Before you start, please take a look at the transliteration key.

Do not be put off by capital

letters in the middle of words. They are there for a reason.

This site is an attempt at providing an easy and structured online introduction to the
philosophy of advaita vedAnta, as taught by SankarAcArya and his followers. It is not
meant for religious propaganda. This website represents a serious attempt at exploring
philosophical issues in advaita vedAnta, as handled by the leading philosophers
themselves, and in the context of their times. At the end, I think it should be obvious that
the core of the teaching has a timeless quality to it, making it relevant to all humankind
even today.

SankarAcArya is the most important teacher of the advaita school of vedAnta, and his
commentaries to the upanishads, the bhagavad-gItA and the brahmasUtras define the
parameters of advaita thought. However, it must be remembered that all vedAnta
philosophy really goes back to the upanishads, and SankarAcArya is regarded as a pre-
eminent teacher who continued the upanishadic tradition. The name SankarAcArya has
become a title for the heads of the numerous advaita institutions in India today, because
of the great respect and fame associated with it.

The philosophy of advaita, literally non-dualism, is the premier and oldest extant among
the vedAnta schools of Indian philosophy. The upanishadic quest is to understand
brahman, the source of everything, the Atman, the Self, and the relationship between
brahman and Atman. The upanishads explore these issues from different angles. The
advaita school teaches a complete essential identity between brahman and Atman. In
other vedAntic traditions, the essential relationship between Atman and brahman is
understood in different ways.

This website has been organized into four sections, as given in the index on the left. The
Introduction section has three pages - one explains the transliteration scheme employed
at this site and another has links to sam.skRta Slokas, many of them attributed to
Sankara. The advaita vedAnta FAQ page describes various aspects of advaita in brief,
and has links to pages at this site and to related sites.

The main material on advaita vedAnta has been organized into three sections, named
History, Philosophers and Philosophy. The "History" section deals with
SankarAcArya, the issues involved in reckoning his date, the living advaita tradition and
related topics. Pre-Sankaran vedAnta, gauDapAda, SankarAcArya, his disciples,
maNDana miSra and post-Sankaran advaitins are discussed in appropriate pages under
the "Philosophers" section. The "Philosophy" section starts with a brief introduction to
various schools of Indian philosophy and a page on the source texts of vedAnta, the
upanishads. Philosophical issues in advaita vedAnta are examined in various other pages
in this section. More pages on different aspects of advaita vedAnta and its relation to
other systems are under construction.

The Supreme Swan: In the background is an artistic rendering of a swan, with the
Sanskrit sentence Brahmaiva satyam - Brahman is the only Truth. The swan motif is
seen in the seals of many advaita organizations. The figure seen here has been adapted
from the official seal of the Sringeri maTha, an ancient and one of the most important
centers of advaita vedAnta in India. The swan is a very popular motif in traditional
Hindu symbolism. It can be found in oil-lamps used in temples and at shrines in people's
homes.

The swan has a special association with advaita vedAnta. The swan is called hamsa in
the sam.skRta language. The greatest masters in the advaita tradition are called
paramahamsas - the great swans. The word hamsa is a variation of so'ham: I am He,
which constitutes the highest realization. There are other equivalences between the swan
and the advaitin, that make the swan a particularly apt symbol for advaita vedAnta. The
swan stays in water, but its feathers remain dry. Similarly, the advaitin lives in the world,
yet strives to remain unaffected by life's ups and downs. In India, the swan is also
mythically credited with the ability to separate milk from water. Similarly, the advaitin
discriminates the eternal Atman from the non-eternal world. The Atman that is brahman
is immanent in the world, just like milk is seemingly inseparably mixed with water, but
It can never be truly realized without the nitya-anitya-vastu viveka - right discrimination
between the eternal and ephemeral - that is essential for the advaitin. The swan is thus a
symbol for the jIvanmukta, who is liberated while still alive in this world, by virtue of
having realized Brahman.

TRANSLITERATION KEY

It is impossible not to use Sanskrit (sam.skRta) words when talking of advaita vedAnta. I
have kept philosophical terms, which often have meanings specific to the school of
advaita, in the original sam.skRta, instead of translating them into English.

Here is the key to the transliteration rules that I follow when I use a sam.skRta word in
the middle of English text. This transliteration is by no means perfect, but it is meant for
easy online representation in the international Roman alphabet. The intention is to
convey a flavor of the original pronunciation of the sam.skRta words. I have avoided the
use of additional diacritical marks as much as possible, by making use of upper-case
letters. Basic knowledge of the devanAgari script is assumed.
NOTES:

1. The pronunciation of vowels is closer to German usage than to English. Note the
dots "." used in the vowel list (e.g. m. and lr.). "R" is used in words such as Rshi,
bRhad etc. RR and lr. are included for the sake of completeness.
2. The avagraha sign (indicating an elided "a") is depicted as ' - an apostrophe. This
sign is not included in the above image.
3. are all transliterated as "n". The pronunciation is clear from the context,
as they occur mostly in conjunct formations.
4. visarga ( : ) is used only in quotations.
5. Aspirated and non-aspirated consonants are indicated by separate signs in Indian
scripts. Thus, "p" is always non-aspirated, while "ph" is always an aspirated
sound.
6. Upper-case letters are used in both the vowel and consonant lists for
transliteration. Generally, an upper-case vowel , e.g. "A", is a longer version of
the corresponding lower-case vowel, here "a". Upper-case consonants are used
only in one series (T ... N). Upper-case letters are avoided in all the other series, in
order to be unambiguous and to maintain uniformity.
7. Consequently, sentences that incorporate sam.skr.ta words appear to deviate from
normal English punctuation. The only exceptions to this occur in the titles, which
are all in capitals. Here, a larger font size is used to denote a sound that would
normally require an upper-case letter.
8. The transliteration scheme is used only for words that are specifically related to
advaita vedAnta. Thus, names of Indian states or cities are spelt according to
usual convention.
 9. The spelling Sankara is used, instead of Sam.kara.

Acknowledgement: Prof. Ashok Aklujkar of the University of British Columbia provided the
devanAgari font used in the above scheme, and in the gif files at the Slokas page.

The above verses salute the Gods and the Guru. The last verse is taken from the
mAdhavIya Sankaravijayam, and praises SankarAcArya, as an incarnation of Siva-
dakshiNAmUrti, who abandoned his silent meditation at the foot of the banyan tree, and
incarnated on earth in order to teach advaita.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Transliteration Key

1. What is advaita vedAnta?

2. Who is the founder of advaita?
3. What are the basic tenets of advaita?
4. What is the relationship between advaita and buddhism?
Is advaita a mere copy of buddhism?
5. Why is advaita sometimes referred to as mAyAvAda?
6. Isn't advaita falsified by everyday experience?
7. What is the concept of scripture, according to advaita?
8. How does worship by advaitins differ from worship in other schools of vedAnta?
9. What is the advaita concept of liberation?
10. What is the significance of jIvanmukti?
11. Who are some of the leading scholars of advaita?
12. What are the advaita institutions of the present day?
13. Online resouces relating to advaita vedAnta and its teachers

1. What is advaita vedAnta?

Literally, "non-dualism," advaita is the name of the oldest extant school of

vedAnta. advaita bases itself upon the upanishads, the brahma-sUtras and the
bhagavad-gItA. advaita asserts that the real, essential identity of the jIva, the
individual self, is nothing other than brahman Itself. The teaching follows from
upanishadic statements (mahAvAkyas) like tat tvam asi and aham brahmAsmi. It
is in this cardinal doctrine that advaita differs from all other schools of vedAnta.
The main tenets of advaita are detailed in commentaries written by
SankarAcArya, the famous philosopher who lived in the 7th - 8th centuries A.D.
Read http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp for a website dedicated to advaita
vedAnta.

2. Who is the founder of advaita?

There is no single founder of advaita. Since the philosophy of advaita is rooted in

the upanishads, which are part of the eternal vedas, the advaita tradition does not
trace itself to a historical personality. However, SankarAcArya is venerated as the
most important teacher of advaita vedAnta, as he wrote commentaries to the basic
scriptural texts, and placed the living advaita tradition on a firm footing. Before
SankarAcArya's time, the tradition was passed down mainly through oral
instruction. Even today, the traditional way to learn advaita is to sit at the feet of
an accomplished guru. Mere reading of the texts is insufficient. More details
about the guru paramparA of advaita are at http://www.advaita-
vedanta.org/avhp/advaita-parampara.html. There is a description of pre-Sankaran
vedAnta at http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/pre-sankara.html.

3. What are the basic tenets of advaita?

The essential identity of the Atman and brahman is the most important tenet of
advaita. brahman is the substratum on which all phenomena are experienced, and
also the antaryAmin, the One Lord who dwells in all beings. The innermost
Atman, the real Self, is the same as this antaryAmin, and identical to brahman.
Liberation (moksha) consists in realizing this identity, not just as a matter of
literal or intellectual understanding, but as something that is to be grasped by the
individual in his/her own personal experience. Yogic practices help in the road
towards such realization, because they help the seeker in practising control of the
senses, and in directing the antahkaraNa (the 'internal organ' - consisting of the
mind, intellect, awareness and I-ness) inwards. The practice of ashTAnga-yoga is
recommended to seekers by teachers of advaita. The seeker has to be equipped
with requisite qualifications - qualities such as patience, forbearance, ability to
 focus one's concentration in an intense manner, an ability to discriminate between
the Real and the non-Real, dispassion, and a desire for liberation. However, it is
important to remember that moksha is not a result of mere ritualistic practice.
Being identical to brahman, moksha always exists. Ritualistic practices help only
to the extent of achieving citta-Suddhi, and in developing the above-mentioned
qualities.

advaita is a non-dual teaching. When asked why duality is perceived in this world,
advaita has a multi-pronged answer to the question. The world of multiplicity can
be explained as due to mAyA, the power of creation wielded by the Creator, who
is therefore also called the mAyin. From the point of view of the individual, the
perception of duality/multiplicity is attributed to avidyA (ignorance) due to which
the unity of brahman is not known, and multiplicity is seen instead. This is akin to
the false perception of a snake in a rope. When the rope is known, the snake
vanishes. Similarly, on brahman-realization, the world of multiplicity vanishes.
This does not mean that the individual's ignorance creates the external world.
However, the perception of multiplicity in the world, instead of the One
brahman, is due to avidyA, i.e. ignorance. When avidyA is removed, the
individual knows his own Self (Atman) to be brahman, so that there is no more
world and paradoxically, no more individual. Here, the Self alone IS. Removal of
avidyA is synonymous with brahman-realization, i.e. moksha.

