Is Vishnu sahasranam bhasya of Adi shankaracharya based on some Nirakar Nirgun Brahm not Lord Vishnu?

            ||prayers||

I bow down to My eternal mother, The Great Goddess of the universe who is the very cause of all Causes, The daughter of king Janka, Mother Sītā. I Prostrate before the Lord of The universe, the undisputed supreme being of the universe, whose lotus feet is worshipped by All the Gods, The Lord of the raghus, Sri Rama. I seek the blessings of my elder brother, The Greatest amongst warriors, The annihilator of Lanka, the one who defeated Rāvana and is the Greatest devotee of Lord Rāma, Lord Hanūmān. May the bless me always.

                     ||Om Sri siteya Namah||

An introduction to the topic

Now there are a lot of Vishnu dweshis, Who Can go to any extent In Maligning Lord Vishnu's Glory, be it stealing works dedicated to him or trying to Demean his status by Usage of Fake Scriptures with no ancient antiquity. The latest claim as per now is that The Vishnu sahasrnam Bhasya of Sri adi Shankaracharya is not for Lakshmi kantam Nārāyana but some "Higher' Nirakar nirguna Brahm. Yes, the very same Vishnu sahasrnam, from that Very Same Māhābhārata, which declares None other than Vishnu is the Highest deity. The claim is A childish claim and Can be refuted by common sense alone, but Let us view various parts of Sri Shankaracharya's bhasya, who considered Lord Nārāyana as the supreme Brahm, Who is greater than than the Greatest. Regarding the claims of these Formless Guys for The name " Nārāyana ", I have Already written a post, Explaining Why 'Nārāyana' can be attributed to Lord Vishnu alone. One can Right click on the Blue link to Reach that post. 

A Being 'Higher' Than Nārāyana

The very first claim which these guys make is that, there is a "nirguna Brahm" who is Beyond God Nārāyana, which is nothing more than a laughing stock. Let us see what The Vedas, Ramayana and mahabharata have said about Lord Nārāyana Keshava. Maharīshī Vyās Makes a declaration in the beginning chapters of the Māhābhārata :

satyaṃ satyaṃ punaḥ satyaṃ-uddhrtya bhuja-mucyate | vedaśāstratparaṃ nāsti na daivaṃ keśāvat paraṃ ||

~Raising up my arms, I declare on oath that there is no scriptural text greater than the Veda, and no deity superior to keshava. Again and again, this true, is true, is true.

This was a true and very bold Declaration made by one of the Greatest Sages of all times. Here's how Lord Brahma addressed Lord Rāma, in the assembly of Gods, Which had not only Lord Shiva and Indra, but all Gods in it.

kartā sarvasya lokasya śreṣṭho jñānavatāṃ prabhuḥ |upekṣase kathaṃ sītāṃ patantīṃ havyavāhane || kathaṃ devagaṇaśreṣṭhamātmānaṃ nāvabuddhyase |(6.117.6)

"How do you, the maker of the entire cosmos, the foremost among those endowed with knowledge and an all-capable person, ignore Seetha who is falling into the fire? How do you not recognize yourself to be the foremost of the Troops of Gods?"

ante cādau ca lokānāṃ dṛśyase ca paraṃtapa || 6-117-9 upekṣase ca vaidehīṃ mānuṣaḥ prākṛto yathā |

"O the destroyer of the adversaries. You are seen (to exist) at the beginning and the end of creation. Yet, you ignore Seetha, just like a common man."

The only Being, the Supreme purusha who exists at the beginning and after the end is Lord Nārāyana alone, which is confirmed by Vedas also I.e eko ha vai nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā na ca śaṅkaraḥ || ~Paingini Rahasya Brahmana of Rig veda, which means only Nārāyana was there at the beginning, not Brahma and Shiva. Further, The Vālmīkī Rāmāyana also says :

akṣaraṃ brahma satyaṃ ca madhye cānte ca rāghava || 6-117-14 lokānāṃ tvaṃ paro dharmo viṣvaksenaścaturbhajaḥ |

"You are Brahma, the imperishable, The Truth abiding in the middle as well as the end of the universe. You are the supreme righteousness of people, whose powers go everywhere. You are the four-armed."

