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{{Short description|8th-century Indian Vedic scholar}}
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{{about|the vedic scholar Adi Shankara|the title used in Advaita traditions|Shankaracharya}}
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{{redirect|Adi Shankaracharya|the 1983 Indian film|Adi Shankaracharya (film)}}
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{{EngvarB|date=February 2015}}
!style="background:#f90; border-bottom:1px solid" align=center colspan=2|Adi Shankara
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
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{{Infobox Hindu leader
|align=center style="border-top:1px solid"|Dates:||style="border-top:1px solid"|c. ] to ] ] <ref name="Dates"> There is some debate regarding this issue. {{cite book
| image = Raja Ravi Varma - Sankaracharya.jpg
| last = Tapasyananda
| caption = Painting of Adi Shankara, exponent of Advaita Vedanta with his disciples by ]
| first = Swami
| alt =
| year = 2002
| religion = ]
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| birth_date = c. 700 CE{{refn|group=note|name="date"}}
| pages= xv-xxiv
| birth_place =
| birth_name = Shankara
| death_date = c. 750 CE{{refn|group=note|name="date"}}
| death_place =
| guru = ]
| philosophy = ]
| honors = ]
| known_for = Expounded ]
| founder =
| module =
}} }}
{{Advaita}}
gives this date. See also ]</ref>
{{Hindu philosophy}}
|-
'''Adi Shankara''' (8th c. CE), also called '''Adi Shankaracharya''' ({{langx|sa|आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य|Ādi Śaṅkara, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya|lit=First ]}},{{refn|group=note|''Adi'' means "first", to distinguish him from other Shankaras.}} {{IPA|sa|aːd̪i ɕɐŋkɐraːt͡ɕaːrjɐ|pron}}),{{refn|group=note|He is also known as Shankara Bhagavatpada ({{IAST|Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda}}), Shankara Bhagavatpadacharya ({{IAST|Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya}}) or ], sometimes spelled Sankaracharya.}} was an Indian ], ] and teacher ('']'') of ].{{sfn|Suthren Hirst|2005|p=1}} Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty,{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}} and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.{{sfn|King|2001|p=129-130}} He is seen as "the one who restored the Hindu ''dharma'' against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India."<ref name="Whaling_1979" /> Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the {{IAST|]}} form of ], the simultaneous worship of five deities&nbsp;– Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one ], the invisible Supreme Being.<ref name="Klaus Klostermaier 2007">Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism, Third Edition, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-7082-4}}, p. 40</ref>
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'''Adi Shankara''' (]: {{Unicode|आदि शंकर}}, ''{{IAST|Ādi Śaṅkara}}'', ]: {{IPA|}}; ]: {{Unicode|ആദി ശങ്കരാ}}), also known as '''{{IAST|Ādi Śaṅkarācārya}}''' ("the first Shankara in his lineage")<ref>''Adi'' means "the first"; the heads of a few ] ]s are also given the title '']''; ''Acharya'' means "teacher"</ref> and '''{{IAST|Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya}}''' ("the teacher at the feet of ]"), c. ] &ndash; ] ],<ref name="Dates"> There is some debate regarding this issue. {{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages= xv-xxiv
}}
gives this date. However there have been other dates proposed also. See ]</ref> was the first philosopher to consolidate the doctrine of ], a sub-school of ]. His teachings are based on the unity of the ] and ], in which God is viewed as simultaneously ] and ]. In the ] tradition, Adi Shankara is regarded as an incarnation of ].


While often revered as the most important Indian philosopher, the historical influence of his works on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned.{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=29}}{{sfn|King|2001|p=128}}{{sfn|Tola|1989}} Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary ],{{sfn|King|2001|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33–34}} and there is no mention of him in concurring Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sources until the 11th century.{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=217}} The popular image of Shankara started to take shape in the 14th century, centuries after his death, when Sringeri ''matha'' started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33–34}}{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Goodding|2013|p=89}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|pp=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}} and shifted their allegiance from ''Advaitic'' ] Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy.{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=215, 221-222}} Hagiographies dating from the 14th-17th centuries deified him as a ]-], travelling on a ] (conquest of the four quarters){{sfn|Nowicka|2016|p=147}}{{sfn|Bader|2001|p=vii}} across the ] to propagate his philosophy, defeating his opponents in theological debates.{{sfn|Raju|1985|p=383}}{{sfn|Allen|2017}} These hagiographies portray him as founding four ] ("monasteries"), and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the ] monastic order, and the unifier of the ] tradition of worship. The title of ], used by heads of certain monasteries in India, is derived from his name.
Adi Shankara toured ] with the purpose of propagating his teachings through discourses and debates with other philosophers. He founded four ] ("abbeys") which played a key role in the historical development and spread of ] and Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara was the founder of the ] monastic order and the ] tradition of worship.


Due to his later fame, over 300 texts are attributed to him, including commentaries (''Bhāṣya''), introductory topical expositions (''Prakaraṇa grantha'') and poetry (''Stotra'').{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=2–3}} However, most of these are likely to be written by admirers or pretenders or scholars with an eponymous name.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Halbfass|1983}} Works known to be written by Shankara himself are the ''Brahmasutrabhasya'',{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}} his commentaries on ten ],{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Hacker|1995|pp=30–31}} his commentary on the '']'',{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|pp=xii–xiii}} and the '']''.{{sfn|Halbfass|1990|pp=205–208}}{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}} The authenticity of Shankara being the author of {{IAST|]}} has been questioned and mostly rejected by scholarship.{{sfn|Grimes|2004}}{{sfn|Shah-Kazemi|2006|p=4}}
His works in ], all of which are extant today, concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita (], "Non-dualism"). Adi Shankara quotes extensively from the ] and other ] in forming his teachings. He also includes ]s against opposing schools of thought like ] and ] in his works.


His authentic works present a harmonizing reading of the '']s'', with liberating knowledge of the self at its core, synthesizing the ] teachings of his time.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|pp=678-679}}<ref group=web name=Stanford_Dalal2021/> The central concern of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the true identity of ''jivatman'' (individual self) as '']-]'',{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}}{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=176}} taking the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge, beyond the ritually-oriented ]-exegesis of the Vedas.{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=163}}{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2000}}{{refn|group=note|name="ritualism"}}{{refn|group=note|name="Mookerji"}} Shankara's Advaita shows influences from ], despite Shankara's critiques;{{sfn|Shcherbatsky|1927|pp=44–45}}{{sfn|Dasgupta|1997|p=494}} and Hindu ] opponents have even accused Shankara of being a "crypto-Buddhist,"{{sfn|Biderman|1978|pp=405–413}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|p=14}}{{sfn|King|1995|p=183}}{{refn|group=note|name="crypto-Buddhist"}} a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on ''Atman'', ''Anatta'' and ''Brahman''.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=60, 145–154}}{{refn|group=note|name=self_no-self}}
==Life==
{{TOC limit|3}}
The traditional source for accounts of Adi Shankara's life are the ] (] ''{{IAST|Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}''), ("Victory of Shankara"), which are poetic works that contain biographical material written in the epic style of legend. The most important among these ] are the ''{{IAST|Mādhavīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}'' (of Mādhava, c. ]), the ''{{IAST|Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}'' (of Cidvilāsa, c. between ] and ]), and the ''{{IAST|Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}'' (of the ] region, extant from c. ]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/sankara-vijayam.html |title=The ''Sankaravijaya'' literature |accessdate=2006-08-23 |author=Vidyasankar, S.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages= viii
}}
</ref> According to these texts, Adi Shankara was born in ], a village in Kerala, ], to a ] ] couple, Shivaguru (] ''{{IAST|Śivaguru}}'') and Aryamba (] ''{{IAST|Āryāmbā}}'') and lived for thirty two years.


==Dating==
===Birth and childhood===
Several different dates have been proposed for Shankara.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=83–87}} While the Advaita tradition assigns him to the 5th century BCE, the scholarly-accepted dating places Shankara to be a scholar from the first half of the 8th century CE.{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=163}}{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}}
]]]
Adi Shankara's parents were childless for many years. They prayed at the ] (also known as ''Vrishachala'') in ], Kerala, for the birth of a child.<ref>{{cite book
| last =Tapasyananda
| first =Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=14
}}
</ref> Legend has it that ] appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams, and offered them a choice: a mediocre son who would live a long life, or an extraordinary son who would not live long. Both the parents chose the latter; thus a son was born to them. He was named Shankara (Sanskrit, "bestower of happiness"), in honour of ] (one of whose epithets is '']'').<ref>{{cite book
| last =Tapasyananda
| first =Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=17
}}
</ref>


===Matha datings===
His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's {{IAST|]}}, the initiation into student-life, was performed at the age of five. As a child, Shankara showed remarkable scholarship, mastering the four ] by the age of eight. Following the customs of those days, Shankara studied and lived at the home of his teacher. It was customary for students and men of learning to receive {{IAST|Bhikṣā}} ("alms") from the ]; on one occasion, while accepting {{IAST|Bhikṣā}}, Shankara came upon a woman who had only a single dried ] to eat. Rather than consuming this last bit of food herself, the pious lady gave away the fruit to Shankara as {{IAST|Bhikṣā}}. Moved by her piety, Shankara composed the Kanakadhārā Stotram on the spot. Legend has it that on completion of the ], golden amalaka fruits were showered upon the woman by {{IAST|]}}, the Goddess of wealth.<ref>{{cite book
* 509–477 ]: this dating is based on records of the heads of the Shankara's cardinal institutions {{IAST|Maṭha}}s. The exact dates of birth of Adi Shankaracharya believed by four monasteries are ] at 491 BCE,{{refn|group=note|Arun Kumar Upadhyay: "The copper-plate of King Sudhanwa, said to have been issued to Sankara and now in the possession of Government on behalf of Dwärká Mutt, bears the date as Yudhisthira Saka 2663, Åsvin Sukla 15. This gives us 476 B.C. as the relevant year of his death. The copper-plate seems to have been issued to Sankara right towards the end of his career. King Sudhanwa is referred to not only by Jinavijaya but also by biographers like Madhava and Sadánanda."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arun Kumar Upadhyay |url=http://archive.org/details/sankara-vijayas |title=Sankara Vijayas |date=2020-04-30|page=89}}</ref> Citsukha's Brhat-Sankara Vijaya also gives us the year of 2663 of Yudhi. Saka i.e., 476 B.C. as the year of Sankara's passing away.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sankara Vijayas |date=30 April 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/sankara-vijayas/page/88 |access-date=11 May 2022}}</ref>}} ] at 485 BCE, ] at 484 BCE and ] at 483 BCE.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Dating Adi Shankara|url=https://www.indiadivine.org/content/topic/1098476-dating-adi-shankara/|access-date=2020-08-20|website=IndiaDivine.org|date=25 March 2003 |language=en-US}}</ref> while according to the ] Peetham Adi Shankara was born in Kali 2593 (509 BCE).<ref name="Dalal2010p376"/>{{refn|group=note|The successive heads of the Kanchi and all other major Hindu Advaita tradition monasteries have been called ] leading to some confusion, discrepancies and scholarly disputes. The chronology stated in Kanchi Matha texts recognizes five major Shankaras: Adi, Kripa, Ujjvala, Muka and Abhinava. According to the Kanchi Matha tradition, it is "Abhinava Shankara" that western scholarship recognizes as the Advaita scholar Shankara, while the monastery continues to recognize its 509 BCE chronology.<ref name="Dalal2010p376">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA376| year=2010|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=376}}</ref><ref>T.S. Narayana Sastry (1916, republished 1971), </ref> Also, as per astronomical details given in books Shankara Satpatha, Shankara Vijaya, Brihat Shakara Vijaya and Prachina Shankara Vijaya, it is believed that Shankaracharya was born in 509 BCE.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} According to Kanhi Peetham, having established his divine mission, the incomparable Sankara attained his BrahmTbhava (identity with Brahman) at Kanchi, in the precincts of Sri Kamakshi, in his 32nd year, in 2625 Kali, in the cyclic year Raktakshi, corresponding to 476 B.C.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sastry Narayana S.t. |url=http://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.505901 |title=The Age Of Sankara (1916) |date=1916 |publisher=B.G. Paul and Co.}}</ref>}}
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=28-29
}}
</ref>


The records of the ] state that Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of "Vikramaditya", but it is unclear to which king this name refers.<ref name="nila">K.A. Nilakantha Sastry, ''A History of South India'', 4th ed., Oxford University Press, Madras, 1976.</ref> Though some researchers identify the name with ] (4th century CE), modern scholarship accepts the Vikramaditya as being from the ], most likely ] (733–746 CE).<ref name="nila"/>
===Sannyasa===


===Scholarly datings===
From a young age, Shankara was attracted to ] ("monastic life"). His mother was against his becoming a monk, and refused him formal permission.
* 788–820 CE: This was proposed by late 19th and early twentieth century scholars, following K.P. Tiele,{{refn|group=note|Tiele based this dating on Yajnesvara Sastri's treatise ''Aryavidya-sudhakar'' ("The Moon of Noble Knowledge"), who in turn cited Bhatta Nilakantha's work ''Sankara-mandara-saurabha'' ("The fragrance of Sankara's paradise tree").{{sfnp|Isayeva|1993|p=83-84}}}} and was customarily accepted by scholars such as ], Macdonnel, Pathok, Deussen and Radhakrishna.{{sfnp|Isayeva|1993|p=83-84}}{{sfnp|Tapasyananda|2015|p=20}} Though the 788–820 CE dates are widespread in 20th-century publications, recent scholarship has questioned the 788–820 CE dates.{{sfn|Mayeda|2015}}{{refn|group=note|The date 788–820 is also among those considered acceptable by ], though he raises a number of questions.{{sfnp|Tapasyananda|2015|p=15-17}}}}
However, once when Shankara was bathing in the ] near his house, a crocodile gripped his leg and began to drag him into the water. Only his mother was nearby, and it proved impossible for her to rescue him. Shankara asked his mother to give him permission to renounce the world then and there and so die a monk. At the end of her wits, his mother agreed. Shankara immediately recited the ]s that made a renunciate of him. The crocodile released him and swam away. Shankara emerged unscathed from the water.<ref>{{cite book
* {{Circa|700|750}} CE: Late 20th-century and early 21st-century scholarship tends to place Shankara's life in the first half of the 8th century.{{sfn|Mayeda|2015}}{{sfnp|Isaeva|1993|p=84–87 with footnotes}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Koller|2013|p=99}}: "the best recent scholarship argues that he was born in 700 and died in 750 CE."}} This estimate is based on the probable earliest and latest limits for his lifetime. His works contains traces of debates with Buddhist and ] authors from th 5th-7th century, setting the earliest limit at {{Circa|650 CE}}. The latest limit is established by ]'s commentary on Sankara's work, dated first half of the 9th century, thus setting the latest limit for Sankara at {{Circa|800 CE}}.{{sfnp|Isayeva|1993|p=85}}
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=40-50
}}
</ref>


===Other datings===
With the permission of his mother, Shankara left Kerala and travelled towards ] in search of a ]. On the banks of the ], he met ], the disciple of ]. When Govinda Bhagavatpada asked Shankara's identity, he replied with an extempore verse that brought out the ] philosophy. Govinda Bhagavatapada was impressed and took Shankara as his disciple.<ref>{{cite book
* 44–12 ]: the commentator Anandagiri believed he was born at Chidambaram in 44 BCE and died in 12 BCE.{{sfn|Keshava Menon|1976|p=108}}
| last = Tapasyananda
* 6th century CE: Telang placed him in this century. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar believed he was born in 680 CE.{{sfn|Keshava Menon|1976|p=108}}
| first = Swami
* 805–897 CE: Venkiteswara not only places Shankara later than most, but also had the opinion that it would not have been possible for him to have achieved all the works apportioned to him, and has him live ninety-two years.{{sfn|Keshava Menon|1976|p=108}}
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=51-56
}}
</ref> Adi Shankara was commissioned by his Guru to write a commentary on the ]s and propagate Advaita Vedanta. The ''Madhavīya Shankaravijaya'' states that Adi Shankara calmed a flood from the ] by placing his ''{{IAST|kamaṇḍalu}}'' ("water pot") in the path of the raging water, thus saving his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpada, who was engaged in {{IAST|]}} ("meditation") in a cave nearby.


==Traditional and historical views on Shankara==
On his mission to spread the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, Adi Shankara travelled to ], where a young man named ] from ] in ], became his first disciple. In Kashi, Adi Shankara was on his way to the ], when he came upon an ] with four dogs. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable replied: "Do you wish that I move my ever lasting ] ("the Self"), or this body made of food?" Understanding that the untouchable was none other than ] ], and his dogs the four ], Shankara prostrated himself before him, composing five ]s known as ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.celextel.org/adisankara/manishapanchakam.html |title=Manisha Panchakam |accessdate=2006-08-04 |author=Adi Shankara}} </ref><ref>{{cite book
{{See also|History of Hinduism}}
| last = Tapasyananda
]
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=57-62
}}
</ref>


===Traditional views of Shankara===
On reaching ] in the ], he wrote the famous ''Bhashyas'' ("commentaries") and ''Prakarana granthas'' ("philosophical treatises"). Afterwards he taught these commentaries to his disciples. Some, like Sanandana, were quick to grasp the essence; the other disciples thus became jealous of Sanandana. In order to convince the others of Sanandana's inherent superiority, Adi Shankara summoned Sanandana from one bank of the ], while he was on the opposite bank. Sanandana crossed the river by walking on the lotuses that were brought out wherever he placed his foot. Adi Shankara was greatly impressed by his disciple and gave him the name {{IAST|]}} ("lotus-footed one").<ref>{{cite book
Shankara has an unparallelled status in the tradition of ]. Hagiographies from the 14th-17th century portray him as a victor who travelled all over India to help restore the study of the Vedas<ref>Per Durst-Andersen and Elsebeth F. Lange (2010), Mentality and Thought: North, South, East and West, CBS Press, {{ISBN|978-87-630-0231-8}}, p. 68</ref> According to Frank Whaling, "Hindus of the Advaita persuasion (and others too) have seen in Sankara the one who restored the Hindu ''dharma'' against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India."<ref name="Whaling_1979">Frank Whaling (1979), , Journal of Indian Philosophy Vol. 7, No. 1 (MARCH 1979), pp. 1-42: "Hindus of the Advaita persuasion (and others too) have seen in Sankara the one who restored the Hindu ''dharma'' against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India."</ref> His teachings and ] are central to ] and have influenced ] lineages.<ref>{{cite conference|author=Ron Geaves|date=March 2002|title=From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara)|conference=27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford}}</ref> Tradition portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the {{IAST|]}} form of ], the simultaneous worship of five deities&nbsp;– Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one ], the invisible Supreme Being,<ref name="Klaus Klostermaier 2007"/> implying that Advaita Vedanta stood above all other traditions.{{sfn|Kruijf|Sahoo|2014|p=105}}
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=62-63
}}
</ref> The sage, {{IAST|]}}, visited Adi Shankara in the guise of an old {{IAST|]}}. Adi Shankara debated with the {{IAST|brāhmaṇa}} for over eight days when at last, Vyasa revealed his real identity and blessed Adi Shankara.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=70-73
}}
</ref>


===Prominence of Maṇḍana Miśra (until 10th century)===
===Meeting with Mandana Mishra===
Scholars have questioned Shankara's early influence in India.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}} The Buddhist scholar ] states,
One of the most famous debates of Adi Shankara was with the ] ] (] ''{{IAST|Maṇḍana Miśra}}''). Mandana Mishra's ] was the famous ] philosopher, {{IAST|]}}. Shankara sought a debate with {{IAST|Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa}} and met him in ] where he had buried himself in a slow burning pyre to repent for sins committed against his Guru: {{IAST|Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa}} had learnt ] incognito from him in order to be able to refute it. This constitutes a sin according to the ].<ref>{{cite book
{{blockquote|Although it is common to find Western scholars and Hindus arguing that Sankaracarya was the most influential and important figure in the history of Hindu intellectual thought, this does not seem to be justified by the historical evidence.{{sfn|King|2001|p=128}}}}
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=77-80
}}
</ref> {{IAST|Kumarīla Bhaṭṭa}} thus asked Adi Shankara to proceed to {{IAST|Mahiṣmati}} (known today as Maheshwar in ])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1upindia.com/pilgrimages/maheshwar.html
| title=Pilgrimages- Maheshwar


According to Clark, "Sankara was relatively unknown during his life-time, and probably for several centuries after, as there is no mention of him in Buddhist or jain sources for centuries; nor is he mentioned by other important philosophers of the ninth and tenth centuries."{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=217}} According to King and Roodurmun, until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary ], the latter considered to be the major representative of Advaita.{{sfn|King|2001|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33–34}} ], an older contemporary of Shankara,{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=29}} was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of ], but also wrote a seminal text on Advaita that has survived into the modern era, the ''Brahma-siddhi''.{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=31}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Allen Wright Thrasher|year=1993|title=The Advaita Vedānta of Brahma-siddhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9b2cJ1gLgvgC |publisher =Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0982-6 |pages=vii–x}}</ref> The "theory of error" set forth in the ''Brahma-siddhi'' became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error,{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=32}} and for a couple of centuries he was the most influential Vedantin.{{sfn|King|2002|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33-34}}{{refn|group=note|name=King2002_MandanaMisra}} His student ], who is believed to have been an incarnation of Shankara to popularize the Advaita view,{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=34}} wrote the '']'', a commentary on Shankara's ''Brahma Sutra Bhashya'', and the ''Brahmatattva-samiksa'', a commentary on Mandana Mishra's ''Brahma-siddhi''. His thought was mainly inspired by Mandana Miśra, and harmonises Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Miśra.{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=35}}<ref group=web name=BhamatiVivarana></ref> The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the ] as the source of avidya.<ref group=web name=BhamatiVivarana /> It sees yogic practice and contemplation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas and reflection are additional factors.{{sfn|King|1999|p=56}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=37}} The later Advaita Vedanta tradition incorporated Maṇḍana Miśra into the Shankara-fold, by identifying him with ] (9th century),<ref name=karlpottermms>{{harvnb|Potter|2008|pp=346–347, 420–423}}: "There is little firm historical information about Suresvara; tradition holds Suresvara is same as Mandana Misra".</ref> believing that Maṇḍana Miśra became a disciple of Shankara after a public debate which Shankara won.{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=31}}{{sfn|Sharma|1997|p=290–291}}
|accessdate=2006-06-26}}</ref> to meet Mandana Mishra and debate with him instead.


