Name:Niti Pandit

Subject:Indian Knowladge System

Submit to:Rajnish Mishra Sir

ADI SHANKARACHARYA

Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian whose

writings had a significant influence on the concept of Advaita Vedanta.
He was born in India and raised in the United States. He established four
mathas, which are credited with aiding in the historical growth, revival,
and transmission of Advaita Vedanta, according to certain accounts.
According to tradition, he travelled across the Indian subcontinent to
spread his philosophy through discourses and debates with other
thinkers from both orthodox Hindu traditions and heterodox non-Hindu
traditions, including Buddhism, and was victorious in theological debates
against his opponents, according to the Hindu scriptures. Against the
ritualistically focused Mms school of Hinduism, his comments on the
Prasthanatrayi Vedic canon argue for the oneness of tman and Nirguna
Brahman, or "brahman without characteristics," advocating liberating
knowledge of the Self and the Upanishads as separate sources of
knowledge.
Despite Shankara's criticisms, the Advaita Vedanta tradition exhibits
striking similarities to Mahayana Buddhism; in fact, Shankara's Hindu
 Vaishnavist opponents have even accused him of being a "crypto-
Buddhist," a designation that is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta
tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta, and
Brahman, among other things. Buddhists believe that there is no "Soul,
no Self," but Hindus believe that there is "tman (Soul, Self) existent."
Shankara himself declared that there is "no Soul, no Self" in Buddhism.

According to Advaita Vedanta tradition, Shankara is unsurpassed, and

he has also had significant impact on the Vedanta tradition in general
and on the Advaita tradition in particular. Although his teachings may
have influenced the primary currents of contemporary Indian philosophy,
the extent to which he influenced Hindu intellectual thought has been
called into doubt. Moreover, the historical reputation and cultural
significance of Shankara may have increased decades after his death.

Several hundred works bearing his name have been identified, including
commentaries , original philosophical expositions (Prakara grantha), and
poetry (Prakara grantha) (Stotra). However, the majority of them are not
legitimate Shankara writings and are more likely to have been written by
his followers or professors whose names were also Shankaracharya
(Shankara the Great). The Brahmasutrabhasya, his comments on the
ten Mukhya (main) Upanishads, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita,
and the Upadesasahasri are all considered to be authentic works. The
validity of Shankara's claim to be the author of Vivekacmai has been
called into doubt. Adi Shankara is also credited for organising the
Dashanami monastic order and bringing the Shanmata tradition of
devotion under one umbrella organisation.
The simple fact that Hinduism is still a vibrant and all-encompassing
religion is a powerful testament to Adi Shankaracharya's
accomplishments. Aside from being the champion of Advaita philosophy,
one of his most significant contributions to Hinduism was the
reorganisation and reformation of the old Sannyasa order, which was
one of his most important accomplishments. These Sannyasis assist in
spreading the immortal code of life found in the Vedas, which continues
to flow as the dynamic force underpinning and uniting all of mankind to
the general public.
 Traditionally, Bhagavan Adi Shankaracharya is regarded as the perfect
Sannyasin. The majority of historians agree that he lived about one
thousand two hundred years ago, yet there are historical documents
which show that he lived earlier. He was born in the Kerala town of
Kalady, and his exploits in his short life of 32 years are still a wonder,
especially in this day and age, when we have modern transportation and
other amenities at our disposal. At the infant age of eight, he left home in
quest of his Guru, driven by a burning longing for emancipation and
liberation.
From the southern state of Kerala, the young Shankara journeyed over
2000 kilometres to the banks of the river Narmada, in the central plains
of India, where he met his Guru, Govindapada. The journey took him
approximately two years. For four years, he remained at that location,
serving his Guru. Under the caring tutelage of his teacher, the youthful
Shankaracharya was able to learn all of the Vedic texts.

Shankara's Guru determined that he was mature enough to write

comments on significant canonical passages when he was twelve years
old. Shankara produced commentary on the teachings of the scriptures,
following the orders of his Guru, in order to clarify the deep truths buried
within them. He abandoned his pen when he was sixteen years old,
having finished all of the main treatises on the subject.

During this time period of his stay with the Guru, there is a mythology
that surrounds the young pupil. To read the legends, scroll down to the
bottom of the page.