The supreme Truth which prevades the universe is none other Than Lord Nārāyana alone. Thus in the assembly of all Gods, Brahma dev declares Nārāyana alone to be the supreme being. Also, Lord Hanuman, who is known to be the combined avatar of the Trinity as per Various Authentic texts, Warns Ravana as follows :

devāśca daityāśca niśācarendra |
gandharvavidyādharanāgayakṣāḥ |
rāmasya lokatrayanāyakasya |
sthātum na śaktāḥ samareṣu sarve || 5-51-44 brahma svayamubhūśca turānano vā | rudrastriṇetrastripurāntako vā |
indro mahendraḥ suranāyako vā |
trātum na śaktā yudhi rāmavadhyam || 5-51-45

"O king of demons! Either celestials or demons or Gandharvas the celestial musicians or Vidyadharas a king of super-natural beings or Nagas the semi-divine serpents or Yakshas the semi divine beings-all of them are not able to stand before Rama the lord of the three worlds. Either Brahma the self existing God with four faces or Rudra with three eyes and the destroyer of Tripura (the city built of gold, silver and iron in the sky, air and earth, by Maya for the demons and burnt by Shiva), or Mahendra the god of atmosphere and sky as also the lord of celestials would not be able to protect the one to be killed by Rama in a battle"

Lord Hanuman mentions how Shiva, Brahma, Indra and celestials Also Cannot save Someone who is to be killed by Lord Rama, which again tells Lord Rāma is above all of them. Just before this warning, Lord Hanuman Said :

sarvalokeśvarasyaivam kṛtvā vipriyamuttamam |rāmasya rājasimhasya durlabham tava jīvitam || 5-51-43

"After doing a great harm in this manner to Rama the Lord of all the worlds as well as the lion among kings, your survival will be difficult."

Lord Rama (Nārāyana) is the Lord of the Three worlds, above whom exists no one. Moreover, the Main thing in the Above two shloks I.e 5.51.44-45 I.e Shiva, Brahma and other Gods Cannot save a Ramdrohi, this was confirmed by Lord Rama himself during his First toe to toe combat with Ravan in 6.59 of Vālmīkī Rāmāyana, where he said that Even Maheswara, Brahma and Indra Cannot save him from his wrath. Lord parashuram after meeting Lord Rāma for the First time and Seeing his way of Handling the Sharanaga and Vaishnavastra, Says :

akṣhayyam madhu hantāram jānāmi tvām sureśhvaram |dhanuṣho asya parāmarśhāt svasti te astu paraṃtapa || 1-76-17

"I have realized your touch of nature as that of the Immutable supreme being, God of Gods, the Exterminator of the demon Madhu, namely Vishnu, by the touch of your handling that bow... oh, enemy-inflamer, blessedness alone betides you..."

Lord Nārāyana is the undisputed Lord of the Three worlds and the only supreme being. King Dashratha, after coming down from the heavens to Greet Lord Rama, Maa Jānakī and Lord lakshmana, instructs The latter as follows :

ete sendrāstrayo lokāḥ siddhāśca paramarṣayaḥ |abhigamya mahātmānamarcanti puruṣottamam || 6-119-31

"These Three worlds, including Indra Siddhas (a class of demi-gods) and great sages pay homage to the great-soul Rama as supreme person, on approaching him."

The three worlds Pay homage to Lord Rāma as he is the Supreme being, who is self constituted lord of all. Another interesting thing to note is the case of Jayanta, the son of Indradeva. He couldn't find any protector, even after roaming about in the Three worlds when Lord Rama decided to end him once for all :

sa pitrā ca parityaktaḥ suraiḥ sarvaiḥ maharṣibhiḥ | trīn lokān samparikramya trātāram na adhigacchati || 5-67-14

"Forsaken by all the celestials, Indra, its father and the sages too, that crow did not find a protector even after going round all the three worlds (heaven, earth and the lower regions)."

This confirms the statement of Lord Hanuman on Lord Rama which he made at the court of Ravana. The Vālmīkī Rāmāyana, being the universally accepted scripture like Māhābhārata and The Vedas, itself tells that no being is higher than the Supreme Purusha Lord Nārāyana Vishnu.