According to ], "almost all the later Advaitins were influenced by Mandana Misra and ]."{{sfn|Satchidanandendra Sarasvati|1997|p=6}} He argues that most of post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta actually deviates from Shankara, and that only his student Suresvara, who's had little influence, represents Shankara correctly.{{sfn|Potter|2006|pp=6–7}} In this view, Shankara's influential student Padmapada misunderstood Shankara, while his views were manitained by the Suresvara school.{{sfn|Potter|2006|pp=6–7}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|Potter|2006|pp=6–7}}: "...these modern interpreters are implying that most Advaitins after Samkara's time are confused and basically mistaken, and that 99% of the extant classical interpretive literature on Samkara's philosophy is off the mark. This is clearly a remarkably radical conclusion. Yet, there is good reason to think that it may well be true.}}
Adi Shankara had a famous debate with Mandana Mishra in which the wife of Mandana Mishra, {{IAST|Ubhaya Bhāratī}}, was the referee. After debating for over fifteen days, Mandana Mishra accepted defeat.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=81-104
}}
</ref> {{IAST|Ubhaya Bhāratī}} then challenged Adi Shankara to have a debate with her in order to 'complete' the victory. This debate was to be on the subject of '']'' ("science of sex-love"). But Adi Shankara, being a sannyasi, had no knowledge of this subject; thus, after requesting for some time before entering into this fresh debate, he entered the body of a king by his ] powers and acquired the knowledge of {{IAST|kāmaśāstra}}. Later, however, {{IAST|Ubhaya Bhāratī}} declined to debate with him and allowed Mandana Mishra to accept sannyasa with the ], {{IAST|]}} as per the agreed rules of the debate.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=117-129
}}
</ref>


===Vaishnavite Vedanta (10th-14th century)===
===Dig-vijaya===
] states that prior to Shankara, views similar to his already existed, but did not occupy a dominant position within the Vedanta.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=690}} Until the 11th century, Vedanta itself was a peripheral school of thought;{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|p=157; 229 note 57}} Vedanta became a major influence when it was utilized by various sects of Hinduism to ground their doctrines.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=691-693}} The early Vedanta scholars were from the upper classes of society, well-educated in traditional culture. They formed a social elite, "sharply distinguished from the general practitioners and theologians of Hinduism."{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=693}} Their teachings were "transmitted among a small number of selected intellectuals".{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=693}} Works of the early Vedanta schools do not contain references to Vishnu or Shiva.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=692}} It was only after Shankara that "the theologians of the various sects of Hinduism utilized Vedanta philosophy to a greater or lesser degree to form the basis of their doctrines,"{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=691}} whereby "its theoretical influence upon the whole of Indian society became final and definitive."{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=693}} Examples are ] (11th c.), who aligned ], "the major force in the religions of Hinduism," with philosophical thought, meanwhile rejecting Shankara's views,<ref group=web name=EB_Ramanuja>Encyclopædia Britannica, </ref> and the ]-tradition.{{sfn|Feuerstein|1978}}
], ]]]
Adi Shankara then travelled with his disciples to ] and ]. In Srisailam, he composed ], a devotional hymn to ]. The ''Madhaviya Shankaravijayam'' says that when Shankara was about to be sacrificed by a ], the god ] appeared to save Shankara on ]'s prayer to him. So Adi Shankara composed the Laksmi-Narasimha stotra to praise Narasimha.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=130-135
}}
</ref>
He then travelled to {{IAST|]}}, the temple of Hari-Shankara and the {{IAST|]}} temple at ]. At Kollur he accepted a boy believed to be dumb by his parents, as his disciple. He ], {{IAST|]}} ("one with the ] fruit on his palm", i.e., one who has clearly realised the Self). Next, he visited {{IAST|]}} to establish the {{IAST|]}} and made {{IAST|]}} his disciple.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=136-150
}}
</ref>


===Vijayanagara Empire and Vidyaranya (14th century) - creation of traditional (hagiographic) views===
After this, Adi Shankara began a ''Dig-vijaya'' ("missionary tour") for the propagation of the Advaita philosophy by controverting all philosophies opposed to it. With the ] King Sudhanva as companion, Shankara passed through ], ] and ]. He then started towards ] where he encountered a band of armed ]s. King Sudhanva, with his army, resisted and defeated the kapalikas. They safely reached ] where Shankara defeated in debate the ] scholar, Neelakanta.
In medieval times, Advaita Vedanta position as most influential Hindu ''darsana'' started to take shape, as Advaitins in the Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their sect.{{sfn|Stoker|2016|p=55-56}} It is only during this period that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta was established.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|pp=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=178–183}} Many of Shankara's biographies were created and published in and after the 14th century, such as Vidyaranya's widely cited ''Śankara-vijaya''. ], also known as Madhava, who was the 12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386<ref>Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mādhava Āchārya". Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> and a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire,<ref name=talbot/> inspired the re-creation of the Hindu ] of South India. This may have been in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic ],{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|pp=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=178–183}}<ref name=talbot>Cynthia Talbot (2001), ''Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-513661-6}}, pp. 185–187, 199–201</ref> but his efforts were also targeted at Sri Vaishnava groups, especially ''Visishtadvaita'', which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire.{{sfn|Stoker|2016|p=55}} Furthermore, sects competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their own sectarian system.{{sfn|Stoker|2016|p=55-56}} Vidyaranya and his brothers, note Paul Hacker and other scholars,{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}{{sfn|Blake Michael|1992|pp=60–62 with notes 6, 7 and 8}} wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make "the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion" more accessible.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}} Vidyaranya was an influential Advaitin, and he created legends to turn Shankara, whose elevated philosophy had no appeal to gain widespread popularity, into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his ''digvijaya'' ("universal conquest," see below) all over India like a victorious conqueror."{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|1998|p=177}} In his ] '']'' ("Summary of all views") Vidyaranya presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all ''darsanas'', presenting the other ''darsanas'' as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be the most inclusive system.{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=160-162}}{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}} The Vaishanava traditions of Dvaita and Visishtadvaita were not classified as Vedanta, and placed just above Buddhism and Jainism, reflecting the threat they posed for Vidyaranya's Advaita allegiance.{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=160}} Bhedabheda wasn't mentioned at all, "literally written out of the history of Indian philosophy."{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=161}} Such was the influence of the ''Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha'', that early Indologists also regarded Advaita Vedanta as the most accurate interpretation of the Upanishads.{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|pp=160}} And Vidyaranya founded a ''matha'', proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|1998|p=177}} Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support,<ref name=talbot/> and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (''mathas'') to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}


===Hagiographies: ''Digvijaya'' - "The conquests of Shankara" (14th-17th century)===
Proceeding to the west in ], Shankara defeated the ] in debate. {{IAST|Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara}} of ], the proponent of Bhedābeda philosophy, was humbled. All the scholars of Ujjayini (also known as Avanti) accepted Adi Shankara's philosophy. He then defeated the ] at a place called Bahlika. Later, he had an encounter with a ], Navagupta at ]. Navagupta pretended to have become a disciple, but later caused Adi Shankara to develop a ]. However, Adi Shankara was soon cured and Navagupta later died of the same disease. <ref>{{cite book
]]]] Mandir, behind ], in ], India]]Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}} His existing biographies are not historical accurate documents, but politically motivated hagiographies which were all written several centuries after his time and abound in legends and improbable events.{{sfn|Mayeda|2015}}
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=160-185
}}
</ref>


====Sources====
Adi Shankara thus travelled throughout India, from ] to ] and ], preaching to the local populace and debating philosophy with Hindu, Buddhist and other scholars and monks along the way.
{{Main|Digvijaya (conquest)|l1 = Digvijaya}}


There are at least fourteen different known ] of Adi Shankara's life.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}} These, as well as other hagiographical works on Shankara, were written many centuries to a thousand years after Shankara's death,{{sfn|Pande|2011|p=35}} in Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit languages, and the hagiographies are filled with legends and fiction, often mutually contradictory.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}}{{refn|group=note|The hagiographies of Shankara mirror the pattern of synthesizing facts, fiction and legends as with other ancient and medieval era Indian scholars. Some hagiographic poems depict Shankara as a reincarnation of deity ], much like other Indian scholars are revered as reincarnation of other deities; for example, Mandana-misra is depicted as an embodiment of deity ], Citsukha of deity ], Anandagiri of ], among others. See {{harvtxt|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–72}}.}}
===Accession to Sarvajnapitha===
Adi Shankara visited ''{{IAST|Sarvajñapīṭha}}'' in ] (now in ]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/setlurbadri/album?.dir=/e51b
| title=Photos of Sharada Temple (Sarvajna Pitha), Sharda, PoK
|accessdate=2006-06-26
}}</ref> The ''Madhaviya Shankaravijayam'' states this ] had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door (representing ]) had never been opened, indicating that no scholar from South India had entered the Sarvajna Pitha. Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as ], ] and other branches of ]; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple. The ''Madhaviya Shankaravijayam'' states that ] ("goddess of knowledge and all literary arts") herself proclaimed the unquestioned scholarly triumph of Adi Shankara on this occasion.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages=186-195
}}
</ref>


Many of these are called the ''Śankara Vijaya'' ('The conquests ('']'') of Shankara'), while some are called ''Guruvijaya'', ''Sankarabhyudaya'' and ''Shankaracaryacarita''. Of these, the ''Brhat-Sankara-Vijaya'' by Citsukha is the oldest hagiography but only available in excerpts, while ''Sankaradigvijaya'' by Mādhava (17th c.) and ''Sankaravijaya'' by Anandagiri are the most cited.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}} Other significant hagiographies are the ''{{IAST|Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}'' (of Cidvilāsa, c. between the 15th and 17th centuries), and the ''{{IAST|Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ}}'' (of the Kerala region, extant from c. the 17th century).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/sankara-vijayam.html |title= The ''Sankaravijaya'' literature |access-date=2006-08-23 |author=Vidyasankar, S.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Tapasyananda |first=Swami |year=2002|title= Sankara-Dig-Vijaya |page=viii |no-pp=true}}</ref>}
Shankara then travelled to ] and attained '']'' ("final liberation") at the age of thirty two. However, there are variant traditions on the location of his last days. The ] matha followers believe he achieved ''videha mukti'' in Kanchi. Another tradition expounded by ''Keraliya Shankaravijaya'' places his place of death as ] in ], Kerala.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages= xxv-xxxv
}}
</ref>


Scholars note that one of the most cited Shankara hagiographies, Anandagiri's, includes stories and legends about historically different people, but all bearing the same name of Sri Shankaracarya or also referred to as Shankara but likely meaning more ancient scholars with names such as Vidya-sankara, Sankara-misra and Sankara-nanda.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}} Some hagiographies are probably written by those who sought to create a historical basis for their rituals or theories.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|p=35}}
===Dates ===


====Early life====
Modern scholarship is agreed on the ] &ndash; ] ] date, though it has proved impossible to reach agreement on Adi Shankara's precise dates of birth or death.<ref> {{cite web
According to the oldest hagiographies, Shankara was born in the southern Indian state of ], in a village named ]<ref>{{cite book|title=Students' Britannica India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA379|year=2000|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|pages=379–}}</ref>{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}} sometimes spelled as Kalati or Karati.<ref>{{cite book|author=Narasingha Prosad Sil |title=Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pTDPlJPyV_MC |year=1997|publisher=Susquehanna University Press |isbn=978-0-945636-97-7 |page=192 }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|This may be present day ] in central Kerala. The house he was born in is still maintained as ].}} His parents were an aged, childless, couple who led a devout life of service to the poor. They named their child Shankara, meaning "giver of prosperity".<ref>{{Cite book|title=East Meets West|last=Adago|first=John|publisher=Program Publishing; 2 edition|year=2018|isbn=978-0692124215|location=UK}}</ref> His father died while Shankara was very young.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}} Shankara's {{IAST|]}}, the initiation into student-life, had to be delayed due to the death of his father, and was then performed by his mother.<ref>{{cite book |first=Y. Keshava |last=Menon |year=1976 |title=The Mind of Adi Shankara |publisher=Jaico |page=109 |isbn=978-8172242145}}</ref>
| url = http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/dating-Sankara.html
| title = Determining Sankara's Date - An overview of ancient sources and modern literature
|accessdate=2006-06-26
| author =Vidyasankar, S.
}} </ref> Some Shankara {{IAST|Maṭhas}}, however, ascribe much earlier dates to him. If these dates were true, they would require moving back the date of ] (which serves as an anchor for modern academic history of India). Of the major Shankara {{IAST|Maṭhas}} active today, the ones at Kanchi, Dwaraka, and Puri ascribe the dates ] &ndash; ] ] to Adi Shankara. The {{IAST|]}}, on the other hand, accepts the 788&ndash;820 CE dates.<ref> {{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages= xv-xxiv
}}
</ref> (See also ]). According to Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati's biography of Adi Shankara, published in his book ''Sannyasa Darshan'', Adi Shankara was born in Kalady, Kerala, in ], and attained mahasamadhi at Kedarnath, ], in ].


==Mathas== ====Sannyasa====
Shankara's hagiographies describe him as someone who was attracted to the life of ] (hermit) from early childhood. His mother disapproved. A story, found in all hagiographies, describe Shankara at age eight going to a river with his mother, ''Sivataraka'', to bathe, and where he is caught by a crocodile.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=74–75}} Shankara called out to his mother to give him permission to become a ''Sannyasin'' or else the crocodile will kill him. The mother agrees, Shankara is freed and leaves his home for education. He reaches a Saivite sanctuary along a river in a north-central state of India, and becomes the disciple of a teacher named ].{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=74–75}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=31–32, also 6–7, 67–68}} The stories in various hagiographies diverge in details about the first meeting between Shankara and his ''Guru'', where they met, as well as what happened later.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=74–75}} Several texts suggest Shankara schooling with Govindapada happened along the river ] in ], a few place it along river Ganges in Kashi (]) as well as Badari (] in the Himalayas).{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=31–32, also 6–7, 67–68}}
], ]]]


The hagiographies vary in their description of where he went, who he met and debated and many other details of his life. Most mention Shankara studying the ], ] and ] with Govindapada, and Shankara authoring several key works in his youth, while he was studying with his teacher.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=76–77}} It is with his teacher Govinda, that Shankara studied Gaudapadiya Karika, as Govinda was himself taught by Gaudapada.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}} Most also mention a meeting with scholars of the ] school of Hinduism namely Kumarila and Prabhakara, as well as Mandana and various Buddhists, in '']'' (an Indian tradition of public philosophical debates attended by large number of people, sometimes with royalty).{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=31–32, also 6–7, 67–68}}
Adi Shankara founded four {{IAST|] }}, to guide the Hindu religion. These are at ] in ] in the south, ] in ] in the west, ] in ] in the east, and ] (Joshimath) in ] in the north. Hindu tradition states that he put in charge of these mathas his four main disciples: ], ], ], and ] respectively. The heads of the mathas trace their authority back to these figures. Each of the heads of these four mathas takes the title of ] ("the learned Shankara") after the first Shankara. The matha at ], ], claims that it was founded by Adi Shankara.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tapasyananda
| first = Swami
| year = 2002
| title = Sankara-Dig-Vijaya
| pages= xiv-xxv
}}
</ref>
The below table gives an overview of the four ''Amnaya Mathas'' founded by Adi Shankara and their details.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.sringerisharadapeetham.org/html/History/amnaya.html |title=Adi Shankara's four Amnaya Peethams |accessdate= 2006-08-20|}}</ref>


====Travels (''Digvijaya'') and disciples====
Thereafter, the hagiographies about Shankara vary significantly. Different and widely inconsistent accounts of his life include diverse journeys, pilgrimages, public debates, installation of yantras and lingas, as well as the founding of monastic centers in north, east, west and south India.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=69–82}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=31–32, also 6–7, 67–68}}


While the details and chronology vary, most hagiographies present Shankara as traveling widely within India, Gujarat to Bengal, and participating in public philosophical debates with different orthodox schools of ], as well as heterodox traditions such as Buddhists, Jains, Arhatas, Saugatas, and ]s.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=5–36}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hovey|first=Sally Wriggins|title=Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road. Westview Press, 1998.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2021}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pandey|first=Vraj Kumar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDXsAAAAIAAJ&q=adi+shankara+buddhist+monk+debate|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophy|date=2007|publisher=Anmol Publications|isbn=978-81-261-3112-9|language=en}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2021}} The hagiographies credit him with starting several ''Matha'' (monasteries), but this is uncertain.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=5–36}} Ten monastic orders in different parts of India are generally attributed to Shankara's travel-inspired ''Sannyasin'' schools, each with Advaita notions, of which four have continued in his tradition: Bharati (Sringeri), Sarasvati (Kanchi), Tirtha and Asramin (Dvaraka).{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=82–91}} Other monasteries that record Shankara's visit include Giri, Puri, Vana, Aranya, Parvata and Sagara – all names traceable to ] system in Hinduism and Vedic literature.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=82–91}}
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="1"
!Disciple
!{{IAST|Pīṭhaṃ}}
!{{IAST|Mahāvākya}}
!Veda
!{{IAST|]}}
|-
!{{IAST|] }}
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|Prajñānam brahma (''Brahman is knowledge'')}}
!]
!Bhogavala
|-
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|Aham brahmāsmi (''I am Brahman'')}}
!]
!{{IAST|Bhūrivala}}
|-
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|Tattvamasi (''That thou art'')}}
!]
!Kitavala
|-
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|]}}
!{{IAST|Ayamātmā brahma (''This Atman is Brahman'')}}
!]
!Nandavala
|-
|}


Shankara had a number of disciple scholars during his travels, including ] (also called Sanandana, associated with the text ''Atma-bodha''), ]charya, ], ], Chitsukha, Prthividhara, Chidvilasayati, Bodhendra, Brahmendra, Sadananda and others, who authored their own literature on Shankara and Advaita Vedanta.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=5–36}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=71–82, 93–94}}
== Philosophy and religious thought ==
{{main|Advaita Vedanta}}


====Death====
] is an important motif in ]. Its symbolic meanings are: firstly, ; upon verbally repeating ''hamsa'' (the Sanskrit word for ''Swan''), it becomes ''so-aham'' (Sanskrit, "I am That"). Secondly, even as a swan lives in water but its feathers are not soiled by water, a liberated Advaitin lives in this world full of maya but is untouched by its illusion. Thirdly, a ] of the ] order is called a '']'' ("the supreme swan")]]
According to hagiographies, supported by four maths, Adi Shankara died at ] in the northern Indian state of ], a Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=90-91}}{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}} Texts say that he was last seen by his disciples behind the Kedarnath temple, walking in the Himalayas until he was not traced. Some texts locate his death in alternate locations such as ] (Tamil Nadu) and somewhere in the state of Kerala.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=31–32, also 6–7, 67–68}} According to the hagiographies related to the monastery of Kanchi, Adi Sankara died at Kanchi.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|p=90}}


===Hagiographies: attribution of Mathas and Smarta tradition (14-17th century)===
''Advaita'' ("non-dualism") is often called a ] system of thought. The word "Advaita" essentially refers to the identity of the Self (]) and the Whole (]<ref>''Brahman'' is not to be confused with ], the Creator and one-third of the ] along with ], the Destroyer and ], the Preserver.</ref>). The key source texts for all schools of {{IAST|Vedānta}} are the ]&ndash; the canonical texts consisting of the ]s, the ] and the ].
{{See also|Dashanami Sampradaya}}Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the founder of the {{IAST|]}} of ] ], and the '']'' and ] of the ].


