633- SWAMI SIVANANDA& PM INDIA

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#KEDARNATH SRI ADI SANKARACHARYA SWAMIKAL SAMADHI STHAL

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Saturday, November 6, 2021. 9:00AM.

#Sri Adi Swami Shankaracharya  Jayanti : Swami Sivananda

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"Guru charanam, bhaja charanam, Satguru charanam, bhava haranam.

Maanasa bhajare, guru charanam, Dustara bhava saagara taranam.

Guru maharaaj guru jaya jaya, Para brahma satguru jaya jaya."

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“Religion is realisation. It is not mere learning, or dialectic.” This is the divine message which stands deeply imprinted in the mind of every Hindu. This is not mere fancy. This is not a mental conception. This is not a stretch of imagination. It is not a coinage of the brain. Nor is it a decision arrived at by vehement vituperation and incongruent argumentation promulgated by all ordinary intellectual prodigy.

It is the bold assertion of the greatest philosopher of India, the Avatara of Lord Siva.

What can we take him for except Lord Siva Himself, who proclaims authoritatively and undauntedly:

Jaatam mayyeva sarvam punarapi mayi tatsamsthitam chaiva visvam,

Sarvam mayyeva yaati pravilayamiti tadbrahma chaivaahamasmi.

“In me is the whole Universe born; In me has it its support; and, in me does it dissolve. Therefore that very Brahman indeed am I.”

Srimad Adi Sankara is our Vedanta Guru. He is God incarnate. He was born at a time when Indian thought and culture was decaying; when it underwent sore distraction; when ethical glory and far-spread influence of Buddhistic cult was gradually dying; when there was complete chaos and confusion; when innumerable sects sprang up and with their own individual doctrines confounded the mass; when social evil influences and blind superstitions falsely garbed in the name of religion fancifully attracted the deceptive masses in a frenzy and ambushed them in complete ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. There were no less than seventy-two cults and sects of this type which carried away people from the right path.

The advent of Lord Krishna rejuvenated Hindu religion and saved many a soul from their complete ruin by subjugating themselves to passivism and passivism only due to the misinterpretation of the Vedas and the Upanishads. In the same way, Sri Sankara appeared on the earth to deliver very many struggling souls. He set them free, enlightened them and liberated them through his peaceful, unostentatious persuasion and loving propaganda. Through his irresistible logic, he planted the triumphant banner of unique intellectual conquest over all other schools of philosophy. Before him all other theories proved to be phantoms and fallacies.

It was only Sri Sankara who gave the unshakable concrete form to Hinduism and established the unity and purity of enlightened Hindu thought and culture. Superstitions and corrupt practices melted away in no time.

The age-long six systems of theism which were kept down in the mouth by the prattlers re-emerged in their original glory only through Sri Sankara.

His victory over other systems of philosophy was never due to his holding fast to his own faith and reasoning without the consideration of the pros and cons of others. He had mastered even the minute intricacies pertaining to other theories. The underlying currents of his thoughts were the very foundation for other systems too. Hence they were recognised with much reverence by all the other schools of thought despite their difference in the superstructure.

The secret of his conquest and the charm therein lay on his most apt and reasonable illustrations in every case. He never based his arguments on theoretical axioms and untestified hypotheses but entirely on integral experience (anubhava). Further all his arguments were based upon Srutis which too are genuine record of religious experiences of various saints and sages and not imaginary speculation with trivial data. He never entered into any hot unpalatable discussions to substantiate his case or disprove others’ theories. With his gigantic intellect he has poured out his masterful exposition and simple and clear elucidation of the supreme authority of the Prasthanatraya (The Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras), the self-evident validity of the Sruti Pramana and so on.

Above all, his philosophy was not only for the highly intellectual. It is within the easy reach of even the layman. With his profound knowledge, all-comprehensive learning, keen intuitive insight, and convincing explanations he has erected the strong edifice of Vedanta at the same time equally accessible to a simpleton as to a man of high intellect. How effectively has he prescribed “Bhaja Govindam” to a scholar who was racking his brain in committing various scriptures to memory!

