Adi Shankaracharya:
Adi Shankaracharya was the progenitor of
Advaita Vedanta, scholar of Sanskrit, Upanishad lecturer and Hindu religion
campaigner. According to Hindu religious beliefs, he is considered as
incarnation of Lord Shankar. He travelled almost all over India and spent most
of his life in North India. His contribution was manily a remarkable task of
establishing four peeths (monastery) which is still present today.
Shakaracharya gets the place of importance not only in India but among the
highest philosophers of the world. He has written a lot of texts, but his
philosophy is especially found in his three languages, which are on Upanishad,
Brahmsutra and Geeta. There are also speeches of other teachers on Geeta and
Brahmsutra, but the coordinative commentary on the Upanishads, of
Shankaracharya stands impeccable. He was called as 'Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya' by his followers.
Birth:
Shankaracharya was born in
788 AD in 'Kalladi village' of Nimbudurdipad Brahmins situated in Kerala, South
India. He spent most of his life in North India. The 'Advaita VedantaSampraday' founded by him became very popular in the 9th century. He tried to
revive the theories of ancient Indian Upanishads. He acknowledged God as a
complete reality, and at the same time described this world as delusion or
illusion.
According to him, ignorant
people consider the world as real by not accepting God as real. The main
purpose of the knowledgeable people should be to free oneself from misery and
illusions and establish propriety with God and Brahma. Shankaracharya supported
Brahmin's main social order based on the character. Shankaracharya established
four monasteries in four directions in the subcontinent to improve the monastic
community. According to 'avataravad', God then incarnates, when there is loss
of religion.
Compositions and Personality:
Shankaracharya contributed immensely in the
stability, publicity and progress of Hindu religion. In his personality, the
form of Guru, philosopher, society and religion reformer, different opinion and
coordinator of sects is seen.
Shankaracharya was an excellent scholar and
philosopher of his time. His place in history is immortal due to his 'Advaita Siddhanta'. Shankaracharya made his first Guru, Govind Yogi, the disciple of
Gaudapadha. Govind Yogi received the title of 'Paramahansa'. Most of his ideas
have been influenced by many Vedas and Upanishad. He has also played an
important role in the development of ideas of modern India.
Shankaracharya, in addition to the well-known
Brahmsutra, made commentary on eleven Upanishads and on the Gita, made
compositions of language and other important texts to re-establish Vedic
religion and philosophy by defeating many Buddhist and Hindu scholars.
Shankaracharya's philosophy:
The philosophy of Shankaracharya is called the
philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. Shankaracharya's place is considered to be the
highest among the world's great philosophers. He had propagated this Brahman
statement that 'Brahma is the truth and the world is Maya'. The speed of the
soul is in salvation.
In the Vedas and in the last part of the Vedas
that is Vedanta or Upanishad; it has everything that brings about all kinds of
religion, science and philosophy of the world.
Adi Shankaracharya Death:
At the age of 32, Adi Shankaracharya died in the
northern Indian state of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, while some people have
described their site of death as Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu).
Most popular quotes of Adi Shankaracharya:
Quote 1: The one, who goes for “Thanks” not to beg, reaches
the temple.
Quote 2: A person full of envy is like a dream, it seems true
only till you are sleeping in ignorance sleep. When sleep opens, it has no
power.
Quote 3: Just like the ignition of an ignited lamp, there is
no need for another lamp. In the same way, the soul, which is itself a
knowledge form, does not require any knowledge, for its own knowledge.
Quote 4: There is no need to go somewhere to the pilgrimage.
The best and big pilgrimage is your own mind, which has been specially purified.
Quote 5: When there is a curiosity to know the truth in the
mind, then the worldly things seem meaningless.
Quote 6: Every person should understand that the soul is like
a Raja (King) which is very different from the body, the senses, the mind and
the intellect. The soul is the testimony of all these.
Quote 7: Due to ignorance the soul seems limited, but when the
darkness of ignorance disappears, then the real nature of the soul is realized,
as the sun starts to appear when the clouds are removed.
Quote 8: Reading books of religion does not make sense until
the time you find the truth. In the same way if you know the truth then there
is no need to read scripture. Walk on the path of truth.
Quote 9: You receive happiness (Anand) only when you are not
searching around for it.
Quote 10: It is the ultimate truth that people remember you
only till the time your breath goes. As the breath stops, the
closest relatives, friends, even the wife also go away.
Quote 11: What is self-control? Do not allow eyes to be
attracted to worldly things and to keep external forces away from you.
Quote 12: There is no language of truth. Language is just the
creation of man. Truth is not the creation of the man, it is the invention. The
truth has not to be made or certified, it only has to be exposed.
Quote 13: What is the definition of truth? There is a
definition of truth that it is eternal, which was eternal and which will be
eternal.
Most Popular Quotes | Adi Shankaracharya
Reviewed by Bhushan Palav
on
September 01, 2018
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