====Dashanami Sampradaya and mathas====
Adi Shankara was the first in its tradition to consolidate the {{IAST|siddhānta}} ("doctrine") of Advaita Vedanta. He wrote commentaries on the ]. A famous quote from {{IAST|]}}, one of his ''prakarana granthas'' that succinctly summarises his philosophy is: <Blockquote>''{{IAST|Brahma satyaṃ jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah}}'' </Blockquote> <Blockquote>] is the only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.</Blockquote>
Advaita Vedanta is, at least in the west, primarily known as a philosophical system. But it is also a tradition of ]. Philosophy and renunciation are closely related:<ref group="web" name="MonasticTradition" />
{{blockquote|Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of the sannyasa tradition, and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />}}


Shankara was a Vaishnavite who came to be presented as an incarnation of ] in the 14th century,{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=218, 220, 224}}<ref group="web" name="MonasticTradition" /> to facilitate the adoption of his teachings by previously Saiva-oriented ''mathas'' in the Vijayanagara Empire. From the 14th century onwards hagiographies were composed, in which he is portrayed as establishing the ],{{sfn|Clark|2006|p=224-225}} organizing a section of the ] under an umbrella grouping of ten names.<ref group="web" name="MonasticTradition">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Shankara/shankar4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508091224/http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Shankara/shankar4.html|url-status=dead|title=Sankara Acarya Biography – Monastic Tradition|archive-date=8 May 2012}}</ref> Several other Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis.<ref>Karigoudar Ishwaran, ''Ascetic Culture''</ref><ref>Wendy Sinclair-Brull, ''Female Ascetics''</ref>
Advaita Vedanta is based on ''{{IAST|śāstra}}'' ("scriptures"), ''yukti'' ("reason") and ''anubhava'' ("experience"), and aided by '']'' ("spiritual practices").<ref>See ''"Study the Vedas daily. Perform diligently the duties ("karmas") ordained by them"'' from of Adi Shankara</ref> This philosophy provides a clear-cut way of life to be followed. Starting from childhood, when learning has to start, the philosophy has to be realised in practice throughout one's life even up to death. This is the reason why this philosophy is called an experiential philosophy, the underlying tenet being "That thou art", meaning that ultimately there is no difference between the experiencer and the experienced (the world) as well as the universal spirit (]). Among the followers of Advaita, as well those of other doctrines, there are believed to have appeared '']s'', ones liberated while alive. These individuals (commonly called '']s'', great souls, among ]s) are those who realised the oneness of their self and the universal spirit called Brahman.


According to tradition, Adi Sankara organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four {{IAST|]}} (Sanskrit: {{lang|sa|मठ}}) (monasteries), with the headquarters at ] in the West, ] in the East, ] in the South and ] in the North.<ref group="web" name="MonasticTradition" /> Each ''matha'' was headed by one of his four main disciples, who each continues the Vedanta Sampradaya.
===Advaita Vedanta in summary===
Adi Shankara's Bhashyas (commentaries) on the ], the ] and the ]s are his principal and almost undeniably his own works. Although he mostly adhered to traditional means of commenting on the Brahma Sutra, there are a number of original ideas and arguments to establish that the essence of Upanishads is Advaita . He taught that it was only through direct knowledge of ] that one could be enlightened.


According to Paul Hacker, the system may have been initiated by ] (14th c.), who may have founded a ''matha'', proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself, as part of his campaign to propagate Shankara's Advaita Vedanta.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|1998|p=177}} Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support,<ref name="talbot" /> and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (''mathas'') to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29–30}}
Adi Shankara's opponents accused him of teaching Buddhism in the garb of Hinduism, because his non-dualistic ideals were a bit radical to contemporary Hindu philosophy. However, it may be noted that while the Later Buddhists arrived at a changeless, deathless, absolute truth after their insightful understanding of the unreality of ], historically Vedantins never liked this idea. Although Advaita proposes the theory of ], explaining the universe as a "trick of a magician", Adi Shankara and his followers see this as a consequence of their basic premise that ] alone is real. Their idea of Maya emerges from their belief in the reality of Brahman, rather than the other way around.


====Smarta Tradition====
==Historical and cultural impact==
{{Main|Smarta Tradition}}
At the time of Adi Shankara's life, ] had began to decline because of the influence of ] and ]. Hinduism had become divided into innumerable sects, each quarrelling with the others. The followers of ] and ] philosophy were atheists, in so much that they did not believe in ] as a unified being. Besides these atheists, there were numerous theistic sects. There were those who rejected the Vedas, like the ]s.


Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher{{sfn|Doniger|1999|p=1017}}{{sfn|Popular Prakashan|2000|p=52}} and reformer of the ] ], which is one of four major ''sampradaya'' of ].{{sfn|Rosen|2006|p=166}}{{sfn|Popular Prakashan|2000|p=52}} According to ], Shankara established the nondualist interpretation of the Upanishads as the touchstone of a revived ''smarta'' tradition:
Adi Shankara held discourses and debates with the leading scholars of all these sects and schools of philosophy to controvert their doctrines. He unified the theistic sects into a common framework of ] system. In his ], Adi Shankara stressed the importance of the Vedas, and his efforts helped Hinduism regain strength and popularity. Many trace the the present worldwide domination of Vedanta to his works. He travelled on foot to various parts of India to restore the study of the Vedas.
{{blockquote|Practically, Shankara fostered a rapprochement between Advaita and ''smarta'' orthodoxy, which by his time had not only continued to defend the ''varnasramadharma'' theory as defining the path of ''karman'', but had developed the practice of ''pancayatanapuja'' ("five-shrine worship") as a solution to varied and conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship any one of five deities (Vishnu, Siva, Durga, Surya, Ganesa) as one's ''istadevata'' ("deity of choice").{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=29}}}}


''Panchayatana puja'' (] ''{{IAST|Pañcāyatana pūjā}}'') is a system of ] (worship) in the Smarta tradition.<ref name="Bühnemann2003p60">{{cite book |first=Gudrun |last=Bühnemann |year=2003 |title=Mandalas and Yantras in the Hindu Traditions |page=60 |publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=978-9004129023 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQf2m8VaC_oC&pg=PA60 |via=Google Books}}</ref> It consists of the worship of five deities set in a ] pattern,<ref name="Harle1994p141">{{cite book |first=James C. |last=Harle |year=1994 |title=The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent |pages=–142, 191, 201-203 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-06217-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl |via=archive.org |url-access=registration}}</ref> the five deities being ], ], ], ], and an ] such as ], or ] or any personal god of devotee's preference.<ref name="Flood1996p17">{{cite book |first=Gavin D. |last=Flood |year=1996 |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |page= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43878-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |via=archive.org |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Diana L. |last=Eck |year=1998 |title=Darśan: Seeing the divine image in India |page=49 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11265-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWqaD9Hz1bMC |via=Google Books}}</ref> Sometimes the Ishta Devata is the sixth deity in the mandala.<ref name="Bühnemann2003p60" /> while in the ] system,<ref>Various Papers: Śaṅkarācārya, Conference on Sankara and Shanmata (1969), Madras, {{oclc|644426018}}, Reprinted by HathiTrust Digital Library</ref> ''Skanda'', also known as '']'' and ''Murugan'', is added. Panchayatana puja is a practice that became popular in medieval India,<ref name="Bühnemann2003p60" /> and has been attributed to Adi Shankara.<ref name="lexicon">{{cite web |title=The Four Denominations of Hinduism |series=Basics of Hinduism |publisher=Kauai Hindu Monastery |website=Himalayan Academy |url=https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/four-sects}}</ref> However, archaeological evidence suggests that this practice long predates the birth of Adi Shankara.{{refn|group=note|Many Panchayatana mandalas and temples have been uncovered that are from the ] period, and one Panchayatana set from the village of Nand (about 24&nbsp;kilometers from ]) has been dated to belong to the ] era (pre-300&nbsp;CE).<ref name="Williams1981p2">{{cite book |first=Frederick |last=Asher |editor=Joanna Gottfried Williams |year=1981 |title=Kalādarśana: American studies in the art of India |pages=1–4 |publisher=Brill Academic |isbn=90-04-06498-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qoeAAAAIAAJ |via=Google Books}}</ref> The Kushan period set includes Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Brahma and one deity whose identity is unclear.<ref name="Williams1981p2"/> According to James Harle, major Hindu temples from 1st&nbsp;millennium&nbsp;CE embed the ''pancayatana'' architecture very commonly, from ] to ] to ]; and the temples containing fusion deities such as ] (half Shiva, half Vishnu) are set in Panchayatana worship style.<ref name="Harle1994p141"/>}}
Even though he lived for only thirty-two years, his impact on India and on Hinduism was striking. He reintroduced a purer form of ] thought. His teachings and ] form the basis of ] and have influenced ] lineages.<ref> {{cite paper
|author=Ron Geaves
|date=March 2002
|title=From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara)
|publisher=27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford
}}
</ref> He is the main figure in the tradition of ]. He was the founder of the ''{{IAST|]}}'' of ] ] and '']'' of Smarta ]. He introduced the ''{{IAST|]}}'' form of ].


===Neo-Vedanta (19-20th century)===
Adi Shankara, along with ] and ], was instrumental in the revival of Hinduism. These three ] formed the doctrines that are followed by their respective sects even today. They have been the most important figures in the recent history of ]. In their writings and debates, they provided ]s against the non-Vedantic schools of ], ] etc. Thus they paved the way for ] to be the dominant and most widely followed tradition among the schools of Hindu philosophy. The Vedanta school stresses most on the ] (which are themselves called Vedanta, ''End or culmination of the ]''), unlike the other schools that gave importance to texts authored by their founders. The Vedanta schools have the belief that the Vedas, which include the Upanishads, are unauthored, forming a continuous tradition of wisdom transmitted orally. Thus the concept of ''apaurusheyatva'' ("being unauthored") came to be the guiding force behind the Vedanta schools. However, along with stressing the importance of ] ], Adi Shankara gave equal importance to the personal experience of the student. ], ], ] and allied subjects form main areas of study in all the Vedanta schools.
{{Main|Neo-Vedanta}}


Shankara's position was further established in the 19th and 20th-century, when ] and western ] elevated Advaita Vedanta "as the connecting theological thread that united Hinduism into a single religious tradition."{{sfn|King|2001|p=129}} Shankara became "an iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.{{sfn|King|2001|p=129-130}}
A well known verse, recited in the Smarta tradition, in praise of Adi Shankara is:
<Blockquote>{{Unicode|श्रुति स्मृति पुराणानामालयं करुणालयं}}|<br>
{{Unicode|नमामि भगवत्पादशंकरं लॊकशंकरं}} ||<br>
''{{IAST|Śruti smṛti purāṇānāṃālayaṃ karuṇālayaṃ}}''|<br>
''{{IAST|Namāmi Bhagavatpādaśaṅkaraṃ lokaśaṅkaraṃ}}''|| <br>
I salute the compassionate abode of the Vedas, Smritis and Puranas known as Shankara Bhagavatpada, who makes the world auspicious.</Blockquote>
{{See also|History of Hinduism}}


== Works == ===21st century===
A 108-foot statue of Adi Shankara was unveiled near ] in ] to commemorate his life and work on 21 September 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 21, 2023 |title=Madhya Pradesh CM unveils Adi Shankaracharya statue at Omkareshwar: Its story, significance |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/madhya-pradesh-cm-adi-shankaracharya-omkareshwar-significance-8951323/ |access-date=2024-01-22 |language=en}}</ref> Another 12-foot statue at Kedarnath was unveiled by Indian Prime Minister ] on 5 November 2019, is made of chlorite schist and weighs 35 tonnes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2021 |first=Kautilya |last=Singh |title=PM Modi unveils Adi Guru Shankaracharya statue at Kedarnath |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/pm-modi-unveils-adi-gyru-shankaracharya-statue-at-kedarnath/articleshow/87543367.cms |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2021|title=arun: Karnataka: Sculptor from Mysuru chiselled 14-ft Shankaracharya's statue |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/sculptor-from-mysuru-chiselled-14-ft-shankaracharyas-statue/articleshow/87518236.cms |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref>]]]
{{Details|Works of Adi Shankara}}
{{Hindu philosophy}}
Adi Shankara's works deal with logically establishing the doctrine of ] as he saw it in the ]. He formulates the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta by validating his arguments on the basis of quotations from the ] and other ]. He gives a high priority to ''svānubhava'' ("personal experience") of the student. His works are largely ] in nature. He directs his polemics mostly against the ], ], ], ] and other non-vedantic ].


==Works==
Traditionally, his works are classified under {{IAST|Bhāṣya}} ("commentary"), {{IAST|Prakaraṇa gratha}} ("philosophical treatise") and Stotra ("devotional hymn"). The commentaries serve to provide a consistent interpretation of the scriptural texts from the perspective of Advaita Vedanta. The philosophical treatises provide various ] to the student to understand the doctrine. The devotional hymns are rich in poetry and piety, serving to highlight the helplessness of the ] and the glory of the ]. Of his works, the authenticity of the ] and a few ''Bhashyas'' are questioned.
{{Further|Adi Shankara bibliography}}


Adi Shankara is highly esteemed in contemporary Advaita Vedanta, and over 300 texts are attributed to his name, including commentaries (''Bhāṣya''), original philosophical expositions (''Prakaraṇa grantha'') and poetry (''Stotra'').{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=2–3}} However, most of these are not authentic works of Shankara, and are likely to be written by his admirers, or scholars whose name was also Shankaracharya.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Halbfass|1983}} Piantelli has published a complete list of works attributed to Adi Sankara, along with issues of authenticity for most.<ref>M Piantelly, Sankara e la Renascita del Brahmanesimo, Indian Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Apr. 1977), pp. 429–435</ref>
Adi Shankara wrote ''Bhashyas'' on the ten ] ], the ]s and the ]. In his works, he quotes from Shveshvatara, Kaushitakai, Mahanarayana and Jabala Upanishads, among others. ''Bhashyas'' on Kaushitaki, Nrisimhatapani and Shveshvatara Upanishads are extant but the authenticity is doubtful.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/sankara.html
| title = Sankaracarya
| author = Vidyasankar, S
|accessdate=2006-07-24
}}
</ref> Adi Shankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the earliest one available on this topic. However Adi Shankara mentions older commentaries like those of Dravida, Bhartiprapancha and others.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ochs.org.uk/downloads/classes/gmishra02mmas04.pdf
| title = A Journey through Vedantic History -Advaita in the Pre-Sankara, Sankara and Post- Sankara Periods
| author = Mishra, Godavarisha
|accessdate=2006-07-24
| format =pdf
}}
</ref>


===Authentic works===
In his ] Bhashya, Adi Shankara cites the examples of ], ] and others who were born with the knowledge of ] acquired in previous births. He mentions that the effects cannot be prevented from working on account of their present birth. He states that the knowledge that arises out of the study of the ] could be had through the ] and the ]s. In the ] Bhashya 2.2, he says:<ref>{{cite web
Shankara is most known for his systematic reviews and commentaries (''Bhasyas'') on ancient Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the ''Brahmasutrabhasya'' (literally, commentary on ]s). The Brahma Sutras are a fundamental text of the ] school of Hinduism.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}} Shankara refers to or cites some passages from works attributed to Gaudapada (the teacher of Shankara's teacher) in his commentaries, revealing a line of influence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shunmugam |first=Mathias |title=The Contribution of Nishkama Karma in the Philosophies of Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva on Social Cohesion - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2901484519?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=www.proquest.com |pages=96–98 |language=en}}</ref>
| url = http://www.svbf.org/sringeri/journal/vol1no3/sankara.html

| title = Sankara, the Jagadguru
According to Flood, of the Upanishadic commentaries only his commentaries on the ] and the ] are authentic.{{sfn|Flood1996|p=240}} Hacker and Mayeda also accept as authentic the commentaries on the ], the ], the ],{{refn|group=note|Kena Upanishad has two commentaries that are attributed to Shankara – Kenopnishad Vakyabhasya and Kenopnishad Padabhasya; scholars contest whether both are authentic, several suggesting that the Vakyabhasya is unlikely to be authentic.{{sfn|Pande|2011|p=107}}}} the ], the ], and the ].{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Hacker|1995|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}} The authenticity of the commentary on the ] and ]s Madukya-karika has been questioned.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=93–97}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}}
| author = Subbarayan, K

|accessdate=2006-07-24
Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the ] (part of his ] Bhasya).{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|pp=xii–xiii}} His ''Vivarana'' (tertiary notes) on the commentary by Vedavyasa on ] as well as those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras (''Adhyatama-patala-bhasya'') are accepted by scholars as authentic works of Shankara.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=93–97}}{{sfn|Halbfass|1990|pp=205–208}} Among the ''Stotra'' (poetic works), the '']'', the '']'', the ''Shivanandalahari'', the ''Carpata-panjarika'', th''e Visnu-satpadi'', the ], the ], and the ''Krishna-staka'' are likely to be authentic.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=93–97}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=351–352}}

Shankara also authored ], his most important original philosophical work.{{sfn|Halbfass|1990|pp=205–208}}{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}}{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}} Of other original ''Prakaranas'' (प्रकरण, monographs, treatise), seventy-six works are attributed to Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars such as Belvalkar as well as Upadhyaya accept five and thirty-nine works respectively as authentic.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=113–115}}] in Santa Cruz, California]]

Shankara's stotras considered authentic include those dedicated to Krishna (]) and one to Shiva (]) – often considered two different sects within Hinduism. Scholars suggest that these ''stotra'' are not sectarian, but essentially Advaitic and reach for a unified universal view of Vedanta.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=351–352}}

Shankara's commentary on the ]s is the oldest surviving. However, in that commentary, he mentions older commentaries like those of Dravida, Bhartrprapancha and others which are either lost or yet to be found.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ochs.org.uk/downloads/classes/gmishra02mmas04.pdf| title = A Journey through Vedantic History – Advaita in the Pre-Sankara, Sankara and Post-Sankara Periods| author = Mishra, Godavarisha|access-date=2006-07-24| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060622102818/http://ochs.org.uk/downloads/classes/gmishra02mmas04.pdf| archive-date = 22 June 2006}}</ref>

===Works of doubtful authenticity or not authentic===
Commentaries on Nrisimha-Purvatatapaniya and Shveshvatara Upanishads are attributed to Shankara, but their authenticity is highly doubtful.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}}<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/sankara.html| title = Sankaracarya| author = Vidyasankar, S|access-date=2006-07-24| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060616123125/http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/sankara.html| archive-date= 16 June 2006| url-status= live}}</ref> Similarly, commentaries on several early and later Upanishads attributed to Shankara are rejected by scholars<ref name=paulhackeraupr/> to be his works, and are likely works of later scholars; these include: Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, Kaivalya Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad, Sakatayana Upanishad, Mandala Brahmana Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, Gopalatapaniya Upanishad. However, in Brahmasutra-Bhasya, Shankara cites some of these Upanishads as he develops his arguments, but the historical notes left by his companions and disciples, along with major differences in style and the content of the commentaries on later Upanishad have led scholars to conclude that the commentaries on later Upanishads were not Shankara's work.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}}

The authenticity of Shankara being the author of {{IAST|]}}<ref>Adi Shankaracharya, S Madhavananda (Translator), Advaita Ashrama (1921)</ref> has been questioned,{{sfn|Grimes|2004}}{{sfn|Shah-Kazemi|2006|p=4}} though it is "so closely interwoven into the spiritual heritage of Shankara that any analysis of his perspective which fails to consider would be incomplete."{{sfn|Shah-Kazemi|2006|p=4}}{{refn|group=note|See also IndiaDivine.org, and arshabodha.org, , pp. 3–4, ''The Question of Authorship of Vivekachudamani''}} According to Grimes, "modern scholars tend to reject its authenticity as a work by Shankara," while "traditionalists tend to accept it."{{sfn|Grimes|2004|p=23}} Nevertheless, does Grimes argue that "there is still a likelihood that Śaṅkara is the author of the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi," {{sfn|Grimes|2004|p=23}} noting that "it differs in certain respects from his other works in that it addresses itself to a different audience and has a different emphasis and purpose."{{sfn|Grimes|2004|p=13}}], ]]]

