Sri Shankara Bhagavadpada or Adi Shankara as he is popularly known is one of the greatest saints and scholars to be born on the soil of this holy country known as Bharat, which is renowned for having nurtured an unbelievable number of spiritual giants. Bharat is the land of enlightenment and Adi Shankara is considered to be one of the leading lights of this ancient country.
Shankara, as he was known before becoming a great teacher, was born into a poor Brahmin family at Kaladi, present day Kerala, Bharat. His parents, Shivaguru and Aryamba, offered their prayers to Lord Shiva, requesting the deity to bless them with a child. Lord Shiva was so pleased with them that He Himself decided to be born to them. His father named him Shankara, since he knew that his child was born due to Lord Shiva’s mercy. All the ritualistic ceremonies were devoutly performed soon after his birth. The child was so radiant that he illuminated the entire house.
He was a child prodigy and an extraordinary scholar with superhuman capabilities. At the age of two, he could fluently speak and write Sanskrit. At the age of four, he could recite all the Vedas, and at the age of twelve, he took sannyasa and left his home. Even at such a young age, he gathered disciples and started walking throughout the country to re-establish the Sanatana Dharma that had decayed due to the passage of time.
By the age of thirty-two, he left his body, but in those twenty years from the age of twelve to thirty-two, he crisscrossed the holy land of Bharat many times, from north to south and east to west, from Kerala in the south right up to Badrinath in the Himalayas, travelling everywhere in all directions. Since it would be impossible for any human being to have walked to all these places it is to be concluded that he possessed all the siddhis including the one to travel in space. In between all these travels, he produced thousands of pages of spiritual literature which revived and gave strength and health to the dharma that had deteriorated due to the passage of time. Lord Krishna had declared in the Bhagavad Gita that every time this happened, the Lord himself would take an incarnation to revive our ancient culture.
There is a lot of confusion regarding the birth-date of Shankara and different sources have proposed several different dates. The orthodox schools accept the date of his birth as 509 BC. Whatever the uncertainty regarding his biographical details, the historicity of Shankara stands on the very firm foundations of his great works which bear the unmistakable stamp of a mighty intellect. His footprints are also to be found in most of the holy places and mandirs of this ancient land where he lived, preached, renovated mandirs and contributed enormously to our holy traditions. His name and doings have become legendary, creating an indelible image on the Indian mind. Above all, his remarkable commentaries on the three source books of the Sanatana Dharma which are – the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita prove beyond doubt that such a person did exist.
Tradition has it that he was born on the 5th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Vaishakha. This year, 2024, it falls on Sunday, 12th May. He merged into the Supreme Brahman on the 11th day of the same month thirty-two years later. In this short time, he accomplished the unimaginable, something which can only be achieved when a person is personally empowered by the Divine.
He was born at a time when Hinduism was in a decadent state and other sects like Buddhism were holding sway over the minds of the people. His irrefutable logic overcame the arguments of all his opponents and made the doctrine of Advaita or non-duality, supreme. He tried to unite the different paths of Hinduism and to give unity to the whole country. Though he is known as a supreme jnani or man of wisdom, he was also an indefatigable Karma Yogi who strived to bring the intrinsic truths of the Vedas to the minds of the common people.
Adi Shankaracharya’s philosophy was simple and straightforward. He asserted the unity of the atman with the Brahman. The Brahman alone is real and unchanging. The atman, is nothing other than the Brahman which exists in every human being and therefore in its essence, it is also unchanging. He did not preach a new philosophy or cult but drew his inspiration from the ancient texts of this land – the Vedas and the Upanishads. Accepting the Vedas as revealed truth, he built a consistent philosophical system out of the varied and sometimes contradictory material contained in them.
Even though there are six systems of Indian philosophy, the fact is that the other five systems are but names confined to books in reference libraries, whereas Shankara’s system known as Vedanta, is still an existent and throbbing life-force, ever present before the eyes of the Hindus. Strangely enough it has been joyfully accepted by all scientific minds which become enthralled by the amazingly scientific manner in which all philosophical and religious questions have been answered by Vedanta. This school of thought founded on the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras which are accompanied by Shankara’s brilliant commentaries, is the culmination of the genius of the human mind which has always been in search of the eternal truth.
