Adi Shankara/ Sankar(a) (ancient philosopher) - Revision history

Jyoti: /* Sankara: From Temporal To Eternal */

2024-03-24T19:45:34Z

‎Sankara: From Temporal To Eternal

Pdewan: /* Anubhav/ Anubhava or experience */

2023-03-13T03:15:40Z

‎Anubhav/ Anubhava or experience

Pdewan: /* Shakt, Shaivism, Vaishnavism brought together */

2023-03-13T03:01:54Z

‎Shakt, Shaivism, Vaishnavism brought together

Pdewan: /* The Saundarya Lahiri */

2023-03-13T02:58:05Z

‎The Saundarya Lahiri

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Adi Shankara to Adi Shankara/ Sankar(a) (ancient philosopher)

2023-03-12T08:50:06Z

Pdewan moved page Adi Shankara to Adi Shankara/ Sankar(a) (ancient philosopher)

Jyoti: /* The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya */

2022-05-25T01:15:01Z

‎The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya

Pdewan: /* The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya */

2022-05-06T17:05:12Z

‎The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya

Pdewan: /* An overview */

2022-05-06T17:02:33Z

‎An overview

Jyoti: /* An overview */

2022-02-01T19:51:55Z

‎An overview

Jyoti at 20:21, 29 November 2021

2021-11-29T20:21:24Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:45, 24 March 2024
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	Courtesy: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.		Courtesy: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
		+
		+	=The ''Vivekachudamani ''=
		+	==Sansar==
		+	[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=15_03_2024_024_019_cap_TOI Swami Bhaktivenkateshwara, March 15, 2024: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	Advaita Vedanta states that we only suffer in life because we are bound by sansar. By being caught in the transmigration of karmas, we remain ignorant of God as our True Self within. How is it possible that we experience a life of limitations and sorrow when in truth we are God?
		+
		+	In verse 145 of Vivekachudamani, Adi Shankaracharya describes how sansar comes to exist by asking us to imagine a tree: “Ignorance is the seed for the tree of sansar. Body-identification is the sprout, desires are its tender leaves, work its water, body its trunk, pranas are its branches, the sense organs its twigs, the sense objects its flowers, different miseries born out of the varieties of actions are the fruits, and the individual jiva is the bird perched on top of it.”
		+
		+	Any tree manifests itself through a seed and it is this seed of ignorance that causes sansar. But ignorance of what exactly? Of forgetting that we are God and there is only Brahmn. We then become identified with the Anatman as everything which is not God: a physical body which creates our waking state, a subtle body that as the mind plays itself out in dreams and the causal body that exists due to vasanas. Such sprouts produce desires within us. Why? Because the body needs food to survive, the mind plays out its impressions in the waking and dream states and finally, the causal body needs to fulfil previous karmas.
		+
		+	Just as any tree, the physical body grows into adulthood giving the tree of sansar its deep grounding in Avidya. Its branches are made up of the five pranas that control its physiological functions. In order to become a fully egocentric agent in the world of Maya as pluralistic matter, the body starts transacting within duality through the sense organs and their respective objects. For example, the eyes perceive a world outside oneself, which is taken to be the only reality, “i see this world and in order to live, i need and want this.” We then run after sense objects seeking happiness in them, forgetting that in reality they don’t exist but are a construct of the mind.  However, it is already at this point that the fall into sansar cannot be stopped: By comparing the flux of our actions with water, Adi Shankara places the main culprit within sansar on selfish actions and their endless, unfulfilling results. We have become bound by the fruits of our doership and enjoyership.
		+
		+	The fall from Brahmn as the Supreme Reality into a separate jiva in life is complete. Through his tree simile, Adi Shankara shows us that while we live in this world of relativity, we cannot stop Maya and sansar being a part of our individuality. But where we can gain control is by going within – by taking the standpoint of the eternal sakshi as the Inner Witness to all – by affirming “I am God, never these thoughts and experiences.”
		+
		+	We suffer in life because we identify with an external world which is only relatively real. Therefore, cut down the tree of sansar by taking the position of the Observer and you will have gained an independent, inner freedom which defies words.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A ADI SHANKARAADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)
		+	ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)]]
		+	[[Category:Religion\|A ADI SHANKARAADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)
		+	ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)]]