The '']'' and '']'' are also attributed to Shankara, as his original philosophical treatises, but this is doubtful. Paul Hacker has also expressed some reservations that the compendium '']'' was completely authored by Shankara, because of difference in style and thematic inconsistencies in parts.<ref name=paulhackeraupr>{{harvnb|Hacker|1995|loc="Sankaracarya and Sankarabhagavatpada: Preliminary Remarks Concerning the Authorship Problem"|pp=41–56}}</ref> Similarly, ''Gayatri-bhasya'' is doubtful to be Shankara's work.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}} Other commentaries that are highly unlikely to be Shankara's work include those on ''Uttaragita'', ''Siva-gita'', ''Brahma-gita'', ''Lalita-shasranama'', ''Suta-samhita'' and ''Sandhya-bhasya''. The commentary on the Tantric work ''Lalita-trisati-bhasya'' attributed to Shankara is also unauthentic.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}}

Shankara is widely credited with commentaries on other scriptural works, such as the ] and the ],<ref name=vanb78>Johannes Buitenen (1978). ''''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-84665-1}}</ref> but both these are considered apocryphal by scholars who have expressed doubts.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}} ''Hastamalakiya-bhasya'' is also widely believed in India to be Shankara's work and it is included in ''Samata''-edition of Shankara's works, but some scholars consider it to be the work of Shankara's student.{{sfn|Pande|2011|pp=105–113}}

==Philosophy and practice==
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| quote = ]:

I am Consciousness, I am ], I am Shiva, I am Shiva.{{Refn|group=note|Swami Vivekananda translates ''Shivoham, Shivoham'' as "I am he, I am he".<ref>{{cite book|author=Swami Vivekananda|title=The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IdNpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1786|year=2015|publisher=Manonmani Publishers (Reprint)|page=1786}}</ref>}}

Without hate, without infatuation, without craving, without greed;<br />
Neither arrogance, nor conceit, never jealous I am;<br />
Neither ''dharma'', nor ''artha'', neither ''kama'', nor ''moksha'' am I;<br />
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without sins, without merits, without elation, without sorrow;<br />
Neither mantra, nor rituals, neither pilgrimage, nor Vedas;<br />
Neither the experiencer, nor experienced, nor the experience am I,<br />
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without fear, without death, without discrimination, without caste;<br />
Neither father, nor mother, never born I am;<br />
Neither kith, nor kin, neither teacher, nor student am I;<br />
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without form, without figure, without resemblance am I;<br />
Vitality of all senses, in everything I am;<br />
Neither attached, nor released am I;<br />
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
| source = —Adi Shankara, Nirvana Shatakam, Hymns 3–6<ref>* Original Sanskrit: {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123134813/http://www.svbf.org/journal/vol2no4/nirvana.pdf |date=23 November 2015 }} Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation (2012);
* English Translation 1: K Parappaḷḷi and CNN Nair (2002), Saankarasaagaram, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, {{ISBN|978-81-7276-268-1}}, pp. 58–59;
* English Translation 2: Igor Kononenko (2010), Teachers of Wisdom, {{ISBN|978-1-4349-9898-9}}, p. 148;
* English Translation 3: Isha Foundation (2011); Includes translation, transliteration and audio.</ref>
}} }}
</ref><Blockquote>''{{IAST|Sarveśāṃ cādhikāro vidyāyāṃ ca śreyah: kevalayā vidyāyā veti siddhaṃ}}''</Blockquote>


According to Koller, Shankara, and his contemporaries, made a significant contribution in understanding Buddhism and the ancient Vedic traditions, then transforming the extant ideas, particularly reforming the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, making it India's most important "spiritual tradition" for more than a thousand years.{{sfn|Koller|2012|p=99}}{{refn|group=note|This includes also the dualistic Vaishna bhakti traditions, which have also commented on the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras, but take a different stance.}} Benedict Ashley credits Adi Shankara for unifying two seemingly disparate philosophical doctrines in Hinduism, namely ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|author=Benedict Ashley, O.P.|title=The Way toward Wisdom|year=2006|isbn=978-0-268-02028-6|oclc=609421317|page=395|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |author-link=Benedict Ashley}}</ref>
<Blockquote>It has been established that everyone has the right to the knowledge (of Brahman) and that the supreme goal is attained by that knowledge alone.</Blockquote>


According to Nakamura, Shankara was not an original thinker, but systematised the works of preceding philosophers.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=680}} The central theme of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the identity of the Self (]) and '']''.{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}}{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=176}} ] is ] by recognizing the identity of ''Atman'' and ''Brahman'',{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}} as mediated by the '']'', especially ''Tat Tvam Asi'', "That you are."
==See also==
{{Hinduism}}
{{Indian Philosophy}}
{{Wikisource author}}
''An index of articles related to Advaita Vedanta can be found at ]''


===Historical context===
{{further|History of India|History of Hinduism}}

Shankara lived in the time of the great "Late classical Hinduism",{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=41–43}} which lasted from 650 till 1100 CE.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=41–43}} This era was one of political instability that followed the ] and ] of the 7th century CE.{{sfn|Koller|2012|p=99–108}} power became decentralised in India. Several larger kingdoms emerged, with "countless vasal states".{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=41}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|Michaels|2004|p=41}}:
* In the east the ] (770–1125 CE),
* in the west and north the ] (7th–10th century),
* in the southwest the ] (752–973),
* in the Dekkhan the ] (7th–8th century),
* and in the south the ] (7th–9th century) and the ] (9th century).}} The kingdoms were ruled via a feudal system. Smaller kingdoms were dependent on the protection of the larger kingdoms. "The great king was remote, was exalted and deified",{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=41}} as reflected in the ] ], which could also depict the king as the centre of the mandala.{{sfn|White|2000|pp=25–28}}

The disintegration of central power also lead to regionalisation of religiosity, and religious rivalry.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|McRae|2003}}: This resembles the development of ] during the ] and the ], during which power became decentralised end new Chán-schools emerged.}} Local cults and languages were enhanced, and the influence of "Brahmanic ritualistic Hinduism"{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} was diminished.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} Rural and devotional movements arose, along with ], ], ] and ],{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} though "sectarian groupings were only at the beginning of their development".{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} Religious movements had to compete for recognition by the local lords,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} and ], ], ] and various traditions within Hinduism were competing for members.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |title=On Hinduism |date=March 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199360079 |location=Oxford |oclc=858660095}}</ref><ref>TMP Mahadevan (1968), Shankaracharya, National Book Trust, pp. 283–285, {{oclc|254278306}}</ref><ref name=frankwhaling>Frank Whaling (1979), , Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1–42</ref> Buddhism in particular had emerged as a powerful influence in India's spiritual traditions in the first 700 years of the 1st millennium CE,{{sfn|Koller|2012|p=99–108}}{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=1–21, 103–119}} but lost its position after the 8th century, and began to disappear in India.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=42}} This was reflected in the change of puja-ceremonies at the courts in the 8th century, where Hindu gods replaced the Buddha as the "supreme, imperial deity".{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|Inden|1998|p=67}}: "Before the eighth century, the Buddha was accorded the position of universal deity and ceremonies by which a king attained to imperial status were elaborate donative ceremonies entailing gifts to Buddhist monks and the installation of a symbolic Buddha in a stupa ... This pattern changed in the eighth century. The Buddha was replaced as the supreme, imperial deity by one of the Hindu gods (except under the Palas of eastern India, the Buddha's homeland) ... Previously the Buddha had been accorded imperial-style worship (puja). Now as one of the Hindu gods replaced the Buddha at the imperial centre and pinnacle of the cosmo-political system, the image or symbol of the Hindu god comes to be housed in a monumental temple and given increasingly elaborate imperial-style puja worship."}}

===Systematizer of Advaita===
According to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of the early Vedantins and Shankara's thought shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before Śankara".{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=678}} Shankara "was the person who synthesized the ''Advaita-vāda'' which had previously existed before him".{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=678}} According to Nakamura, after the growing influence of Buddhism on Vedānta, culminating in the works of Gauḍapāda, Adi Shankara gave a Vedantic character to the Buddhistic elements in these works,{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=13}} synthesising and rejuvenating the doctrine of Advaita.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=679}}

According to Koller, using ideas in ancient Indian texts, Shankara systematized the foundation for Advaita ] in the 8th century, reforming ]'s Vedānta tradition.{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}} According to Mayeda, Shankara represents a turning point in the development of Vedānta,{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=13}} yet he also notices that it is only since Deussens's praise that Shankara "has usually been regarded as the greatest philosopher of India."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XV}} Mayeda further notes that Shankara was primarily concerned with ''moksha'', "and not with the establishment of a complete system of philosophy or theology,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XV}} following Potter, who qualifies Shankara as a "speculative philosopher."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XVIII, note 3}} Lipner notes that Shankara's "main literary approach was commentarial and hence perforce disjointed rather than procedurally systematic though a systematic philosophy can be derived from Samkara's thought."{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=56, incl. note 12}}

Shankara has been described as influenced by Shaivism and Shaktism, but his works and philosophy suggest greater overlap with Vaishnavism, influence of ] school of Hinduism, but most distinctly express his Advaitin convictions with a monistic view of spirituality,{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}}{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=3–5}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=3, 29–30}} and his commentaries mark a turn from realism to idealism.{{sfn|Sharma|2000|p=64}}{{sfn|Scheepers|2000|p=123}}

===''Moksha'' - liberating knowledge of Brahman===
The central theme of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the true identity of ''jivatman'' (individual self) as ''])-]''.{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}}{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=176}}{{refn|group=note|Brahman is not to be confused with the personalised godhead ].}} One of Shankara's main concerns was establishing the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge beyond the ritually-oriented ] exegesis of the vedas.{{sfn|Chattopadhyaya|2000}}{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=163}}{{refn|group=note|name="ritualism"}}{{refn|group=note|name="Mookerji"}}

According to Shankara, the one unchanging entity (Brahman) alone is real, while changing entities do not have absolute existence. Shankara's primary objective was to explain how ] is ] by recognizing the true identity of ''jivatman'' as ''Atman-Brahman'',{{sfn|Koller|2007|pp=98–106}} as mediated by the '']'', especially ''Tat Tvam Asi'', "That you are." Correct knowledge of ''jivatman'' and ''Atman-Brahman'' is the attainment of ''Brahman'', immortality,{{sfn|Rambachan|2006|p=26}} and leads to '']'' (liberation) from suffering{{refn|group=note|The suffering created by the workings of the mind entangled with physical reality}} and ''samsara'', the cycle of rebirth.{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=183}} This is stated by Shankara as follows:
{{blockquote|
<poem>
I am other than name, form and action.
My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual.
</poem>
|Adi Shankara, ] 11.7|{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=183}}}}

===''Pramanas'' - means of knowledge===
Shankara recognized the means of knowledge,{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=46}}{{refn|group=note|Mayeda refers to statements from Shankara regarding epistemology (''pramana-janya'') in section 1.18.133 of Upadesasahasri, and section 1.1.4 of Brahmasutra-bhasya.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=46–47}}<ref>, S Vireswarananda (Translator), p. 35</ref> NB: some manuscripts list Upadesasahasri verse 1.18.133 as 2.18.133, while Mayeda lists it as 1.18.133, because of interchanged chapter numbering. See Upadesa Sahasri: A Thousand Teachings, S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), {{ISBN|978-81-7120-059-7}}, Verse 2.8.133, p. 258; Karl H Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 3, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-61486-1}}, p. 249}} but his thematic focus was upon ] and ], and he took for granted the '']'',{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=47}} that is ] or "means to gain knowledge, reasoning methods that empower one to gain reliable knowledge".{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} According to Sengaku Mayeda, "in no place in his works does he give any systematic account of them,"{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=47}} taking ''Atman-Brahman'' to be self-evident (''svapramanaka'') and self-established (''svatahsiddha''), and "an investigation of the means of knowledge is of no use for the attainment of final release."{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=47}} Mayeda notes that Shankara's arguments are "strikingly realistic and not idealistic," arguing that ''jnana'' is based on existing things (''vastutantra''), and "not upon Vedic injunction (''codanatantra'') nor upon man (''purusatantra'').{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=47}}

According to Michael Comans (aka Vasudevacharya), Shankara considered perception and inference as a primary most reliable epistemic means, and where these means to knowledge help one gain "what is beneficial and to avoid what is harmful", there is no need for or wisdom in referring to the scriptures.{{Sfn|Comans|2000|p=168}} In certain matters related to metaphysics and ethics, says Shankara, the testimony and wisdom in scriptures such as the Vedas and the Upanishads become important.{{Sfn|Comans|2000|pp=167–169}}

Merrell-Wolff states that Shankara accepts Vedas and Upanishads as a source of knowledge as he develops his philosophical theses, yet he never rests his case on the ancient texts, rather proves each thesis, point by point using the '']s'' (means of knowledge) of reason and experience.<ref>Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1995), Transformations in Consciousness: The Metaphysics and Epistemology, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2675-3}}, pp. 242–260</ref><ref>Will Durant (1976), Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0-671-54800-1}}, Chapter XIX, Section VI</ref> Hacker and Phillips note that his insight into rules of reasoning and hierarchical emphasis on epistemic steps is "doubtlessly the suggestion" of Shankara in Brahma-sutra-bhasya, an insight that flowers in the works of his companion and disciple Padmapada.<ref>Stephen Phillips (2000) in Roy W. Perrett (Editor), Epistemology: Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-8153-3609-9}}, pp. 224–228 with notes 8, 13 and 63</ref>

====Logic versus revelation====
Stcherbatsky in 1927 criticized Shankara for demanding the use of logic from ] Buddhists, while himself resorting to revelation as a source of knowledge.{{sfn|Shcherbatsky|1927|pp=44–45}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Shcherbatsky|1927|pp=44–45}}: "Shankara accuses them of disregarding all logic and refuses to enter in a controversy with them. The position of Shankara is interesting because, at heart, he is in full agreement with the Madhyamikas, at least in the main lines, since both maintain the reality of the One-without-a-second, and the mirage of the manifold. But Shankara, as an ardent hater of Buddhism, would never confess that. He therefore treats the Madhyamika with great contempt on the charge that the Madhyamika denies the possibility of cognizing the Absolute by logical methods (pramana). ] in the ] rightly interprets this point as referring to the opinion of the Madhyamikas that logic is incapable to solve the question about what existence or non-existence really are. This opinion Shankara himself, as is well known, shares. He does not accept the authority of logic as a means of cognizing the Absolute, but he deems it a privilege of the Vedantin to fare without logic, since he has Revelation to fall back upon. From all his opponents, he requires strict logical methods."}} Sircar in 1933 offered a different perspective and stated, "Sankara recognizes the value of the law of contrariety and self-alienation from the standpoint of idealistic logic; and it has consequently been possible for him to integrate appearance with reality."<ref>Mahendranath Sircar (1933), , The Philosophical Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp.&nbsp;249–271</ref>

Recent scholarship states that Shankara's arguments on revelation are about ''apta vacana'' (Sanskrit: आप्तवचन, sayings of the wise, relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts).<ref name=arvindrevel/><ref> Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne University, Germany</ref> It is part of his and Advaita Vedanta's epistemological foundation.<ref name=arvindrevel>Arvind Sharma (2008), The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta, Penn State Press, {{ISBN|978-0-271-02832-3}}, pp. 70–71</ref> The Advaita Vedanta tradition considers such testimony epistemically valid, asserting that a human being needs to know numerous facts, and with the limited time and energy available, he can learn only a fraction of those facts and truths directly.<ref>M. Hiriyanna (2000), The Essentials of Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1330-4}}, pp. 42–44</ref> Shankara considered the teachings in the Vedas and Upanishads as ''apta vacana'' and a valid source of knowledge.<ref name=arvindrevel/> He suggests the importance of teacher-disciple relationship on combining logic and revelation to attain ] in his text ].{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=219–223 with footnote 34}} ] and others state that Shankara did not rely exclusively on Vedic statements, but also used a range of logical methods and reasoning methodology and other ''pramanas''.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=210–221}}{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|loc=Chapters 2–4}}

====Anubhava====
] summarizes the widely held view on the role of ''anubhava'' in Shankara's epistemology as follows, before critiquing it:
{{Blockquote|According to these studies, Shankara only accorded a provisional validity to the knowledge gained by inquiry into the words of the ] (Vedas) and did not see the latter as the unique source (''pramana'') of ''Brahmajnana''. The affirmations of the Śruti, it is argued, need to be verified and confirmed by the knowledge gained through direct experience (''anubhava'') and the authority of the Śruti, therefore, is only secondary.{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|pp=xii–xiii}}}}

====Yoga and contemplative exercises====
Shankara considered the purity and steadiness of mind achieved in ] as an aid to gaining ] knowledge, but such yogic state of mind cannot in itself give rise to such knowledge.<ref>Anantanand Rambachan (1994) '''' University of Hawaii Press, pp. 124–125.</ref> To Shankara, that knowledge of ] springs only from inquiry into the teachings of the Upanishads.<ref>{{harvnb|Isaeva|1993|pp=57–58}}: "Shankara directly identifies this awakened atman with Brahman and the higher knowledge. And Brahman, reminds the Advaitist, is known only from the Upanishadic sayings".</ref> The method of yoga, encouraged in Shankara's teachings notes Comans, includes withdrawal of mind from sense objects as in Patanjali's system, but it is not complete thought suppression, instead it is a "meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness".<ref name=michaelcomans>Michael Comans (1993), , Philosophy East & West. Vol. 43, Issue 1, pp. 19–38</ref> Describing Shankara's style of yogic practice, Comans writes:
<blockquote>the type of yoga which Sankara presents here is a method of merging, as it were, the particular (visesa) into the general (samanya). For example, diverse sounds are merged in the sense of hearing, which has greater generality insofar as the sense of hearing is the locus of all sounds. The sense of hearing is merged into the mind, whose nature consists of thinking about things, and the mind is in turn merged into the intellect, which Sankara then says is made into 'mere cognition' (vijnanamatra); that is, all particular cognitions resolve into their universal, which is cognition as such, thought without any particular object. And that in turn is merged into its universal, mere Consciousness (prajnafnaghana), upon which everything previously referred to ultimately depends.<ref name=michaelcomans/> </blockquote>

Shankara rejected those yoga system variations that suggest complete thought suppression leads to liberation, as well the view that the ]s teach liberation as something apart from the knowledge of the oneness of the Self. Knowledge alone and insights relating to true nature of things, taught Shankara, is what liberates. He placed great emphasis on the study of the Upanisads, emphasizing them as necessary and sufficient means to gain Self-liberating knowledge. Sankara also emphasized the need for and the role of ''Guru'' (Acharya, teacher) for such knowledge.<ref name=michaelcomans/>

====''Samanvayat Tatparya Linga''====
Shankara cautioned against cherrypicking a phrase or verse out of context from Vedic literature, and remarks in the opening chapter of his Brahmasutra-Bhasya that the ''Anvaya'' (theme or purport) of any treatise can only be correctly understood if one attends to the ''Samanvayat Tatparya Linga'', that is six characteristics of the text under consideration: (1) the common in ''Upakrama'' (introductory statement) and ''Upasamhara'' (conclusions); (2) ''Abhyasa'' (message repeated); (3) ''Apurvata'' (unique proposition or novelty); (4) ''Phala'' (fruit or result derived); (5) ''Arthavada'' (explained meaning, praised point) and (6) ''Yukti'' (verifiable reasoning).<ref>George Thibaut (Translator), Brahma Sutras: With Commentary of Shankara, Reprinted as {{ISBN|978-1-60506-634-9}}, pp. 31–33 verse 1.1.4</ref>{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=46–53}} While this methodology has roots in the theoretical works of ] school of Hinduism, Shankara consolidated and applied it with his unique exegetical method called ''Anvaya-Vyatireka'', which states that for proper understanding one must "accept only meanings that are compatible with all characteristics" and "exclude meanings that are incompatible with any".<ref>Mayeda & Tanizawa (1991), Studies on Indian Philosophy in Japan, 1963–1987, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 529–535</ref><ref>Michael Comans (1996), Śankara and the Prasankhyanavada, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 49–71</ref>

===The ''Mahāvākyas'' - the identity of Ātman and Brahman ===
''Moksha'', liberation from suffering and rebirth and attaining immortality, is attained by disidentification from the body-mind complex and gaining self-knowledge as being in essence ''Atman'', and attaining knowledge of the identity of ''Ātman'' and ].{{sfn|Comans|2000|p=183}}{{sfn|Rambachan|2006|p=26}} According to Shankara, the individual Ātman and Brahman seem different at the empirical level of reality, but this difference is only an illusion, and at the highest level of reality they are really identical.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=14}} The real self is ''Sat'', "the Existent," that is, ''Ātman-Brahman''.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=12, 172}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1973|p=49}}{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman}} Whereas the difference between Ātman and non-Ātman is deemed self-evident, knowledge of the identity of Ātman and Brahman is revealed by the ''shruti'', especially the Upanishadic statement ''tat tvam asi''.

