Kindly enlighten me reagarding sankaracharya

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "ammassridhar" <ammassridhar>

wrote:

> Dear Members,

>

> Since I am a new member and a novice in spirituality I

wish

> to learn more about Sankaracharya, The Adi Guru. Kindly send me

the

> web site details regarding His Magnificient Works.

>

> With Love @ the Lotus Feet of Sri Sri Sankaracharya,

>

> Br. Sridhar Babu.

 

Namaste

 

While there are wonderful sites available on the net, which can be

accessed by just typing 'Adi Sankaracharya' on the Google search, I

take this opportunity of answering the request of Br. Sridhar Babu,

by writing a brief note on Adi Sankaracharya, more as a homage to

the great Acharya than to say anything new to this list.

 

Sankara, more properly known as Adi SankarAcArya, is one of the

earliest mystic Masters of India. His interpretations of Vedânta

have so dominated the intellectual life of the country and has

become so well-known in the rest of the world that his work has

almost become synonymous with Vedânta inspite of the fact that other

interpretations exist and are followed widely. One measure of

Sankara's influence is that it is very difficult for any one either

Hindu or non-Hindu to read Indian religious texts without

unconsciously seeing them through the general interpretation given

by Sankara.

 

The great temples and holy places of India where he lived, preached

and prayed have made his name legendary and have left an indelible

image in the Hindu mind.His greatness is not only in the context of

Hinduism and Indian philosophy. His exposition of Advaita has a

relevance to the cultural history of the entire world philosophy.

This is because Advaita does not need for its validity the symbolism

or the prop of the religion and mythology of Hinduism.

 

The one fact that comes to the mind of a non-Indian the moment the

country of India is mentioned is its contribution to the spiritual

evolution of the human species over the centuries, particularly

through its Vedic and Upanishadic thought processes. But if any

single individual Master is to be associated with this contribution

one of the earliest such is Sankara. It goes back to as early as the

second century BC. Even this date of Sankara is controversial. In

fact anything that is connected with Sankara is mystifying, if not

controversial. The usually accepted dates are 788-820 C.E., while

the extreme earliest dates talked about are 509-477 B.C.E.

 

Sankara was not only a great philosopher who professed a

sophisticated philosophy with precision and clarity but he was a

great reformer also. In his short span of 32 years he achieved what

no one ever before or after him achieved. At the age of three he had

mastered the language of Sanskrit. At the age of six he had already

learnt whatever formal learning there was to learn. At the age of

eight he was ready to renounce the mundane world along with its

glamour and he did. Before the age of twelve he had already found

his formal Guru at whose feet he reached the shores of all existing

knowledge at that time. By the age of sixteen he had already written

his famous commentaries (bhashyas) on the Upanishads, the Gita, the

Brahma-sUtras, the Vishnu sahasra-nAmaM and sanatsujAtIyaM. These

commentaries have stood the test of time for more than a millenium

and will so stand for several more millenia to come.

 

Before the end of his life he had toured by foot the entire

subcontinent three times and more, established several religious

organizations called mutts -- of whom five are the most famous and

are still carrying the torch. Each head of these mutts is called a

Sankaracharya. That is why the prefix `Adi' is given to Sankara, the

prefix meaning, `the prime', `the first', `the original'. He carried

on verbal debates with almost 76 other schools of religious thought

and brought them all under his banner of Advaita, left behind him

scores of devotional poems, at least one for each deity or temple

then known in India, wrote five unique expository works: viveka

cUDAmaNi, aparoksha anubhUti, Atma-bodha, upadeSa sAhasri and

praSnottara-ratna-mAlikA, each one of which constitutes, in its own

way, a concise, encyclopaedia of advaita vedanta and, finally,

reorganized and streamlined the daily worship of the individual

Hindu in such a way that it has survived him for centuries till now.

His immediate disciples whom he later nominated to lead the mutts he

established were: SureSvarAchArya (former name maNDana-miSra),

hastAmalakAchArya, padmapAdAchArya (former name sanandana) and

toTakAchArya (former name giri).

 

Sankara was also an acclaimed poet. His compositions both in prose

and poetry excel even some of the greatest literary poets India has

known. He was not only one of the deepest thinkers of the world but

he also had the unique distinction of being very lucid in his

expositions (both written and oral) of his thoughts. He was a

profound and well-read scholar but was in addition a blessed saint

who had the grace of God in all its fullness.

 

He exhibited, even in his childhood, marvellous powers of

spirituality and scholarship. He was already known for his genial

disposition and kind heart. On one of these days when he was

studying in his Gurukula, (the abode of the teacher where his

disciples become resident students), he went to a poor brahmin's

house, as was usual with all celibate students, to receive his

bhikSA, the daily food offered as a service. The poverty stricken

housewife was unable to give him anything substantial. She brought

and gave him an Amalaka (a fruit of the embylic myrobalan) as a

humble token of her contribution to the bhikSA. Sankara's heart was

moved at the sight of her poverty on one side and her readiness, on

the other side, to give away even the very little she had. He prayed

to Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth by composing his famous kanaka-

dhArA stotra. Lo! And behold, her house was immediately filled with

a heavenly downpour of gold in the form of golden amalaka fruits.

Thus was born one of the most popular hymns of ancient India, which,

even today is repeated very often by young and old for the obvious

purpose of pleasing Goddess LakSmi for Her grce to descend and

bestow wealth and prosperity. The poem containing 27 verses not only

offers this prayer but it also describes the three deities

sarasvati, lakSmi and durgA as manifestations of the one Mother

Goddess.

 

Sankara was further a great mystic and Yogi who had a direct

perception of the Infinite Consciousness and at the same time he was

also a practical, socio-cum-religious reformer. To cap this all, his

knowledge and felicity in law, logic, rules of grammar and etymology

were as supreme as his devotion. Thus Sankara synthesized in his one

personality the superlatives of a philosopher, writer, thinker,

poet, scholar, blessed devotee, mystic, reformer, humanist, lawyer

and logician, and the beloved of the Lord. This unique combination

of so many excellent achievements of his in his short life has not

perhaps been paralleled by any one in the history of the world

either before or after his time.

 

praNAms to all advaitins and to Adi Sankaracharya.

profvk