	=See also=		=See also=

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 Courtesy: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
-[[Category:India|A
+=See also=
-ADI SHANKARA]]
-[[Category:Religion|A
-ADI SHANKARA]]
-[[Category:India|A ADI SHANKARA
+[[Adi Shankara/ Sankar(a) (ancient philosopher)]]
 ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)]]
-[[Category:Religion|A ADI SHANKARA
+[[Category:Religion|A ADI SHANKARAADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)
 ADI SHANKARA/ SANKAR(A) (ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER)]]

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 Sri Ramakrishna says, “It is God Himself who makes us feel this difference, and on account of this difference, one sees man and woman, light and darkness, and so on. As long one is aware of this difference, one can accept Shakti as personal god. It is God who has put `i-consciousness' in us. As long as we are conscious of differentiation, we must accept Brahmn with attributes. Vedas, Puranas and Tantra have declared Kali, the Primal Energy , to be Brahmn with attributes. (Abridged from the Foreword to `Saundarya Lahiri of Sri Sankaracharya', translated by Swami Tapasyananda, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.)
 [[Category:India|A
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 [[Category:Religion|A
 ADI SHANKARA]]

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 Urging us to get over our obsession with the trivialities of the world Shankara asks us to begin the search for the Divine Self within. He reminds us that we are not human beings going through a spiritual experience but that very Spirit going through a human experience. So together, we must work towards lifting ourselves out of our delusion, moha, to greater heights of awareness.
 =The Saundarya Lahiri=
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 Here, Shakti personified as Devi Tripurasundari, is described in her ultimate beauty and splendour. Complete submission to the Devi is the way to surmount and redeem oneself from this maze of Maya and it is through her karuna, that one can break free from this complex web of the eternal cause and effect cycle.Hence, it was in Shakti Tattva or Devi that the Bhagvadpada saw the pathway to redemption.
 =Shakti worship=

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 organisations in North India have also been challenged as being invented later to legitimise these organisations.
-[[Category:India|A ADI SHANKARA
+==Gathering Four Outstanding Disciples==
-ADI SHANKARA]]
+[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=06_05_2022_018_004_cap_TOI  VS Krishnan, May 6, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
-[[Category:Religion|A ADI SHANKARA
-ADI SHANKARA]]
+Born at Kalady in Kerala, around the 8th century, Shankara was ever in quest of jnana, the real and complete knowledge. After assuring his mother that he will be by her side at the hour of need, he got her permission and proceeded to the north on foot. Having reached Omkareshwar where river Narmada was flowing, he met his guru, Govind Bhagavadpada, who initiated him to sainthood. Shankaracharya, as he came to be known, embarked on a pilgrimage advocating Atma Vidya, Self-knowledge.
 [[Category:India|A ADI SHANKARA

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 ADI SHANKARA]]
-=The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya=
+==The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya==
 [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-does-hindutva-not-like-historians/articleshow/88085251.cms  Devdutt Pattanaik, Dec 5, 2021: ''The Times of India'']
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 differentiate between deity (bhagavan) and devotee (bhakta). Legends that Adi Shankaracharya established military ascetic
 organisations in North India have also been challenged as being invented later to legitimise these organisations.
 [[Category:India|A ADI SHANKARA