====''Mahāvākyas''====
According to Shankara, a large number of Upanishadic statements reveal the identity of ''Ātman'' and ''Brahman''. In the Advaita Vedānta tradition, four of those statements, the '']'', which are taken literal, in contrast to other statements, have a special importance in revealing this identity.<ref name=Long>{{Cite book|last=Long|first=Jeffery D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWXRDwAAQBAJ&dq=Mah%C4%81v%C4%81kyas+advaita&pg=PA245|title=Historical Dictionary of Hinduism|date=2020-04-15|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-5381-2294-5|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Braue|1984|p=81}} They are:
* तत्त्वमसि, '']'', ]. Traditionally rendered as "That Thou Art" (that you are),{{sfn|Brereton|1986}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=349 note 8.7-16.3}}{{sfn|Black|2012|p=36}} with '']'' in Ch.U.6.8.7 referring to '']'', "the Existent"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|pp=55 note 9; 57}}{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=151-152; p.349 note 8.7-16.3}}); correctly translated as "That's how you are,"{{sfn|Brereton|1986}}{{sfn|Black|2012|p=36}}{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=152}} with ''tat'' in Ch.U.6.12.3, it' original location from where it was copied to other verses,{{sfn|Brereton|1986}} referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by "{{sfn|Bhatawadekar|2013|p=203, note 14}}{{sfn|Brereton|1986|p=107}}
* अहं ब्रह्मास्मि, '']'', ], "I am Brahman," or "I am Divine."{{sfn|Braue|1984|p=80}}
* प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म, ''prajñānam brahma'', ], "''Prajñānam''{{refn|group=note|"Consciousness",{{sfn|Grimes|1996|p=234}}<ref group=web name="Jiddu"></ref> "intelligence",{{sfn|Sivaraman|1973|p=146}}{{sfn|Braue|1984|p=80}} "wisdom"}} ''is Brahman''."{{refn|group=note|"the Absolute",{{sfn|Grimes|1996|p=234}}<ref group=web name="Jiddu" /> "infinite",<ref group=web name="Jiddu" /> "the Highest truth"<ref group=web name="Jiddu" />}}
* अयमात्मा ब्रह्म, ''ayamātmā brahma'', ], "This Atman is Brahman."

====''That you are''====
The longest chapter of Shankara's '']'', chapter 18, "That Art Thou," is devoted to considerations on the insight "I am ever-free, the existent" ('']''), and the identity expressed in ] in the '']'' (great sentence) "''tat tvam asi''", "that thou art."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=50, 172}}{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}} In this statement, according to Shankara, ''tat'' refers to '']'',{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}} "the Existent"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|pp=55 note 9; 57}}{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=151-152}}{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=172, Up.18.3, 18.6, 18.7}} Existence, Being,<ref name="ShankaraBasya">Shankara, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209212211/http://shankarabhashya.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=343e9e12ffd6b71c499e1722e8813e90&topic=87.0 |date=9 February 2022 }}</ref> or Brahman,{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=172, Up.18.6}} the Real, the "Root of the world,"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}}{{refn|group=note|While the Vedanta tradition equates ''sat'' ("the Existent") with Brahman, the Chandogya Upanishad itself does not refer to Brahman.{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Black|2012|p=36}} {{harvtxt|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}: "Although the text does not use the term ''brahman'', the Vedanta tradition is that the Existent (''sat'') referred to is no other than Brahman."}} the true essence or root or origin of everything that exists.{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=151-152}}<ref name="ShankaraBasya"/> "Tvam" refers to one's real I, ''pratyagatman'' or inner Self,{{sfn|Lipner|2000|pp=60, 62}} the "direct Witness within everything,"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=60}} "free from caste, family, and purifying ceremonies,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=218 (up.II.1.24)}} the essence, ''Atman'', which the individual at the core is.<ref name=maxmuller61>Max Muller, , The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, pages 92–109 with footnotes</ref><ref>Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520207783}}, pages 136–137</ref> As Shankara states in the '']'':
{{blockquote|Up.I.174: "Through such sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own ''Atman'', the Witness of all the internal organs." Up.I.18.190: "Through such sentences as " the Existent" right knowledge concerning the inner ''Atman'' will become clearer." Up.I.18.193-194: "In the sentence "Thou art That" he word "That" means inner ''Atman''."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=190-192}}}}

The statement "tat tvam asi" sheds the false notion that ''Atman'' is different from ''Brahman''.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=91, 219 (Up.II.1.28)}} According toNakamura, the non-duality of ''atman'' and ''Brahman'' "is a famous characteristic of Sankara's thought, but it was already taught by Sundarapandya"{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=675}} ({{Circa|600 CE}} or earlier).{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=176}} Shankara cites Sundarapandya in his comments to ''Brahma Sutra'' verse I.1.4:
{{blockquote|When the metaphorical or false ''atman'' is non-existent, child, body are sublated. Therefore, when it is realized that 'I am the existent ''Brahman, atman{{'}}'', how can anyduty exist?{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=178}}}}

From this, and a large number of other accordances, Nakamura concludes that Shankar was not an original thinker, but "a synthesizer of existing Advaita and the rejuvenator, as well as a defender, of ancient learning."{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=679}}

====Meditation on the ''Mahāvākya''====
In the ''Upadesasahasri Shankara'', Shankara is ambivalent on the need for meditation on the Upanishadic ''mahavyaka''. He states that "right knowledge arises at the moment of hearing,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=182 (Up.I.18.103-104)}} and rejects ''prasamcaksa'' or ''prasamkhyana'' meditation, that is, meditation on the meaning of the sentences, and in Up.II.3 recommends ''parisamkhyana'',{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=173-174 (Up.I.18.9-19); p.196 note 13}} separating ''Atman'' from everything that is not ''Atman'', that is, the sense-objects and sense-organs, and the pleasant and unpleasant things and merit and demerit connected with them.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=251-253 (Up.II.3)}} Yet, Shankara then concludes with declaring that only ''Atman'' exists, stating that "all the sentences of the ''Upanishads'' concerning non-duality of ''Atman'' should be fully contemplated, should be contemplated."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=253 (Up.II.3)}} As Mayeda states, "how they differ from each other in not known."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=196 note 13}}

''Prasamkhyana'' was advocated by Mandana Misra,{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|p=155}} the older contemporary of Shankara who was the most influential Advaitin until the 10th century.{{sfn|King|2002|p=128}}{{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|pp=33-34}}{{refn|group=note|name=King2002_MandanaMisra}} "According to Mandana, the ''mahavakyas'' are incapable, by themselves, of bringing about ''brahmajnana''. The ''Vedanta-vakyas'' convey an indirect knowledge which is made direct only by deep meditation (''prasamkhyana''). The latter is a continuous contemplation of the purport of the ''mahavakyas''.{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|p=155-156}} Vācaspati Miśra, a student of Mandana Misra, agreed with Mandana Misra, and their stance is defended by the Bhamati-school, founded by Vācaspati Miśra.{{sfn|Rambachan|1991|p=156}} In contrast, the ] school founded by Prakasatman ({{Circa|1200}}–1300){{sfn|Roodurmun|2002|p=40}} follows Shankara closely, arguing that the ''mahavakyas'' are the direct cause of gaining knowledge.{{sfn|Cenkner|1995|p=95}}

====Renouncement of ritualism====
Shankara, in his text ''Upadesasahasri'', discourages ritual worship such as oblations to ''Deva'' (God), because that assumes the Self within is different from the ].{{refn|group=note|name="ritualism"|Shankara, himself, had renounced all religious ritual acts.{{sfn|Potter|2008|p=16}}<br />For an example of Shankara's reasoning "why rites and ritual actions should be given up", see Karl Potter on p. 220;<br />Elsewhere, Shankara's ''Bhasya'' on various Upanishads repeat "give up rituals and rites", see for example pp. 348–350, 754–757}}{{refn|group=note|name="Mookerji"}} The "doctrine of difference" is wrong, asserts Shankara, because, "he who knows the Brahman is one and he is another, does not know Brahman".<ref>Sanskrit:<br />English Translation: S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), Upadeshasahasri, Vedanta Press, {{ISBN|978-81-7120-059-7}}, pp. 16–17; {{oclc|218363449}}</ref>{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=219–221}} The false notion that ''Atman'' is different from ''Brahman''{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=91, 219 (Up.II.1.28)}} is connected with the novice's conviction that (''Upadeshasahasri'' II.1.25)
{{blockquote|...I am one He is another; I am ignorant, experience pleasure and pain, am bound and a transmigrator he is essentially different from me, the god not subject to transmigration. By worshipping Him with oblation, offerings, homage and the like through the the actions prescribed for class and stage of life, I wish to get out of the ocean of transmigratory existence. How am I he?{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=91, 218}}}}

Recognizing oneself as "the Existent-''Brahman''," which is mediated by scriptural teachings, is contrasted with the notion of "I act," which is mediated by relying on sense-perception and the like.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=172-173 (Up.I.18.3-8)}} According to Shankara, the statement "Thou art That" "remove the delusion of a hearer,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=183 (Up.I.18.99-100)}} "so through sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own ''Atman'', the witness of all internal organs,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=190 (Up.I.18.174)}} and not from any actions.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=192 (Up.I.18.196-197); p. 195 (Up.I.18.2019)}}{{refn|group=note|Up.I.18.219: "The renunciation of all actions becomes the means for discriminating the meaning of the word "Thou" since there is an teaching, "Having become calm, self-controlled " (Bhr. Up. IV, 4, 23)."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=195 (Up.I.18.2019)}}}} With this realization, the performance of rituals is prohibited, "since rituals and their requisites is contradictory to the realization of the identity with the highest ''Atman''."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|pp=85, 220 (Up.II.1.30)}}

However, Shankara also asserts that Self-knowledge is realized when one's mind is purified by an ethical life that observes ] such as ''Ahimsa'' (non-injury, non-violence to others in body, mind and thoughts) and ]s. Rituals and rites such as ] (a fire ritual), asserts Shankara, can help draw and prepare the mind for the journey to Self-knowledge.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=92–93}} He emphasizes the need for ethics such as ] and ''Yamas'' during ], stating the lack of ethics as causes that prevent students from attaining knowledge.{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|pp=92–93}}{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=218–219}}

=== ''Īśvara'' ===
Shankara, while rejecting empirical reality due to his position of nonduality, still attributes value to the universe as it identifies with ''Īśvara''. He sometimes blurs the distinction between ''Īśvara'' and ''Brahman'', using various terms for both. However, he generally separates ''Īśvara'', associated with the universe and its attributes, from the absolute nondual Brahman. Drawing from the Upanishads, Shankara sees ''Īśvara'' as the universe's material and intelligent cause, emanating it through the power of ''maya'', thereby making the universe sentient and self-aware. In relation to the '']'', Shankara compares the universe's unmanifest state to ''Īśvara'' in a deep dreamless cosmic state.<ref>{{Citation |last=Dalal |first=Neil |title=Śaṅkara |date=2021 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/shankara/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |access-date=2023-10-28 |edition=Winter 2021 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref>

Shankara's conception of Brahman as the cause of the world does not invoke creation in the literal sense but '']'' (manifoldness without transformation), distinct from '']'' (actual transformation). Shankara argues that insentient matter cannot act purposefully and rejects any actual transformation of Brahman.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dasti |first=Matthew R. |title=Free will, agency, and selfhood in Indian philosophy |last2=Bryant |first2=Edwin F. |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford university press |isbn=978-0-19-992275-8 |location=New York (N.Y.) |pages=192-193}}</ref>

==Influences of Mahayana Buddhism==
{{See also|Advaita Vedanta#Buddhist influences|l1=Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta}}

Shankara's Vedanta shows similarities with ]; opponents have even accused Shankara of being a "crypto-Buddhist,"{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|p=14}}{{sfn|Biderman|1978|pp=405–413}}{{sfn|King|1995|p=183}}{{refn|group=note|name="crypto-Buddhist"|{{harvtxt|King|1995|p=183}}: "It is well-known that Sankara was criticized by later (rival) Vedantins as a crypto-Buddhist (''pracchana bauddha'').}} a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, given the differences between these two schools. According to Shankara, a major difference between Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism are their views on Atman and Brahman.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=60, 145–154}} According to both Loy and Jayatilleke, more differences can be discerned.<ref name=david>David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, 23(1), pp. 65–74</ref><ref>KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0619-1}}, pp. 246–249, from note 385 onwards</ref>

===Similarities and influences===
Despite Shankara's criticism of certain schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Shankara's philosophy shows strong similarities with the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy which he attacks.{{sfn|Shcherbatsky|1927|pp=44–45}} According to S.N. Dasgupta,
{{blockquote|Shankara and his followers borrowed much of their dialectic form of criticism from the Buddhists. His ] was very much like the ] of Nagarjuna The debts of Shankara to the self-luminosity of the Vijnanavada Buddhism can hardly be overestimated. There seems to be much truth in the accusations against Shankara by ] and others that he was a hidden Buddhist himself. I am led to think that Shankara's philosophy is largely a compound of ] and ] Buddhism with the Upanisad notion of the permanence of self superadded.{{sfn|Dasgupta|1997|p=494}} }}

According to Mudgal, Shankara's Advaita and the Buddhist Madhyamaka view of ultimate reality are compatible because they are both transcendental, indescribable, non-dual and only arrived at through a '']'' (]). Mudgal concludes therefore that
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;the difference between ] (Mahayana) philosophy of Buddhism and ] philosophy of Hinduism may be a matter of emphasis, not of kind.<ref>Mudgal, S.G. (1975), Advaita of Shankara: A Reappraisal, New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, p. 4</ref>}}

Some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its ''Maya'' and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism.<ref>] (1986), The Face of Truth: A Study of Meaning and Metaphysics in the Vedantic Theology of Rāmānuja, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0887060397}}, pp. 120–123</ref>{{sfn|Whaling|1979|pp=1–42}} ], the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedānta, accused Adi Shankara of being a ''Prachanna Bauddha'', that is, a "crypto-Buddhist",{{sfn|Biderman|1978|pp=405–413}}{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|p=14}} and someone who was undermining theistic ] devotionalism.{{sfn|Whaling|1979|pp=1–42}} The non-Advaita scholar ] of the Bhedabheda Vedānta tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.{{sfn|Whaling|1979|pp=1–42}}

===Differences===
The qualification of "crypto-Buddhist" is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on ''Atman'', ''Anatta'' and ''Brahman''.{{sfn|Isaeva|1993|pp=60, 145–154}}{{refn|group=note|name=self_no-self}} There are differences in the conceptual means of "liberation." ], a term more often used in Buddhism, is the liberating 'blowing out' of craving, aided by the realization and acceptance that there is no Self (]) as the center of perception, craving, and delusion. ], a term more common in Hinduism, is the similar liberating release from craving and ignorance, yet aided by the realization and acceptance that one's inner Self is not a personal 'ego-self', but a Universal Self.<ref name=david/><ref>Thomas McFaul (2006), The Future of Peace and Justice in the Global Village: The Role of the World Religions in the Twenty-first Century, Praeger, {{ISBN|978-0-275-99313-9}}, p. 39</ref>

==Films==
* ''Shankaracharya'' (1927), Indian silent film about Shankara by Kali Prasad Ghosh.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|author1=Ashish Rajadhyaksha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rF8ABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1931|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema|author2=Paul Willemen|date=10 July 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-94325-7}}</ref>
*''Jagadguru Shrimad Shankaracharya'' (1928), Indian silent film by Parshwanath Yeshwant Altekar.<ref name=":1" />
*''Jagadguru Shankaracharya'' (1955), Indian Hindi film by Sheikh Fattelal.<ref name=":1" />
*In 1977 '']'', a Malayalam film directed by ] was released in which ''Murali Mohan'' plays the role of Adult Aadi Sankaran and ] plays childhood.
* In 1983 a film directed by ] named '']'' was premiered, the first film ever made entirely in ] language in which all of Adi Shankaracharya's works were compiled.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} The movie received the Indian ] for ], ], ] and ].<ref name="31staward">{{cite web|url=http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm31stNFAAward.aspx|title=31st National Film Awards|publisher=], iffi.nic.in|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112200555/http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm31stNFAAward.aspx|archive-date=12 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="31stawardPDF">{{cite web|url=http://dff.nic.in/2011/31st_nff_1984.pdf|title=31st National Film Awards (PDF)|publisher=], dff.nic.in}}</ref>
* On 15 August 2013, '']'' was released in an Indian Telugu-language biographical film written and directed by J. K. Bharavi and was later dubbed in Kannada with the same title, by Upendra giving narration for the Kannada dubbed version

==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism|India|Religion|Philosophy}}
{{Div col}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
{{div col end}}
==Notes== ==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2|refs=
{{IndicText}}
<!-- B -->
<div class="references-small">
<!-- Brahman -->
<references />
{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman|Highest self:
</div>
* Shankara, ''Upadesasahasri'' I.18.3: "I am ever-free, the existent" ('']''). I.18.6: "The two notions "I am the Existent-''Brahman''" and "I act," have ''Atman'' as their witness. It is considered more reasonable to give up only of the two which arises from ignorance. I.18.7: "The notion, "I am the Existent," arises from right means of knowledge the other notion has its origin in fallacious means of knowledge."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=172}}
* {{harvnb|Sivananda|1993|p=219}}: "Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or individual soul is non-different from Brahman."
* {{harvnb|Deutsch|1973|p=54}}: " essential status is that of unqualified reality, of identity with the Absolute the self (''jiva'') is only misperceived: the self is really Brahman."
* {{harvnb|Koller|2013|pp=100–101}}: "Atman, which is identical to Brahman, is ultimately the only reality and the appearance of plurality is entirely the work of ignorance the self is ultimately of the nature of Atman/Brahman Brahman alone is ultimately real."
* {{harvnb|Bowker|2000}}: "There is only Brahman, which is necessarily undifferentiated. It follows that there cannot even be a difference, or duality, between the human subject, or self, and Brahman, for Brahman must be that very self (since Brahman is the reality underlying all appearance). The goal of human life and wisdom must, therefore, be the realization that the self (ātman) is Brahman."
* {{harvnb|Menon|2012}}: "The experiencing self (jīva) and the transcendental self of the Universe (ātman) are in reality identical (both are Brahman), though the individual self seems different as space within a container seems different from space as such. These cardinal doctrines are represented in the anonymous verse "brahma satyam jagan mithya; jīvo brahmaiva na aparah" (Brahman is alone True, and this world of plurality is an error; the individual self is not different from Brahman)."
{{harvtxt|Hacker|1995|p=88}} notes that Shankara uses two groups of words to denote 'atman': "One group - principally ''jiva'', ''vijnanatman'', and ''sarira'' - expresses the illusory aspect of the soul But in addition there are the two expressions ''atman'' and ''pratyagatman''. These also designate the individual soul, but in its real aspect." {{Harvtxt|Mayeda|1992|pp=11, 14}} uses the word ''pratyagatman''; {{harvtxt|Sivananda|1993|p=219}}, {{harvtxt|Deutsch|1973|p=54}}, and {{harvtxt|Menon|2012}} use the term ''jiva'' when referring to the identity of ''atman'' and ''Brahman''.}}
<!-- D -->
<!-- "date" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="date"|Modern scholarship places Shankara in the earlier part of the 8th century CE (c. 700–750).({{harvnb|Koller|2013|p=99}}, {{harvnb|Comans|2000|p=163}}, {{harvnb|Mayeda|2015}}) Earlier generations of scholars proposed 788–820 CE.({{harvnb|Comans|2000|p=163}}, {{harvnb|Mayeda|2015}}} The cardinal Advaita matha's assign his dates as early as 509–477 BCE.}}
<!-- K -->
<!-- King2002_MandanaMisra -->
{{refn|group=note|name=King2002_MandanaMisra|{{harvnb|King|2002|p=128}}: "Although it is common to find Western scholars and Hindus arguing that Sankaracarya was the most influential and important figure in the history of Hindu intellectual thought, this does not seem to be justified by the historical evidence."}}
<!-- M -->
<!-- Mookerji -->
<ref group=note name="Mookerji">Compare {{harvnb|Mookerji|2011}} on ] (Vedic learning). {{harvtxt|Mookerji|2011|pp=29–31}} notes that the Rigveda, and Sayana's commentary, contain passages criticizing as fruitless mere recitation of the ''Ŗik'' (words) without understanding their inner meaning or essence, the knowledge of ''dharma'' and ''Parabrahman''. {{harvtxt|Mookerji|2011|pp=29, 34}} concludes that in the Rigvedic education of the mantras "the contemplation and comprehension of ] was considered as more important and vital to education than their mere mechanical repetition and correct pronunciation." {{harvtxt|Mookerji|2011|p=35}} refers to Sayana as stating that "the mastery of texts, ''akshara-praptī'', is followed by '']-]'', perception of their meaning." ('']'' may also mean "goal, purpose or essence," depending on the context. See:
University of Kloen, Germany (2009); Karl Potter (1998), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, {{ISBN|81-208-0310-8}}, Motilal Banarsidass, pp 610 (note 17).) According to {{harvtxt|Mookerji|2011|p=36}}, "the realization of ]" and the knowledge of '']'' as revealed to the ''rishis'' is the real aim of Vedic learning, and not the mere recitation of texts.</ref>
<!-- S -->
<!-- self_no-self -->
{{refn|group=note|name=self_no-self|Atman versus anatman:
* {{harv|Isaeva|1993|pp=60, 145–154}}
* KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0619-1}}, p. 246–249, from note 385 onwards
* Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, p. 64: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ] is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."
* Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|pages=2–4}}
* Katie Javanaud (2013), , Philosophy Now
* John C. Plott et al. (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0158-5}}, p. 63: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".}}
}}