Vedanta is not the only aspect of philosophy which he has preached to the world. He has entered the heart of every earnest seeker after Truth. He encourages the worship of various forms of the Lord and advocates Bhakti Yoga. Without any tinge of partiality to one form or the other, he has given out innumerable slokas, each brimming with full tattva and bhava and which inculcate ecstasy and perennial joy even in the tender undeveloped minds. His untiring work of Lokasangraha marks him out as the veritable master of the Yoga of Activism too.

At the background of all these his devotion to his Guru is supermost. Mark him say, “Any person who realises ‘That very Brahman am I’ through the unparalleled mercy and glance of the Sadguru loses all feelings of doubt and with his mind free from illusion attains liberation even while living in the body.” How much efficacy and glory lie in Guru Bhakti!

May you all develop Guru Bhakti! May the blessings of Sri Sankara be upon you all!

Shankara Jayanthi falls on the 5th day of the bright half of Vaisakh (May-June). On this day, study his works, pray and meditate. May you be showered with his blessings!

This article has been reproduced from "Hindu Fast and Festivals" by Swami Sivananda.

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INDIA POSITIVE : ##Explained: Life, work and legend of Adi Shankara, Advaita master, philosopher nonpareil : PMINDIA -  Amrith Lal  : The Indian Express : Media Report.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Kedarnath, where the acharya is believed to have attained samadhi at the age of 32 in the ninth century. Calling Shankara a reincarnation of Lord Shiva, the Prime Minister compared the renovation at Kedarnath with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the beautification of Kashi. “Today our culture, our tradition, and religious centres are seen with the same sense of pride as they should have been seen,” he said.

As in Ayodhya and Kashi, the Shankaracharya project too is about privileging select beliefs and traditions over the multiple narratives and histories about the acharya. The Adi Shankara story is a remarkable saga of travel and adventure, philosophical inquiry, conflicts in faith, exegesis, establishment of lineage, organisation and mobilisation, etc.

Over centuries, this story has been embellished by myth and legend — from the hagiographies of the medieval age, especially during the ascent of the Vijayanagara kingdom, to the cinema versions of the 20th century, it has been told and retold so often that it is difficult today to sift fact from fiction.

Shankara of legend

The story recounted today has been reconstructed from multiple Shankaravijayas (Conquests of Shankara) written over the centuries. In his biography of the acharya (Shree Shankaracharyar, 1994), Sanskrit scholar and former director of Adyar Library, K Kunjunni Raja, mentions texts that situate his lifetime between 788 and 820 AD.

Adi Shankara is said to have been born in Kaladi village on the bank of the Periyar, the largest river in Kerala. His parents, the Brahmin couple Siva Guru and Arya Antharjanam, had fallen on difficult times. He left home very early in search of learning and to become a sanyasin.

In one legend, a crocodile caught hold of the young Shankara while bathing in the Periyar, and told his mother it would let him go if she allowed him to take sanyas. She reluctantly agreed and Shankara swam ashore.

In another legend, the young Shankara visited a poor Brahmin household, where the woman of the house apologetically fed him an amla, the only food she could offer. A grateful Shankara composed the Kanakadhara Stotram, following which there was a rain of golden amlas, which brought prosperity to the household.

Even the narrations about Shankara’s philosophical debates with scholars such as Mandana Misra and his wife Ubhaya Bharati, Kumarila Bhatta, etc., are embellished with stories that suggest his supernatural powers — after being challenged by Ubhaya Bharati on aspects of kama, the celibate Shankara is said to have undergone parakaya pravesha to gain knowledge about sex.

Remarkable scholarship

The picture we gain from these stories is of a remarkable scholar-monk who, after being initiated into studies by Govindacharya, a disciple of the scholar Gaudapada acharya, was constantly on the move — bearing the flag of Advaita Vedanta, challenging prevailing philosophical traditions including Buddhism and Jainism, establishing mathas, preparing commentaries on important texts, and organising monastic orders.