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
-=An overview=
-==Life and times==
+=Life and times=
 [https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/life-work-and-legend-of-adi-shankara-advaita-master-philosopher-nonpareil-7609385/?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explained&utm_content=6386461&pnespid=XqF0_04BsipJyUWdsM2IFFoWoxxkmbEkugJIALgcI4nKOxQ5BroDFNk9wxe_7d6541UaXJ8l  Amrith Lal, Nov 6, 2021: ''The Indian Express'']
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 It is a project that fits in with the ideological exigencies of the present time. The image of the lonely seeker, looming above his peers, demolishing his foes, and seeking transcendence in the snow-clad mountains has rich connotations in today’s performative politics.
 =The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya=

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:51, 1 February 2022
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	It is a project that fits in with the ideological exigencies of the present time. The image of the lonely seeker, looming above his peers, demolishing his foes, and seeking transcendence in the snow-clad mountains has rich connotations in today’s performative politics.		It is a project that fits in with the ideological exigencies of the present time. The image of the lonely seeker, looming above his peers, demolishing his foes, and seeking transcendence in the snow-clad mountains has rich connotations in today’s performative politics.
		+
		+
		+	=The first, earliest references to Adi Shankaracharya=
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-does-hindutva-not-like-historians/articleshow/88085251.cms Devdutt Pattanaik, Dec 5, 2021: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	Why does Hindutva not like historians?
		+
		+	Devdutt Pattanaik
		+
		+	Dec 4, 2021
		+
		+	Most Indians believe in the legend of Adi Shankaracharya. They believe he came from Kerala, travelled around India,
		+	and is responsible for driving Buddhism out of India, and re-establishing Hindu supremacy. He is also believed to be the organiser
		+	of various military ascetic academies or akhadas in the four corners of India. This was, it is claimed, because he foresaw the arrival
		+	of Islam, long before it actually happened. This kind of storytelling feeds into the triumphalist frenzy that is much loved by
		+	Hindutva. Nationalists love it.
		+
		+	However, historians have challenged this claim. Based on evidence, they say that information about Adi Shankaracharya comes to
		+	us only 500 years after his time. They were written when the Vijaynagar Empire was on the rise, and its kings were fiercely
		+	resisting what they called ‘Turuku Dharma’ coming from the North.
		+
		+	As they defended ‘Hindu Dharma’ or the local way of life, they patronised scholars who began organising Hinduism as a unit,
		+	something for which there was no need before. This is the time that Bheda-abheda Vedanta rose, trying to give Hinduism a common
		+	conceptual framework, based on ideas of the Upanishads that were over 2,000 years old.
		+
		+	The hagiographies of Shankara were composed by Vedanta scholars who were actually challenging his ideas. Vaishnavas saw him
		+	as a Shaiva, others saw him as Shakta. Ramanuja, who formalised temple worship combining Vedanta with Bhakti with rituals even
		+	called him Crypto-Buddhist (Prachanna-Baudha) as Shankara’s Advaita preferred the formless divine (Nirguna) and did not
		+	differentiate between deity (bhagavan) and devotee (bhakta). Legends that Adi Shankaracharya established military ascetic
		+	organisations in North India have also been challenged as being invented later to legitimise these organisations.
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|A ADI SHANKARA
		+	ADI SHANKARA]]
		+	[[Category:Religion\|A ADI SHANKARA
		+	ADI SHANKARA]]

	=Aatm(a) Bodh=		=Aatm(a) Bodh=

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 |}
-[[Category:India |A ]]
-[[Category:Religion |A ]]
 =Aatm(a) Bodh=
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 Sri Ramakrishna says, “It is God Himself who makes us feel this difference, and on account of this difference, one sees man and woman, light and darkness, and so on. As long one is aware of this difference, one can accept Shakti as personal god. It is God who has put `i-consciousness' in us. As long as we are conscious of differentiation, we must accept Brahmn with attributes. Vedas, Puranas and Tantra have declared Kali, the Primal Energy , to be Brahmn with attributes. (Abridged from the Foreword to `Saundarya Lahiri of Sri Sankaracharya', translated by Swami Tapasyananda, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.)