Śaṅkara – the universal teacher

श्रुति स्मृति पुराणानामालयं करुणालयम् ।
नमामि भगवत्पाद शङ्करं लोक शङ्करम् ॥

śrutismṛtipurāṇānāṃ ālayaṃ karuṇālayam |
namāmi bhagavatpādaṃ śaṅkaraṃ lokaśaṅkaram ||

शङ्करं शङ्कराचार्यं केशवं बादरायणम् |
सूत्रभाष्यकृतौ वन्दे भगवन्तौ पुनः पुनः ||

śaṅkaraṃ śaṅkarācāryaṃ keśavaṃ bādarāyaṇam |
sūtrabhāṣyakṛtau vande bhagavantau punaḥ punaḥ ||

I bow at the feet of the Lord in the form Śrī Śaṅkaracārya, who is the blessing for humanity, who is the shrine for the śruti, the smṛti and the purāṇa, and, who is the abode of compassion.

Salutations again and again to Lord Śiva in the form of Śaṅkarācārya and Lord Viṣṇu in the form of Veda Vyāsa, who were the authors of sūtra and bhāṣya.

Today, 24 April 2023, we celebrate Śaṅkara Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the Universal teacher, revered by all those who study, practice and value various Indic knowledge systems and texts. Our family pūja room in Bengaluru has a beautiful standee of Śaṅkarācārya and it is a common sight in many Hindu households. My mother’s Guru is a disciple of the ācārya-s of the Śriṅgeri Maṭh (monatery) said to have been established by Śaṅkara himself and has dedicated her life to the preservation and dissemination of his works. Here’s a picture of some of us after a class with her, with her Śaṅkara altar in the back.

Bhagavatpāda Ādi Śaṅkara‘s life span was said to be very short and very extraordinary with multidimensional achievements. Having completed the study of the Vedas at the tender age of only seven, he had become a young sanyāsin (renunciate). He wrote the most profound commentaries on Vedānta Śāstra, Bhagavad Gītā, the Upaniṣads and the Brahma Sūtras. 

He lived at a time that required unification of many confusing, conflicting streams using logic and the authority of Veda.

He established 4 Maṭhas (monasteries) – Pūri – east (Orissa), Dvaraka – West (Gujarat), Badrinath (north) & Śringeri (Karnataka).

He shaped the course of cultural history in India.

There are about 153 works attributed to Śaṅkara in these categories:

Bhāṣya grantha – 23 commentaries on texts like Brahma sūtra. Upaniṣat, Gītā.

Prakaraṇa & Upadeśa – 54 works like Upadeśa sāhasrī, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, Ātmabodha which explain the terminology used in Vedānta Śāstra.

Stotra-Stuti – 76 – my favourite of course, poetic compositions meant for devotional chanting such as the Ānandalahirī, Govindāṣṭaka, Dakṣiṇāmūrti stotra & Bhaja Govindam.

Śaṅkara is important to all students of Indic knowledge systems as without his commentaries, most of our Śāstra-s would remain totally inaccessible as applied knowledge. My salutations to Śaṅkara!!!