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鈽� i 66 However inadequate his understanding may be from the
devotionalists' point of view, it is clear that 艣amkara
accepts at least the provisional validity of personalized
forms of God and devotional worship.
Note that in the last quote but one 艢amkara is
speaking of N膩r膩ya峁嘺, a sectarian deity, as the equivalent
of the "highest Self." While this may seem puzzling at
first, an apparent transgression of the distinction between
the higher and lower Brahman, usages like this are common in
his writings. His tendency to employ such designations of
the transpersonal Absolute as parabrahman, 膩tman, and
param膩tman interchangeably with Isvara, parame艣vara, and
bhagavat, which are titles of the personal God, and even
N膩r膩ya峁嘺 and Vi峁ａ箛u, which are personal names derived from
mythology, is one that has been well-documented. 37 This
practice, which is continued by the great commentator's
followers, should not, however, be a cause of perplexity.
脦svara in Advaita is the highest conception of the Absolute
accessible to the limitations of human thought and
discourse. Hence, practically speaking, the Lord is the
ultimate for all who remain in the grip of phenomenality.
Once having made the distinction between para and apara,
Brahman and I艣vara, 艢amkara and his followers feel no need
to dwell upon it. The Lord, we have seen, is nothing less
than the supreme Reality itself in its aspect of relatedness