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* {{cite book |last=Isayeva |first=Natalia |year=1993 |title=Shankara and Indian Philosophy |publisher=State University of New York Press (SUNY) |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-7914-1282-4}}
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* {{cite book | last =Keshava Menon | first =Y. | year =1976 | title =The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya}}
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* {{Citation | last =Mayeda | first =Sengaku | year =1992 | chapter =An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Sankara | editor-first =Sengaku | editor-last =Mayeda | title =A Thousand Teachings: The Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara | publisher =State University of New York City Press | isbn =0-7914-0944-9 | chapter-url =https://archive.org/details/thousandteaching00sank }}
* {{cite book |last=Mayeda |first=Sengaku |year=2006 |title=A thousand teachings : the Upadeśasāhasrī of Śaṅkara |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-2771-4}}
* {{cite web | last =Mayeda | first =Sengaku | year =2015 | title =Adi Shankara | publisher =Encyclopedia Britannica | url =https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shankara }}
* {{Citation |last =McRae |first =John |year =2003 |title =Seeing Through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism |publisher =The University Press Group Ltd |isbn =978-0-520-23798-8}}
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* {{cite book |last=Shah-Kazemi |first=Reza |year=2006 |title=Paths to Transcendence: According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi & Meister Eckhart |publisher=World Wisdom}}
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* {{Citation | last =Sivananda | first =Swami | year =1993 | title =All About Hinduism | publisher =The Divine Life Society}}
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* {{Citation | last =Suthren Hirst| first =J. G. | year =2005 | title =Śaṃkara's Advaita Vedānta: A Way of Teaching | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-1-134-25441-5}}
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* {{cite book | last =Tapasyananda | year =2015 | title =Sankara Digvijaya – The traditional life of Sri Sankaracharya | publisher =Sri Ramakrishna Math | isbn =978-81-7823-342-0 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=0Ls5CgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{Cite journal|last=Tola|first=Fernando|title=On the Date of Maṇḍana Miśra and Śaṅkara and Their Doctrinal Relation|date=1989|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=70|issue=1/4 |pages=37–46 |jstor=41693459|issn=0378-1143}}
<!-- W -->
* {{cite journal|last=Whaling|first=Frank|year=1979|title=Shankara and Buddhism|journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy|volume=7|issue=1|pages=1–42|doi=10.1007/BF02561251|jstor=23440361|s2cid=170613052}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=White |editor-first=David Gordon |year=2000 |title=Introduction. In: Tantra in practice |place=Princeton and Oxford |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
{{refend}}


;Web citations
== External links ==
{{reflist|group=web|refs=
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<ref group=web name=Stanford_Dalal2021>Neil Dalal (2021), , Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>
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;Works
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==Further reading==
;Historical
* {{cite book |last=Fort |first=Andrew O. |year=1998 |title=Jivanmukti in Transformation: Embodied Liberation in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-791-43904-3|ref=none}}
*
* {{cite book |last=Fuller |first=C. J. |year=2004 |title=The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India |place=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12048-5 |ref=none}}
*
* {{cite journal |last=Hirst |first=J. S. |year=2005 |title=A Questioning Approach: Learning from Shankara's Pedagogic Techniques |journal=Contemporary Education Dialogue |volume=2 |number=2 |pages=137–169 |doi=10.1177/097318490500200202 |ref=none}}
*
* {{cite journal | last = Ingalls | first = Daniel H. H. | title = Śaṁkara's Arguments against the Buddhists | journal = Philosophy East and West | volume = 3 | issue = 4 | pages = 291–306 | year = 1954 | url = http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/ew27155.htm | doi = 10.2307/1397287 | jstor = 1397287| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110628221923/http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/ew27155.htm | archive-date = 28 June 2011 | url-status = dead |ref=none}}
* (PDF)
* {{cite book|last=Nakamura |first=Hajime |year=1990 |orig-year=1950 |title=A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy. Part One |place=Delhi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |ref=none}} (Reprint)
</div>
* {{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2104222|jstor=2104222|title=Sankara and the Vedic Tradition|journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research|volume=17|issue=2|pages=248–255|year=1956|last1=Navone|first1=J. J. |ref=none}}
{{col-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Olivelle|first=Patrick|year=1992|title=The Samnyasa Upanisads|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195070453 |ref=none}}
<div class="references-small">
* {{cite book |last=Pandey |first=S. L. |year=2000 |chapter=Pre-Sankara Advaita |editor=Chattopadhyana |title=History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization |volume=II Part 2: Advaita Vedanta |place=Delhi |publisher=Centre for Studies in Civilizations |ref=none}}
;Life and teachings
* {{cite journal|last=Reigle|first=David|year=2001|title=The Original Sankaracarya|journal=Fohat|volume=5|issue=3|pages=57–60, 70–71|url=http://www.theosophycanada.com/files/fohat-fall-2001.pdf |ref=none}}
*
* {{cite journal |doi=10.7825/2164-6279.1295 |title = Dr. Richard de Smet and Sankara's Advaita |journal = Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies |volume = 16 |year = 2003 |last1 = Rukmani |first1 = T.S. |author-link=T. S. Rukmani |doi-access = free |ref=none}}
*
* {{cite book |author=Sankaracharya |url=https://archive.org/details/CompleteWorksOfSriSankaracharyaIn20Volumes1910Edition |title=The Works of Sri Sankaracharya |year=1910 |publisher=Sri Vani Vilas Press |place=Srirangam |ref=none}} 20 vols.
* — short introduction to his life &amp; philosophy (by ])
* {{cite journal |first=Frank |last=Whaling |year=1979 |jstor=23440361 |title=Śankara and Buddhism |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |volume=7 |number=1 |pages=1–42 |doi=10.1007/BF02561251 |ref=none}}
* by ]
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==External links==
;Mathas
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{{Sister project links|Adi Shankara|display=Adi Shankara|wikt=no|v=no|voy=no|n=no|b=no|author=no|d=Q180967}}
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* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Adi Shankara" OR "Adi Shankaracharya" OR "Shankara Bhagavatpada" OR Sankaracharya OR Śaṅkarācārya OR "Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda" OR "Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya")}}
* {{Librivox author |id=17043}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=38496| name=Adi Shankara}}
* at sankaracharya.org

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Latest revision as of 19:46, 19 December 2024

8th-century Indian Vedic scholar This article is about the vedic scholar Adi Shankara. For the title used in Advaita traditions, see Shankaracharya. "Adi Shankaracharya" redirects here. For the 1983 Indian film, see Adi Shankaracharya (film).

Adi Shankara
Painting of Adi Shankara, exponent of Advaita Vedanta with his disciples by Raja Ravi Varma
Personal life
BornShankara
c. 700 CE
Diedc. 750 CE
Known forExpounded Advaita Vedanta
HonorsJagadguru
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Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, romanizedĀdi Śaṅkara, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, lit.'First Shankaracharya', pronounced [aːd̪i ɕɐŋkɐraːt͡ɕaːrjɐ]), was an Indian Vedic scholar, philosopher and teacher (acharya) of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. He is seen as "the one who restored the Hindu dharma against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India." Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.

While often revered as the most important Indian philosopher, the historical influence of his works on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned. Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Maṇḍana Miśra, and there is no mention of him in concurring Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sources until the 11th century. The popular image of Shankara started to take shape in the 14th century, centuries after his death, when Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire and shifted their allegiance from Advaitic Agamic Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy. Hagiographies dating from the 14th-17th centuries deified him as a ruler-renunciate, travelling on a digvijaya (conquest of the four quarters) across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy, defeating his opponents in theological debates. These hagiographies portray him as founding four mathas ("monasteries"), and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the Dashanami monastic order, and the unifier of the Shanmata tradition of worship. The title of Shankaracharya, used by heads of certain monasteries in India, is derived from his name.

Due to his later fame, over 300 texts are attributed to him, including commentaries (Bhāṣya), introductory topical expositions (Prakaraṇa grantha) and poetry (Stotra). However, most of these are likely to be written by admirers or pretenders or scholars with an eponymous name. Works known to be written by Shankara himself are the Brahmasutrabhasya, his commentaries on ten principal Upanishads, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upadeśasāhasrī. The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Vivekacūḍāmaṇi has been questioned and mostly rejected by scholarship.

His authentic works present a harmonizing reading of the shastras, with liberating knowledge of the self at its core, synthesizing the Advaita Vedanta teachings of his time. The central concern of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the true identity of jivatman (individual self) as Ātman-Brahman, taking the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge, beyond the ritually-oriented Mīmāṃsā-exegesis of the Vedas. Shankara's Advaita shows influences from Mahayana Buddhism, despite Shankara's critiques; and Hindu Vaishnava opponents have even accused Shankara of being a "crypto-Buddhist," a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta and Brahman.

Dating

Several different dates have been proposed for Shankara. While the Advaita tradition assigns him to the 5th century BCE, the scholarly-accepted dating places Shankara to be a scholar from the first half of the 8th century CE.

Matha datings

  • 509–477 BCE: this dating is based on records of the heads of the Shankara's cardinal institutions Maṭhas. The exact dates of birth of Adi Shankaracharya believed by four monasteries are Dvārakā at 491 BCE, Jyotirmath at 485 BCE, Jagannatha Puri at 484 BCE and Sringeri at 483 BCE. while according to the Kanchipuram Peetham Adi Shankara was born in Kali 2593 (509 BCE).

The records of the Sringeri Matha state that Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of "Vikramaditya", but it is unclear to which king this name refers. Though some researchers identify the name with Chandragupta II (4th century CE), modern scholarship accepts the Vikramaditya as being from the Chalukya dynasty of Badami, most likely Vikramaditya II (733–746 CE).

Scholarly datings

  • 788–820 CE: This was proposed by late 19th and early twentieth century scholars, following K.P. Tiele, and was customarily accepted by scholars such as Max Müller, Macdonnel, Pathok, Deussen and Radhakrishna. Though the 788–820 CE dates are widespread in 20th-century publications, recent scholarship has questioned the 788–820 CE dates.
  • c. 700 – c. 750 CE: Late 20th-century and early 21st-century scholarship tends to place Shankara's life in the first half of the 8th century. This estimate is based on the probable earliest and latest limits for his lifetime. His works contains traces of debates with Buddhist and Mimamsa authors from th 5th-7th century, setting the earliest limit at c. 650 CE. The latest limit is established by Vacaspatimisra's commentary on Sankara's work, dated first half of the 9th century, thus setting the latest limit for Sankara at c. 800 CE.

Other datings

  • 44–12 BCE: the commentator Anandagiri believed he was born at Chidambaram in 44 BCE and died in 12 BCE.
  • 6th century CE: Telang placed him in this century. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar believed he was born in 680 CE.
  • 805–897 CE: Venkiteswara not only places Shankara later than most, but also had the opinion that it would not have been possible for him to have achieved all the works apportioned to him, and has him live ninety-two years.

Traditional and historical views on Shankara

See also: History of Hinduism
Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthampa Mandapam, Kalady, Kochi

Traditional views of Shankara

Shankara has an unparallelled status in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta. Hagiographies from the 14th-17th century portray him as a victor who travelled all over India to help restore the study of the Vedas According to Frank Whaling, "Hindus of the Advaita persuasion (and others too) have seen in Sankara the one who restored the Hindu dharma against the attacks of the Buddhists (and Jains) and in the process helped to drive Buddhism out of India." His teachings and tradition are central to Smartism and have influenced Sant Mat lineages. Tradition portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being, implying that Advaita Vedanta stood above all other traditions.

Prominence of Maṇḍana Miśra (until 10th century)

Scholars have questioned Shankara's early influence in India. The Buddhist scholar Richard E. King states,

Although it is common to find Western scholars and Hindus arguing that Sankaracarya was the most influential and important figure in the history of Hindu intellectual thought, this does not seem to be justified by the historical evidence.

According to Clark, "Sankara was relatively unknown during his life-time, and probably for several centuries after, as there is no mention of him in Buddhist or jain sources for centuries; nor is he mentioned by other important philosophers of the ninth and tenth centuries." According to King and Roodurmun, until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Mandana-Misra, the latter considered to be the major representative of Advaita. Maṇḍana Miśra, an older contemporary of Shankara, was a Mimamsa scholar and a follower of Kumarila, but also wrote a seminal text on Advaita that has survived into the modern era, the Brahma-siddhi. The "theory of error" set forth in the Brahma-siddhi became the normative Advaita Vedanta theory of error, and for a couple of centuries he was the most influential Vedantin. His student Vachaspati Miśra, who is believed to have been an incarnation of Shankara to popularize the Advaita view, wrote the Bhamati, a commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, and the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on Mandana Mishra's Brahma-siddhi. His thought was mainly inspired by Mandana Miśra, and harmonises Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Miśra. The Bhamati school takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya. It sees yogic practice and contemplation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas and reflection are additional factors. The later Advaita Vedanta tradition incorporated Maṇḍana Miśra into the Shankara-fold, by identifying him with Sureśvara (9th century), believing that Maṇḍana Miśra became a disciple of Shankara after a public debate which Shankara won.

According to Satchidanandendra Sarasvati, "almost all the later Advaitins were influenced by Mandana Misra and Bhaskara." He argues that most of post-Shankara Advaita Vedanta actually deviates from Shankara, and that only his student Suresvara, who's had little influence, represents Shankara correctly. In this view, Shankara's influential student Padmapada misunderstood Shankara, while his views were manitained by the Suresvara school.

Vaishnavite Vedanta (10th-14th century)

Hajime Nakamura states that prior to Shankara, views similar to his already existed, but did not occupy a dominant position within the Vedanta. Until the 11th century, Vedanta itself was a peripheral school of thought; Vedanta became a major influence when it was utilized by various sects of Hinduism to ground their doctrines. The early Vedanta scholars were from the upper classes of society, well-educated in traditional culture. They formed a social elite, "sharply distinguished from the general practitioners and theologians of Hinduism." Their teachings were "transmitted among a small number of selected intellectuals". Works of the early Vedanta schools do not contain references to Vishnu or Shiva. It was only after Shankara that "the theologians of the various sects of Hinduism utilized Vedanta philosophy to a greater or lesser degree to form the basis of their doctrines," whereby "its theoretical influence upon the whole of Indian society became final and definitive." Examples are Ramanuja (11th c.), who aligned bhakti, "the major force in the religions of Hinduism," with philosophical thought, meanwhile rejecting Shankara's views, and the Nath-tradition.

Vijayanagara Empire and Vidyaranya (14th century) - creation of traditional (hagiographic) views

In medieval times, Advaita Vedanta position as most influential Hindu darsana started to take shape, as Advaitins in the Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their sect. It is only during this period that the historical fame and cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta was established. Many of Shankara's biographies were created and published in and after the 14th century, such as Vidyaranya's widely cited Śankara-vijaya. Vidyaranya, also known as Madhava, who was the 12th Jagadguru of the Śringeri Śarada Pītham from 1380 to 1386 and a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire, inspired the re-creation of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India. This may have been in response to the devastation caused by the Islamic Delhi Sultanate, but his efforts were also targeted at Sri Vaishnava groups, especially Visishtadvaita, which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire. Furthermore, sects competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their own sectarian system. Vidyaranya and his brothers, note Paul Hacker and other scholars, wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make "the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion" more accessible. Vidyaranya was an influential Advaitin, and he created legends to turn Shankara, whose elevated philosophy had no appeal to gain widespread popularity, into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his digvijaya ("universal conquest," see below) all over India like a victorious conqueror." In his doxography Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha ("Summary of all views") Vidyaranya presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all darsanas, presenting the other darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be the most inclusive system. The Vaishanava traditions of Dvaita and Visishtadvaita were not classified as Vedanta, and placed just above Buddhism and Jainism, reflecting the threat they posed for Vidyaranya's Advaita allegiance. Bhedabheda wasn't mentioned at all, "literally written out of the history of Indian philosophy." Such was the influence of the Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha, that early Indologists also regarded Advaita Vedanta as the most accurate interpretation of the Upanishads. And Vidyaranya founded a matha, proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself. Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support, and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (mathas) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta.

Hagiographies: Digvijaya - "The conquests of Shankara" (14th-17th century)

The birthplace of Adi Shankara at Kalady
Murti of Shankara at his Samadhi Mandir, behind Kedarnath Temple, in Kedarnath, India

Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scanty. His existing biographies are not historical accurate documents, but politically motivated hagiographies which were all written several centuries after his time and abound in legends and improbable events.

Sources

Main article: Digvijaya

There are at least fourteen different known hagiographies of Adi Shankara's life. These, as well as other hagiographical works on Shankara, were written many centuries to a thousand years after Shankara's death, in Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit languages, and the hagiographies are filled with legends and fiction, often mutually contradictory.

Many of these are called the Śankara Vijaya ('The conquests (digvijaya) of Shankara'), while some are called Guruvijaya, Sankarabhyudaya and Shankaracaryacarita. Of these, the Brhat-Sankara-Vijaya by Citsukha is the oldest hagiography but only available in excerpts, while Sankaradigvijaya by Mādhava (17th c.) and Sankaravijaya by Anandagiri are the most cited. Other significant hagiographies are the Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Cidvilāsa, c. between the 15th and 17th centuries), and the Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of the Kerala region, extant from c. the 17th century).}

Scholars note that one of the most cited Shankara hagiographies, Anandagiri's, includes stories and legends about historically different people, but all bearing the same name of Sri Shankaracarya or also referred to as Shankara but likely meaning more ancient scholars with names such as Vidya-sankara, Sankara-misra and Sankara-nanda. Some hagiographies are probably written by those who sought to create a historical basis for their rituals or theories.

Early life

According to the oldest hagiographies, Shankara was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala, in a village named Kaladi sometimes spelled as Kalati or Karati. His parents were an aged, childless, couple who led a devout life of service to the poor. They named their child Shankara, meaning "giver of prosperity". His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's upanayanam, the initiation into student-life, had to be delayed due to the death of his father, and was then performed by his mother.

Sannyasa

Shankara's hagiographies describe him as someone who was attracted to the life of Sannyasa (hermit) from early childhood. His mother disapproved. A story, found in all hagiographies, describe Shankara at age eight going to a river with his mother, Sivataraka, to bathe, and where he is caught by a crocodile. Shankara called out to his mother to give him permission to become a Sannyasin or else the crocodile will kill him. The mother agrees, Shankara is freed and leaves his home for education. He reaches a Saivite sanctuary along a river in a north-central state of India, and becomes the disciple of a teacher named Govinda Bhagavatpada. The stories in various hagiographies diverge in details about the first meeting between Shankara and his Guru, where they met, as well as what happened later. Several texts suggest Shankara schooling with Govindapada happened along the river Narmada in Omkareshwar, a few place it along river Ganges in Kashi (Varanasi) as well as Badari (Badrinath in the Himalayas).

The hagiographies vary in their description of where he went, who he met and debated and many other details of his life. Most mention Shankara studying the Vedas, Upanishads and Brahmasutra with Govindapada, and Shankara authoring several key works in his youth, while he was studying with his teacher. It is with his teacher Govinda, that Shankara studied Gaudapadiya Karika, as Govinda was himself taught by Gaudapada. Most also mention a meeting with scholars of the Mimamsa school of Hinduism namely Kumarila and Prabhakara, as well as Mandana and various Buddhists, in Shastrartha (an Indian tradition of public philosophical debates attended by large number of people, sometimes with royalty).

Travels (Digvijaya) and disciples

Thereafter, the hagiographies about Shankara vary significantly. Different and widely inconsistent accounts of his life include diverse journeys, pilgrimages, public debates, installation of yantras and lingas, as well as the founding of monastic centers in north, east, west and south India.

While the details and chronology vary, most hagiographies present Shankara as traveling widely within India, Gujarat to Bengal, and participating in public philosophical debates with different orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, as well as heterodox traditions such as Buddhists, Jains, Arhatas, Saugatas, and Charvakas. The hagiographies credit him with starting several Matha (monasteries), but this is uncertain. Ten monastic orders in different parts of India are generally attributed to Shankara's travel-inspired Sannyasin schools, each with Advaita notions, of which four have continued in his tradition: Bharati (Sringeri), Sarasvati (Kanchi), Tirtha and Asramin (Dvaraka). Other monasteries that record Shankara's visit include Giri, Puri, Vana, Aranya, Parvata and Sagara – all names traceable to Ashrama system in Hinduism and Vedic literature.