After Confirming from the Ramayana that Hari is the solo supreme being, now let's move towards the Māhābhārata. In the very beginning of the great epic (Hailed as Panchveda along with Vālmīkī Rāmāyana by Many acharyas and even Vedas), It is clearly stated :

vede rāmāyaṇe puṇye bhārate bharatarṣabha | ādau cānte ca madhye ca hariḥ sarvatra gīyate || yatra viṣṇukathā divyāḥ śrutayaśca sanātanāḥ | tacchrotavyaṃ manuṣyeṇa paraṃ padamihecchatā || etatpavitraṃ paramametaddharmanidarśanam | etatsarvaguṇopetaṃ śrotavyaṃ bhūtimicchatā || kāyikaṃ vācikaṃ caiva manasā samupārjitam| tatsarvaṃ nāśamāyāti tamaḥ sūryodaye yathā || aṣṭādaśapurāṇānāṃ śravaṇādyatphalaṃ bhavet | tatphalaṃ samavāpnoti vaiṣṇavo nātra saṃśayah

"In the Vedas, in the Ramayana, and in the scared bharata, O chief of Bharata’s race, Hari is sung in the beginning, the middle and at the end. That in which occur excellent statements relating to Vishnu, and the eternal Srutis, should be listened to by men desirous of attaining to the highest goal. This treatise is sanctifying. This is the highest indicator as regards duties; this is endued with every merit. One desirous of prosperity should listen to it. Sins committed by means of the body, by means of words, and by means of the mind, are all destroyed as darkness at sunrise. One devoted to Vishnu acquires that merit which is acquired by listening to the eighteen Puranas. There is no doubt in it."

Just like the Vālmīkī Rāmāyana, The Māhābharata is a text that glorifies Lord Vishnu alone as the supreme being, as said in the abover verse and the declaration made by maharishi vyas in the very beginning. Maharishi markandey got the divine Darshan of the supreme Lord, which he narrated to the pandavs in the Markandey samasya parva :

'O Brahmana, The Gods even do not know me truly! As however, I have been gratified with thee, I will tell thee how I created the universe! O regenerate Rishi, thou art devoted to thy ancestors and hast also sought my protection! Thou hast also beheld me with thy eyes, and thy ascetic merit also is great! In ancient times I called the waters by the name of Nara; and because the waters have ever been my ayana or home, therefore have I been called Narayana (the water-homed). O best of regenerate ones, I am Narayana, the source of all things, the eternal unchangeable.I am the Creator of all things, and the Destroyer also of all. I am Vishnu, I am Brahma and I am Sakra, the chief of the gods. I am king Vaisravana, and I am Yama, the lord of the deceased spirits. I am Siva, I am Soma, and I am Kasyapa the lord of the created things. And, O best of regenerate ones, I am he called Dhatri, and he also that is called Vidhatri, and I am Sacrifice embodied. Fire is my mouth, the earth my feet, and the Sun and the Moon are my eyes; the Heaven is the crown of my head, the firmament and the cardinal points are my ears; the waters are born of my sweat. Space with the cardinal points are my body, and the Air is my mind." (Source : Mahabharata, Vana parva, Markandey samasya parva, section CLXXXVIII)

In this parva alone, It is proved that Narayana alone is the supreme being. Maharishi Markandeya has narrated each and everything what Lord Narayana himself Spoke to him. The Extract is way to big, hence Interested Readers can visit sacredtexts.com to Read the whole thing. When Jaydratha wished to Defeated all pandavs as a boon from shiva, Here's what he said :