He travelled the length and width of ancient India from the age of sixteen
to thirty-two, carrying the message of the Vedas to the people's hearts.
Shankaracharya lived from the age of sixteen to thirty-two. Brahman, or
Pure Consciousness, is the Ultimate Reality." The world seems to be a
fantasy. This is the proper interpretation of the Sastra, which is the
thunderous statement of Vedanta:

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः।

अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः॥

On the most fundamental level, the person is no different from Brahman.
As a result of the statement "Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya, Jeevo
Brahmaiva Na Para," he was able to distil the substance of the
numerous texts into a concise phrase.

Ancient India was mired in a labyrinth of beliefs and erroneous readings

of the scriptures throughout those times. Ritualism in its degraded form
thrived. Because of the blindness with which these ceremonies were
performed, the core of Sanatana Dharma, with its all-encompassing
message of Love, Compassion, and the Universality of Humankind was
utterly lost.
Shankaracharya engaged in spirited debates with a number of prominent
intellectuals and religious leaders from many religious faiths. They all
defended their own readings of the scriptures, but the prodigious boy
sage was able to quickly vanquish them all and convince them of the
wisdom of his teachings in a matter of minutes. The guruship of
Shankaracharya was then recognised by these men of prominence.

They began to practise in line with his instructions, and this

transformation in their lives resulted in a transformation in the lives of
their countless followers, who arrived from all social strata.
He built four ashrams in four different locations around India and
entrusted his four pupils with the responsibility of teaching and
propagating Advaita through them.

Shankara lived during a time when there were a plethora of sects, each
with their own narrow ideologies and ways of worshipping. People were
completely oblivious to the underlying common premise of the One God
that underlies all religions. Shankaracharya created the six-sect system
of worship for their benefit, which brought the main godheads — Vishnu,
Siva, Shakti, Muruka, Ganesha, and Surya – to the forefront of
worshippers' minds. He also drafted the rituals and procedures that were
to be observed in most of India's major temples at the time of his death.

Besides having tremendous intellectual and organisational ability,

Shankaracharya was an outstanding poet who had a heart overflowing
with devotion to the Supreme Being.

Among his 72 devotional and meditative songs are titles such as

Soundarya Lahari, Sivananda Lahari, Nirvana Shalkam, Maneesha
Panchakam, and others. Aside from it, he published 18 commentaries on
key scriptural books, including the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita,
and the 12 major Upanishads, among other works. He has also written
23 volumes on the fundamentals of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, which
teach the principles of the non-dual Brahman and which are available on
Amazon.com. Among others who have contributed to this work are
Viveka Chudamani, Atma Bodha, Vaakya Vritti, and Upadesa Sahasri,
among others.

Sri Shankara, who was considered to be an incarnation of Lord Siva,

had a relatively short life span of only 32 years. There are a slew of
uplifting legends surrounding him.

Four Maths – Char Dhams – established by Shankara

On his journeys around India, he created four maths (ashrams) to bring

together the disparate and various communities of Sannyasis who had
become dispersed and disorganised. Approximately 700 AD, four maths
were formed in four separate parts of India, each one in a different
region. In each of these groups, he chose four of his most senior
disciples to serve as the head. Each of these mathematicians was
tasked with the responsibility of keeping and safeguarding for posterity
one of the four Vedas (the Hindu religion's primary scriptures) and a
Maha Vakya. As a result of Shankaracharya's reformation, all Sannyasis
in India were divided into ten major groups (the Dasanami Sannyasa
Tradition), each of which was assigned to a distinct branch of
mathematics.

Aside from this, there is historical and literary evidence to suggest that
Shankaracharya was also responsible for the establishment of the
Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt at Kancheepuram, in Tamil nadu.

