Shankara
Wed, 01/30/2008 - 14:10 — admin
Shankara made his appearance in the south of India at the end of the 8th century A.D. Born into an orthodox brahmin family, he left home while only a tad to become an ascetic. At the time of Shankara’s appearance, Buddhism was the prominent religion of India, having previously gained the sanction of Emperor Ashoka. As a result, the followers of the Vedic culture had dwindled in number, and the general population had turned away from the Vedic literature. Shankara re-established the authority of the Vedas, but in doing so he preached an impersonal conclusion. Although his advaita siddhanta doctrine is commonly referred to as “nondual Vedanta,” it receives only superficial support from shastra, and is actually closer to the Madhyamika School of Buddhism.1 So alike in principle are the two schools of thought that Shankara is often accused by his adversaries of being a Buddhist in disguise. Despite the similarities in doctrine (Shankara preached “all is one” while the Buddhists preached “all is nothing”), under the force of Shankara’s powerful preaching, Buddhism was virtually driven out of India-in an eastward direction to China, and also to Sri Lanka.2
Shankara’s advaita siddhanta, an explicitly nondual interpretation of the Vedic text, declares that the jiva, or individual soul, is one in nature and identity with the Supreme Soul.3 It is only due to the influence of maya, illusion, that the individual self feels himself to be distinct from God. Mukti, i.e., liberation or release from this illusion, Shankara taught, is when the individual soul gives up the notion of separation and realizes his identity as God. The individual identity of both God and the soul are denied by Shankara; the individual soul and God are one.
The cosmic manifestation we perceive with our senses, according to Shankara, has no real substance, but is simply an illusion, like the mistaking of a rope for a snake. Only the nondistinct Brahman (spirit) is real. This theory of illusion, known as Mayavada, is summed up in Shankara’s oft-quoted statement, “Brahma satyam, jagan mithya” (“The world is false, Brahman (spirit) is Truth (real)”).4 Once having relegated the cosmic manifestation into the category of an illusion, Shankara thus avoided having to describe it or how it came into existence.
Shankara wrote commentaries on Bhagavad-gita, Vedanta-sutra, and the Upanishads. Upadesha Sahasri and Sariraka Bhasya (also known as Brahma-sutra Bhasya or Vedanta-sutra Bhasya) are his best- known works. He established four main ashrams at Puri, Dwarka, Sringeri, and Badrinath. It was at his Badrinath ashram in the Himalayas that Sripad Shankaracharya departed from this world in 820 A.D. at the relatively young age of 32 years.5
PERFECTION – BEING IN TUNE WITH REALITYShankara
The body is yours — but it is not you. The body is a garment that you are wearing, a machine that you are using, a vehicle that you are driving. The body is your possession. Just as a person does not identify himself as being the shirt he is wearing, he also should not identify himself with the body that he is wearing.
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
Shankara made his appearance in the south of India at the end of the 8th century A.D. Born into an orthodox brahmin family, he left home while only a tad to become an ascetic. At the time of Shankara’s appearance, Buddhism was the prominent religion of India, having previously gained the sanction of Emperor Ashoka. As a result, the followers of the Vedic culture had dwindled in number, and the general population had turned away from the Vedic literature. Shankara re-established the authority of the Vedas, but in doing so he preached an impersonal conclusion. Although his advaita siddhanta doctrine is commonly referred to as “nondual Vedanta,” it receives only superficial support from shastra, and is actually closer to the Madhyamika School of Buddhism.1 So alike in principle are the two schools of thought that Shankara is often accused by his adversaries of being a Buddhist in disguise. Despite the similarities in doctrine (Shankara preached “all is one” while the Buddhists preached “all is nothing”), under the force of Shankara’s powerful preaching, Buddhism was virtually driven out of India-in an eastward direction to China, and also to Sri Lanka.2
Shankara’s advaita siddhanta, an explicitly nondual interpretation of the Vedic text, declares that the jiva, or individual soul, is one in nature and identity with the Supreme Soul.3 It is only due to the influence of maya, illusion, that the individual self feels himself to be distinct from God. Mukti, i.e., liberation or release from this illusion, Shankara taught, is when the individual soul gives up the notion of separation and realizes his identity as God. The individual identity of both God and the soul are denied by Shankara; the individual soul and God are one.
The cosmic manifestation we perceive with our senses, according to Shankara, has no real substance, but is simply an illusion, like the mistaking of a rope for a snake. Only the nondistinct Brahman (spirit) is real. This theory of illusion, known as Mayavada, is summed up in Shankara’s oft-quoted statement, “Brahma satyam, jagan mithya” (“The world is false, Brahman (spirit) is Truth (real)”).4 Once having relegated the cosmic manifestation into the category of an illusion, Shankara thus avoided having to describe it or how it came into existence.
Shankara wrote commentaries on Bhagavad-gita, Vedanta-sutra, and the Upanishads. Upadesha Sahasri and Sariraka Bhasya (also known as Brahma-sutra Bhasya or Vedanta-sutra Bhasya) are his best- known works. He established four main ashrams at Puri, Dwarka, Sringeri, and Badrinath. It was at his Badrinath ashram in the Himalayas that Sripad Shankaracharya departed from this world in 820 A.D. at the relatively young age of 32 years.5