Read http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ad-phil.html for a more detailed

description.

4. What is the relationship between advaita and buddhism? Is advaita a mere

copy of buddhism?

No, advaita is not a mere copy of buddhism. For a few centuries now, advaita has
been criticized as being "pracanna bauddham" - buddhism in disguise. This
criticism stems mainly from some of the vaishNava schools of vedAnta, but it is
misplaced. Firstly, there is no one "buddhism" and for the criticism to be valid, it
must be specified which school of buddhism is being referred to. SankarAcArya
expends a lot of effort criticizing many of the philosophical positions taken by
various schools of buddhism in his commentaries. Among modern academic
scholars, advaita vedAnta is most often compared with the madhyamaka and
yogAcAra schools of buddhism. This has been inspired mainly by the fact that the
mANDUkya kArikAs, written by gauDapAda, Sankara's paramaguru, exhibit a
great familiarity with this school of buddhism.

However, if it is held that advaita vedAnta is essentially the same as madhyamaka

buddhism, it must be pointed out that such a view stems from a misunderstanding
of the important tenets of both advaita vedAnta and madhyamaka buddhism.
There are many key details in which advaita differs from the madhyamaka school
of buddhism. As for yogAcAra, the points of similarity arise from the fact that
both advaita vedAnta and yogAcAra buddhism have a place for yogic practice, as
 do other schools of Indian philosophy. For further details, consult
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/gaudapada.html.

5. Why is advaita sometimes referred to as mAyAvAda?

The word mAyAvAda serves many purposes. Since advaita upholds the identity
of the individual Atman with brahman, a doubt naturally arises about the origin of
the variegated universe. The appearance of difference in the universe is attributed
to mAyA. In popular parlance, mAyA means illusion, and a magician or a juggler
is called a mAyAvI. Within advaita, mAyA has a technical significance as the
creative power (Sakti) of brahman, which also serves to occlude, due to which the
universe is perceived to be full of difference, and the unity of brahman is not
known. See fuller details in response to Q. 3 above. Some vaishNava schools use
the word mAyAvAda in a derogatory sense. However, this criticism interprets
mAyA solely as illusion and criticizes advaita for dismissing the world as an
illusion that is nothing more than a dream. Such a criticism neglects the
philosophical subtlety of the concept of mAyA in advaita.

6. Isn't advaita falsified by everyday experience?

No. In fact, advaita acknowledges that everyday experience leads one to infer
plurality, but it maintains emphatically that the transcendental experience of
brahmAnubhava sublates the ordinary everyday experience that is based on
perception through one's senses. The tradition holds that it is not correct to make
one's conclusions on issues of metaphysics based only on normal everyday
experience. All schools of vedAnta rely on scripture, i.e. the Vedas, as a valid
source of knowledge. As advaita vedAnta is learnt only from the upanishads, it is
not falsified by everyday experience. On the other hand, the knowledge of
brahman's identity sublates normal perception. It is also pointed out there would
be no need for scripture if one's conclusions were based only on everyday
experience. Read more at http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/creation.html. An
account of the post-Sankaran development in thinking about the One brahman vis-
a-vis the manifold universe can be found at http://www.advaita-
vedanta.org/avhp/one-many.html.

7. What is the concept of scripture, according to advaita?

advaita's concept of scripture is very similar to that of the pUrva mImAm.sA

school, but with two important exceptions. Thus,

1. The vedas, arranged into the Rk, yajus, sAma and atharva vedas are valid
scripture. The vedas are considered apaurusheya (unauthored), and
eternally valid texts. They constitute Sruti, i.e. the "heard" revelation. A
number of other texts, admittedly of human authorship, are also given
scriptural status, but they are subordinate to the vedas in their authority,
 and are valid where they do not conflict with vedic precepts. These other
texts are called smRti, i.e. remembered tradition.
2. Each veda has a karmakANDa, consisting of mantras and ritual injunctions
(vidhis) and a jnAnakANDa, consisting of the upanishads and brAhmaNas.
3. The first exception that advaita takes to pUrva mImAmsA is in the role of
the jnAnakANDa. The upanishads are not merely arthavAda, as maintained
by the pUrva mImAmsA schools. The upanishads teach the knowledge of
brahman, and are not meant to eulogize the fruits of ritual action.
4. A second, more subtle philosophical difference with pUrva mImAm.sA is
that advaita vedAnta accepts that brahman is the source of the veda, in the
same way as brahman is the source of the entire universe. This acceptance
of a "source" of the veda would not be acceptable to the true pUrva
mImAm.sakas who follow the thought of kumArila bhaTTa or prabhAkara.

The upanishads, which constitute the jnAnakANDa of the vedas, are therefore
called Sruti prasthAna, and form one of the three sources of advaita vedAnta.
The most important smRti prasthAna of advaita tradition is the bhagavad-gItA,
which is perhaps the best known Indian religious text in modern times. The third
text is the collection of brahmasUtras, by the sage bAdarAyaNa. The
brahmasUtras establish the logical principles of orthodox vedAntic interpretation
of Sruti, and are therefore called the nyAya prasthAna. The truth of advaita
vedAnta is therefore said to be established on the tripartite foundation (prasthAna
trayI)of revealed scripture (Sruti), remembered tradition (smRti) and logic
(nyAya).

8. How does worship by advaitins differ from worship in other schools of

vedAnta?

Very markedly. The orthoprax advaita tradition is closely allied to the smArta
tradition, which follows the system of pancAyatana pUjA, where vishNu, Siva,
Sakti, gaNapati and sUrya are worshipped as forms of saguNa brahman. In some
sources, the concept of the pancAyatana is replaced by the notion of shaNmata,
which adds skanda to the above set of five deities. The worship is done both on a
daily basis and on specific festival occasions. Questions of who is superior,
vishNu or Siva, which are very popular among many groups of Hindus, are not
relished by advaitins. In the words of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati (1892 - 1954),
the accomplished jIvanmukta, "you cannot see the feet of the Lord, why do you
waste your time debating about the nature of His face?"

That said, vishNu and Siva, the Great Gods of Hinduism, are both very important
within the advaita tradition. The sannyAsIs of the advaita order always sign their
correspondence with the words "iti nArAyaNasmaraNam ". In worship, advaitins
do not insist on exclusive worship of one devatA alone. As brahman is essentially
attribute-less (nirguNa), all attributes (guNas) equally belong to It, within
empirical reality. The particular form that the devotee prefers to worship is called
the ishTa-devatA. The ishTa-devatAs worshipped by advaitins include vishNu as
 kRshNa, the jagadguru, and as rAma, Siva as dakshiNAmUrti, the guru who
teaches in silence, and as candramaulISvara, and the Mother Goddess as pArvatI,
lakshmI and sarasvatI. Especially popular are the representations of vishNu as a
sAlagrAma, Siva as a linga, and Sakti as the SrI-yantra. gaNapati is always
worshipped at the beginning of any human endeavor, including the pUjA of other
Gods. The daily sandhyAvandana ritual is addressed to sUrya. The sannyAsis of
the advaita sampradAya recite both the vishNu sahasranAmam and the
SatarudrIya portion of the yajurveda as part of their daily worship. In addition,
"hybrid" forms of the Deities, such as hari-hara or Sankara-nArAyaNa and
ardhanArISvara are also worshipped.

There is another significant distinction between worship in the advaita tradition

and other kinds of Hindu worship. advaita insists that the distinction between the
worshipper and God, the object of worship, is ultimately transcended, and that the
act of worship itself points to this identity. This should not be confused with the
doctrine of dualistic Saiva siddhAnta schools, which call for a ritual identification
of the worshipper with Siva, for the duration of the worship. The identity of
Atman and Brahman is a matter of absolute truth, not just a temporary ritual
identification. Most vaishNava schools of vedAnta hold that the distinction
between the worshipper and God, the object of worship, is eternally maintained.

9. What is the advaita concept of liberation?

In the advaita analysis, human life and behavior is explained on the basis of the
theory of karma, which sets the cycle of rebirths into motion. All actions, good or
bad, create their own karmic residues called vAsanas , which exhibit their results
over a period of time. The karma which has already started taking fruit is called
prArabdha karma. This is the karma that is responsible for the current birth. The
accumulated karma which is yet to take fruit is called sancita karma. As long as
the cycle of rebirths continues, more karma will be done in the future, and this is
called Agamin karma. Liberation (moksha) is the way out of this endless cycle.

In advaita, moksha is synonymous with brahman. Sruti says "brahmavit

brahmaiva bhavati" - He who knows brahman becomes brahman Itself. In the
advaita understanding of this statement, the "becoming" is only metaphorical. It is
not as if something that was not brahman suddenly becomes brahman. Rather,
"knowing brahman" means a removal of the ignorance about one's own essential
nature as brahman. Thus, to "know brahman" is to "be brahman". The one who
has realized the identity of his own Atman with the brahman is the jIvanmukta,
one who is liberated even while embodied. Such realization should not and cannot
just be a literal understanding of upanishadic mahAvAkyas. The jIvanmukta is
one who has experienced the truth of the identity himself. Thus, moksha can only
indirectly be called a result of ritual action (karma mArga) or of devotional
service (bhakti mArga ). These paths lead along the way, and constitute the "how"
but not the "why" of liberation. In fact, moksha is not a result of anything, for it
 always exists. All that is required is the removal of ignorance. For this reason, the
way of advaita vedAnta is also called the path of knowledge (jnAna-mArga).

