Jagatguru Adi Shankaracharya (788 - 820 A.D.)

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Greetings Advaitins:

 

This brief life sketch of Adi Shanakaracharya can answer some of the questions

raised by Shri Varadarajan. This article will benefit the new comers to the

list and we can all read and appreciate the

dedication and determination of Jagatguru (Teacher of the Universe). I

recommend all the new members to use the search facility at eScribe.com and read

the past discussions. The archives contain more than

2400 postings on diverse topics and please browse and learn.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

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Jagatguru Adi Shankaracharya (788 - 820 A.D.)

 

Introduction:

 

As per the promise given in the Gita that God would descend on earth whenever

righteousness and all that is dependent upon Dharma is on the decline,

Sankaracharya appeared on the Indian scene at a time when

moral and religious chaos had overtaken the country. Ancient history of Indian

culture witnessed the stream of lives of great souls . The sages and saints

helped India to recover from the crises-the

religious, moral, ideological or political - that crop up in the society from

time to time. The country anxiously looked for the help of inspiring and

glorious personalities. It may be said that Sri

Sankara's birth took place in the same way to revive India spiritually

 

Jagatguru Adi Sankaracharya is undisputably the greatest philosopher that India,

or the world, has ever produced. He is unique in the history of the world as he

combined in himself the attributes of a

philosopher, a devotee, a mystic, a poet and a religious reformer. Though he

lived twelve hundred years ago, India and the world feels the impact of the life

and work of this spiritual genius even today.

Sankaracharya was born during the 8th century. By those times, Buddhism was

widely spread in the country, but in a very much changed form from that of the

pure and simple ethical teachings of the Master;

Jainism also had its influence and a wide following. Both the religions, as per

common comprehension, i.e. as per lay men's understanding, were bereft of the

concept of God, with the result that atheism was

becoming vogue and the general creed of the people. Hinduism itself was broken

up into numberless sects and denominations, each opposed to and intolerant of

the other. The religious coherence in the land was

lost and, besides, many unwholesome excrescences such as the vows of the Saivas

and the vamachara of the Saktas, Ganapatyas, Sauras and Bhagawatas which crept

in, were corrupting the purity and spirit of

religion. What the times needed was an integration of all thought so as to stop

the waning of the eternal principles of Dharma, to arrest the religious

decadence, disharmony, and discord mounting up among the

various sects of the Hindus, and bringing about a moral, religious and spiritual

harmony, integration and renaissance in the land. Such a mighty and stupendous

task only God could do.... and Sankara came,

undertook it and accomplished it too. During the brief span of 32 years of

life, Sankara established firmly the Advaita Vedanta philosophy as the essential

unifying basis of the Hindu religion. He brought

about religious harmony, spiritual coherence and moral regeneration of the

country.

 

Jagatguru Adi Sankaracharya's Life Profile

Sankaracharya was born towards the end of the eighth century A.D., at Kaladi, a

village in Central Kerala. He was the only son of a devout Nambudiri Brahmin

couple, Sivaguru and Aryamba. It is believed that

he was born as a result of their long prayers to Lord Siva of the famous

Vrishabhachaleswara temple at Trichur. He was an infant prodigy and completed

his Vedic studies by the age of eight. His father died

when was still young and it was his mother who brought him up with loving care

as he was her only source of consolation and support now. The boy exhibited

ascetic tendencies and mother felt very upset. Yet,

the divine mission for which that great genius had been born had to be

fulfilled, and so something of miracle had to happen to set Sankara free from

worldly ties. So once when the son was bathing in the

nearby Purna river, while the mother was standing on the bank, a crocodile

caught hold of the boy's leg and was dragging him into deeper waters.

 

When death was (seemingly) near, Sankara asked permission of the mother to enter

the last 'ashrama of Sanyasa', which every Hindu was supposed to enter before

his death. Formal renunciation at such a critical

situation, *Apat-Sanyasa*, was a common practice. Very reluctantly, Aryamba gave

her consent and lo, mysteriously the crocodile let go the boy ! Emerging from

the river, the bala-sanyasin decided to become a

wandering monk and soon left his village after consoling and assuring his mother

that he would be at her side during her last days and even perform her funeral

rites. Thus, Sankara set forth on his divine

mission at the very young age of eight, when most of the boys would not have

even left their toy-trinkets.

 

After leaving Kaladi, the young sanyasin-scholar wandered through South India

and ultimately reached the banks of Narmada in search of a Guru. There, he met

Govinda Bhagavatpada, a prominent disciple of the

great Gaudapada of Mandukya Karika reputation. Govindapada welcomingly accecpted

this boy-sanyasin as his disciple and initiated him into the intricacies of

Vedanta. After about seven years, when Sankara had

completed his Vedantic studies and Sadhana, his guru told him to proceed to

Kasi, the ancient city of learing and spirituality, and spread the message of

Advaita Vedanta from there by writing commentaries on

the Brahma Sutras, the Upnishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

 

As instructed, he proceeded to Kasi and there, within a short time, established

himself as the greatest champion of Vedanta philosophy. He won many debates; and

disciples came to him in large numbers.