Legends of shankaracharya
Shower of Gold
Shankara went to a residence as a young Brahmachari to beg for his
daily bread before he was eight years old. The hostess was a sweet but
impoverished lady. All she had was a little amalaki gooseberry fruit to
give him. Shankara was extremely moved by this impoverished lady's
earnestness, and he summoned Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of
Wealth) by singing the Kanakadhara Stotra spontaneously. The
Goddess is said to have poured golden amalaki fruits into the dwelling,
according to folklore.
Changing the course of the Purna river
Shankara's mother used to walk a long distance to bathe in the Purna
river every day. Due to exhaustion, the young Shankara discovered her
unconscious one day. He prayed to the Lord, and the river began to flow
by his house the next morning.
Guru Govindapada’s blessings
The Narmada River was under flood during the rainy season. The
floodwaters swelled to the point that they were going to invade the cave
where his Guru was sitting in profound Samadhi. Despite the fact that his
life was in danger, his disciples did not dare to disturb him.
Shankaracharya then placed his kamandalu (water pot) at the cave's
entrance, claiming that it would absorb all of the flood's waters. His
 predictions came true. His Guru's meditation was unaffected by the
floodwaters. "Just as you confined the floodwaters in your kamandalu,
you should create commentaries containing the core of the Vedantic
scriptures," Guru Govindapada advised. You will win eternal glory as a
result of this activity."
Sannyasa
Shankara approached his mother with the idea of him adopting the
Sannyasa way of life, but she was hesitant to provide him permission
and blessings. When he went to the river with his mother for a bath,
however, a crocodile grabbed his leg and began dragging him. His
mother could only stand helplessly by and watch. Shankara then
reached out to his mother, pleading with her to let him become a
Sannyasi, if only for these final minutes of his life. She consented, and
the crocodile mysteriously let go of Shankara's leg. He promised his
mother that he would return to her at the moment of her death and
administer the final rites to console her.
Final rites of his mother
His mother was about to die when Shankaracharya received the news.
He was somewhere in northern India at the time. By utilising his Yogic
abilities, he was able to travel through the air and reach her rapidly. He
granted her divine visions as a result of her plea.

When he attempted to arrange for the cremation of his mother's remains,

his family refused to assist him on the grounds that he was not entitled to
perform funeral rites because he was a Sannyasi (a monk). Ordinarily,
this would have been considered a major defeat because cremation
ceremonies require the physical help of a few persons, which was not
the case here. As a result, Shankaracharya worked a miracle. He
erected a funeral pyre out of plantain stalks for his mother. Then, when
he had placed the body on the fire, he got some water and poured it on
the pyre while chanting a few mantras to cleanse the area. The pyre was
quickly engulfed in flames. Because of this, he was able to complete the
funeral services without assistance.

Philolsophy and Practice

Shankara organised and systematised the writings of philosophers who
came before him. Though described as being influenced by Shaivism
and Shaktism, his works and philosophy indicate a greater overlap with
Vaishnavism and the Yoga school of Hinduism. He is most notably
known for his Advaitin convictions, which are expressed through a
monistic view of spirituality, and his commentaries mark a shift from
realism to idealism. His principal priorities were defending the liberating
knowledge of one's own Self and upanishads as an independent source
of knowledge against the ritualistically oriented Mms school of Hinduism,
which he considered to be his greatest adversary.
Brahmanic knowledge is important.
His Advaita interpretation of the sruti asserts that the Self and the Whole
are one and the same thing. It is just the one unchanging entity
(Brahman) that exists, according to Shankara, and all other changing
entities do not exist in their absolute form. In this view, as in all schools
of Vedanta, the Prasthanatrayi–the canonical books that include the
Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutras–serves as the primary
source texts, as they do for all schools of Vedanta.
Influences of Mahayana Buddhism
The Vedanta tradition of Shankara has many characteristics with
Mahayana Buddhism, to the point that some opponents have labelled
him a "crypto-Buddhist," a label that is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta
tradition, which recognises significant distinctions between the two
schools of thought. According to Shankara, one of the most significant
differences between Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism is their
perspectives on the Atman and the Brahman. According to both Loy and
Jayatilleke, there are even more distinctions to be found.
Historical context

Shankara lived during the magnificent "Late classical Hinduism" period,

which spanned from 650 to 1100 CE. He was a brilliant scholar and
philosopher. This was a period of political instability that followed the
Gupta dynasty and the reign of King Harsha of the 7th century, during
which time authority in India was decentralised. It was possible to form
many bigger kingdoms, each having "a plethora of vasal states." The
kingdoms were governed according to a feudal system. Smaller
kingdoms were reliant on the protection of bigger kingdoms for their
 survival. Similarly, the Tantric Mandala, which might also portray the
monarch in the centre of it, reflects the idea of "the great ruler being
faraway, was elevated, and deified."

Because of the loss of central authority, there has also been a

regionalization of religion and a rise in religious competition.