10. What is the significance of jIvanmukti?

advaita holds that realization of brahman is possible on this earth itself. The
highly evolved seeker, who approaches vedAntic study with a pure mind, and a
strong tendency of mumukshutva, is fit to really experience brahman. One who
has actually realized brahman, is a jIvanmukta - he is liberated while still living.
He continues to live in a material body, because of the momentum of the
prArabha karma that has already started taking fruit. But he accumulates no
further karma, because all Agamin karma and sancita karma are "burnt" in the
knowledge of brahmajnAna. The body eventually dies, and the jIvanmukta is said
to have attained videhamukti. In accordance with the Sruti, "na sa punarAvartate,"
he does not enter into the cycle of rebirths any more.

11. Who are the leading writers in the advaita tradition?

The earliest advaitins whose writings are available today are gauDapAda (6th or
7th cent. CE - mANDUKya kArikas) and SankarAcArya (8th cent. CE -
brahmasUtra bhAshyas, bhagavadgItA bhAshya and various upanishad bhAshyas
). Four disciples of SankarAcArya are known in the tradition - sureSvara,
padmapAda, toTaka and hastAmalaka. An elder contemporary of SankarAcArya
was maNDana miSra, who is traditionally identified with sureSvara.

In the post-Sankaran period, some of the leading authors are vAcaspati miSra (9th
cent. CE), sarvajnAtman (9th - 10th cent. CE), prakASAtman (10th cent. CE),
SrIharsha (12th cent. CE), citsukha (13th cent. CE), Anandagiri, bhAratI tIrtha,
vidyAraNya (13th - 14th cent. CE), madhusUdana sarasvatI, nRsimhASrama,
appayya dIkshita (16th cent. CE), sadASiva brahmendra and upanishad
brahmendra (17th - 18th cent. CE), are notable figures in the tradition. In the 20th
century, candraSekhara bhAratI and saccidAnandendra sarasvatI have written
scholarly treatises on advaita vedAnta. Other than these, there have been many
other equally illustrious scholars who have not written texts, but who have taught
their disciples through oral instruction. These post-Sankaran authors are discussed
at http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/advaita.html#philosophers.

12. What are the advaita institutions of the present day?

All present day advaitins trace their guru-parampara through the four disciples of
SrI SankarAcArya. These disciples were the first leaders of the four AmnAya
maThas (monasteries) at Puri (Govardhan Math, Puri 752 001, Orissa) Sringeri
(Sri Sarada Peetham, Sringeri 577 139, Karnataka), Dvaraka (Dvaraka Peeth,
Dvaraka 361 335, Gujarat ) and Badrinath (Sri Sankaracharya Math, Joshimath,
Badri 246 443, Uttar Pradesh). All four maThas are functioning today. Other
well-known maThas are based in Kaladi, Bangalore, Kudali, Ujjain,
 Rameswaram, Sivaganga, Kolhapur, Kancipuram (Srimatham Samsthanam No. 1,
Salai Street, Kanchipuram 631 502, Tamil Nadu), Varanasi, Bodhgaya and other
holy places in India. And there are a number of other institutions in India that are
also active in disseminating advaita philosophy and religion, like the various
daSanAmI akhADas all over north India, Kankhal Asrama in Hardwar and its
branches, the Advaita Asrama in Pune, etc. In addition to these traditional advaita
lineages, various other Indian religious traditions, especially those relating to
kuNDalinI yoga, siddha yoga, various tAntric lineages and numerous Saiva and
SAkta traditions trace some connection to the guru-paramparA of SankarAcArya
and his successors. The ramaNASramam (Tiruvannamalai 606 603, Tamil Nadu)
is another important center, asscociated with the memory of SrI ramaNa
mahaRshi, a celebrated sage of the 20th century.

In recent times, a large number of institutions have been set up all over the world
by teachers like Swami Vivekananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda, Swami
Sivananda and others. These institutions also draw inspiration from advaita. See
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ad-today.html, and the answer to question
13 below, for further details.

13. Online Resources:

o Mailing list for advaita vedAnta - There is a mailing list, called
ADVAITA-L, for discussing advaita vedAnta. You can subscribe to this
list is to go to the list archives page (http://lists.advaita-
vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html), and to follow the appropriate link.
Else, send an email to listserv@lists.advaita-vedanta.org, with a blank
subject line and the following message:

SUBSCRIBE ADVAITA-L Your_full_name

Example:
SUBSCRIBE ADVAITA-L Devadatta

Once you subscribe, you will get a welcome message explaining how to set
the other mailing options. If you have any questions about the mailing list,
please send an email to listmaster@advaita-vedanta.org, which reaches the
list administrators, Sri Ravisankar Mayavaram, Sri Jaldhar Vyas and Sri
Vaidya Sundaram. This forum is operated with minimal moderation, in the
hope that the members will use self moderation and discuss advaita
vedAnta with reverence. Archives of the mailing list are available in web
browsable form and can be read from http://lists.advaita-
vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html.

o Movie on Adi SankarAcArya - A Sanskrit movie on the life of

SankarAcArya was made in 1984, by G. V. Iyer. This was the first Sanskrit
language movie ever made, and is available from the National Film
Development Corporation (NFDC) of India. Details about the movie are
 available at http://www.nfdcindia.com/mipcom2.html (NFDC website).
Information about obtaining a copy of the movie can be found at the NFDC
site, at http://www.nfdcindia.com/international.html. Also read a discussion
about this movie, at the archives of the advaita mailing list.
o Image of Adi SankarAcArya - A clay image of Adi SankarAcArya can be
obtained online from JBL Statues
(http://jblstatue.com/pages/sankaracharya.html).
o CD-ROM on Saundaryalahari - The Saundaryalahari is an important
hymn attributed to SankarAcArya. A new interactive multimedia CD-ROM
is available from Chidagni Creations.
o Websites related to advaita vedAnta and vedAntins -

The number of online resources relating to contemporary masters from the

ancient advaita tradition and the modern neo-vedAnta schools is growing
rapidly. Here is a collection of links you might be interested in visiting:

http://www.erols.com/ramakris/sringeri/sringeri.html - The Sringeri

maTha, currently headed by Swami Bharati Tirtha, is the first
advaita monastery, established by Adi Sankara. The Sringeri lineage
is directly or indirectly the source of most contemporary institutions
associated with advaita vedAnta. In addition, there is now an official
extension of the Sringeri Peetham in the USA, called the Sringeri
Vidya Bharati Foundation (http://www.asanet.com/sringeri). The
Peetham's bimonthly magazine, titled Tattvaloka, can also be
obtained online in English and Italian versions
(http://www.vidya.org/tattvaloka).
http://www.kamakoti.org - The Kancipuram maTha, under Swami
Jayendra Sarasvati.
http://www.chitrapurmath.org/about.htm - The Chitrapur maTha of
one group of sArasvata brAhmaNas, under Swami Sadyojata
Sankarasrama. This maTha maintains its centuries old traditional
links with the Sringeri maTha.
http://www.koviloor-madalayam.org - The Koviloor maTha, a
dynamic vedAnta maTha of the Nagarattar community, under
Srilasri Nachiappa Gnanadesikan. Since its inception, this maTha
has maintained traditional links with Sringeri maTha. This maTha is
also one of the few institutions that preserve an old tradition of
teaching advaita vedAnta through Tamil texts (including original
texts and translations from Sanskrit).
http://www.culturalindia.com/karyalaya.htm - Adhyatma Prakasha
Karyalaya, founded by Swami Saccidanandendra Sarasvati.
http://www.vedanta.org - Vedanta Society of Southern California, in
the lineage of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda.
Also see http://www.ramakrishna.org and
http://www.vivekananda.org.
http://www.dlshq.orgThe Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, established
 by Swami Sivananda, now headed by Swami Chidananda.
http://www.sivananda.org - Yoga Vedanta Center, established by
Swami Vishnudevananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda.
http://www.chinmaya.org - Chinmaya Mission, established by
Swami Chinmayananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda and
Tapovan Maharaj.
http://www.arshavidya.org - Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, established by
Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Some very good lectures are available
online, at http://www.yogamalika.org/reading-room.htm, maintained
by Swami Paramarthananda.
http://www.yogananda-srf.org - Self Realization Fellowship,
established by Swami Paramahamsa Yogananda, maintains
traditional links with the Puri and Bodhgaya maThas.
http://www.ramana-maharshi.org - About Sri Ramana Maharishi.
http://www.SATRamana.org - Master Nome, at Society for
Abidance in Truth, Santa Cruz, California.
http://www.vidya.org - Vidya Bharata, founded by Raphael, Asram
Vidya Order, Italy.
http://www.geocities.com/omkara - Swami Omkarananda Ashram,
Rishikesh, established by Swami Omkarananda.
http://www.ayurvedahc.com/ashlinge.htm - A Siddha Mahayoga
lineage associated with SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha of the Puri
maTha.
http://ddi.digital.net/~egodust - Egodust's Pathways to Metaphysics
page.
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/veda.html - An
introduction to Vedanta, by Giridhar Madras.

o OnlineBookstores/Publishers:

http://www.tamilcinema.com/samata/page1.html - Samata Books,

Madras: A comprehensive collection of SrI SankarAcArya's works
may be obtained from here. Alternatively, see
http://www.nesmabooksindia.com/samata.htm.
http://www.mlbd.com - Motilal Banarsidass, a premier Indian
publishing house.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indnet-publishers.html - A
collection of Indological publishers and bookshops, including Indian
resources like Chetana (Mumbai), DK Agencies (New Delhi),
Vedamsbooks (New Delhi) and The India Club.
http://www.vedanta.com - Online catalog of the Vedanta Press, Los
Angeles.
http://www.sunypress.edu - The State University of New York Press.
http://www.bookshop.co.uk - The Internet Bookshop, UK.
http://www.amazon.com - Amazon Books, largest online
booksellers.
 http://www.demon.co.uk/keganpaul - Kegan Paul International,
London, UK.
http://www.leggett.co.uk - Trevor Leggett's books.

o Related sites:

http://www.philo.demon.co.uk/Darshana.htm - A well designed site

on the six darSanas of Indian Philosophy.
http://vedavid.org/port.html - Collection of Vedic texts, a highly
interesting graduate dissertation, presented online.
ftp://jaguar.cs.utah.edu/private/sanskrit/sanskrit.html - General
things of interest for Sanskrit lovers.