Shankara had a number of disciple scholars during his travels, including Padmapadacharya (also called Sanandana, associated with the text Atma-bodha), Sureśvaracharya, Totakacharya, Hastamalakacharya, Chitsukha, Prthividhara, Chidvilasayati, Bodhendra, Brahmendra, Sadananda and others, who authored their own literature on Shankara and Advaita Vedanta.

Death

According to hagiographies, supported by four maths, Adi Shankara died at Kedarnath in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, a Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas. Texts say that he was last seen by his disciples behind the Kedarnath temple, walking in the Himalayas until he was not traced. Some texts locate his death in alternate locations such as Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu) and somewhere in the state of Kerala. According to the hagiographies related to the monastery of Kanchi, Adi Sankara died at Kanchi.

Hagiographies: attribution of Mathas and Smarta tradition (14-17th century)

See also: Dashanami Sampradaya

Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the founder of the Daśanāmi Sampradāya of Hindu monasticism, and the Panchayatana puja and Ṣaṇmata of the Smarta tradition.

Dashanami Sampradaya and mathas

Advaita Vedanta is, at least in the west, primarily known as a philosophical system. But it is also a tradition of renunciation. Philosophy and renunciation are closely related:

Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of the sannyasa tradition, and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics.

Shankara was a Vaishnavite who came to be presented as an incarnation of Shiva in the 14th century, to facilitate the adoption of his teachings by previously Saiva-oriented mathas in the Vijayanagara Empire. From the 14th century onwards hagiographies were composed, in which he is portrayed as establishing the Daśanāmi Sampradaya, organizing a section of the Ekadandi monks under an umbrella grouping of ten names. Several other Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis.

According to tradition, Adi Sankara organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ) (monasteries), with the headquarters at Dvārakā in the West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri in the South and Badrikashrama in the North. Each matha was headed by one of his four main disciples, who each continues the Vedanta Sampradaya.

According to Paul Hacker, the system may have been initiated by Vidyaranya (14th c.), who may have founded a matha, proclaiming that it was established by Shankara himself, as part of his campaign to propagate Shankara's Advaita Vedanta. Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support, and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (mathas) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta.

Smarta Tradition

Main article: Smarta Tradition

Traditionally, Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher and reformer of the Smartism sampradaya, which is one of four major sampradaya of Hinduism. According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Shankara established the nondualist interpretation of the Upanishads as the touchstone of a revived smarta tradition:

Practically, Shankara fostered a rapprochement between Advaita and smarta orthodoxy, which by his time had not only continued to defend the varnasramadharma theory as defining the path of karman, but had developed the practice of pancayatanapuja ("five-shrine worship") as a solution to varied and conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship any one of five deities (Vishnu, Siva, Durga, Surya, Ganesa) as one's istadevata ("deity of choice").

Panchayatana puja (IAST Pañcāyatana pūjā) is a system of puja (worship) in the Smarta tradition. It consists of the worship of five deities set in a quincunx pattern, the five deities being Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya, and an Ishta Devata such as Kartikeya, or Ganesha or any personal god of devotee's preference. Sometimes the Ishta Devata is the sixth deity in the mandala. while in the Shanmata system, Skanda, also known as Kartikeya and Murugan, is added. Panchayatana puja is a practice that became popular in medieval India, and has been attributed to Adi Shankara. However, archaeological evidence suggests that this practice long predates the birth of Adi Shankara.

Neo-Vedanta (19-20th century)

Main article: Neo-Vedanta

Shankara's position was further established in the 19th and 20th-century, when neo-Vedantins and western Orientalists elevated Advaita Vedanta "as the connecting theological thread that united Hinduism into a single religious tradition." Shankara became "an iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.

21st century

A 108-foot statue of Adi Shankara was unveiled near Omkareshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh to commemorate his life and work on 21 September 2023. Another 12-foot statue at Kedarnath was unveiled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November 2019, is made of chlorite schist and weighs 35 tonnes.

Adi Shankaracharya Math in Pashupatinath Temple, Nepal

Works

Further information: Adi Shankara bibliography

Adi Shankara is highly esteemed in contemporary Advaita Vedanta, and over 300 texts are attributed to his name, including commentaries (Bhāṣya), original philosophical expositions (Prakaraṇa grantha) and poetry (Stotra). However, most of these are not authentic works of Shankara, and are likely to be written by his admirers, or scholars whose name was also Shankaracharya. Piantelli has published a complete list of works attributed to Adi Sankara, along with issues of authenticity for most.

Authentic works

Shankara is most known for his systematic reviews and commentaries (Bhasyas) on ancient Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the Brahmasutrabhasya (literally, commentary on Brahma Sutras). The Brahma Sutras are a fundamental text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism. Shankara refers to or cites some passages from works attributed to Gaudapada (the teacher of Shankara's teacher) in his commentaries, revealing a line of influence.

According to Flood, of the Upanishadic commentaries only his commentaries on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the Taittiriya Upanishad are authentic. Hacker and Mayeda also accept as authentic the commentaries on the Chandogya Upanishad, the Aitareya Upanishad, the Kena Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, and the Prashna Upanishad. The authenticity of the commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapadas Madukya-karika has been questioned.

Other authentic works of Shankara include commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (part of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya). His Vivarana (tertiary notes) on the commentary by Vedavyasa on Yogasutras as well as those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras (Adhyatama-patala-bhasya) are accepted by scholars as authentic works of Shankara. Among the Stotra (poetic works), the Dakshinamurti Stotra, the Mohamudgara Stotra(Bhaja govindam), the Shivanandalahari, the Carpata-panjarika, the Visnu-satpadi, the Harimide, the Dasha-shloki, and the Krishna-staka are likely to be authentic.

Shankara also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work. Of other original Prakaranas (प्रकरण, monographs, treatise), seventy-six works are attributed to Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars such as Belvalkar as well as Upadhyaya accept five and thirty-nine works respectively as authentic.

Murti of Shankara at the SAT Temple in Santa Cruz, California

Shankara's stotras considered authentic include those dedicated to Krishna (Vaishnavism) and one to Shiva (Shaivism) – often considered two different sects within Hinduism. Scholars suggest that these stotra are not sectarian, but essentially Advaitic and reach for a unified universal view of Vedanta.

Shankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the oldest surviving. However, in that commentary, he mentions older commentaries like those of Dravida, Bhartrprapancha and others which are either lost or yet to be found.

Works of doubtful authenticity or not authentic

Commentaries on Nrisimha-Purvatatapaniya and Shveshvatara Upanishads are attributed to Shankara, but their authenticity is highly doubtful. Similarly, commentaries on several early and later Upanishads attributed to Shankara are rejected by scholars to be his works, and are likely works of later scholars; these include: Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, Kaivalya Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad, Sakatayana Upanishad, Mandala Brahmana Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, Gopalatapaniya Upanishad. However, in Brahmasutra-Bhasya, Shankara cites some of these Upanishads as he develops his arguments, but the historical notes left by his companions and disciples, along with major differences in style and the content of the commentaries on later Upanishad have led scholars to conclude that the commentaries on later Upanishads were not Shankara's work.

The authenticity of Shankara being the author of Vivekacūḍāmaṇi has been questioned, though it is "so closely interwoven into the spiritual heritage of Shankara that any analysis of his perspective which fails to consider would be incomplete." According to Grimes, "modern scholars tend to reject its authenticity as a work by Shankara," while "traditionalists tend to accept it." Nevertheless, does Grimes argue that "there is still a likelihood that Śaṅkara is the author of the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi," noting that "it differs in certain respects from his other works in that it addresses itself to a different audience and has a different emphasis and purpose."

Vidyashankara temple at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri

The Aparokshanubhuti and Atma bodha are also attributed to Shankara, as his original philosophical treatises, but this is doubtful. Paul Hacker has also expressed some reservations that the compendium Sarva-darsana-siddhanta Sangraha was completely authored by Shankara, because of difference in style and thematic inconsistencies in parts. Similarly, Gayatri-bhasya is doubtful to be Shankara's work. Other commentaries that are highly unlikely to be Shankara's work include those on Uttaragita, Siva-gita, Brahma-gita, Lalita-shasranama, Suta-samhita and Sandhya-bhasya. The commentary on the Tantric work Lalita-trisati-bhasya attributed to Shankara is also unauthentic.

Shankara is widely credited with commentaries on other scriptural works, such as the Vishnu sahasranāma and the Sānatsujātiya, but both these are considered apocryphal by scholars who have expressed doubts. Hastamalakiya-bhasya is also widely believed in India to be Shankara's work and it is included in Samata-edition of Shankara's works, but some scholars consider it to be the work of Shankara's student.

Philosophy and practice

Atma Shatakam (The song of the Self):

I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without hate, without infatuation, without craving, without greed;
Neither arrogance, nor conceit, never jealous I am;
Neither dharma, nor artha, neither kama, nor moksha am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without sins, without merits, without elation, without sorrow;
Neither mantra, nor rituals, neither pilgrimage, nor Vedas;
Neither the experiencer, nor experienced, nor the experience am I,
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without fear, without death, without discrimination, without caste;
Neither father, nor mother, never born I am;
Neither kith, nor kin, neither teacher, nor student am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

Without form, without figure, without resemblance am I;
Vitality of all senses, in everything I am;
Neither attached, nor released am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.

—Adi Shankara, Nirvana Shatakam, Hymns 3–6

According to Koller, Shankara, and his contemporaries, made a significant contribution in understanding Buddhism and the ancient Vedic traditions, then transforming the extant ideas, particularly reforming the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism, making it India's most important "spiritual tradition" for more than a thousand years. Benedict Ashley credits Adi Shankara for unifying two seemingly disparate philosophical doctrines in Hinduism, namely Atman and Brahman.

According to Nakamura, Shankara was not an original thinker, but systematised the works of preceding philosophers. The central theme of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the identity of the Self (Ātman) and Brahman. Moksha is attained in this life by recognizing the identity of Atman and Brahman, as mediated by the Mahavakyas, especially Tat Tvam Asi, "That you are."

Historical context

Further information: History of India and History of Hinduism

Shankara lived in the time of the great "Late classical Hinduism", which lasted from 650 till 1100 CE. This era was one of political instability that followed the Gupta dynasty and King Harsha of the 7th century CE. power became decentralised in India. Several larger kingdoms emerged, with "countless vasal states". The kingdoms were ruled via a feudal system. Smaller kingdoms were dependent on the protection of the larger kingdoms. "The great king was remote, was exalted and deified", as reflected in the Tantric Mandala, which could also depict the king as the centre of the mandala.

The disintegration of central power also lead to regionalisation of religiosity, and religious rivalry. Local cults and languages were enhanced, and the influence of "Brahmanic ritualistic Hinduism" was diminished. Rural and devotional movements arose, along with Shaivism, Vaisnavism, Bhakti and Tantra, though "sectarian groupings were only at the beginning of their development". Religious movements had to compete for recognition by the local lords, and Buddhism, Jainism, Islam and various traditions within Hinduism were competing for members. Buddhism in particular had emerged as a powerful influence in India's spiritual traditions in the first 700 years of the 1st millennium CE, but lost its position after the 8th century, and began to disappear in India. This was reflected in the change of puja-ceremonies at the courts in the 8th century, where Hindu gods replaced the Buddha as the "supreme, imperial deity".

Systematizer of Advaita

According to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of the early Vedantins and Shankara's thought shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before Śankara". Shankara "was the person who synthesized the Advaita-vāda which had previously existed before him". According to Nakamura, after the growing influence of Buddhism on Vedānta, culminating in the works of Gauḍapāda, Adi Shankara gave a Vedantic character to the Buddhistic elements in these works, synthesising and rejuvenating the doctrine of Advaita.

According to Koller, using ideas in ancient Indian texts, Shankara systematized the foundation for Advaita Vedānta in the 8th century, reforming Badarayana's Vedānta tradition. According to Mayeda, Shankara represents a turning point in the development of Vedānta, yet he also notices that it is only since Deussens's praise that Shankara "has usually been regarded as the greatest philosopher of India." Mayeda further notes that Shankara was primarily concerned with moksha, "and not with the establishment of a complete system of philosophy or theology," following Potter, who qualifies Shankara as a "speculative philosopher." Lipner notes that Shankara's "main literary approach was commentarial and hence perforce disjointed rather than procedurally systematic though a systematic philosophy can be derived from Samkara's thought."

Shankara has been described as influenced by Shaivism and Shaktism, but his works and philosophy suggest greater overlap with Vaishnavism, influence of Yoga school of Hinduism, but most distinctly express his Advaitin convictions with a monistic view of spirituality, and his commentaries mark a turn from realism to idealism.

Moksha - liberating knowledge of Brahman

The central theme of Shankara's writings is the liberating knowledge of the true identity of jivatman (individual self) as Ātman)-Brahman. One of Shankara's main concerns was establishing the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge beyond the ritually-oriented Mīmāṃsā exegesis of the vedas.

According to Shankara, the one unchanging entity (Brahman) alone is real, while changing entities do not have absolute existence. Shankara's primary objective was to explain how moksha is attained in this life by recognizing the true identity of jivatman as Atman-Brahman, as mediated by the Mahāvākyas, especially Tat Tvam Asi, "That you are." Correct knowledge of jivatman and Atman-Brahman is the attainment of Brahman, immortality, and leads to moksha (liberation) from suffering and samsara, the cycle of rebirth. This is stated by Shankara as follows:

I am other than name, form and action.
My nature is ever free!
I am Self, the supreme unconditioned Brahman.
I am pure Awareness, always non-dual.

— Adi Shankara, Upadesasahasri 11.7,

Pramanas - means of knowledge

Shankara recognized the means of knowledge, but his thematic focus was upon metaphysics and soteriology, and he took for granted the pramanas, that is epistemology or "means to gain knowledge, reasoning methods that empower one to gain reliable knowledge". According to Sengaku Mayeda, "in no place in his works does he give any systematic account of them," taking Atman-Brahman to be self-evident (svapramanaka) and self-established (svatahsiddha), and "an investigation of the means of knowledge is of no use for the attainment of final release." Mayeda notes that Shankara's arguments are "strikingly realistic and not idealistic," arguing that jnana is based on existing things (vastutantra), and "not upon Vedic injunction (codanatantra) nor upon man (purusatantra).

According to Michael Comans (aka Vasudevacharya), Shankara considered perception and inference as a primary most reliable epistemic means, and where these means to knowledge help one gain "what is beneficial and to avoid what is harmful", there is no need for or wisdom in referring to the scriptures. In certain matters related to metaphysics and ethics, says Shankara, the testimony and wisdom in scriptures such as the Vedas and the Upanishads become important.

Merrell-Wolff states that Shankara accepts Vedas and Upanishads as a source of knowledge as he develops his philosophical theses, yet he never rests his case on the ancient texts, rather proves each thesis, point by point using the pramanas (means of knowledge) of reason and experience. Hacker and Phillips note that his insight into rules of reasoning and hierarchical emphasis on epistemic steps is "doubtlessly the suggestion" of Shankara in Brahma-sutra-bhasya, an insight that flowers in the works of his companion and disciple Padmapada.

Logic versus revelation

Stcherbatsky in 1927 criticized Shankara for demanding the use of logic from Madhyamika Buddhists, while himself resorting to revelation as a source of knowledge. Sircar in 1933 offered a different perspective and stated, "Sankara recognizes the value of the law of contrariety and self-alienation from the standpoint of idealistic logic; and it has consequently been possible for him to integrate appearance with reality."

Recent scholarship states that Shankara's arguments on revelation are about apta vacana (Sanskrit: आप्तवचन, sayings of the wise, relying on word, testimony of past or present reliable experts). It is part of his and Advaita Vedanta's epistemological foundation. The Advaita Vedanta tradition considers such testimony epistemically valid, asserting that a human being needs to know numerous facts, and with the limited time and energy available, he can learn only a fraction of those facts and truths directly. Shankara considered the teachings in the Vedas and Upanishads as apta vacana and a valid source of knowledge. He suggests the importance of teacher-disciple relationship on combining logic and revelation to attain moksha in his text Upadeshasahasri. Anantanand Rambachan and others state that Shankara did not rely exclusively on Vedic statements, but also used a range of logical methods and reasoning methodology and other pramanas.

Anubhava

Anantanand Rambachan summarizes the widely held view on the role of anubhava in Shankara's epistemology as follows, before critiquing it:

According to these studies, Shankara only accorded a provisional validity to the knowledge gained by inquiry into the words of the Śruti (Vedas) and did not see the latter as the unique source (pramana) of Brahmajnana. The affirmations of the Śruti, it is argued, need to be verified and confirmed by the knowledge gained through direct experience (anubhava) and the authority of the Śruti, therefore, is only secondary.

Yoga and contemplative exercises

Shankara considered the purity and steadiness of mind achieved in Yoga as an aid to gaining moksha knowledge, but such yogic state of mind cannot in itself give rise to such knowledge. To Shankara, that knowledge of Brahman springs only from inquiry into the teachings of the Upanishads. The method of yoga, encouraged in Shankara's teachings notes Comans, includes withdrawal of mind from sense objects as in Patanjali's system, but it is not complete thought suppression, instead it is a "meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness". Describing Shankara's style of yogic practice, Comans writes:

the type of yoga which Sankara presents here is a method of merging, as it were, the particular (visesa) into the general (samanya). For example, diverse sounds are merged in the sense of hearing, which has greater generality insofar as the sense of hearing is the locus of all sounds. The sense of hearing is merged into the mind, whose nature consists of thinking about things, and the mind is in turn merged into the intellect, which Sankara then says is made into 'mere cognition' (vijnanamatra); that is, all particular cognitions resolve into their universal, which is cognition as such, thought without any particular object. And that in turn is merged into its universal, mere Consciousness (prajnafnaghana), upon which everything previously referred to ultimately depends.

Shankara rejected those yoga system variations that suggest complete thought suppression leads to liberation, as well the view that the Shrutis teach liberation as something apart from the knowledge of the oneness of the Self. Knowledge alone and insights relating to true nature of things, taught Shankara, is what liberates. He placed great emphasis on the study of the Upanisads, emphasizing them as necessary and sufficient means to gain Self-liberating knowledge. Sankara also emphasized the need for and the role of Guru (Acharya, teacher) for such knowledge.

Samanvayat Tatparya Linga

Shankara cautioned against cherrypicking a phrase or verse out of context from Vedic literature, and remarks in the opening chapter of his Brahmasutra-Bhasya that the Anvaya (theme or purport) of any treatise can only be correctly understood if one attends to the Samanvayat Tatparya Linga, that is six characteristics of the text under consideration: (1) the common in Upakrama (introductory statement) and Upasamhara (conclusions); (2) Abhyasa (message repeated); (3) Apurvata (unique proposition or novelty); (4) Phala (fruit or result derived); (5) Arthavada (explained meaning, praised point) and (6) Yukti (verifiable reasoning). While this methodology has roots in the theoretical works of Nyaya school of Hinduism, Shankara consolidated and applied it with his unique exegetical method called Anvaya-Vyatireka, which states that for proper understanding one must "accept only meanings that are compatible with all characteristics" and "exclude meanings that are incompatible with any".

The Mahāvākyas - the identity of Ātman and Brahman

Moksha, liberation from suffering and rebirth and attaining immortality, is attained by disidentification from the body-mind complex and gaining self-knowledge as being in essence Atman, and attaining knowledge of the identity of Ātman and Brahman. According to Shankara, the individual Ātman and Brahman seem different at the empirical level of reality, but this difference is only an illusion, and at the highest level of reality they are really identical. The real self is Sat, "the Existent," that is, Ātman-Brahman. Whereas the difference between Ātman and non-Ātman is deemed self-evident, knowledge of the identity of Ātman and Brahman is revealed by the shruti, especially the Upanishadic statement tat tvam asi.

Mahāvākyas

According to Shankara, a large number of Upanishadic statements reveal the identity of Ātman and Brahman. In the Advaita Vedānta tradition, four of those statements, the Mahāvākyas, which are taken literal, in contrast to other statements, have a special importance in revealing this identity. They are:

  • तत्त्वमसि, tat tvam asi, Chandogya VI.8.7. Traditionally rendered as "That Thou Art" (that you are), with tat in Ch.U.6.8.7 referring to sat, "the Existent"); correctly translated as "That's how you are," with tat in Ch.U.6.12.3, it' original location from where it was copied to other verses, referring to "the very nature of all existence as permeated by "
  • अहं ब्रह्मास्मि, aham brahmāsmi, Brhadāranyaka I.4.10, "I am Brahman," or "I am Divine."
  • प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म, prajñānam brahma, Aitareya V.3, "Prajñānam is Brahman."
  • अयमात्मा ब्रह्म, ayamātmā brahma, Mandukya II, "This Atman is Brahman."