The god, however, told him 'This cannot be.' And Maheswara said, 'None can slay or conquer them in battle. Save Arjuna, however, thou shall be able to only check them (once) on the field of battle! The heroic Arjuna, with mighty arms, is the god incarnate styled Nara. He practised austerities of old in the Vadari forest. The God Narayana is his friend. The God Narayana is his friend. Therefore, he is unconquerable of the very Gods. I myself have given him the celestial weapon called Pasupata. From the regents also of all the ten cardinal points, he has acquired the thunder-bolt and other mighty weapons. And the Great god Vishnu sho is the infinite spirit, the Lord preceptor of all the Gods, is the supreme being without attributes, and the soul of the universe, and existeth prevading the whole creation. At the termination of a cycle of ages, assuming the shape of the all-consuming fire, he consumed the whole Universe with mountains and seas and islands and hills and woods and forests. And after the destruction of the Naga world also in the subterranean regions in the same way, vast masses of many-coloured and loud-pealing clouds, with streaks of lightning, spreading along the entire welkin, had appeared on high. Then pouring down water in torrents thick as axles of cars, and filling the space everywhere, these extinguishing that all-consuming fire! When at the close of four thousand Yugas the Earth thus became flooded with water, like one vast sea, and all mobile creatures were hushed in death, and the sun and the moon and the winds were all destroyed, and the Universe was devoid of planets and stars, the Supreme Being called Narayana, unknowable by the senses, adorned with a thousand heads and as many eyes and legs, became desirous of rest. And the serpent Sesha, looking terrible with his thousand hoods, and shining with the splendour of ten thousand suns, and white as the Kunda flower or the moon or a string of pearls, or the white lotus, or milk, or the fibres of a lotus stalk, served for his conch. And that adorable and omnipotent God thus slept on the bosom of the deep, enveloping all space with nocturnal gloom. And when his creative faculty was excited, he awoke and found the Universe denuded of everything. In this connection, the following sloka is recited respecting the meaning of Narayana. "Water was created by (the Rishi) Nara, and it formed his corpus; therefore do we hear it styled as Nara. And because it formed his Ayana (resting-place) therefore is he known as Narayana." (source : Mahabharata, Vana parva, draupadi haran parva, section CCLXX)

Who can forget the Bhagwat geeta, which is a text extolled by all the sects, and declares krishna as the supreme being. In 7.6-7.7 Of the Geeta, He clearly says the no one is above him and everything rests on him alone. 

There are thousands of such extracts which Declare the fact that No one is above Narayana. Now these Vishnu dweshis might quote The Anushasan parva and drona parva to make claims like Vishnu worshipping Shiva to become supreme or krishna praising shiva etc. The anushansan parva, especially the Upamanyu uvach, is a huge interpolation.

Evidence 1 : In page 52 of this pdf of the following book, author CV Vaidya questions the entire upamanyu episode including Shiv sahasranama.-

https://archive.org/details/mahabharatacriti025113mbp

Evidence 2 : An Indologist named RN Dandekar(who was editor of Anushasan parva in BORI) questioned the Upamanyu episode in Mahabharat and criticised BORI for including it(refer pg 158 of book "Encyclopedia of Shaivism". ) RN dandekar is not some random indologist. Ram Narayan Dandekar was well versed and expert in so many recensions of Mahabharata. he also received Padma Bhushan. Following information is there about him-

// Dandekar had become the Honorary Secretary of the renowned Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), and he continued to function in that capacity till 1994, effectively running the Institute for fifty-five years. //

Further it's written-
//Dandekar earned an M.A. in Sanskrit in 1931, and an M.A. in Ancient Indian Culture in 1933, both from Bombay University (renamed some years ago as Mumbai University). He joined Fergusson College in Pune in 1933 as a professor of Sanskrit and Ancient Indian Culture. In 1936, he went to Germany for further studies and received his doctoral degree from Heidelberg University in 1938 for his thesis Der Vedish Mensh.//

One can read about him here

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramchandra_Narayan_Dandekar&ved=2ahUKEwihgrC2j_jwAhVMumMGHbOdDgAQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0zHB-3nIVJjtJIbLRlMNm_

Evidence 3 : following is an excerpt from Sudarshan magazine by Sri Puttur Swami-

"In the year 1910, the 'Vaidika Vardhani Mudraakshara Press' printed a version of Mahabharatha. After printing the 'Anusaasana Parva' of 252 chapters, it is mentioned that 22 chapters occurring between the [sic] 576 and 642 (66 pages) is an interpolation (material added to the original). It is observed that Anna Subramanya Iyer had drawn his reference from this questionable portion of Anusaasana Parva. There is an interesting footnote on page 576, which provides six reasons to establish that the question portion of 22 chapters is an interpolation."