14. If you wish to add any site to this list, please inform the author of this FAQ at
vsundaresan@hotmail. com.

PS. Disclaimer: The author of this FAQ does not claim to be a guru of advaita vedAnta. If you are
seeking spiritual guidance, your goals will be better achieved by contacting one of the
gurus/organizations mentioned above. However, note that listing of a particular website (religious
institution or commercial site) in the above list does not imply that this author endorses or is
connected in any special way to the corresponding organization. These links are included for the
ease of the interested user.

THE ADVAITA PARAMPARA

Transliteration Key

nArAyaNam. padmabhuvam. vasishTham. Saktim. ca tatputra parASaram. ca

vyAsam. Sukam. gauDapadam. mahAntam. govindayogIndram athAsya Sishyam. |
SrI Sam.karAcAryam athAsya padmapAdam. ca hastAmalakam. ca Sishyam.
tam. toTakam. vArttikakAramanyAn asmad gurUn santatamAnatosmi ||
sadASiva samArambhAm. SankarAcArya madhyamAm.
asmadAcArya paryantAm. vande guru paramparAm. ||

These are the advaita guru paramparA verses, which salute the prominent gurus of
advaita, starting from nArAyaNa through Sankara and his disciples, upto the AcAryas of
today. It is typical of advaita that the first guru is called nArAyaNa (vishNu) in the first
verse and sadASiva (Siva) in the second. The paramparA thus lists:

nArAyaNa
padmabhuva (brahmA)
vasishTha
Sakti
parASara
vyAsa
Suka
gauDapAda
govinda bhagavatpAda
SankarAcArya
padmapAda, hastAmalaka, toTaka, sureSvara (vArttikakAra),
and others (anyA:).

In the Indian religious and philosophical traditions, all knowledge is traced back to the
Gods and to the Rshis who saw the vedas. Thus, the advaita guru-paramparA begins
with the daiva-paramparA , followed by the Rshi-paramparA, which includes the vedic
seers vasishTha, Sakti, parASara, his son vyAsa, (the famous redactor of the vedas, he is
also traditionally identified with bAdarAyaNa, the composer of the brahmasUtras), and
vyAsa's son Suka. After Suka, we turn to the mAnava-paramparA, which brings us to
historical times and personalities. The traditions regarding these human gurus are
recorded in the Sankaravijaya literature, and typically, they are regarded as incarnations
of various deities. gauDapAda is the famous author of the mANDUkya kArikas that are
attached to the mANDUkya upanishad. His disciple, govinda, is regarded as an
incarnation of AdiSesha, the cosmic serpent. He was the preceptor of Sankara, who is
regarded as an incarnation of Siva. Sankara's four well-known disciples were named
padmapAda, hastAmalaka, toTaka and sureSvara (vArttikakAra). Tradition has it that
Sankara appointed these four disciples as heads of the four maThas that he founded. The
others are the gurus who come later in the tradition.

Sankara and his disciples, padmapAda and sureSvara, are arguably the most important
philosophers in the advaita vedAnta tradition. After the mANDUkya kArikAs, Sankara's
commentaries to the upanishads, brahmasUtras and bhagavadgItA are the oldest extant
vedAnta treatises. The importance of Sankara can be seen from the fact that every
vedAntin after him makes his mark either by expanding on his thought or by refuting
him.

Sankara can be dated more or less reliably to the 8th century CE. Upto Suka, the first
few gurus cannot be dated to historical times. The date of gauDapAda, the author of the
mANDUkya kArikAs, is usually inferred from the tradition that he was Sankara's
teacher's teacher, and from references to the mANDUkya kArikAs in other works.
However, not much historical information is known about govinda bhagavatpAda,
Sankara's teacher, except that Sankara salutes him in the invocatory verses in some of
his works.
 SANKARA'S LIFE

Transliteration Key

The following is based upon accounts known

through oral tradition and texts like the
mAdhavIya Sankara vijayam. There exists some
controversy about Sankara's date, but most
traditions are quite unanimous about other
details.

Birth and childhood: Sankara was born to the

nambUdiri brAhmaNa couple, Sivaguru and
AryAmbA, in a little village called kAlaDi in
Kerala. The couple had remained childless for a
long time, and prayed for children at the
vaDakkunnAthan (VRshAcala) temple in
nearby Trichur. Siva is said to have appeared to
the couple in a dream and promised them a
choice of one son who would be short-lived but
SankarAcArya ashThottaram the most brilliant philosopher of his day, or
many sons who would be mediocre at best. The
couple opted for a brilliant, but short-lived son, and so Sankara was born.

Sankara lost his father when quite young, and his mother performed his upanayana
ceremonies with the help of her relatives. Sankara excelled in all branches of traditional
vaidIka learning. A few miracles are reported about the young Sankara. As a
brahmacArin, he went about collecting alms from families in the village. A lady who
was herself extremely poor, but did not want to send away the boy empty-handed, gave
him the last piece of Amla fruit she had at home. Sankara, sensing the abject poverty of
the lady, composed a hymn (kanakadhArA stavam) to SrI, the goddess of wealth, right at
her doorstep. As a result, a shower of golden Amlas rewarded the lady for her piety. On
another occasion, Sankara is said to have re-routed the course of the pUrNA river, so
that his old mother would not have to walk a long distance to the river for her daily
ablutions.

sam.nyAsa: Sankara was filled with the spirit of renunciation early in his life. Getting
married and settling to the life of a householder was never part of his goal in life, though
his mother was anxious to see him as a gRhastha. Once when he was swimming in the
river, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Sankara sensed that he was destined to die at
that moment, and decided to directly enter the fourth ASrama of sam.nyAsa right then.
This kind of renunciation is called Apat sam.nyAsa. The crocodile released him when he
thus mentally decided to renounce the world, and Sankara decided to regularize his
decision by going to an accomplished guru. To comfort his anxious mother, he promised
that he would return at the moment of her death, to conduct her funeral rites,
notwithstanding the fact that he would be a sannyAsI then.

Sankara then traveled far and wide in search of a worthy guru who would initiate him
and regularize his vow of sam.nyAsa, till he came to the banks of the river narmadA in
central India. Here was the ASrama of govinda bhagavatpAda, the disciple of
gauDapAda, the famous author of the mANDUkya kArikAs. Sankara was accepted as a
disciple by govinda, who initiated him into the paramahamsa order of sam.nyAsa, the
highest kind of renunciation. Seeing the intellectual acumen of his disciple, govinda
commanded Sankara to expound the philosophy of vedAnta through commentaries on
the principal upanishads, the brahmasUtras and the gItA. Sankara took leave of his guru
and traveled to various holy places in India, composing his commentaries in the
meantime. At this time he was barely a teenager. He attracted many disciples around
him, prominent among whom was sanandana, who was later to be called padmapAda. In
this period, Sankara wrote commentaries on bAdarAyaNa's brahmasUtras, the various
upanishads and the bhagavad gItA. These commentaries, called bhAshyas, stand at the
pinnacle of Indian philosophical writing, and have triggered a long tradition of sub-
commentaries known as vArttikas, TIkAs and TippaNis. He also commented upon the
adhyAtma-paTala of the Apastamba sUtras, and on vyAsa's bhAshya to patanjali's
yogasUtras. In addition to these commentarial texts, Sankara wrote independent treatises
called prakaraNa granthas, including the upadeSasAhasrI, Atmabodha, etc.

In addition to writing his own commentaries, Sankara sought out leaders of other
schools, in order to engage them in debate. As per the accepted philosophical tradition in
India, such debates helped to establish a new philosopher, and also to win disciples and
converts from other schools. It was also traditional for the loser in the debate to become
a disciple of the winner. Thus Sankara debated with Buddhist philosophers, with
followers of sAm.khya and with pUrva mImAm.sakas, the followers of vedic ritualism,
and proved more than capable in defeating all his opponents in debate. Sankara then
sought out kumArila bhaTTa, the foremost proponent of the pUrva mImAm.sA in his
age, but bhaTTa was on his deathbed and directed Sankara to viSvarUpa, his disciple.
viSvarUpa is sometimes identified with maNDana miSra.

Sankara's debate with viSvarUpa was unique. The referee at the debate was viSvarUpa's
wife, bhAratI, who was herself very well-learned, and regarded as an incarnation of
Goddess sarasvatI. At stake was a whole way of life. The agreement was that if
viSvarUpa won, Sankara would consent to marriage and the life of a householder,
whereas if Sankara won, viSvarUpa would renounce all his wealth and possessions and
become a sannyAsI disciple of Sankara. The debate is said to have lasted for whole
weeks, till in the end, viSvarUpa had to concede defeat and become a sannyAsI. bhAratI
was a fair judge, but before declaring Sankara as the winner, she challenged Sankara
with questions about kAmaSAstra, which he knew nothing about. Sankara therefore
requested some time, during which, using the subtle yogic process called parakAya-
praveSa, he entered the body of a dying king and experienced the art of love with the
queens. Returning to viSvarUpa's home, he answered all of bhAratI's questions, after
which viSvarUpa was ordained as a sannyAsI by the name of sureSvara. He was to
become the most celebrated disciple of Sankara, writing vArttikas to Sankara's bhAshyas
on the yajurveda upanishads, in addition to his own independent texts on various
subjects.

