Pranaams to Sankaracharya on the eve of Guru Purnima
Krishnan Iyer
On this auspicious day my pranaams to the great teacher Sri Sankaracharya.
What he is everyone knows save a few who take him to be what he is NOT.
He has been labeled a ‘Cryptic Baudhi’ some and strangely , by others ,
as a staunch enemy of budhism !
The people who charge him with surrogate Budhism say that he had reduced the objective world into an illusion and transformed Brahman into a lusterless entity incapable of both any description – a Lifeless / colourless entity.
He has been labeled as a Mayavaadi by even learned Vedantins.
It goes without saying that such charges are baseless and not even worth considering .
Having said this,I must admit that I also do not support with theories that propound that Advaita was incepted by Sri Sankara and that it never attained significance after him .
On the first point Sri Sankara himself has stated many times over that he had only iterated what the Sruti said and that alone was his contribution.
On the second issue , it must be appreciated that a visionary which he was , never assumes that he would be in a position to establish whatever he is onto all by himself in the short duration of life. They always ensure the mantle is carried on .
His mantle we has been on for over 12 centuries now and will continue for a lot
many more to come.
Is it possible that such a visionary would have inadvertently missed out detailing any aspect of Vedanta that required his attention. This is the last of three charges I would detail now.
Taking each aspect one by one :
- Brahman does not become devoid of life and colour when described as Nirguna, nirakaara etc. Nor can he ever become Lifeless . He is life itself – Exitence itself – knowledge itself.
We Mortals can use our discretion to superimpose anything on him to see the colours we want to see.
- On the illusory nature of the world the Acharya is emphatic that world is neither
real nor unreal . It has its own status albeit of lower order of reality
He has never treaded the agnosticism of the one of the strongest philosophical
schools and has vehemently opposed the Atheism of Sankhya. The Beauty is that
he has not only resorted to the Srutis but also used the inconsistencies in those
very theories to kill them
His Commentary on each Sutra of Brahma Sutra will endorse this.
He was not catering to popular faith but was bent on logical understanding of the
truth.
It must be noted that even as he wrecked the Nyaya Vaiseshika theory of atom being the cause of Creation ,he did not question the existence of Atom as uch but stressed that atom itself required a sentient entity to make it function. Science has upheld that stand
To the great Acharya everything – this world with its multitude and everything included in and excluded from it - was Brahman
Coming to the last point, it must emphasised that various Acharyas have commented elaborately on the points specified by Sri Sankara and have taken the Advita stand to greater heights.
When scholars point out divergent views of Post Sankara Advita schools , it must be realized that Sri Sankara has ensured that all logical view points are exhausted.
There was no other reason for him to suggest that Padmapadacharya and Sri Mishra and Sureshwaracharya comment on his Sutra Bhashya individually.
I would like to stress that neither viewpoints have been challenged successfully till date.
Thus Acharya Sankara’s contribution to humanity towers above all .
Let us all , on this day , offer our Pranams to the greatest of Indian Saints.
Hari Om
P.G.KRISHNAN
kumar venkateswaran
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