not only these, there are several other points to consider. None of the authentic works, by advaitins, dvaitins, vishishtadvaitins, or even shaivas before the 16th Century ever say that there is an "upamanyu upAkhyAna" in the Mahabharata where Krishna is said to have taken up Saiva initiation from sage upamanyu to worship Siva. The original Mahabharatha has been translated from Sanskrit to Telugu by three poets of the 11th 13th and 14th centuries, namely, Nannaya Bhattu, Thikkana Somayaji and Erra Pragada and Thikkana Somayaji, who deals with the concerned Parva, does not mention anything about these questionable chapters and so on. The shiv sahasranam of mahabharata too has very less reliability, as there are no mentions or quotations from it by ancient vaidiks and it has no ancient commentary, unlike The Vishnu sahasranam. 

Moreover, As explain in the Narayana post, Krishna always praises and worships Shiva, because he himself is his indweller, he is the soul of Shiva and he said, he Worships himself By doing so. That doesnt makes Shiva superior. As per Valmiki Ramayana too, He Got a boon from the king of celestials Indra, he Studied under Viswamitra to get All celestial missiles and weapons.

Hence from mahabharata also, It is obvious that Supreme being is Narayana alone. Now let's move towards the vedas. From starting to end, The vedas declare Lord Vishnu alone as the supreme being and he is sung by various names like Indra, Agni, Soma, Visvakarma, Narayana, Purusha, Kāla, Skamba, Rudra, Mahadeva etc. He is the one who begot and gave names to all Gods :

yo naḥ pitā janitā yo vidhātā dhāmāni veda bhuvanāniviśvā | yo devānāṃ nāmadhā eka eva taṃ sampraśnambhuvanā yantyanyā ||(Rv 10.82.3)

"Father who made us, he who, as Disposer, knoweth all races and all things existing, Even he alone,the deitie's narne giver, him other beings seek for information."

now someone might raise an objection that This is dedicated to "Visvakarma" not vishnu. For this, one should know that Vedas themselves declare supreme being as only one, who alone holds all the names. Secondly, The Visavakarma suktam, be it RV 10.82 or YV taittiriya samhita 4.6.2, It mentions how from navel of Visvakarma came the one who Created rest of the universe. This clearly points towards Lord Brahma coming from navel of Lord Vishnu and Moreover, Sri Adi shankaracharya Himself Confirmed this in his Vishnu sahasranam bhasya, under the name "Padmanabha". Hence, There is no doubt that this Visvakarma is none other than Lord vishnu only. Further, He is said to be the Lord of the universe, whom all other Gods follow :

hariɱ harantamanuyanti devā viśvasyeśānaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ matīnām |brahmasarūpamanu medamāgādayanaṁ mā vivadhīrvikramasva || 1|| (Taittiriya Aranyaka 49.1)

"Like servants gods follow Hari who is the Lord of the universe, who leads all thoughts as the foremost leader and who absorbs into himself the universe at time of dissolution(or who destroys the sins of devotees). May this path to liberation taught in the Vedas having the same form as Brahman open itself to me! Deprive not me of that! Strive to secure it for me."

The opening verses of Taittiriya aranyaka mentions how The lord of the Shoreless waters i.e Narayana, Is the Greater than the Greatest :

aṁbhasyapāre bhuvanasya madhye nākasya pṛṣṭhe mahato mahīyān . śukreṇa jyotīɱṣi samanupraviṣṭaḥ prajāpatiścarati garbhe antaḥ .