Establishment of maThas: Sankara continued to travel with his disciples all over the
land, all the while composing philosophical treatises and engaging opponents in debate.
It is said that none of his opponents could ever match his intellectual prowess and the
debates always ended with Sankara's victory. No doubt this is true, given the unrivaled
respect and popularity that Sankara's philosophical system enjoys to this day. In the
course of his travels, Sankara stayed for a long time at the site of the old ASrama of the
Rshis vibhAndaka and RshyaSRnga, in the place known as SRngagiri (Sringeri). Some
texts mention that Sankara stayed at Sringeri for twelve years. A hermitage grew around
him here, which soon developed into a famous maTha (monastery). sureSvara, the
disciple whom he had won after long debate, was installed as the head of this new
ASrama. Similar maThas were established in the pilgrim centers of Puri, Dvaraka and
Joshimath near Badrinath, and padmapAda, hastAmalaka and troTaka were placed in
charge of them. These are known as the AmnAya maThas, and they continue to function
today. Their heads have also come to be known as SankarAcAryas, in honor of their
founder, and revered as jagadgurus, or teachers of the world. Sankara also organized the
community of ekadaNDI monks into the sampradAya of daSanAmI sannyAsins, and
affiliated them with the four maThas that he established.

Meanwhile, Sankara heard that his mother was dying, and decided to visit her.
Remembering his promise to her, he performed her funeral rites. His ritualistic relatives
would not permit him to do the rites himself, as he was a sannyAsI, but Sankara
overrode their objections, and built a pyre himself and cremated his mother in her own
backyard. After this, he resumed his travels, visiting many holy places, reviving pUjAs
at temples that had fallen into neglect, establishing SrI yantras at devI temples as in
Kancipuram, and composing many devotional hymns.

Ascension of the sarvajnapITha: In the course of his travels, Sankara reached Kashmir.
Here was a temple dedicated to SAradA (sarasvatI), the goddess of learning, which
housed the sarvajnapITha, the Throne of Omniscience. It was a tradition for
philosophers to visit the place and engage in debate. The victorious one would be
allowed to ascend the sarvajnapITha. It is said that no philosopher from the southern
region had ever ascended the pITha, till Sankara visited Kashmir and defeated all the
others there. He then ascended the sarvajnapITha with the blessings of Goddess
SAradA. (A few centuries later, rAmAnuja, the teacher of viSishTAdvaita, would visit
the same sarvajnapITha in search of the baudhAyana vRtti. However, a variant tradition
places the sarvajnapITha in the south Indian city of Kancipuram.)

Sankara was reaching the age of 32 now. He had expounded the vedAnta philosophy
through his writings; he had attracted many intelligent disciples to him, who could carry
on the vedAntic tradition; and he had established monastic centers for them in the form
of maThas. His had been a short, but eventful life. He retired to the Himalayas and
disappeared inside a cave near Kedarnath. This cave is traditionally pointed out as the
site of his samAdhi. Other variant traditions place Sankara's last days at Karavirpitham
or at Mahur in Maharashtra, Trichur in Kerala or Kancipuram in Tamil Nadu. It is a
measure of SankarAcArya's widespread fame that such conflicting traditions have arisen
around his name.

True to the traditions of sam.nyAsA, Sankara was a peripatetic monk, who traveled the
length and breadth of the country in his short lifetime. His fame spread so far and wide,
that various legends are recounted about him from different parts of India. The true
sannyAsI that he was, he lived completely untouched by the fabric of society. So much
so that even the location of kAlaDi, his birth-place, remained generally unknown for a
long time. The credit of identifying this village in Kerala goes to one of his 19th-century
successors at Sringeri, SrI saccidAnanda SivAbhinava nRsimha bhAratI. Similarly, the
credit of renovating Sankara's samAdhi-sthala near Kedarnath, goes to SrI abhinava
saccidAnanda tIrtha, his 20th-century successor at Dvaraka.

References:

1. Encyclopedia Britannica.

2. Swami Tapasyananda, The Sankara-dig-vijaya of Madhava-Vidyaranya,

Ramakrishna Mission, Madras, 1st ed., 1978, 2nd ed., 1983.
LC Call No.: PK3798.M168 S2613 1978

3. Karl H. Potter (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3, pp. 1-18,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1981.
LC Call No.: B131 .E5 1977 vol. 3 B132.A3

4. Other sites:
o From Swami Sivananda's "Lives of Saints", at the website of the Divine
Life Society

o Another biography, by Giridhar Madras

o K. B. Ramakrishna Rao's article at freeindia.org

o Article from Samata Books website

Published Literature:

Numerous books on Sankara's life have been published in various Indian languages and
in English. Here is a select list:
1. C. N. Krishnaswami Aiyar, Sri Sankaracharya: His Life and Times, G.A. Natesan
& Co., Madras, undated. (in English)
LC Call No.: n.a.

2. Sitanath Datta, Sankaracharya, his life and teachings with a translation of

Atmabodha, Society for the Resuscitation of Indian Literature, Calcutta, 1911. (in
English)
LC Call No.: Microfiche 95/61111 (B)

3. Mahadeva Rajarama Bodas,Srisankaracarya va tyanca sampradaya, Bombay,

1923. (in Marathi)
LC Call No.: Microfilm BUL-MAR-021 (B)

4. Pundi Seshadri, Sri Sankaracharya, University of Travancore, Trivandrum, 1949.

(in English, with Sanskrit quotations)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 S43

5. Baldev Upadhyaya, Sri Sankaracarya ke jivancarita tatha upadesom ka pramanik

vivarana, Hindustani Akademi, Allahabad, 1st ed., 1950, 2nd ed., 1963. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: Microfilm CSL-HIN-082 (B) - 1st ed.,
LC Call No.: B133.S5 U6 - 2nd ed.

6. Lakshmi Narayan Misra, Jagadguru, (drama in Hindi).

LC Call No.: PK2098.M47 J3

7. Narayanadatta Siddhantalankara, Sankaracarya, 1966. (in Hindi)

LC Call No.: B133.S5 S5

8. Ramachandra Govinda Kolangade, Srimadjagadguru Adya Sri Sankaracarya,

1966. (in Marathi)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 K6 1966

9. T. M. P. Mahadevan, Sankaracharya, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1968. (in

English)
LC Call No.: B133.S M33

10. J. G. Karandikar, Adya Sankaracarya, 1970. (in Marathi)

LC Call No.: B133.S5 K36

11. Deendayal Upadhyaya, Jagadguru Sri Sankaracarya, 1971. (in Hindi)

LC Call No.: B133.S5 U63

12. A. Kuppuswami, Sri Bhagavatpada Sankaracarya, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Studies

v. 89, Varanasi, 1972. (in English, with Sanskrit quotations)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 K83

13. Mathuram Bhoothalingam, Had Sankara lived today, Affiliated East-West Press,
1981.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 B536 1981
 14. Prem Lata, Shankaracharya, Sumit Publications, Delhi, 1982. (in English)
LC Call No.: B133.S49 P74 1982

15. Indusekhara S. Madugula, The Acarya, Sankara of Kaladi : A Story, Motilal

Banarsidass, Delhi, 1985. (in English)
LC Call No.: B132.S5 M33 1985

16. Vishnudatta Rakesh, Bharatiya asmita aur rashtriya cetana ke aadhaar Sri
Jagadguru Adya Sankaracarya, Bhashyakara Jagadguru Sri Adya Sankaracarya
Dvadasa Satabdi Samaroha Mahasamiti, Haridvar 1989. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 B47 1989

17. B. R. Sastri, Sankaracarya, Hyderabad, 1990. (in Telugu)

LC Call No.: n.a.

18. D. B. Gangolli, The Essential Adi Shankara, Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya,

Bangalore, 1992.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 G33 1992

19. Govind Chandra Pande, Sankaracarya, vicara aura sandarbha, National

Publishing House, New Delhi, 1992. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: BS133.S5 P34 1992

20. Govind Chandra Pande, Life and thought of Sankaracarya, Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi, 1994. (in English)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 P33 1994

21. T. S. Rukmani, Shankaracharya, Publications Division, Ministry of Information

and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 1994. (in English)
LC Call No.: B133.S5 R85 1994

THE SANKARAVIJAYA LITERATURE

Transliteration Key

A number of works titled Sankaravijaya, or Sankara digvijaya, are extant in India. These
are typically known after the names of their authors, but are mostly hagiographic
accounts of Sankara's life, with myth and legend interspersed with historical fact. The
primary reason for this situation is that most of these texts were written many centuries
after Sankara lived, so that these authors already regarded Sankara as a legendary figure.
The following is a brief survey of these texts.

mAdhavIya Sankaravijaya - The mAdhavIya is probably the oldest available, and also
the most authentic and widely known among the different Sankaravijayas today. It is
certainly the most popular such text in the advaita tradition, and is also known as the
sam.kshepa Sankarajaya. The popularity of this work derives from the fame of its
author, mAdhava, who is usually identified with vidyAraNya, the 14th century
maThAdhipati at Sringeri. Old manuscripts of this work are available from diverse
places in India, and printed editions based on a comparison of various manuscripts are
available from as early as 1863 CE. [1] Two commentaries have been written to the
mAdhavIya, one titled DiNDimA, by dhanapati sUrI (composed in 1798 CE), and another
titled advaitarAjyalakshmI by acyutarAya (composed in 1824 CE). There are a couple of
good English translations of the mAdhavIya, one by swAmI tapasyAnanda of the
Ramakrishna Math, [2] and another by K. Padmanabhan. [3] Contemporary accounts of
Sankara's life follow this text in most details, e.g. birth in Kaladi, meeting with his guru
on the banks of the river Narmada, writing of commentaries, debate with maNDana
miSra, establishment of the SAradA temple at Sringeri, ascension of the sarvajnapITha
in Kashmir and his last days in the Himalayas.

