Intellectual Hero - Page 2

Kaana,

Your knowledge amazes me.
Words are not sufficient to praise this piece of writing.
Thank you for reminding us of Sri Sankaracharya.

One doubt i have, and that is, he wrote Bhaasyas(commentaries) on BrahmaSutras. But, as far as i have read, a BrahmaSutra was written by Bhadrayana in 2nd Century BC, and we also credit Rishi Ved Vyas for writing BrahmaSutras. I don't know if both these are same or different, or Bhadrayana re-wrote BrahmaSutras after Rishi Ved Vyas, and in-turn Bhaasyas were written by Sri Sankaracharya of Bhadrayana's BrahmaSutra.

Having read all the details about him in your post, i would add one of his greatest contributions and that is the philosophy of Advaita (Monoism), which he propounded. This is one field which attracts me. Ofcourse, this is seen as philosophy but nevertheless, it is interesting. The very idea of Advaita looked novel to me - Atman(soul) and Brahman(absolute) are one and same as per him.

Though, different theories came up by later schools of thoughts like Vishishtha-dvaita, Shuddha-dvaita, -Dvaita. But, his work was instrumental in countering the Mimamsa, doctrine of Brahamanas, who aimed to maintain their prominence via strict rituals and thereby preserve the concept of social hierarchy. Sri Sankaracharya, simplified this process of worship, giving way to Sanatan Dharma , or the Advaita philosophpy. He maintained only jnana(knowledge) as a means to attain salvation. His emphasis on Advaita, that is, "one ness", can be seen as a grand vision of his. One can call him a reformer too. !

Another thing, which i think is that, the establishment of Mathas by Sri Sankaracharya, were like parallel institutions - Samgha of Buddhists/Jainis.?.

He is credited to have travelled this land 4 times convincing people of the clarity of Vedanta. Calling him an intellectual is an understatement, he was an institution in himself.

Originally posted by: history_geek

<font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">
Kaana,

Your knowledge amazes me.
Words are not sufficient to praise this piece of writing.
Thank you for reminding us of Sri Sankaracharya.

One doubt i have, and that is, he wrote Bhaasyas(commentaries) on BrahmaSutras. But, as far as i have read, a BrahmaSutra was written by Bhadrayana in 2nd Century BC, and we also credit Rishi Ved Vyas for writing BrahmaSutras. I don't know if both these are same or different, or Bhadrayana re-wrote BrahmaSutras after Rishi Ved Vyas, and in-turn Bhaasyas were written by Sri Sankaracharya of Bhadrayana's BrahmaSutra.

Having read all the details about him in your post, i would add one of
his greatest contributions and that is the philosophy of Advaita (Monoism), which
he propounded. This is one field which attracts me. Ofcourse, this is seen as philosophy but nevertheless, it is interesting. The very idea of Advaita looked novel to me - Atman(soul) and Brahman(absolute) are one and same as per him.

Though, different theories came up by later schools of thoughts like Vishishtha-dvaita, Shuddha-dvaita, -Dvaita. But, his work was instrumental in countering the Mimamsa, doctrine of Brahamanas, who aimed to maintain their prominence via strict rituals and thereby preserve the concept of social hierarchy. Sri Sankaracharya, simplified this process of worship, giving way to Sanatan Dharma , or the Advaita philosophpy. He maintained only jnana(knowledge) </font><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">as a means to attain salvation. His emphasis on Advaita, that is, "one ness", can be seen as a grand vision of his. </font>One can call him a reformer too. !

Another thing, which i think is that, the establishment of Mathas by Sri Sankaracharya, were like parallel institutions - Samgha of Buddhists/Jainis.?.

He is credited to have travelled this land 4 times convincing people of the clarity of Vedanta. Calling him an intellectual is an understatement, he was an institution in himself.


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Abhay, lovely post and write up on Bhagavatpada and Advaita. Thank you so much. And I just wrote what was already published about Him, nothing new - and this does need much of a knowledge, so I refuse to grow horns by your generous compliments. Thanks anyway, that was very kind of you.

Vyasa aka Badarayana aka Krishna Dvaipayana is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who codified the Vedas and wrote the Brahma Sutras and also the Mahabharata as we know. His Guru was Jaimini and son was the great Sage Sukha who gave the Srimad Bhagavatam (as you would know in the form of lectures to King Parikshit- the last descendent of Pandavas).

And yes, you rightly said - Bhagavatpada is an institution - Sruti Smriti puraanaanam aalayam.

Advaita- thanks for writing it. I did not want touch on it much. But since you have brought we will discuss a bit- it's a treat to discuss it anyday. Bhagavatpada just showed the Advaita truth, that has been laid out already in the Vedas. All Vedas and Upanishads talk about this singularly. Bhagavatpada was only drawing people's attention back to it, as they were carried away by dogmas instead. Regarding dogmas - how it came - I will write next in this thread.

In my view these are not parallel institutions. The earlier state of affairs was due to misinterpretation or being stuck to some parts of the Vedas, loosing sight of the ultimate goal, which He rectified. However, to not revert to that state there needs to continued guidance and show people the right path, whenever confusion arises in their mind. So, in my view, these institutions play a key role towards this.

Bhagavatpada was unparalleled in debate and none could stand in front Him (Shivji!). I will add an incident for this. And few more from his childhood- just mind blowing.

Thanks for your interest, makes it interesting for me also :-). I will also write about JataBharata, was reminded of him when I wrote the kaapalika incident.

Originally posted by: deepa911

nice

Thanks Deepa! Will be writing a few more here, hope you will enjoy them too.

Originally posted by: sp108

Beautiful post Kaana!

Above all, Shri Shankaracharya was one of the greatest devotee of the Goddess Adishakti, the Primordial Mother. He composed "Ai Giri Nandini" in the praise of the Goddess. For all the intellect and discussions he participated in, the only thing he requested the Goddess was to liberate him from "Shabda Jaal" or the "web of words". He saw the essence beyond the words. And ultimately, he composed the beautiful Soundarya Lahiri, in praise of the Goddess.

Liberation from shabda Jaal - nice one:-) thanks for sharing.
And talking of Soundaryalahari, it is a master piece indeed. Ppl give different versions about how Sri Shankara got it. To share with all friends here, A popular version is that - once when Adi Shankara went to Kailash, He saw beautiful verses written on Goddess Parvati. Actually Lord Siva had written them and the Goddess feeling shy was wiping it off starting the last verse. So Sri Shankara could not read it completely but whatever He read he wrote it as Soundaryalahari and as per Lord Siva's direction He wrote the rest of the verses Himself.