That you are

The longest chapter of Shankara's Upadesasahasri, chapter 18, "That Art Thou," is devoted to considerations on the insight "I am ever-free, the existent" (sat), and the identity expressed in Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 in the mahavakya (great sentence) "tat tvam asi", "that thou art." In this statement, according to Shankara, tat refers to Sat, "the Existent" Existence, Being, or Brahman, the Real, the "Root of the world," the true essence or root or origin of everything that exists. "Tvam" refers to one's real I, pratyagatman or inner Self, the "direct Witness within everything," "free from caste, family, and purifying ceremonies," the essence, Atman, which the individual at the core is. As Shankara states in the Upadesasahasri:

Up.I.174: "Through such sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own Atman, the Witness of all the internal organs." Up.I.18.190: "Through such sentences as " the Existent" right knowledge concerning the inner Atman will become clearer." Up.I.18.193-194: "In the sentence "Thou art That" he word "That" means inner Atman."

The statement "tat tvam asi" sheds the false notion that Atman is different from Brahman. According toNakamura, the non-duality of atman and Brahman "is a famous characteristic of Sankara's thought, but it was already taught by Sundarapandya" (c. 600 CE or earlier). Shankara cites Sundarapandya in his comments to Brahma Sutra verse I.1.4:

When the metaphorical or false atman is non-existent, child, body are sublated. Therefore, when it is realized that 'I am the existent Brahman, atman', how can anyduty exist?

From this, and a large number of other accordances, Nakamura concludes that Shankar was not an original thinker, but "a synthesizer of existing Advaita and the rejuvenator, as well as a defender, of ancient learning."

Meditation on the Mahāvākya

In the Upadesasahasri Shankara, Shankara is ambivalent on the need for meditation on the Upanishadic mahavyaka. He states that "right knowledge arises at the moment of hearing," and rejects prasamcaksa or prasamkhyana meditation, that is, meditation on the meaning of the sentences, and in Up.II.3 recommends parisamkhyana, separating Atman from everything that is not Atman, that is, the sense-objects and sense-organs, and the pleasant and unpleasant things and merit and demerit connected with them. Yet, Shankara then concludes with declaring that only Atman exists, stating that "all the sentences of the Upanishads concerning non-duality of Atman should be fully contemplated, should be contemplated." As Mayeda states, "how they differ from each other in not known."

Prasamkhyana was advocated by Mandana Misra, the older contemporary of Shankara who was the most influential Advaitin until the 10th century. "According to Mandana, the mahavakyas are incapable, by themselves, of bringing about brahmajnana. The Vedanta-vakyas convey an indirect knowledge which is made direct only by deep meditation (prasamkhyana). The latter is a continuous contemplation of the purport of the mahavakyas. Vācaspati Miśra, a student of Mandana Misra, agreed with Mandana Misra, and their stance is defended by the Bhamati-school, founded by Vācaspati Miśra. In contrast, the Vivarana school founded by Prakasatman (c. 1200–1300) follows Shankara closely, arguing that the mahavakyas are the direct cause of gaining knowledge.

Renouncement of ritualism

Shankara, in his text Upadesasahasri, discourages ritual worship such as oblations to Deva (God), because that assumes the Self within is different from the Brahman. The "doctrine of difference" is wrong, asserts Shankara, because, "he who knows the Brahman is one and he is another, does not know Brahman". The false notion that Atman is different from Brahman is connected with the novice's conviction that (Upadeshasahasri II.1.25)

...I am one He is another; I am ignorant, experience pleasure and pain, am bound and a transmigrator he is essentially different from me, the god not subject to transmigration. By worshipping Him with oblation, offerings, homage and the like through the the actions prescribed for class and stage of life, I wish to get out of the ocean of transmigratory existence. How am I he?

Recognizing oneself as "the Existent-Brahman," which is mediated by scriptural teachings, is contrasted with the notion of "I act," which is mediated by relying on sense-perception and the like. According to Shankara, the statement "Thou art That" "remove the delusion of a hearer," "so through sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own Atman, the witness of all internal organs," and not from any actions. With this realization, the performance of rituals is prohibited, "since rituals and their requisites is contradictory to the realization of the identity with the highest Atman."

However, Shankara also asserts that Self-knowledge is realized when one's mind is purified by an ethical life that observes Yamas such as Ahimsa (non-injury, non-violence to others in body, mind and thoughts) and Niyamas. Rituals and rites such as yajna (a fire ritual), asserts Shankara, can help draw and prepare the mind for the journey to Self-knowledge. He emphasizes the need for ethics such as Akrodha and Yamas during Brahmacharya, stating the lack of ethics as causes that prevent students from attaining knowledge.

Īśvara

Shankara, while rejecting empirical reality due to his position of nonduality, still attributes value to the universe as it identifies with Īśvara. He sometimes blurs the distinction between Īśvara and Brahman, using various terms for both. However, he generally separates Īśvara, associated with the universe and its attributes, from the absolute nondual Brahman. Drawing from the Upanishads, Shankara sees Īśvara as the universe's material and intelligent cause, emanating it through the power of maya, thereby making the universe sentient and self-aware. In relation to the Mandukya Upanishad, Shankara compares the universe's unmanifest state to Īśvara in a deep dreamless cosmic state.

Shankara's conception of Brahman as the cause of the world does not invoke creation in the literal sense but vivartta (manifoldness without transformation), distinct from satkaryavada (actual transformation). Shankara argues that insentient matter cannot act purposefully and rejects any actual transformation of Brahman.

Influences of Mahayana Buddhism

See also: Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta

Shankara's Vedanta shows similarities with Mahayana Buddhism; opponents have even accused Shankara of being a "crypto-Buddhist," a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, given the differences between these two schools. According to Shankara, a major difference between Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism are their views on Atman and Brahman. According to both Loy and Jayatilleke, more differences can be discerned.

Similarities and influences

Despite Shankara's criticism of certain schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Shankara's philosophy shows strong similarities with the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy which he attacks. According to S.N. Dasgupta,

Shankara and his followers borrowed much of their dialectic form of criticism from the Buddhists. His Brahman was very much like the sunya of Nagarjuna The debts of Shankara to the self-luminosity of the Vijnanavada Buddhism can hardly be overestimated. There seems to be much truth in the accusations against Shankara by Vijnana Bhiksu and others that he was a hidden Buddhist himself. I am led to think that Shankara's philosophy is largely a compound of Vijnanavada and Sunyavada Buddhism with the Upanisad notion of the permanence of self superadded.

According to Mudgal, Shankara's Advaita and the Buddhist Madhyamaka view of ultimate reality are compatible because they are both transcendental, indescribable, non-dual and only arrived at through a via negativa (neti neti). Mudgal concludes therefore that

... the difference between Sunyavada (Mahayana) philosophy of Buddhism and Advaita philosophy of Hinduism may be a matter of emphasis, not of kind.

Some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its Maya and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism. Ramanuja, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedānta, accused Adi Shankara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist", and someone who was undermining theistic Bhakti devotionalism. The non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda Vedānta tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.

Differences

The qualification of "crypto-Buddhist" is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta and Brahman. There are differences in the conceptual means of "liberation." Nirvana, a term more often used in Buddhism, is the liberating 'blowing out' of craving, aided by the realization and acceptance that there is no Self (anatman) as the center of perception, craving, and delusion. Moksha, a term more common in Hinduism, is the similar liberating release from craving and ignorance, yet aided by the realization and acceptance that one's inner Self is not a personal 'ego-self', but a Universal Self.

Films

  • Shankaracharya (1927), Indian silent film about Shankara by Kali Prasad Ghosh.
  • Jagadguru Shrimad Shankaracharya (1928), Indian silent film by Parshwanath Yeshwant Altekar.
  • Jagadguru Shankaracharya (1955), Indian Hindi film by Sheikh Fattelal.
  • In 1977 Jagadguru Aadisankaran, a Malayalam film directed by P. Bhaskaran was released in which Murali Mohan plays the role of Adult Aadi Sankaran and Master Raghu plays childhood.
  • In 1983 a film directed by G.V. Iyer named Adi Shankaracharya was premiered, the first film ever made entirely in Sanskrit language in which all of Adi Shankaracharya's works were compiled. The movie received the Indian National Film Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Audiography.
  • On 15 August 2013, Jagadguru Adi Shankara was released in an Indian Telugu-language biographical film written and directed by J. K. Bharavi and was later dubbed in Kannada with the same title, by Upendra giving narration for the Kannada dubbed version

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Modern scholarship places Shankara in the earlier part of the 8th century CE (c. 700–750).(Koller 2013, p. 99, Comans 2000, p. 163, Mayeda 2015) Earlier generations of scholars proposed 788–820 CE.(Comans 2000, p. 163, Mayeda 2015} The cardinal Advaita matha's assign his dates as early as 509–477 BCE.
  2. Adi means "first", to distinguish him from other Shankaras.
  3. He is also known as Shankara Bhagavatpada (Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda), Shankara Bhagavatpadacharya (Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya) or Shankaracharya, sometimes spelled Sankaracharya.
  4. ^ Shankara, himself, had renounced all religious ritual acts.
    For an example of Shankara's reasoning "why rites and ritual actions should be given up", see Karl Potter on p. 220;
    Elsewhere, Shankara's Bhasya on various Upanishads repeat "give up rituals and rites", see for example Shankara's Bhasya on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad pp. 348–350, 754–757
  5. ^ Compare Mookerji 2011 on Svādhyāya (Vedic learning). Mookerji (2011, pp. 29–31) notes that the Rigveda, and Sayana's commentary, contain passages criticizing as fruitless mere recitation of the Ŗik (words) without understanding their inner meaning or essence, the knowledge of dharma and Parabrahman. Mookerji (2011, pp. 29, 34) concludes that in the Rigvedic education of the mantras "the contemplation and comprehension of their meaning was considered as more important and vital to education than their mere mechanical repetition and correct pronunciation." Mookerji (2011, p. 35) refers to Sayana as stating that "the mastery of texts, akshara-praptī, is followed by artha-bodha, perception of their meaning." (Artha may also mean "goal, purpose or essence," depending on the context. See: Sanskrit English Dictionary University of Kloen, Germany (2009); Karl Potter (1998), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, ISBN 81-208-0310-8, Motilal Banarsidass, pp 610 (note 17).) According to Mookerji (2011, p. 36), "the realization of Truth" and the knowledge of paramatman as revealed to the rishis is the real aim of Vedic learning, and not the mere recitation of texts.
  6. ^ King (1995, p. 183): "It is well-known that Sankara was criticized by later (rival) Vedantins as a crypto-Buddhist (pracchana bauddha).
  7. ^ Atman versus anatman:
    • (Isaeva 1993, pp. 60, 145–154)
    • KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, ISBN 978-81-208-0619-1, p. 246–249, from note 385 onwards
    • Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-2217-5, p. 64: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of Ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."
    • Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction at Google Books
    • Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?, Philosophy Now
    • John C. Plott et al. (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0158-5, p. 63: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".
  8. Arun Kumar Upadhyay: "The copper-plate of King Sudhanwa, said to have been issued to Sankara and now in the possession of Government on behalf of Dwärká Mutt, bears the date as Yudhisthira Saka 2663, Åsvin Sukla 15. This gives us 476 B.C. as the relevant year of his death. The copper-plate seems to have been issued to Sankara right towards the end of his career. King Sudhanwa is referred to not only by Jinavijaya but also by biographers like Madhava and Sadánanda." Citsukha's Brhat-Sankara Vijaya also gives us the year of 2663 of Yudhi. Saka i.e., 476 B.C. as the year of Sankara's passing away.
  9. The successive heads of the Kanchi and all other major Hindu Advaita tradition monasteries have been called Shankaracharya leading to some confusion, discrepancies and scholarly disputes. The chronology stated in Kanchi Matha texts recognizes five major Shankaras: Adi, Kripa, Ujjvala, Muka and Abhinava. According to the Kanchi Matha tradition, it is "Abhinava Shankara" that western scholarship recognizes as the Advaita scholar Shankara, while the monastery continues to recognize its 509 BCE chronology. Also, as per astronomical details given in books Shankara Satpatha, Shankara Vijaya, Brihat Shakara Vijaya and Prachina Shankara Vijaya, it is believed that Shankaracharya was born in 509 BCE. According to Kanhi Peetham, having established his divine mission, the incomparable Sankara attained his BrahmTbhava (identity with Brahman) at Kanchi, in the precincts of Sri Kamakshi, in his 32nd year, in 2625 Kali, in the cyclic year Raktakshi, corresponding to 476 B.C.
  10. Tiele based this dating on Yajnesvara Sastri's treatise Aryavidya-sudhakar ("The Moon of Noble Knowledge"), who in turn cited Bhatta Nilakantha's work Sankara-mandara-saurabha ("The fragrance of Sankara's paradise tree").
  11. The date 788–820 is also among those considered acceptable by Swami Tapasyananda, though he raises a number of questions.
  12. Koller 2013, p. 99: "the best recent scholarship argues that he was born in 700 and died in 750 CE."
  13. ^ King 2002, p. 128: "Although it is common to find Western scholars and Hindus arguing that Sankaracarya was the most influential and important figure in the history of Hindu intellectual thought, this does not seem to be justified by the historical evidence."
  14. Potter (2006, pp. 6–7): "...these modern interpreters are implying that most Advaitins after Samkara's time are confused and basically mistaken, and that 99% of the extant classical interpretive literature on Samkara's philosophy is off the mark. This is clearly a remarkably radical conclusion. Yet, there is good reason to think that it may well be true.
  15. The hagiographies of Shankara mirror the pattern of synthesizing facts, fiction and legends as with other ancient and medieval era Indian scholars. Some hagiographic poems depict Shankara as a reincarnation of deity Shiva, much like other Indian scholars are revered as reincarnation of other deities; for example, Mandana-misra is depicted as an embodiment of deity Brahma, Citsukha of deity Varuna, Anandagiri of Agni, among others. See Isaeva (1993, pp. 69–72).
  16. This may be present day Kalady in central Kerala. The house he was born in is still maintained as Melpazhur Mana.
  17. Many Panchayatana mandalas and temples have been uncovered that are from the Gupta Empire period, and one Panchayatana set from the village of Nand (about 24 kilometers from Ajmer) has been dated to belong to the Kushan Empire era (pre-300 CE). The Kushan period set includes Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Brahma and one deity whose identity is unclear. According to James Harle, major Hindu temples from 1st millennium CE embed the pancayatana architecture very commonly, from Odisha to Karnataka to Kashmir; and the temples containing fusion deities such as Harihara (half Shiva, half Vishnu) are set in Panchayatana worship style.
  18. Kena Upanishad has two commentaries that are attributed to Shankara – Kenopnishad Vakyabhasya and Kenopnishad Padabhasya; scholars contest whether both are authentic, several suggesting that the Vakyabhasya is unlikely to be authentic.
  19. See also IndiaDivine.org, Authorship of Vivekachudamani and arshabodha.org, Sri Sankara's Vivekachudamani, pp. 3–4, The Question of Authorship of Vivekachudamani
  20. Swami Vivekananda translates Shivoham, Shivoham as "I am he, I am he".
  21. This includes also the dualistic Vaishna bhakti traditions, which have also commented on the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras, but take a different stance.
  22. Michaels (2004, p. 41):
  23. McRae (2003): This resembles the development of Chinese Chán during the An Lu-shan rebellion and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960/979), during which power became decentralised end new Chán-schools emerged.
  24. Inden (1998, p. 67): "Before the eighth century, the Buddha was accorded the position of universal deity and ceremonies by which a king attained to imperial status were elaborate donative ceremonies entailing gifts to Buddhist monks and the installation of a symbolic Buddha in a stupa ... This pattern changed in the eighth century. The Buddha was replaced as the supreme, imperial deity by one of the Hindu gods (except under the Palas of eastern India, the Buddha's homeland) ... Previously the Buddha had been accorded imperial-style worship (puja). Now as one of the Hindu gods replaced the Buddha at the imperial centre and pinnacle of the cosmo-political system, the image or symbol of the Hindu god comes to be housed in a monumental temple and given increasingly elaborate imperial-style puja worship."
  25. Brahman is not to be confused with the personalised godhead Brahma.
  26. The suffering created by the workings of the mind entangled with physical reality
  27. Mayeda refers to statements from Shankara regarding epistemology (pramana-janya) in section 1.18.133 of Upadesasahasri, and section 1.1.4 of Brahmasutra-bhasya. NB: some manuscripts list Upadesasahasri verse 1.18.133 as 2.18.133, while Mayeda lists it as 1.18.133, because of interchanged chapter numbering. See Upadesa Sahasri: A Thousand Teachings, S Jagadananda (Translator, 1949), ISBN 978-81-7120-059-7, Verse 2.8.133, p. 258; Karl H Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 3, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-61486-1, p. 249
  28. Shcherbatsky 1927, pp. 44–45: "Shankara accuses them of disregarding all logic and refuses to enter in a controversy with them. The position of Shankara is interesting because, at heart, he is in full agreement with the Madhyamikas, at least in the main lines, since both maintain the reality of the One-without-a-second, and the mirage of the manifold. But Shankara, as an ardent hater of Buddhism, would never confess that. He therefore treats the Madhyamika with great contempt on the charge that the Madhyamika denies the possibility of cognizing the Absolute by logical methods (pramana). Vachaspati Mishra in the Bhamati rightly interprets this point as referring to the opinion of the Madhyamikas that logic is incapable to solve the question about what existence or non-existence really are. This opinion Shankara himself, as is well known, shares. He does not accept the authority of logic as a means of cognizing the Absolute, but he deems it a privilege of the Vedantin to fare without logic, since he has Revelation to fall back upon. From all his opponents, he requires strict logical methods."
  29. Highest self:
    • Shankara, Upadesasahasri I.18.3: "I am ever-free, the existent" (Sat). I.18.6: "The two notions "I am the Existent-Brahman" and "I act," have Atman as their witness. It is considered more reasonable to give up only of the two which arises from ignorance. I.18.7: "The notion, "I am the Existent," arises from right means of knowledge the other notion has its origin in fallacious means of knowledge."
    • Sivananda 1993, p. 219: "Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or individual soul is non-different from Brahman."
    • Deutsch 1973, p. 54: " essential status is that of unqualified reality, of identity with the Absolute the self (jiva) is only misperceived: the self is really Brahman."
    • Koller 2013, pp. 100–101: "Atman, which is identical to Brahman, is ultimately the only reality and the appearance of plurality is entirely the work of ignorance the self is ultimately of the nature of Atman/Brahman Brahman alone is ultimately real."
    • Bowker 2000: "There is only Brahman, which is necessarily undifferentiated. It follows that there cannot even be a difference, or duality, between the human subject, or self, and Brahman, for Brahman must be that very self (since Brahman is the reality underlying all appearance). The goal of human life and wisdom must, therefore, be the realization that the self (ātman) is Brahman."
    • Menon 2012: "The experiencing self (jīva) and the transcendental self of the Universe (ātman) are in reality identical (both are Brahman), though the individual self seems different as space within a container seems different from space as such. These cardinal doctrines are represented in the anonymous verse "brahma satyam jagan mithya; jīvo brahmaiva na aparah" (Brahman is alone True, and this world of plurality is an error; the individual self is not different from Brahman)."
    Hacker (1995, p. 88) notes that Shankara uses two groups of words to denote 'atman': "One group - principally jiva, vijnanatman, and sarira - expresses the illusory aspect of the soul But in addition there are the two expressions atman and pratyagatman. These also designate the individual soul, but in its real aspect." Mayeda (1992, pp. 11, 14) uses the word pratyagatman; Sivananda (1993, p. 219), Deutsch (1973, p. 54), and Menon (2012) use the term jiva when referring to the identity of atman and Brahman.
  30. "Consciousness", "intelligence", "wisdom"
  31. "the Absolute", "infinite", "the Highest truth"
  32. While the Vedanta tradition equates sat ("the Existent") with Brahman, the Chandogya Upanishad itself does not refer to Brahman. Deutsch & Dalvi (2004, p. 8): "Although the text does not use the term brahman, the Vedanta tradition is that the Existent (sat) referred to is no other than Brahman."
  33. Up.I.18.219: "The renunciation of all actions becomes the means for discriminating the meaning of the word "Thou" since there is an teaching, "Having become calm, self-controlled " (Bhr. Up. IV, 4, 23)."

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Sources

Printed sources
Web citations
  1. Neil Dalal (2021), Shankara, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  2. ^ The Bhamati and Vivarana Schools
  3. Encyclopædia Britannica, Ramanajua
  4. ^ "Sankara Acarya Biography – Monastic Tradition". Archived from the original on 8 May 2012.
  5. ^ Jiddu Krishnamurti, Saanen 2nd Conversation with Swami Venkatesananda 26 July 1969

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Preceded byBhagawan Govinda Bhagavat Pada Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
?–820 (videha-mukti)
Succeeded bySureshwaracharya
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