There has been some doubt in recent times about the date and authorship of the
mAdhavIya Sankaravijaya, [4] including charges that it was reworked extensively in the
19th century CE. Almost all of this criticism is baseless. If the author of this work is not
identical with vidyAraNya, the latest date that can be put to it is 1798 CE, the year in
which the DiNDimA commentary was completed. Moreover, another author, sadAnanda,
who wrote a Sankaravijaya sAra in 1783, informs us that his source is mAdhava's work.
As such, the criticism that the mAdhavIya was written as late as the 19th century CE, or
that portions of it were re-written recently, cannot be upheld. swAmI tapasyAnanda is
correct in dismissing such criticism as nothing more than "bazaar gossip." [5] However,
the earliest possible date of this work (14th century CE) is still several centuries later
than Sankara's own date. Some modern historians who doubt that Sankara established
any maThas at all, attribute the origin of the tradition of four AmnAya maThas to
mAdhava. [6] However, it must be noted that the mAdhavIya Sankaravijaya gives only a
general description of the establishment of maThas, at Sringeri and other places, but
does not specifically mention the number four.

AnandagirIya Sankaravijaya - This work is not available today, although according to

many secondary sources, it must have existed at one time. It is attributed to Anandagiri,
the 13th century author of well-known TIkAs to SankarAcArya's bhAshyas. One 19th
century author, who wrote a commentary to the mAdhavIya refers to Anandagiri's
Sankaravijaya as bRhat Sankaravijaya in one place and as prAcIna Sankaravijaya in
another place. It seems clear that this text was considered to be old (prAcIna) and huge
(bRhat). However, as it is no longer extant, the quotations attributed to this text are not
very trustworthy.

In recent times, there have been various claims about a bRhat Sankaravijaya of an author
named citsukha, although no manuscripts of this work have ever been available. No
secondary sources refer to this text either, unlike the case with Anandagiri's text.
citsukha is claimed to have been a childhood friend of Sankara's, and his work is
therefore claimed to be an authoritative eye-witness account. However, even the source
for this story about citsukha remains unknown, as none of the other Sankaravijayas
mention such a childhood friend who witnessed all of Sankara's life. All claims about the
bRhat Sankaravijaya of citsukha seem extremely far-fetched, and within the living
advaita tradition, there is great controversy over the very existence of this text. There is a
more recent text, called bRhat Sankaravijaya, by one brahmAnanda sarasvatI, which
seems to date from the 17th or 18th century.

Another prAcIna Sankaravijaya is also sometimes attributed to one mUkakavi. As with

the bRhat Sankaravijaya of citsukha, nothing specific is known about this prAcIna
Sankaravijaya either, as all attempts to trace source manuscripts have failed. Some
quotations from a prAcIna Sankaravijaya are found in some very recent works, but the
real source of these quotations remains unknown.

anantAnandagirIya Sankaravijaya - In my opinion, this work is very unreliable. To

begin with, it is a very late text and all available versions seem extremely corrupt. The
author of this text identifies himself as anantAnandagiri. Many scholars mistakenly
identify this text with that of Anandagiri, the TIkAkAra, probably due to the misleading
similarity of their names. Among these, H. H. Wilson thinks that the author is an
unblusing liar, because he reports miracles and supernatural events associated with
Sankara. However, he seems prepared to accept this text's description of Hindu religious
cults. About forty out of the seventy-odd chapters in this work describe some 72
different religious cults and sects prevalent in India, which Wilson uses in his study. A.
C. Burnell, however, thinks that the work is spurious and very modern, [7] written in the
interests of southern maThas which had broken their ties with the Sringeri maTha. Be
that as it may, a casual reading of this Sankaravijaya text is enough to convince the
reader that its author cannot be identified with Anandagiri at all. anantAnandagiri
appears to be a quite different author altogether. He quotes sections from the adhikaraNa
ratnamAlA, a 14th-century work of vidyAraNya and bhAratI tIrtha, but attributes these
quotations to Sankara. He also makes barely veiled references to rAmAnuja, the 11th-
century teacher of viSishTAdvaita, and AnandatIrtha, the 13th-century teacher of dvaita.
Both of them have been described as direct disciples of Sankara himself.

Moreover, most of the available manuscripts of this work are incomplete, and even these
seem to have been heavily tampered with. Two separate accounts of Sankara's life may
be found in different editions of this work. For example, the 19th century editions from
Calcutta, [8] and all their source manuscripts, describe Sankara's birth at Cidambaram in
Tamil Nadu, while the 1971 Madras edition [9] says that Sankara was born at Kaladi in
Kerala. The earlier 19th century editions mention a maTha at Sringeri, and no maTha at
Kancipuram. However, in the 1971 Madras edition, an ASrama has been mentioned
near Sringeri, and a maTha at Kancipuram has been described in great detail. All
editions mention that Sankara stayed at Sringeri for twelve years, and his last days are
placed at Kancipuram, but this text is totally silent about any sarvajnapITha. It has been
pointed out that the 1971 Madras edition is not true to the manuscripts that it lists as its
sources. [10] T. M. P. Mahadevan's introduction to this edition also wrongly identifies
this work with that of Anandagiri, the TIkAkAra, and claims that this must be the work
that is called both bRhat and prAcIna. However, Mahadevan is silent about the bRhat
text said to have been written by citsukha and the prAcIna text attributed to mUkakavi.
cidvilAsIya Sankaravijaya - This text is also known as the Sankaravijaya vilAsa, and
was probably written between the 15th and 17th centuries. It is in the form of a dialogue
between one cidvilAsa and his disciple, named vijnAnakanda. [11] This is one of the
few texts that explicitly record the tradition that four maThas were established by
Sankara, at Sringeri, Dvaraka, Puri and Badrinath. cidvilAsa devotes three entire
chapters to the founding of the Sringeri maTha, and one chapter to a sarvajnapITha at
Kancipuram. However, he does not say anything about the establishment of a fifth
maTha at Kancipuram, [12] and Sankara's last days are placed near Badrinath in the
Himalayas. Except for its variant tradition about the sarvajnapITha, this text also agrees
with the mAdhavIya in most other details.

keralIya Sankaravijaya - This text is also called the SankarAcAryacarita and is

attributed to one govindanAtha in all manuscripts. [13] This text conflates the variant
traditions about the sarvajnapITha, and mentions both Kashmir and Kancipuram in the
same verse. It is completely silent about the establishment of any maThas, and describes
Sankara's last days at the vRshAcaleSvara temple in Trichur, Kerala. In this last detail, it
differs from all other available oral traditions and Sankaravijaya texts. It dates from the
17th century.

Other minor texts - The kUshmANDa Sankaravijaya of purushottama bhAratI

describes the establishment of a SAradA temple at a place called Pammapura, and is
rather unique in describing Sankara and his four disciples as incarnations of the five
Pandavas, who are in turn described as partial incarnations of Siva! A 17th century
author named rAjacUDAmaNi dIkshita wrote a short hagiographical poem named
SankarAbhyudaya. Among more recent works (late 18th century and after),
sadAnanda's Sankaravijaya sAra and nIlakaNTha's SankaramandAra saurabha follow
the details given in the mAdhavIya. Both authors explicitly mention their source in their
introductory chapters. nIlakaNTha also wrote another poem named SankarAbhyudaya,
which is one of the few works to give the 788 CE date for Sankara's birth. Another
SankarAbhyudaya is attributed to one tirumala dIkshita. This and a work known as
vyAsAcalIya Sankaravijaya are of extremely doubtful authenticity, as they reproduce a
large number of verses from the mAdhavIya Sankaravijaya. The
bhagavatpAdAbhyudaya of mahAkavi lakshmaNa sUrin is an early 20th century work,
which recounts all the traditional details of Sankara's life.

References:

1. Editions of the mAdhavIya include the following:

o Ganpat Krishnaji's Press, Bombay 1863.
LC Call No.: Microfiche 93/61065 (P),
o Anandasrama Sanskrit Series, No. 22, Pune, 1891,
o Sringeri Matha, Sringeri, 1956,
o Sri Sravananatha Jnanamandiram, (with a Hindi translation and notes by
Baldev Upadhyaya), Haridvar, 2nd ed., 1967,
 o Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, 1972.

2. Swami Tapasyananda, The Sankara-dig-vijaya of Madhava-Vidyaranya,

Ramakrishna Mission, Madras, 1st ed., 1978 , 2nd ed., 1983.
LC Call No.: PK3798.M168 S2613 1978

3. K. Padmanabhan, Srimad Sankara digvijayam, by Vidyaranya, Madras, 1985.

LC Call No.: B133.S5 M32 1985

4. (a) T. S. Narayana Sastri, The Age of Sankara, Madras, 1910.

(b) A. Nataraja Iyer and Lakshminarasimha Sastry, The Traditional Age of Sri
Sankaracharya and the Maths, Madras, 1962.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 N324 1962

5. Footnote no. 1, p. xi, in reference no. 2 above.

6. Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, Routledge, New

York, 1990.
LC Call No.: DS436 .K8513 1990

7. See H. H. Wilson, A Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, Cosmo

Publications, New Delhi, 1977, p. 14 (a reprint of an earlier 1861 edition); and A.
C. Burnell, A classified index to the Sanskrit mss. in the palace at Tanjore,
Trubner, London, 1880, p. 96.

8. (a) Jayanarayana Tarkapanchanana and Nabadwipa Chandra Goswami (ed.), The

Sankara-vijaya; or, The life and polemics of Sankara Acharya, Bibliotheca Indica
nos. 46, 137, and 138, Calcutta, 1868. Reprinted in Biblio Verlag, Osnabruch,
1982. (LC Call No.: B133.S5A6 1982)
(b) Jibananda Vidyasagara Bhattacharya (ed.), Sankaravijaya, Sarasudhanidhi
Press, Calcutta, 1881. (LC Call No.: B133.S5A5 1881)

9. N. Veezhinathan (ed.), Anantanandagiripranitam Srisankaravijayam, Madras,

1971, with an introduction by Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 A65 1971

10. N. S. Dakshinamurti, A review of Anantanandagiripranitam Srisankaravijayam,

(the 1971 Madras edition - reference no. 9 above), Bangalore, 1981.

