Did Adi Shankara become a Vaishnava ?

There is a claim by Iskconites that Shankara was actually a Vaishnava in disguise, which is why he actually made the Bhaja Govindam verse towards the end of his life. However let us look at the Bhaja Govindam verses properly .

Let us take a verse below

सत्सङ्गत्वे निस्सङ्गत्वं
निस्सङ्गत्वे निर्मोहत्वम् ।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं
निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः ॥ ९॥

It literally means association with the wise men or reality you get into non-attachment from the world in this case likes and dislikes, from this non-attachment or Vairagya you actually get out of Moha or delusion. From that you get attached to Nishchala Tatvam, in this case Nishchala Tatvam is the changeless reality. By constantly contemplating on this reality you get Jivanmukti or liberated while living.  Now notice Shankara in Bhaja Govindam has clearly stated “निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः” . The changeless reality leads to liberation while living. If Shankara was merely teaching the Saguna Bhakti towards Hari as these people claim, then does why should he talk about “Jivanmukti”. Now whether it be in Ramanuja’s, Madhva’s or even as per Achintya Bhedabheda vada. There is no Jivanmukti, or liberation while living on this earth. As per them either going to Vaikunta or Goloka and doing Bhakti of Hari is Mukti , but there is absolutely no concept of Jivanmukti in these systems. So this means the claim of the Vaishnavas that he was indirectly directing people to worship Hari through Saguna Bhakti is without any basis. Now one more thing to be noted , what type of Vishnu or Hari is Shankara telling to do Bhajanam or worship. Let us look a verse in Bhaja Govindam only

“त्वयि मयि चान्यत्रैको विष्णु-
र्व्यर्थं कुप्यसि मय्यसहिष्णुः ।
भव समचित्तः सर्वत्र त्वं
वाञ्छस्यचिराद्यदि विष्णुत्वम् ॥ २४॥ ”

Meaning In me and you there is only one Vishnu, unnecessarily you get agitated by me, you have no tolerance towards me, have equanimity towards all and everything, if you truly wish to have Vishnutvam, or omnipresence in short time.

Notice even in this verse Shankara is not talking about Vishnu with 4 hands, but simply Vishnu which is an omnipresent presence. He also talks about gaining Vishnutvam and not necessarily Vishnu Sannidhyam or being in the presence of Vishnu. In this way there are many verses in the Bhaja Govindam which directly contradict the claim that Shankara turned into a Vaishnava. If we agree  that he wrote all Prakarana Granthas post his Bhashyas , then Vivekachudamani is one such book, he says the following

वदन्तु शास्त्राणि यजन्तु देवान्
कुर्वन्तु कर्माणि भजन्तु देवताः ।
आत्मैक्यबोधेन विनापि मुक्तिः
न सिध्यति ब्रह्मशतान्तरेऽपि ॥ ६ ॥

Let him speak a thousand sciences or scriptures, let him worship many Devatas through Yajnas, let him do millions of works , let him even worship Deities like Vishnu or Shiva, without the knowledge of the oneness of the self he doesn’t attain Mukti even if a 100 Brahmas expire.

From this verse it is quite clear that in all of his works Shankara has clearly stated that Jnanam or knowledge of the  self alone will lead to Mukti and not even devotion of various deities. Inspite of showing all of this , the Iskconites will never even bother to look at the whole thing from a logical perspective. They will just say “oh but Shankara said Paahi Muraare meaning save me Muraari ” . Yes he is telling Murari to grant him Vairagya and the knowledge of oneness of the self .  So even for Shankara Bhakti is for chitta shuddhi or cleansing  of the mind only. It is not a direct means to Mukti or liberation. This is  the  reason that the Iskcon claim that Shankara was hidden Vaishnava or that  he became a Vaishnava later holds no water.