Is the Shiva-sahasra-nama that glorifies Lord Shiva as supreme an interpolation in the Mahabharata?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna question is the Shiva sahasranam which glorifies lord Shiva as supreme an interpolation in the Mahabharata answer not necessarily none of the acharyas who have quoted from the Mahabharata have referred to that section as an interpolation now it does glorify lord Shiva as supreme but we have to understand that there is a concept of difference and the concept of non difference between lord Shiva and lord Vishnu lord Shiva is almost lord Vishnu shiram yatha divika vishesha yogat just as milk becomes transformed into curd and acquire certain properties which are different from the properties of milk so similarly lord Vishnu when he comes in contact with the mode of ignorance he becomes lord Shiva this is what Brahma Samhita explains and the point is that when lord Shiva is glorified as supreme we have to understand that the abhed aspect is being emphasized abhed means non difference there is non difference and there is difference so in the Vedic scriptures there are different contexts where worship in goodness, passion and ignorance, goodness, passion and ignorance is recommended so the Mahabharata conclusively talks about the supremacy of Vishnu, Vasudeva, Krishna but along with that it also talks about worship of the other devatas and when those devatas are being glorified their connection, it is not necessary that when the devata is being glorified that their subordination to the supreme lord has to be emphasized when those devatas are being glorified their connection with the supreme lord can also be mentioned and this happens in the Bhagavatam also in the 8th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam as well as in the 4th canto when Brahmaji is first praying to the supreme to lord Shiva after the Dakshayagya and similarly just before the drinking of the milk, drinking of the poison of ocean, the ocean that has come from the churning of the milk ocean, the halal poison, at both times when lord Shiva is glorified, he is glorified as if he is supreme but the same Bhagavatam for example, just a little later in the 4th canto there is a Rudra Gita where lord Shiva comes and tells some of the prachetas about how lord Vishnu is supreme and the same Bhagavatam a little later in the 8th canto, in the 12th chapter tells about how lord Shiva is glorifying lord Vishnu that you are supreme when lord Vishnu manifesting Mohini Murthi bewilders lord Shiva so the point is that we cannot take some sections from the Bhagavatam or from the Mahabharata out of their context so when a particular devata is being glorified in the scriptures because the scriptures talk at multiple levels sometimes they talk about in particular contexts so at that time when a devata is going to be glorified and a devata is going to do something glorious at that time the connectedness of the devata is emphasized so we don’t have to consider the Sivasasranam to be an interpolation what we understand is it is a contextual glorification and understanding the connectedness of lord Shiva with lord Vishnu among all the devatas lord Shiva is in a very distinctive position he is very close to lord Vishnu and we don’t see that Pandavas in any way give up the worship of lord Krishna or lord Vishnu just to worship lord Shiva so the understanding is that for particular purposes particular devatas can be worshipped and while they are being worshipped their connectedness with the supreme lord in terms of what they the Abhed aspect is also talked about so lord Shiva and lord Vishnu are not different I have answered this question elsewhere also in further technical details when I talk about why lord Vishnu and lord Shiva have similar names in the Sivasasranam also where lord Vishnu is also glorified as Rudra and Shiva and by such names so the Abhed aspect the non-difference aspect and the difference aspect both have to be understood so the Sivasasranam is a glorification of lord Shiva which is a contextual glorification and which is to be understood based on the Abhed relationship or Abhed aspect of the relationship between lord Shiva and lord Vishnu