Shankara was not only a spiritual giant, but the greatest philosopher the world has produced. Emerging thorough the misty haze of time we see the portrait of an incredible personality possessed of unbelievable physical stamina, amazing psychic powers and an incomparably incisive intellect.
Out of the vast material found in our ancient scriptures, Shankara formulated two systems. One, totally esoteric known as Nirguna Vidya or the knowledge of the formless Brahman and the truth that the atman is nothing but the Brahman. This view is supported by the great Mahavakyas of the Upanishads which are – “prajnanam Brahma” – the Brahman is pure consciousness alone, “tat twam asi” which is said by the guru to the disciple and means “That thou art,” “ayam atma cha Brahma,” “aham Brahmasmi,” I am that Brahman, which is the realisation on the part of the disciple. This is the knowledge of the supreme truth of the Brahman which is formless and without qualities and cannot be known by the human mind. It can only be experienced.
He also built the edifice of the Saguna Brahman for the general public who find it difficult to understand the abstract truth of the Nirguna Brahman and who are more interested in the worship of an image and not just meditation on the formless. Thus, we find that one of Shankara’s most important works was to synthesize the six sub-sects known as “Shanmata.” “Shanmata”, which literally translates to “six religions,” is the worship of the six supreme deities – Ganesha, Surya, Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti and Kartikeya. Shankara explained that the six supreme deities are part of that one divine power.
He established four mutts, or centres of Advaitic learning in the four directions of Bharat – Joshimutt in the north in the Himalayas, Dwaraka in the west, Jagannath Puri in the east and Sringeri in the south. In all these he placed one of his four great disciples known as Sureshwara, Padmapada, Totakacharya and Hastamalaka. The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Kanchipuram declares that he himself became the 1st pontiff of the Kanchi Mutt. These monasteries founded by Shankaracharya have had a great influence in reforming Hinduism.
We have to thank him for recognising the greatness of the Bhagavad Gita and taking it out of the Mahabharata and giving it a place amongst the greatest of the spiritual scriptures of the world. His was the first commentary on the Gita.
He is the one who took out the murti of Lord Narayana which had been thrown into the pool by the Buddhists and reinstalled it in the ancient mandir of Badrinath. He was foresighted enough to realise how essential it was to unite this holy country of Bharat which though apparently diversified, was still one unified, spiritual whole.
He arranged that the chief priest of the mandir of Badrinath would always be a Namboodiri Brahmin from Kerala. One of the Brahmins from Garhwal would be sent to Rameshwaram, the famous mandir to Shiva in the extreme south of Bharat.
Even today, the descendants of the families that he set up – traditionally, the Namboodiris – are the priests in the mandir.
He had put down the pride of various false sects which had commanded the respect of a vast number of ignorant people. More than anything he blazed the path to salvation for future generations.
In the opening verses of his “Vivekachoodamani” Adi Shankara says,
“Durlabham trayamevaitat,
Devanugraha hetukam,
Manushyatvam, mumukshatvam,
Mahapurusha samshrayaha!”
“These three rare boons are obtained only by the grace of god. Birth as a human being, the burning desire for liberation and the great good fortune to attain a realised sage as one’s guru.”
The time is ripe to bring back the vision of Adi Shankara to the modern world. Let us all unite and ignite his spirit and build the future of this nation. Bharat has always been the spiritual guru of the world. In the course of time, this has faded a little. Now the time is ripe to re-kindle this fire that has been lit by one of the greatest sons of our wonderful country. This wisdom and this spirit has to penetrate into the hearts and minds of the modern generation of Hindus in this glorious country of Bharat and help us to create a Hindu Rashtra.
Jaya Jaya Shankara!
Who made the art piece at the beginning of the article? I'd love to reshare it and credit them. Thanks!
Thank you Maa 😊 for such a wonderful and enlightening blog 🙏🪷💕