viṣṇu. However, Narasiṁha is presented here, like Śiva, as three-eyed. He bears the pināka, the bow of Śiva. Further, like Śiva, and unlike Viṣṇu, Narasiṁha is described as very fair in complexion.”

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[In many a discourse His Holiness emphasized that people must not differentiate intrinsically between Śiva and Viṣṇu and create discord. Below are some excerpts from His discourses.]

With respect to God with qualities, a person may wonder, “Is Śiva the greatest or Viṣṇu or Śakti or any other?” To the people who have such a doubt, Bhagavatpāda’s advice is, “The Supreme Brahman, devoid of all attributes and forms is indeed the greatest. It is this reality that appears as Śiva, Viṣṇu, etc. You may worship Śiva or Viṣṇu or Śakti or any other such divinity. When all of them are really one, what room is there for discord?

Between Vāsudeva (Viṣṇu) and Vāmadeva (Śiva), the difference is only the letters ‘su’ and ‘ma’, making up the word ‘suma’ meaning flower. The flower may be different, but the fruit of worshipping Śiva and that of worshipping Viṣṇu is the same.

Śiva has the name Rāmeśvara, and resides at Rameswaram as a jyotirliṅga. The name ‘Rāmeśvaraḥ’ is interpreted as ‘rāmasya īśvaraḥ (the Lord of Rāma)’, indicating Śiva to be the Lord of Rāma. After all, Rāma worshipped Śiva as a liṅga at Rameswaram. However, if Śiva were to be asked for the meaning of His name ‘Rāmeśvaraḥ’, He would say it is, ‘rāmaḥ īśvaro yasya saḥ (One whose Lord is Rāma),’ implying that Rāma is the Lord of Śiva. Śrī Padmapādācārya has explained the name as ‘rāmaśca asau īśvaraśca (He is Rāma as well as Śiva).’ Thus, there is no real difference between Viṣṇu and Śiva, and the kṣetra of Rameswaram stands testimony to this.

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