In a lifespan of just 32 years, he is said to have visited all the important spiritual centres of the time — from Kanchi (Kancheepuram) to Kamrup (Assam), and Kashmir and the Kedar and Badri dhams, as well as Sringeri, Ujjain, Kashi, Puri, and Joshimath. He is believed to have established the ritual practices at the Badri and Kedar dhams, and to have debated with tantrics in Srinagar. He is believed to have attained samadhi at Kedarnath; however, Kanchi and Thrissur are also talked about as places where Adi Shankara spent his last days.

Adi Shankara is generally identified as the author of 116 works — among them the celebrated commentaries (bhashyas) on 10 Upanishads, the Brahmasutra and the Gita, and poetic works including Vivekachudamani, Maneesha Panchakam, and Saundaryalahiri. But scholars such as Vidyavachaspathi V Panoli have argued that Saundaryalahiri and Maneesha Panchakam are not his works, but attributions.

It has also been claimed that Adi Shankara composed texts like Shankarasmrithi, which seeks to establish the social supremacy of Nambuthiri Brahmins. Scholars point out that often authorship is credited to a great figure to claim legitimacy for texts that may in fact have been composed centuries later.

Master of Advaita Vedanta

Shankara’s great standing is derived from his commentaries of the prasthanatrayi (Upanishads, Brahmasutra and Gita), where he explains his understanding of Advaita Vedanta.

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Advaita Vedanta articulates a philosophical position of radical nondualism, a revisionary worldview which it derives from the ancient Upanishadic texts. According to Advaita Vedantins, the Upanishads reveal a fundamental principle of nonduality termed ‘brahman’, which is the reality of all things. Advaitins understand brahman as transcending individuality and empirical plurality. They seek to establish that the essential core of one’s self (atman) is brahman. The fundamental thrust of Advaita Vedanta is that the atman is pure non-intentional consciousness. It is one without a second, nondual, infinite existence, and numerically identical with brahman. This effort entails tying a metaphysics of brahman to a philosophy of consciousness.”

This philosophical tradition, according to the encyclopedia entry, found its most sustained early articulation in the works of Shankara, who “endeavoured to communicate nonduality through systematised theories of metaphysics, language, and epistemology", and whose "philosophy and methods comprise a teaching tradition intended to culminate in a direct liberating recognition of nonduality that is synonymous with liberation or freedom (moksha)”.

Shankara’s contested legacy

In Bharatiya Chintha (Indian Thought), K Damodaran, scholar and a founding member of the Communist movement in India, says the essence of Adi Shankara’s philosophy is encapsulated in the much quoted formulation: “brahma satyam jagan-mithya, jivo brahmaiva naaparah” (brahman alone is real, this world is an illusion/ and the jiva is non-differential from brahman). Custodians of the caste system cite from Shankara’s commentaries to justify the unequal and unjust social order, whereas others claim these are extrapolations and point to works like Maneesha Panchakam to suggest a different reading of the acharya’s outlook.

The philosophy and legacy of this incomparable philosopher continue to be contested -- and he has been claimed, reclaimed, interpreted and reinterpreted over the centuries. Among the interpreters of his philosophy would be those who suggested that the Advaita Vedanta borrowed the categories of Buddhist thinkers and called him the Prachhanna Buddha (Buddha in disguise), to Sri Narayana Guru who in the 20th century offered a radical reading of Advaita Vedanta to dismantle the theory and praxis of caste.

#Sculptor Arun Yogiraj

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His political appropriation

The mathas Shankara is believed to have established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, and Joshimath for the spread of Advaita Vedanta are seen as custodians of Hinduism, and Shankara’s digvijaya (conquest) is often interpreted as a near nationalistic project where faith, philosophy and geography are yoked together to imagine a Hindu India that transcends the political boundaries of his time.

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.

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Giving ‘Birth’ To Adi Shankaracharya: Sculptor Arun Yogiraj Shares The Journey Of The Statue That Is Being Installed At Kedarnath

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