(Taittiriya aranyaka 1.1)

"The Lord of creation, who is present in the shoreless waters, on the earth and above the heaven and who is greater than the Great, having entered the shining intelligences of creatures in seed form, acts in the foetus (which grows into the living being that is born)" 

Doesn't ends here, He is alone said to be the cause of the universe, on into which all dissolves and One who bestows all powers to the Gods :

yasminnidaɱ saṁ ca vi caiti sarvaṁ yasmin devā adhi viśve niṣeduḥ . tadeva bhūtaṁ tadu bhavyamā idaṁ tadakṣare parame vyoman (Taittiriya aranyaka 1.2)

"That in which all this universe exists together and into which it dissolves, That in which all the Gods remain enjoying their respective powers—That certainly is whatever that has been in the past and whatever indeed is to come in the future. This cause of the universe, is supported by His own imperishable nature described as absolute."

as said in Rig veda also, It is Lord Vishnu by whose power the Heavens were stablished and the one under whose control all the powers of the world are :

"The early morning prayer hath come to Vishnu and Varuna, Lords through might, whom none hath equalled, Gods by whose power the realms of air were stablished, strongest and most heroic in their vigour .The early prayer hath ever come to Vishnu and Varuna by that God's high power and statute .In whose control all this world that shineth all that hath powers to see and all that breatheth." (atharva veda 7.25)

He is said to be the one who Created all the Gods 

This was in the beginning the waters, the ocean. In it Prajapati becoming the wind moved. He saw her, and becoming a boar he seized her. Her, becoming Viçvakarma, he wiped. She extended, she became the earth, and hence the earth is called the earth (lit. 'the extended'). In her Prajapati made effort. He produced the Gods, vasus, Rudras and adityas. The gods said to Prajapati, 'Let us have offspring.' He said [1], 'As I have created you by penance, so seek ye offspring in penance.' (yajur ved, Taittirya Samhita, 7.1.5)

In the post whose link i gave in the very beginning, I had cleared How prajapati here is Narayana and not Brahma. Moreover, The Gods are said to be the Offsprings of Goddess Earth (Mahalakshmi) and prajapati, which itself confirms the fact that prajapti here is Lord Narayana, not Brahma since Goddess of the earth or Bhu devi is the consort of Narayana As explained in this article. 

moreover, The Rig veda again says eko ha vai nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā na ca śaṅkaraḥ || which means only Narayana was there in the beginning, Not brahma and not Shiva. How can one forget the Narayana suktam, which clears up the Fact that Narayana alone is the Supreme being :

nārāyaṇaḥ paraṁ brahma tattvaṁ nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ, nārāyaṇaḥ paro jyotirātmā nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ. nārāyaṇaḥ paro dhyātā dhyānam nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ. (Taittiriya aranyaka 4.10

13)

"The Lord Narayana is the Supreme Absolute; Narayana is the Supreme Reality; Narayana is the Supreme Light; Narayana is the Supreme Self; Narayana is the Supreme Meditator; Narayana is the Supreme Meditation."

I believe that this much is enough to clear the Lies that There is some other supreme being above Lord Narayana.

Analysis of Shankaracharaya's Bhasya

We have already seen how There is no scope of a being higher than Lord Narayana, so the very claim of a nirakar nirgun Brahm being higher than Narayana itself becomes obsolete. But still, Let us see what sri adi shankaracharya Has written in his bhasya on the Vishnu sahasranam. The very first thing to note is Sri Shankaracharya wrote A bhasya on Vishnu sahasranam which is found in the Mahabharata, a text which extolls Narayana alone as the supreme being. So The vishnu sahasranam in it Cannot be dedicated to Some other God who is "Vishnu" or all prevading, since there is no such God mentioned in the mahabharata, and so the bhasya on It also will praise Lors Vishnu only not a nirakar Nirgun brahm. This is a simple Logic that even a little child will understand. 

In the very beginning of his Bhasya, sri Shankaracharya Talks about lord Hari who is the supreme bestower. Then he quotes the Sruti which asks one to meditate on Lord Narayana and after that he has Laid Emphasis on "Krishna" name of Lord Vishnu. 

He quotes the statement given by Maharishi Vyas that how he found that narayana alone is the supreme being after Churning all shastras. He goes on quoting Harivamsa parva of mahabharata and Even The Vishnu puran to explain the Greatness of hari. 

He declares that How the name of Hari is the solo refuge of this kaliyuga and the Greatness of chanting the names of the almighty Lord NArayana. The main thing to notice in all these Snippets is that alongside srutis, he Has used Texts like Harivamsa, Vishnu puran, Mahabharata etc which Talk of Only god NArayana as the supreme being. So if This bhasya is for a "Higher nirakar nirgun" Brahm, Then why has he used Only Vaishnav centric texts here? Why not those Upanishads and Purans which these Vishnu dweshis use, to Claim The laughable identity of the  "higher nirakar nirgun" Brahm? 