11. cidvilAsa's Sankaravijaya vilAsa has been published by W. R. Antarkar, in

Bharatiya Vidya (Journal of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, India), Vol. XXXIII,
nos. 1-4, 1973, pp. 1-92.

12. Readers interested in the number of maThas established by Sankara - please take
note. cidvilAsa clearly does not describe a maTha at the place where Sankara
ascended the sarvajnapITha.
 13. This text has been published by W. R. Antarkar, in Bharatiya Vidya, Vol. LII,
nos. 1-4, 1992, pp. 57-140.

DASANAMI SAMPRADAYA- THE MONASTIC TRADITION

Transliteration Key

The advaita tradition can be described in terms of two aspects - the textual/philosophical
tradition of commentaries and sub-commentaries to the vedAnta works, and the religious
tradition of renunciation (sam.nyAsa), which is emphasized to a great deal in
SankarAcArya's works. The two aspects are quite intimately related to each other - most
of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of the sam.nyAsa tradition,
and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics. The
philosophical tradition is described in other pages at this site. This page is devoted to the
sam.nyAsa tradition which continues to the present day. Sankara is traditionally said to
have organized the daSanAmI sampradAya and established four maThas (monasteries)
at Sringeri (in Karnataka), Puri (in Orissa), Dvaraka (in Gujarat) and Jyotirmath (in
Uttar Pradesh). These maThas are representative of the geography of India, with one
monastery each in the eastern, southern, western and northern regions. The successive
heads of these and other advaita maThas are also called SankarAcAryas, after the
original founder. In fact, Sankara is often called Adi SankarAcArya, or the first
SankarAcArya, in order to distinguish him from his successors.

The daSanAmI sampradAya: The daSanAmI order is so called because of the ten
(daSa) name (nAma) suffixes which these sannyAsIs adopt. These names are - bhAratI,
sarasvatI, sAgara, tIrtha, purI, ASrama, giri, parvata, araNya and vana. These ten names
are supposed to be distributed among the four maThas. However, the affiliation is
nominal at best. The daSanAmI sannyAsIs do not have to be ordained at one of the
maThas, nor do they have to reside at a maTha for any period of time. On the other hand,
they are supposed to be peripatetic (parivrAjaka - monks who constantly keep traveling),
with no fixed home, except for the period of cAturmAsya in the rainy season, when they
stay put at one place. The heads of the maThas are also supposed to travel around the
country for the better part of the year.

In northern India, the daSanAmI sannyAsIs are organized into a number of akhADas -
jUnA, niranjanI, mahAnirvANI, aTal, AvAhan, Ananda and agni. Except for the agni
akhADa, which is is for brahmacAri initiates, the membership of all other akhADas is
made up of daSanAmI monks. These akhADas have leaders known as
mahAmaNDaleSvaras, who are usually elected during a kumbha mela [1, 2, 3]. The
kumbha mela also offers an opportunity for akhADas to initiate large numbers of new
sannyAsIs. The daSanAmI sannyAsIs tend to have only a nominal affiliation with their
maThas, but most maintain a closer relationship with their akhADas. Among the ten
names, araNya, ASrama, parvata, vana and sAgara are quite rarely seen nowadays. All
daSanAmI monks belong to the tradition of ekadaNDI sam.nyAsa. They carry a staff
consisting of a single wooden stick, symbolizing the essential identity of brahman and
Atman.

It is important to remember that the advaita sampradAya is not a Saiva sect. The fact that
both the prominent non-advaita schools of vedAnta are vaishNava leads to a confusion
among many modern researchers, who uncritically talk of all daSanAmI sannyAsIs as
being Saiva ascetics. In reality, advaitins are non-sectarian, and they advocate worship of
Siva and vishNu equally with that of the other deities of Hinduism, like Sakti, gaNapati
and others. Modern neo-vedAntins, who are most strongly influenced by advaita
vedAnta, have no trouble accepting Moses, Christ and Muhammad also. Philosophically,
classical advaita would disagree as much with the Saiva siddhAnta and the Saiva
vedAnta schools, as with the vaishNava schools of vedAnta. On the other hand, the God
Siva is the archetype of the ascetic, and advaita vedAnta lays great emphasis on
sam.nyAsa. Saiva schools also tend to be more non-dualistic in outlook than vaishNava
schools, and SankarAcArya himself is venerated as an incarnation of Siva. Hence, the
contemporary SankarAcAryas do wield a larger degree of influence among Saiva
communities than among vaishNava communities, but that does not necessarily make
them exclusively Saiva ascetics. The famous madhusUdana sarasvatI was an ardent
devotee of kRshNa, while prakASAnanda was a Sakti-worshipper.

The major following of the gurus of the advaita tradition has been mostly among the
smArtas, who integrate the domestic Vedic ritual with devotional aspects of Hinduism.
The traditional pancAyatana pUjA scheme of smArta worship is offered to Siva, vishNu,
Sakti, gaNeSa and sUrya, as aspects of saguNa brahman. skanda is sometimes added as
the sixth important deity who is worshipped, especially in the south. The smArtas also
regard themselves as followers of SankarAcArya and his successors at the various
maThas, but there is a lot of regional variation in this regard.

The AmnAya maThas: The four maThas established by Sankara are known in the
tradition as the AmnAya maThas. Sankara is said to have assigned one of the four vedas
to each of these maThas, and the AcAryas and paNDitas of these four maThas continue
the tradition to this day. Accordingly, the Puri maTha is associated with the Rg veda,
Sringeri with yajurveda, Dvaraka with sAma veda and Jyotirmath with atharva veda.
The ten daSanAmI suffixes are distributed among these four maThas - according to most
traditions, purI, bhAratI and sarasvatI with Sringeri; tIrtha and ASrama with Dvaraka;
sAgara, parvata and giri with Jyotirmath, and vana and araNya with Puri. Many notable
post-Sankaran authors, including sureSvara, jnAnaghana, jnAnottama, Anandagiri,
bhAratI tIrtha, vidyAraNya and others, can be found among the heads of these maThas.
Of these four, Sringeri is the only institution that has had an unbroken line of succession
from Sankara. Among the other three maThas, the succession has been interrupted at one
time or the other, for a variety of historical reasons. The longest hiatus in the line of
succession was in the case of Jyotirmath, where the seat lay vacant for around 165 years.
In the recent past, the Sringeri maTha has been involved, directly or indirectly, in
stabilizing the line of succession in the other three maThas.
 From L to R: SrI svarUpAnanda sarasvatI
(Jyotirmath), SrI abhinava vidyA tIrtha
(Sringeri), SrI niranjana deva tIrtha (Puri), SrI
abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha (Dvaraka) -
Meeting at Sringeri in 1979.

The successor to the title in a maTha is usually nominated by the presiding

SankarAcArya of that maTha. It is quite normal to see SankarAcAryas who have
become sannyAsIs directly from the student life, without ever having been gRhasthas.
This is especially the norm in the Sringeri lineage. Thus, a SankarAcArya can be a very
young man, sometimes barely out of his teens, when he takes charge at his maTha. On
the other hand, the Puri lineage has seen many heads who have become sannyAsins quite
late in their lives, after passing through the gRhastha stage. In cases where a
SankarAcArya passes away without nominating a successor, or if there is a dispute about
the succession, the head of one of the other maThas is consulted to resolve the issue.
Within this century itself, there have been instances where the SankarAcAryas of
Sringeri, Dvaraka, and Puri have been called upon to resolve succession issues in one of
the other maThas. The Sringeri lineage names thirty-six successors to the SankarAcArya
title, while Dvaraka has about seventy. The Puri list of SankarAcAryas has more than
140 names to date. The larger number of names in these two lists is probably because
many of the presiding SankarAcAryas have been former gRhasthas, who took charge at
a comparatively older age and consequently held charge for shorter periods. The line of
the Jyotirmath has many gaps in it, an unfortunate circumstance of history.

The position of the SankarAcAryas in modern Hinduism has often (quite wrongly) been
compared to that of the Pope in Roman Catholicism. The four SankarAcAryas do not
issue catechisms for all Hindus, nor do they claim sole right to decide on doctrinal
issues. SrImukham.s issued by the maThas are very different in nature from papal bulls
or encyclicals, and unlike the Vatican City, the four maThas do not enjoy sovereign
status. Rather, they are governed by the federal and state laws on religious and charitable
trusts and endowments in independent India, and are often answerable to governmental
bodies.

However, this should not be construed to mean that the SankarAcAryas are insignificant
or that their importance is overrated. They are held in high respect by almost all sections
of Hindus, but they also tend to get blamed by the modern media, somewhat unfairly, for
everything that goes wrong in Hindu society! For all that, however, the SankarAcAryas
generally lead quiet, secluded lives, as befits monks, and tend to avoid media attention.
There are, of course, exceptions to this norm, and recent developments in India,
especially the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue, have forced all of them to take
more active roles in public life.

