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During Sankara's time Hinduism had lost some of its appeal, because of the influence of Buddhism. Sankara stressed the importance of the Vedas and his work helped Hinduism regain strength and popularity. Although he did not live long, he had traveled on foot to various parts of India to restore the study of the Vedas.
Sankara's theology maintains that spiritual ignorance ( avidyaAvidya is the Buddhist term for ignorance. According to Buddhism ignorance is at the root of greed, anger, and craving. It is overcome by mindfulness.) is caused by seeing the self ( atman) where self is not. Discrimination needs to be developed in order to distinguish true from false and knowledge ( jnanaJnana is the Sanskrit term for knowledge. See also Nonduality Advaita Vedanta.) from ignorance ( avidyaAvidya is the Buddhist term for ignorance. According to Buddhism ignorance is at the root of greed, anger, and craving. It is overcome by mindfulness.).
The philosophy that Shankara proposed was powerful and capitalized on years of dormant monist and mystic understandings of existence. He proposed that while the phenomenal universe, our consciousness and bodily being, are certainly experienced, they are not true reality. He did not mean to negate it, but considered that the ultimate truth was BrahmanThis article is about the concept of transcendent reality in Hinduism. See also Brahmin and Brahman (disambiguation). In the Vedantic (and subsequently Yogic) schools of Hinduism, Brahman is the signifying name given to the concept of the unchanging, infi, the one divine ground that is beyond time, space and causation. Brahman is immanent and transcendent, but not merely a pantheisticPantheism simply stated, means " God is All" and "All is God". It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that natural law, existence and/or the universe (the sum total of al concept. Indeed, while Brahman is the efficient and material cause for the cosmos, Brahman itself is not limited by its self-projection and indeed transcends all binary opposites/dualities, especially such individuated aspects as form and being, since it is incomprehensible by the human mind. We must pierce through a hazy perspectival lens to understand our true being and nature that is not perennial change and mortality but unmitigated bliss for eternity. If we are to understand the true motive force behind our actions and thoughts, we must become aware of the fundamental unity of being. How, he asks, can a limited mind comprehend the limitless Self? It cannot, he argues, and therefore we must transcend even the mind and become one with Soul-consciousness.
He denounced casteVarna (caste) Caste is derived from a Portuguese word for lineage, breed or race, casta''. The term caste when used in human culture is usually in conjunction with the social division in Hindu society, particularly in India. This term is also used in ento and meaningless ritualA ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. The set of actions that comprise a ritual often include, but are not limited to, such things as recitation, s as foolish, and in his own charismatic manner, exhorted the true devotee to meditate on God's love and apprehend truth. His treatises on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta Sutras are testaments to a keen and intuitive mind that did not want to admit dogma but advocated reason. His greatest lesson was that reason and abstract philosophizing alone would not lead to moksha/liberation. It was only through selflessness and love governed by viveka (discrimination) that would see a devotee realize his inner Self. Charges that his philosophies were influenced by Buddhism are unfounded, since Shankara vehemently opposed negation of being ( shunyata) and believed that the unmanifest Brahman manifested itself as Ishwara, the loving, perfect being on high who is seen by many as being Vishnu or Shiva or whatever their hearts dictate. Shankara is said to have traveled throughout India, from the south to Kashmir, preaching to the local populaces and debating philosophy (apparently successfully, though no documentation exists) with Buddhist scholars and monks along the way.
His beliefs form the base of the Smarta tradition,or Smartism which is discussed in the following web site, http://www.hinduism-today.com/archives/2003/10-12/44-49_four_sects.shtml and http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/chap9.htm.
Even though he lived for a mere 32 years, his impact on India and Hinduism cannot be stressed enough, as he countered the increasing sacerdotalism of the masses and reintroduced a purer form of Vedic thought. He presented a face of Hinduism that could reasonably contend with Buddhist ideas and spread it, as well as reformist measures, across the land, traveling from as far up as Kashmir from areas in the South of India. His Hindu revival movement paved the way for the strict theistic movements of Ramanuja and Madhva, and helped lead to the decline of Buddhism in much of India.
Books assuredly written by Adi Shankara:
Books he probably wrote are:
He is said to have founded four mathas (a matha is a monastery or religious order) which are important to this day. These are at Sringeri in Karnataka, in the south; Dwaraka in Gujarat in the west; Puri in Orissa in the east; and Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttaranchal in the north. The heads of the mathas trace their authority back to him.
The matha at Kanchipuram or Kanchi in Tamil Nadu also claims its origin with him. According to this matha, this was where he himself settled in his last days and attained Siddhi (eternal bliss), but most other accounts suggest he spent his last days at Kedarnath. Though the Kanchi matha is highly respected in some quarters, its legitimacy is often questioned: some accounts date its origin to the early 19th century in Kumbakonam, from where it moved to Kanchi in the early 20th century. The Kanchi matha has little following outside sections of the south; however, it hit nationwide headlines in November 2004 when the present Kanchi Shankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, became embroiled in allegations of conspiracy to murder.