He quotes the Vishnu Puran again, which asserts the fact that Janardhan (Narayana) is the supreme being who assumes Brahma vishnu and Shiv rups. He talks of the fact that How narayana is the "Supreme self" of all i.e the indweller of Gods, including Shiva, yama, brahma etc which Krishna himself confirmed in Mahabharata and geeta and which Brahma confirmed in Valmiki Ramayana. Now the question is, are Vishnu Puran, Harivamsa, Mahabharata, Ramayana etc dedicated to a formless nirakar Nirgun brahm instead of four/two handed Lord narayana? Now I know this is a common sense based thing, but Vishnu dweshis will Cross all limits and Kill common sense also for their extreme hate for Narayana, so we will analyze this further. 

Claim : He has also quoted Upanishads liks svetasvatara and Shiv puran, along with Other Upanishads and Srutis.

refutation : quoting relevant portions for explaination from Shiv puran or any other such puran doesn't proves anything. Moreover, in geeta 15.15 Ths Lord himself says that He alone is known by the vedas, which he confirmed in santi parva of mahabharata. Even Rig veda 1.164 says Supreme reality is only one, and In the previous section, it was already proved how the reality is Narayana alone, so quoting Srutis along with Smritis (EPics, Purans) doesn't makes The Deity of the bhasya to be "Nirakar nirgun", as even mahabharata says the Study of vedas should be coupled with epics and Purans. Further, The verse quoted from shiv puran is no longer avaliable in current versions and Svetasvatara is an upanishad which extolls Narayana under the name of "Rudra". The Lord already said he is the solo supreme being, so no other than him can be extolled as supreme in the vedas and as explained before, He is the one who gave names to all Gods, which means ALl names belonged to him At first.

He quotes the svetasvatara explaining how Narayana is the one who gave The Knowledge of Vedas to Brahma in the beginning of the creation, and this is absolutely True, because as Per Rig veda 10.82, Taittiriya samhita 4.6.2, Atharva veda etc Brahma was born from Narayana.

He goes a step further and Declares Mahalakshmi to be the supreme Parasakti extolled in the vedas (which is absolutely True ; She is known by the names of Sita, Sri, bhu, nila, aditi, Vak, durga etc in vedas), who is the sakti of Lord Vishnu (Sripati) and for that he quotes the Svetasvatara again.

Here he Clearly states the fact that Lord Narayana is alone known by the name of "shiv" and other such names (Rudra, shankar, mahadev, bhava, sarva, Pinaki, Nilalotha etc). Hence, There is no doubt that Even the svetasvatara extolls God Narayana under the tag of Rudra. morever, Most of these names are found in the Vishnu sahasranam, Narasimha Tapniye Upanishad, Ram rahasya Upanishad and the mahabharata and Vaishnava acharyas have already written brilliant commentaries on svetasvatara explaining how It glorifies Narayana alone. 

Claim : by using the names "Narayana", "Vasudeva" etc Shanakaracharya refers to Nirakar Nirgun Brahm not Lakshmipati.

refutation : These kind of bizzare claims arise when Ultimately these Vishnu dweshis realise there is no other way, but to Steal the names which belong to the Lord, in order to prove their propoganda. None of the ancient vaidikas, advaits, Dvaits or visistha advaits Have ever made These Nonsensical claims that Narayana/Vasudeva is some Nirakar Brahm not God sridhara. Moreover, This argument is extremely weak as sri shankara in Geeta bhasya 3.36 has clarified who vasudeva is :

Firstly, he directly addressed Lord Krishna as "VAsudeva" then he quotes Vishnu puran to explain why he is called Bhagvan in the particular verse. Nowhere, in any bhasya he has addressed any other Deity as Vasudeva. Regarding the name Narayana, i have written a separate post on this, But still let us see what Geeta bhasya of Sri shankara says :

BGB 5.29. The Lord explains in this verse that how he is the lord of all sacrifices, Lord of the three worlds and In his commentary, Sri shankaracharya has used the name "Narayana" to elaborate on this. Not only here, he has again Addressed The Lord as "Narayana" in 7.15 :

In 7.19, he has again explained how the Lord is the indweller of all, and again addressed him as "Narayana" and "Vasudeva"

Other than these, even geeta 8.5, 15.7, 14.26, 12.19-20 ,11.9 , 6.47 etc he has used names like Vishnu, Narayana, Hari, Devakiputra etc with "Vasudeva" thus proving to which deity he was referring.

