Sankara – The Genius
Sankara Jayanti
message given on the 17th of May, 1972
Today is Vaisakha Sukla
Panchami, the fifth day in the bright fortnight in the month of April-May, when
we celebrate the advent of the great Acharya Sankara who is often referred to,
by his followers, as Bhashyakara (the commentator on the Prasthana Traya – the
Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita).
The goal of human life depends
upon the relation of the human individual to the world. Religious teachers and
prophets came to specify the goal of human life, the ultimate purpose behind
all the activities of mankind. And they differed from one another in their
concept of the relation of the individual to the cosmos.
Shankara’s thought is a logical
consequence of all the thoughts that preceded his coming into being. There were
systems of thought called the Darsanas. You must have heard of the schools of
thought known as Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and certain other
mystical and ritualistic philosophies which were in minority, of course, yet
prevalent during the time of Sankara.
But many questions posed
themselves before the minds of people and these philosophies were found not
satisfactory. How could we reach this God who is extra-cosmic – what is the
way? His hands cannot reach us and our thoughts cannot reach Him. Is there a
ladder from earth to heaven where God lives?
Advaita Vedanta of Adi
Sankaracharya came as a remedy to the diversified ways of thinking which
created an unnecessary conflict even in daily practices of human beings, and
this he did without going contrary to the injunctions of the Vedas and the
Upanishads. Scripture and reason were the two aids in the arguments of Sankara.
He was a tremendous logician, who based his arguments entirely on the
principles of logic, but without contradicting the intuitional revelations of
the Vedas and the Upanishads. Intuition is not opposed to intellect, was what
Sankara proclaimed. Nor can we say that intellect is complete in itself. The
conclusions of the intellect have to be corroborated by the revelations of the
Srutis. Sruti, Yukti and Anubhava – scripture, argument and experience – have
to go parallel along a path leading to a single goal. Scripture is the support
for the argument, while argument supplies the strength for the exposition of
the scripture, both of which lead to the direct experience or Anubhava. Reality
is experience. Brahma Sakshatkara is the same as Anubhava of the Supreme Being.
Unfortunately, today we have
no proper expositions of the Vedanta philosophy. A complete philosophy of
Sankara is not available in any single book. We may read any book written
anywhere, but we will not find a complete presentation of his philosophy. The
Upanishads themselves are all-comprehensive and an exposition of them, which is
the system of Vedanta, has naturally to be many-sided. Even if we read the
Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Sankara, we will not know or understand the entire
teaching of it. It requires study under a Guru to have a complete view of the
entire perspective of Sankara's teaching.
As Buddha was misrepresented,
and Christ is being misrepresented, Sankara was also misrepresented. So to
counteract the misrepresented attitudes, there came other Acharyas like
Ramanuja, Madhva and others. One cannot wholly and satisfactorily explain the
subtle relation of the soul to God. A satisfactory attempt to blend the
thoughts of many schools of philosophy – Dvaitins, Advaitins and
Visishtadvaitins etc., has been made by Sankara, who himself was a genius.
For the beauty of the language
of Sanskrit, and the depth of philosophical wisdom and the help they can offer
us in our practical life, Sankaracharya's works have to be studied. There is a
beautiful poem by Sankara known as Prabodha Sudhakara. It is a very
beautiful work because it combines Bhakti and Vedanta. Like all great
Vedantins, Sankaracharya was also a devotee.
Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was
a great admirer of Adi Sankaracharya, and in his teachings we will find the
spirit of Sankara. If we can understand Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj properly, we
can understand Sankaracharya also. Of course, it is very difficult to
understand both, because they are many-sided geniuses. So let us study their
works and try to live a practical life of Vedanta and Bhakti.
Continue to
read:
Sankara – The Genius, Sankara Jayanti
Message by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Sankara by Swami
Sivananda
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