Padmapada, Hastamalaka and Totaka were the chief among them. Thus, by the age of

sixteen, Sankara had established himself as a great philosopher in the city of

Varanasi, then the very heart of the

intellectual and spiritual movements in India.

 

After establishing himself at Kasi as the invincible champion of Vedanta

philosophy, Sankara started on tour of this vast country for a *Dig-Vijaya* or

spiritual conquest, under specific instruction from sage

Veda Vyasa who blessed him with a vision while Sankara was writing the Brahma

Sutra Bhashya. Wherever he went, he won over eminent leaders of the other

existing systems of philosophy and firmly established

Advaita Vedanta. None could stand against his vast erudition, dialectical skill

and spiritual insight. Amongst these debates, the one which was of great

importance was his encounter with Mandana Misra, the

great disciple of Kumarila Bhatta, a staunch protagonist of ritualism. The

*Karma Kanda* portion of the Vedas had much hold on Hindu religion at that time

and this was largely due to the philosopher-leaders

and religious authorities like Kumarila Bhatta and Mandan Misra. In order to

establish the truths of *Jnana Kanda*, Sankaracharya had to defeat and win over

these two intellectuals. Due to unavoidable

circumstances, Kumarila Bhatta could not undertake a debate with Sankaracharya

and directed the Vedantin to meet his disciple Mandan Misra. The debate with

Mandan Misra took place with Ubhaya Bharati,

scholarly wife of Mandana Misra, acting as the Judge. After many days of

discussion, Mandana Misra accepted defeat.

 

The condition of the debate was that he who would be defeated would become the

other's disciple and take up the victor's way of life. Thus, Mandana Misra

became a Sanyasi and was given the name Sureswara.

This victory gave a new impetus to Sankara's spiritual conquest. Sri Sankara and

his disciples travelled all over the land refuting false doctrines and purifying

objectionable practices which were in vogue in

the name of religion. He also established Maths in four places; in Sringeri in

th south; Badri in the north, Dwaraka in the west and Jagannath Puri in the

east. He chose these places of beauty of their

natural environments amidst snow-clad mountains, forests and rivers or on the

shores of the ocean, places where heaven and earth meet and transport man's

thoughts to sublime heights. He placed Sri

Sureswaracharya at the head of the Math in Sringeri, Sri Padmapada in Dwaraka,

Sri Totaka in Badri and Sri Hastamalaka in Puri. The establishing of these

Mathas indicate Sri Sankara's realization of the

physical and spiritual unity of India. He wrote in Sanskrit, the lingua franca

of cultured India of those times, which alone could appeal to all the

intellectuals all over the land.

 

After a pretty long stay in Sringeri, he hastened to the bed-side of his dying

mother in his ancestral home at Kaladi and sped her soul to the 'immortal realms

of light' to the strains of mellifluous hymns in

praise of Siva and Vishnu. Undeterred by the opposition of his pharsaical

(religious formalist) kinsmen, he cremated his mother's body on the river bank

behind the house and the spot had since become hallowed

as a place of pilgrimage.

 

He visited all the sacred shrines of the land around which have gathered the

cultural traditions of the people, purifying the forms of worship and

establishing the Sri Chakaras in many of them such as

Kamakshi temple of Kanchi, Nara Narayana temple of Badri and Guhyesvari temple

in Nepal, etc.

 

This "best of peripatetic teachers" (Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya) crowned his

triumphal tours by vanquishing the great scholars of Kashmir, and ascended the

sarvajnapitha as the symbol of recognition by the

world of his scholarship and undisputed mastery in all the (then known) branches

of learning.

 

During his last visit to Nepal, he had a vision of Sri Dattatreya and from there

he went to Kedarnath at which place, at the age of thirty two, he said to have

disappeared from his mortal existence. A spot

not far from the shrine of Kedarnath is said to be the place of his

disappearance. (One version, however, is that he merged in Mother Kamakshi at

the Holy Kanchi, thus ending his earthly career).

 

Sankara made the edifice of Hindu religion strong by his rational and scientific

exposition of the Upanishadic philosophy so that Sanatana Dharma could face all

the challenges during the vicissitudes of

history till modern times. His contribution to Indian philosophy is so great and

lasting that all the later philosophers have only tried to refute him or to

elucidate his ideas. In foreign countries, Indian

philosophy has always come to be identified with Sankara's Advaita.

 

Sankara symbolizes the great *Rishi-culture* whose greatest exponent he was. The

message of Sankara is a message of hope and optimism. He says that man is not a

finality, a finished product; he has divine

potentiality in him which is to be discovered through self-conscious evolution.

The kingdom of peace, fullness and joy are within each one of us, says Advaita.

We will have to realise it. As his very name

suggests (Sam karoti iti Sankara -- " He who blesses is Sankara").

 

Sankaracharya was one of the greatest benefactors of mankind because he

expounded the Advaita Vedanta philosophy which is the essence of Vedas and which

is a pathway to Bliss and Immortality.

 

Note : This article has been compiled from Sri Satya Sai Pre Sevadal Course

Material.