Claim : adi shankaracharya Talks of Brahm Vishnu shiva equality in the beginning of the bhasya.

Refutation : yes, That's True, but he said it because He believed and the shastras Say that Narayana is the supreme indweller of all (Narayana suktam, Mahabharata, Valmiki Ramayan, subala upanishad, Geeta etc), he is the soul of All Gods including Brahma, shiva, Yama etc. In one of the above extracts, he quotes Lord yama who was saying how he is Narayana, so does that means Lord yama is the four armed Supreme being? No! This simply means narayana is the indweller of Yama. Same goes for SHiva and brahma also. This can also be explained as follows :

Sri shankaracharya states the fact that lord Narayana is the one who assumes Brahma and SHiv rup in order to Carry out all tasks of the creation i.e they are his rup only, thats why he talked of non duality. He says that The supreme being, extolled throughout the scriptures is Lord janardan, And rest others, being his own expansions and Forms, are non dual from him. 

He again explains how Rudra is none other than a form of Lord narayana only, so obviously there is non duality between them, since All are forms of supreme brahm narayana alone. Further, He has equated shiva to sankarshana i.e a vyuh form of Narayana and as per srimad bhagwatam, Shiva meditates on Sankarshana vyuh of bhagwan :

"In Ilāvṛta-varṣa, Lord Śiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of Goddess Durgā, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa, the fourth expansion, is certainly transcendental, but because His activities of destruction in the material world are in the mode of ignorance, He is known as tāmasī, the Lord’s form in the mode of ignorance. Lord Śiva knows that Saṅkarṣaṇa is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra." (5.17.16)

Sankarshan is lord Narsimha himself. This proves that all names in Vedas like Rudra, shiva and mahadev are originally of Narsimha Swami And since Parvatipati mediates on Sankarshan that's why Lord Sankarshn gave his names to Parvatipati Mahadeva.

Now let us look at some more Things in the bhasya which proves that it is dedicated to Lord Vishnu only.

He is addressed as the consort of Bhu devi and the Person inside sun (i.e indeweller who is Glorified in vedic hyms related to sun God). Now is the consort of Bhu devi, The one who said "I am Vishnu amongsts adityas" and the one whose expansion is the sun God, a nirakar Nirgun brahm or the Four/two armed Lord Narayana? I leave this to the discretiom of the readers.

Who Is the Almighty being, on whose chest Goddess Mahalakshmi resides, and the one whose consort is Mahalakshmi? There is no scope of any Nirakar nirgun brham here. This all specifically talks of Vishnu alone. 

He has written this over and over again that Lord Narayana is alone declared supreme in vedas, and again he quotes Bhagwat geeta 15.15 for that. He also quotes the katha upanishad, which extolls the Vaikuntha abode of Lord Vishnu. 

He has praised Maharishi Ved vyas for composing this hym on Lord Vishnu, which itself clears up the fact that Deity of this hym is Narayana alone and further, Maharishi vyas has been called the avatar of the very same narayana, to whom this hym is dedicated. Now was he an incarnation of a "Higher nirakar Brahm" or of Four/two armed narayana, is well known to a geniune person who has even 1% knowledge of the shastras. 

This much should be enough to refute the claim of the bhasya being dedicated to a nirakar nirgu  Brahm higher than narayana, Because firstly No being, no God is above him and then, the attributes of the Lord Are extolled using mainly The mahabharata, Ramayana, vaishnav purans coupled with Required vedic verses. Adi shankaracharya believed Narayana to be the highest being and all others being his form. I will keep on updating the article to Portray more relevant facts here. 

              ||JAI Hanuman||