Shiva Advaita

{{Short description|Shaivite school of philosophy from Southern India}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Hindu philosophy}}

Shiva Advaita (Devanagari:शिवाद्वैत, {{langx|kn|ಶಿವಾದ್ವೈತ}}, {{IAST|Śivādvaita}}), also known as {{IAST|Śiva Viśiṣṭādvaita}} or Shaivite qualified nondualism is a Shaivite school of philosophy from Southern India that was founded by Śrīkaṇṭha Śivācārya during the eighth century.{{cite book |author=Roshen Dalal |author-link=Roshen Dalal |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrk0AwAAQBAJ |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2014|isbn=9788184752779 }} Entry: "Shivadvaita"{{cite book|last=Subramuniyaswami|first=Satguru Sivaya|title=Merging with Śiva: Hinduism's contemporary metaphysics|year=2003|publisher=Himalayan Academy Publications|isbn=978-0-945497-99-8|pages=924 pages(see page:844)}} According to this doctrine, the Shiva and the Brahman are the one and the same.{{cite book|author=W. J. Johnson|title=A Dictionary of Hinduism

|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198610250.001.0001/acref-9780198610250-e-2285|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-861025-0|via=Oxford Reference}} {{closed access}}

Śrīkaṇṭha Śivācārya (also known as Nīlakaṇṭha Śivācārya) wrote a commentary on Brahma Sutras, which became known as Śiva Viśiṣṭādvaita.{{Cite book |last=Ramesan |first=N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KAkYAAAAIAAJ |title=Sri Appayya Dikshita |date=1972 |publisher=Srimad Appayya Dikshitendra Granthavali Prakasana Samithi; [sole distributors: B. G. Paul, Madras |pages=67 |language=en}} The time-frame of Śrīkaṇṭha's work is not exactly known, but believed to be somewhere between 12th and 14th century.{{Cite journal |last=Duquette |first=Jonathan |date=2016 |title=Reading Non-Dualism in Śivādvaita Vedānta: An Argument from the Śivādvaitanirṇaya in Light of the Śivārkamaṇidīpikā |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44157294 |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=67–79 |doi=10.1007/s10781-014-9231-x |jstor=44157294 |s2cid=171076332 |issn=0022-1791|url-access=subscription }} The theory of Śiva Viśiṣṭādvaita follows very closely Ramanuja's Viśiṣṭādvaita non-dualism doctrine, but differs in who is considered Supreme. Śrīkaṇṭha considers Shiva supreme. It is not known whether Śrīkaṇṭha Śivācārya's work was completed before or after Ramanuja's. Sri Appayya Dikshita contributed further to Shiva Advaita by expounding Śrīkaṇṭha's philosophy in his Sivarka mani dipika. Śrīkaṇṭha does not deny Nirguna Brahman, which is central to Advaita. In contrast to Śrīkaṇṭha, who considers his Brahma Sutra Bhasya Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism), which affirms the supremacy of Saguna Brahman, Appayya affirms a form of pure non-dualism and recasting Śrīkaṇṭha's work in an effort to establish Shiva Advaita in his Śivādvaitanirṇaya.