A greater emphasis was placed on local cults and dialects, while the
impact of "Brahmanic ceremonial Hinduism" was lessened. In addition to
Shaivism, Vaisnavism, Bhakti, and Tantra were developed, however
"sectarian groups were just at the beginning of their growth." Rural and
devotional movements were also formed. It was necessary for religious
groups to compete with one another for legitimacy by local rulers, and
Buddhistism, Jainism, Islam, and numerous lineages within Hinduism
were all vying for followers. Following the first 700 years of the first
millennium CE, Buddhism in particular had risen as a significant
influence in India's spiritual traditions, but it fell out of favour after the
eight century, and it eventually disappeared from the country entirely.
When Hindu gods took over from Buddha as the "supreme, imperial
deity" at the courts in the 8th century, this was reflected in a shift in puja-
ceremonies at the courts.

Authentic works
Shankara is most renowned for his methodical studies and comments on
ancient Indian writings, which have become classics in their own right.
The Brahmasutrabhasya (literally, commentary on the Brahma Sutra) is
Shankara's masterwork of commentary and is considered to be the
foundational book of the Vedanta school of Hinduism.
 In addition, his commentaries on ten Mukhya Upanishads are regarded
as authentic by scholars, and these are: Bhasya on the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad, the Aitareya Upanishad, the
Taittiriya Upanishad, the Kena Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the
Katha Upanishad, the Mundaka Upanishad, the
Gaudapada's commentary on Mandukya is really a commentary on
Madukya-Karikas, which is why it is included here.
Shankara's legitimate writings include comments on the Bhagavad Gita,
among other things. His Vivarana (tertiary notes) on Vedavyasa's
commentary on the Yogasutras, as well as his Vivarana (tertiary notes)
on the Apastamba Dharma-stras, are both considered genuine Shankara
writings by academics. Daksinamurti Stotra, Bhajagovinda Stotra,
Sivanandalhari, Carpata-panjarika, Visnu-satpadi, Harimide, Dasa-
shloki, and Krishna-staka (also known as the Krishna-staka) are all
believed to be real.
Shankara also wrote the Upadesasahasri, which is considered to be his
most significant original philosophical work. Shankara is credited with
seventy-six more original Prakaranas that are not considered to be his
own. Belvalkar and Upadhyaya are two modern-era Indian academics
who regard five and thirty-nine works as genuine, respectively, from the
ancient world.
Shankara's stotras, which are believed genuine, include ones devoted to
Krishna (Vaishnavism) and one dedicated to Shiva - two distinct sects
within Hinduism that are frequently considered separate from one
another. According to scholars, these stotras are not sectarian in nature,
but rather inherently Advaitic in nature, and they strive to achieve a
unified global perspective of Vedanta.
Shankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the earliest extant
commentary on the Brahma Sutras. However, in that commentary, he
makes reference to prior comments such as those of Dravida,
Bhartrprapancha, and others, which have either been lost or are still
being sought.
Even though it is "so tightly intertwined with Shankara's spiritual legacy
that any examination of his viewpoint that does not take [this book] into
consideration would be insufficient," some have questioned the
legitimacy of Shankara's claim to be the author of Vivekacmai. Modern
academics, according to Grimes, "prefer to dispute its legitimacy as a
work by Shankara," although "traditionalists tend to embrace" the book.
In spite of this, Grimes asserts that "there is still a possibility that Akara
is the author of the Vivekacmai," adding that "it varies in certain areas
from his previous works in that it addresses itself to a different audience
and has a distinct focus and aim."
 However, the Aparokshanubhuti and Atma bodha are also believed to
have been written by Shankara and are his own philosophical treatises,
but this is very unlikely. Paul Hacker has also voiced some scepticism
about the claim that Shankara was the only author of the compendium
Sarva-darsana-siddhanta Sangraha, citing differences in style and topic
contradictions in various areas of the compendium. In a same vein, it is
questionable if Gayatri-bhasya is Shankara's creation. Other comments
on the Uttaragita, Siva-gita, Brahma-gita, Lalita-shasranama, Suta-
samhita, and Sandhya-bhasya are extremely unlikely to be Shankara's
work, as are those on the Siva-gita and Brahma-gita. The Shankara-
attributed commentary on the Tantric work Lalita-trisati-bhasya, which
itself a commentary on the Tantric work Lalita, is similarly unauthentic.

Adi Sankara is said to have died at the age of 32 at Kedarnath, a Hindu

pilgrimage place in the Himalayas in the northern Indian state of
Uttarakhand, where he was born. According to the texts, he was last
seen by his students in the vicinity of the Kedarnath temple, wandering
across the Himalayas till he could not be located. Some scriptures place
his death at a variety of sites, including Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, and a
location in the state of Kerala, among others.

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