Recalling Adi Shankaracharya's Vedantic Legacy

(Raja Ravi Verma’s painting: Adi Shankara with his four disciples)

Recalling Adi Shankaracharya's Vedantic Legacy 

“The mark of a truly civilized man is confidence in the strength and security derived from the inquiring mind”, said Felix Frankfurter, the jurist-philosopher. This belief and dictum has been a cardinal guide in my own personal little quest towards ‘self-evolution’. It has raised many a curious and inquisitive questions, since my young days, that I have asked to myself and am still to reach finality in their answers. The quest continues: “Who am I, Where am I going, What is life and its meaning, Where did we come from, Is there life after death, and Is there an explanation to all the woes and troubles?”

Later in life, as I flew daily over the mountains of the Western Ghats in the discharge of my duties, looking down upon the verdant Nature in its full bloom (I remember spontaneously remarking to my co-flyer with me, “The ethereal mountains look like fingers pointing to the heavenly skies…”, followed with Robert Browning’s dreamy lines, “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?”; until I was woken up from my distractive sojourn to return to the present, by my condescending co-flyer); I was confronted with a duty of another kind: A quest to inquire into all that we call ‘Philosophical longings’, in order to imbibe the finality of one’s existence: “What is Brahman? What is its relationship to Atman? What is the path to attain Moksha?” Thus was laid the trajectory for me to understand the Metaphysical World, bringing me closer to the idea of Advaita(non-duality) and its leading proponent, Adi Shankaracharya.

To roll back the occurrences of history: in the year 788 CE, a boy was born in the quite little village of Kalady on the river Periyar in Kerala (near today’s Kochi) in a pious Nambudiri Brahman family. As he grew up, he heard a different voice and much against the wishes of his mother, left his home when 12 in the quest of a Guru to begin his spiritual journey. His search for truth, besides finding his Guru in Gaudapada,  led him to travel the length and breadth of India three times in his spiritual quest. Finally, he walked away to the Himalayas at Kedarnath, renouncing life at the young age of 32; but not before some seminal contribution towards understanding the meaning of life, in the art and science of the Advaita School of thought and practice, that not just repositioned Hinduism but also laid the foundation to today’s significance of Hinduism.

Photo: Adi Shankara Math at Kalady, Kerala

Vedanta: Meaning and Interpretations

Let me in short explain the principles and application of the Vedanta philosophy, culled from the vast scope, interpretations and schools of its following.

Vedanta, from its very name, means the ‘end of the Vedas’ which is identified with the Upanishads. However, in a deeper sense, the Vedanta Philosophy has three sources: Sruti (Vedas and Upanishads), Smriti (the Bhagavad Gita), and Nyaya (Brahma-Sutra of Badarayana with different commentaries); though ultimately these three rest on the Upanishads. “To put it differently, Vedanta is the culmination of the philosophy of the Upanishads”, as Bibhu Padhi and Minakshi Padhi opine in their seminal work (Indian Philosophy and Religion: A Reader’s Guide, McFarland, 1989).

Though Vedanta philosophy is ultimately rooted in the Upanishads, the differential interpretations and influences of the three of its primary sources by different commentators have led to the development of disparate schools of thought on Vedanta. Their merit is to be judged by the beliefs, clarifications and explanations of the experiences and not as correct or incorrect interpretations of the Shastras. 

Kevaladvaitya or Absolute Non-dualism of Shankara, Visistadvaita or Qualified Non-dualism of Ramanuja, Suddhadvaita or Pure Non-dualism of Vallabha, Dvaitadvaita or Non-dualism in Dualism of Nimbarka, Dvaita or Dualism of Madhava, Acintya-bhedabheda or Unthinkable non-difference in difference of Baladeva Vidhyabhusana and Avibhagalaksanadvaita or Non-dualism of the Non-differentiated of Vijnanabhikshu are the different schools of Vedanta(although scholars are of the view that the last type is more of an individual thought rather than any established school).

While Shankara and Madhava are completely opposed to one another, the others attempt at a reconciliation of the opposed elements in a synthetic and inclusive view. It is pertinent to mention that except for the Shankarites and Vijnanabhikshu, every other school of Vedanta recognizes the necessity of devotion or Bhakti in addition to knowledge as the means to attain Moksha or freedom from bondage.

Shankara’s Philosophy and Teachings

Shankara is credited with establishing the Kevaladvaita Vedanta School of Hindu Philosophy, anchored in the oldest Upanishads that accepts non-dual pure consciousness which is Brahman(Self) as ultimately real; and the world we experience has only empirical reality but ultimately, it is false. Jiva(Individual) is essentially Brahman as just like Brahman, Jiva also is essentially consciousness.

Undoubtedly, it is the most influential of the multiple schools of philosophy and theology that characterise Hinduism. In his short life, Adi Shankara is not only recognized with reviving a moribund Hinduism, that had lapsed into an era of confusion; but also integrating diverse thoughts and Hindu practices into a philosophy based on the Vedic dictum of ‘One Truth, Many Expositions’. He established the organisational structure for its survival and regeneration, through the ‘Mathas’ he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri and Joshimatha. He brought to the masses the life-giving message of the Vedas: “Brahman, Pure Consciousness, is the Absolute Reality. The world is unreal. In essence the individual is not different from Brahman.” Thus by the statement “Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya, Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Para”, which translates to: “God alone is real. The world is illusory. The individual is none other than God”, he condensed the essence of the voluminous Hindu scriptures.

Shankara’s original work has influenced many a spiritual leaders and their followers, past and present, and their own established practicing Schools of Advaita Vedanta; who are continuing the great legacy left behind by Shankara and are doing a yeoman service to the upkeep of the Hindu traditions. Some of them in the forefront are:

Shri Ramana Maharshi of Ramana Ashram, Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda of Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Shivananda of the Devine Life Society, Swami Yogananda of Yogada Satsang Society and Swami Chinmayananda of  Chinmaya Mission. There are many contemporary thought leaders too, from the varied areas of philosophy, management, polity and society who have been actively influenced by Shankara’s seminal beliefs.

Shankara’s believes and Teachings are best represented in some of his sayings and writings:

‘Do not be proud of wealth, people, relations and friends, or youth. All these are snatched by time in the blink of an eye. Giving up this illusory world, know and attain the Supreme.”

“Reality can be experienced only with the eye of understanding, not just by a scholar.” 

“The world, like a dream full of attachments and aversions seems real until the awakening.”

“As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality. 

“Knowing that I am different from the body, I need not neglect the body. It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world. It is the temple which houses the Pure Self within.” 

“When your last breath arrives, Grammar can do nothing.”

 “To be free from bondage the wise person must practice discrimination between One-Self and the ego-self.”

Adi Shankara is considered as the foremost thinker of the Hindu Philosophy, who codified and unified the various disparaging schools of Hindu Thought; helped Hinduism to metamorphose from a mere belief and a way of life(still being subscribed to) to a practicing and vibrant religion, with a scheme of order and establishment.

Some of the major writing of Shankara which can be sourced at the Ramakrisna Mission Matha at Bhubaneswar (and elsewhere too) are: Vivekachudamani, Atmabodha, Tattvabodha, Vaykyavritti, Soundarta-Lahari, Upadeshasahasri, Pancikarana and Laghuvakyaviveka.

The author would like to draw attention of the reader to an erudite, very well-researched and lucid book from his library, Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker by Pawan K Varma, recently published by Tranquebar in 2018; to gain more into the life and works of Adi Shankara. Some other sources for gaining deeper insight to the vast expanse of Advaita Vedanta, beyond what I have quoted, I recommend the following from my library:

• Autobiography of a Yogi, Swami Paramahansa, YoganandaYogada Satsang Society, 1946
• Reflections: Swami Vivekananda, Collected Works and Essays on Vivekananda, Om Books International, 2018
• A Classical Dictionary of India, Garret John, DK Printworld, 2006
• A Dictionary of Advaita Vedanta, Ed Chakraborty NB, The Ramakrishna Mission, 2016

Much as I have been influenced by Adi Shankara’s life and beliefs, when confronted by the many unnerving questions that arise in my mind’s map, I delve into Shankara’s slokas of solace and contentment.  Like I often have, I entreat my earnest readers to listen(and follow too) to the mesmerizing and levitating voice of Gabriella Burnel, who studied Sanskrit and the ancient Hindu Philosophical Texts at Oxford and has gone on to became one of the most loved Sanskrit singers in the world; reciting Adi Shankara’s life-transforming chant “Bhaja Govindam”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-Go2fLdPY

(The Article appeared earlier in a shorter version in Odishabytes.com)

Debi Padhi was born in the city of Cuttack, India. A retired naval aviator, with a Masters in English Literature and a Masters in Journalism and Mass Communications; has a passion for the creative arts and is a freelance writer on varied subjects that have been published widely. He, along with his wife are running an organization that counsels and empowers the youth to exploit their full potential.