Recent history of the four AmnAya maThas:

• Sringeri: SrI "ugra" narasimha bhAratI (1817 - 1878) was well-known
throughout India as a very saintly personality. He travelled far and wide, and had
disciples all over India and even in Sri Lanka. He was succeeded by SrI
saccidAnanda SivAbhinava narasimha bhAratI (1878 - 1912), who
rediscovered kAlaDi, Adi SankarAcArya's birth-place, and instituted Sankara
JayantI celebrations all over India. He also arranged for the publication of a
comprehensive collection of Sankara's works, and initiated the practice of having
the various SankarAcAryas meet for informal discussion and decision making.
Following his lead, meetings took place at Kaladi, Hardwar, Prayag etc. His
successor, SrI candraSekhara bhAratI (1912 to 1954), was an acclaimed
jIvanmukta. He wrote a commentary to Sankara's vivekacUDAmaNi. The first
meeting of all four SankarAcAryas (caturAmnAya sammelanam) in the 1200 year
old tradition of post-Sankaran advaita, took place at Sringeri, in 1979, under the
leadership of SrI abhinava vidyA tIrtha (1954 - 1989). SrI bhAratI tIrtha, the
presiding SankarAcArya of Sringeri, succeeded to the title in 1989. The
SankarAcAryas of the four AmnAya maThas and the head of the Kanci maTha
held another conference at Sringeri in 1993, following the events of December
1992 at ayodhyA, to express their concern at the politicization of religious issues,
and resolved to lead a non-political effort to solve the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri
Masjid issue amicably.

Contact Address: Swami Bharati Tirtha, Jagadguru Sankaracharya, (or Sri V. R.

Gowrishankar, Adminstrator), Sri Sringeri Math, Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetham,
Sringeri, Karnataka 577 139, INDIA.

• Dvaraka: SrI trivikrama tIrtha was the head of the Dvaraka maTha till the year
1921. He was succeeded by SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha, who had a very
interesting career. Beginning as a student of vedAnta at Sringeri, he became a
sannyAsin under SrI trivikrama tIrtha of Dvaraka, and succeeded to the
SankarAcArya post at Dvaraka, in 1921. Soon after the first world war, he was
prosecuted along with the Ali brothers and other Muslim leaders, by the colonial
British government for treason, in connection with his involvement in the Indian
Independence movement, and his support of the Khilafat movement. He is also
said to have discovered some ancient sUtras of basic arithmetic, which have been
published as a book, under the title "Vedic mathematics". He was asked to take
over the Puri maTha in 1925, when that seat fell vacant. Accordingly, SrI
svarUpAnanda tIrtha and SrI yogeSvarAnanda tIrtha followed at the Dvaraka
seat. In the year 1945, SrI abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha was nominated as the
SankarAcArya of Dvaraka, with SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha performing the
installation ceremonies. Before taking over at Dvaraka, SrI abhinava
saccidAnanda tIrtha was the head of the Mulabagal maTha in Karnataka. This was
an old branch of the Dvaraka maTha, established in the 17th century, and with his
appointment to the Dvaraka seat, the collateral lineage of Mulabagal maTha was
merged with that of Dvaraka. In later years, he was called upon to mediate the
succession issues at both Puri and Jyotirmath. He also renovated the samAdhi site
of Adi Sankara at Kedarnath with assistance from the government of Uttar
 Pradesh. He passed away in 1982, following which SrI svarUpAnanda
sarasvatI of Jyotirmath assumed charge at Dvaraka. SrI abhinava vidyA tIrtha of
Sringeri consecrated his appointment, and SrI svarUpAnanda has held dual charge
at both Dvaraka and Jyotirmath since then.

Contact Address: Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati, Dvaraka Peeth, Dvaraka,

Gujarat 361 335, INDIA.
(or) Sri Rajarajeswari Mandir, Paramhansi Ganga, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
482 002, INDIA.

• Puri: This maTha is historically connected with the famous jagannAtha temple in
Puri. It is also called the govardhana maTha, and has an important branch in Puri
itself, called the SankarAnanda maTha. In the beginning of the century, the head
was SrI Sankara madhusUdana tIrtha. SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha, who was
then at Dvaraka, took over as the SankarAcArya of Puri in 1925. SrI bhAratI
kRshNa tIrtha visited the USA in the 1950's, at the invitation of the Self-
Realization Fellowship. During this time, SrI Sankara purushottama tIrtha
supervised the Puri maTha on his behalf. After SrI bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha passed
away in 1960, he was succeeded by SrI yogeSvarAnanda tIrtha, whose period
was quite short, as he passed away in 1961. This lead to a brief period of
uncertainty during which the succession at the maTha was being litigated. In
1964, SrI niranjana deva tIrtha, who was one of the nominees named in SrI
bhAratI kRshNa tIrtha's will, was consecrated at the Puri seat by SrI abhinava
saccidAnanda tIrtha of Dvaraka. SrI niranjana deva tIrtha is known for his
unpopular political views on volatile issues affecting Hindu people, like sati and
cow protection. In 1992, he stepped down after nominating SrI niScalAnanda
sarasvatI as his successor, who is currently in charge at Puri.

Contact Address: Swami Niscalananda Sarasvati, Puri Govardhan Math, Puri,

Orissa 752 001, INDIA.

• Jyotirmath: Also known as Joshimath, it is located near Badrinath in the

Himalayas, because of which it is also known as the Badrinath maTha. After a
long hiatus of 165 years, this maTha was revived in the year 1941, under SrI
brahmAnanda sarasvatI, a disciple of SrI kRshNAnanda sarasvatI, who was
originally from Sringeri. The appointment was made by a committee of pundits
from Varanasi, and SrI brahmAnanda's accomplishments helped re-establish the
Jyotirmath as an important center of traditional advaita teaching in northern India.
When he passed away in 1953, SrI SAntAnanda sarasvatI succeeded him at this
seat, according to the terms of a will. However, there was a dispute regarding the
capacity of SrI SAntAnanda for the title and also about the validity of this will.
This resulted in a major controversy that remains unresolved.
 karapAtrI swAmi (hariharAnanda
sarasvatI), a well-known disciple of SrI Some people consider the rightful
brahmAnanda, was asked to take over succession of the Jyotirmath title to
the Jyotirmath title, but he declined. To be along the disciple line of SrI
resolve the dispute, another committee of SAntAnanda sarasvatI. He is said
pundits from Varanasi was formed, under to have retired in 1980, in favor of
the guidance of karapAtrI swAmi and SrI his disciple, SrI vishNudevAnanda
abhinava saccidAnanda tIrtha of sarasvatI, who has since passed
Dvaraka. SrI kRshNabodhASrama was away. SrI SAntAnanda also passed
appointed as the new head of the maTha. away in December 1997, and has
When he passed away in the early been succeeded by SrI
1970's, he nominated SrI vAsudevAnanda sarasvatI. Thus,
svarUpAnanda sarasvatI, another there are at least two separate
disciple of SrI brahmAnanda, as his lineages at Jyotirmath currently,
successor. SrI svarUpAnanda continues although it is SrI svarUpAnanda
as the SankarAcArya of Jyotirmath, and sarasvatI who is endorsed by the
has also been in charge of Dvaraka since other AmnAya maThas.
1982.

• There is a third ascetic, named SrI mAdhavASrama, who is another claimant to

the Jyotirmath title, who contests both the claims of SrI svarUpAnanda and SrI
vAsudevAnanda. SrI mAdhavASrama is a disciple of SrI kRshNabodhASrama,
who was nominated to the Jyotirmath title in the 1960's. His contention is that SrI
svarUpAnanda cannot be accepted as the head of two different AmnAya maThas
(Dvaraka and Jyotirmath), so that the Jyotirmath title has to revert to another
disciple of SrI kRshNabodhASrama. According to publications supporting his
claim, he was anointed in 1993 or 1994, under the guidance of SrI niranjana deva
tIrtha, the former SankarAcArya of Puri. Thus, the dispute between two parties
for the title of Jyotirmath SankarAcArya has now become a dispute among three
different parties.

Contact Addresses: Sri Sankaracharya Math, Joshimath, Badrinath, Uttar Pradesh 246
443, INDIA.
Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati: Sri Rajarajeswari Mandir, Paramhansi Ganga,
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh 482 002, INDIA.
Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati: Shankar Math, Allope Bagh, Allahabad, Uttar
Pradesh 211 001, INDIA.
Swami Madhavashrama: Sri Keshav Ashram, Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh 249 401, INDIA

Other maThas: Other than the four AmnAya maThas, there are a number of well-
known maThas owing allegiance to advaita and the SankarAcArya lineage. Many of
them were originally branches of one of the four AmnAya maThas, established officially
by the parent maTha, and which grew into more or less independent institutions over
time. Notable among these are the branch maThas at Kumbhakonam (now based in
Kancipuram, Contact Address: No. 1, Salai Street, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu 631 502,
INDIA), Sankhesvar, Kudali, Virupaksha (Hampi), Kolhapur (Karavir pITham),
Sivaganga, Sakatapuram etc. In recent times, the maTha at Kancipuram has been very
active. Sometimes, notable sannyAsIs of the daSanAmI order start their own maThas, to
cater to the spiritual needs of their followers. An example is the famous upanishad
brahmendra maTha at Kancipuram, which was founded in the 18th century by
rAmacandrendra sarasvatI. Sometimes, succession controversies (as in the present
Jyotirmath) also leads to the establishment of separate maThas. A few maThas of the
nambUdiri community in Kerala also trace their foundation to Sankara himself, as do the
sumeru and pAdukA maThas in Varanasi. However, the Kavale maTha of the gauDa
sArasvata community in Goa traces its origin in 740 CE not to SankarAcArya, but
through another disciple of govinda bhagavatpAda.

In general, the various maThas in India operate quite independent of one another. The
SankarAcAryas of the four original maThas do not normally interfere with one another,
nor do they seek to exercise any control, administrative or spiritual, on any of the other
advaita maThas in India, unless specifically requested to do so. Although their heads are
sannyAsIs who lead completely detached lives, the advaita maThas are not immune to
contemporary social and political pressures. Some maThas deal with these pressures
better than others. Manifestations of these pressures can be seen in the sometimes
acrimonious rivalries between followers of two different maThas, as also in the recurrent
succession disputes in some of them. Such succession disputes sometimes lead to
protracted litigation and the establishment of independent maThas elsewhere.

Modern Institutions: In addition to the more traditional advaita maThas and akhADas,
various sannyAsIs of the daSanAmI order have established some of the more well-
known modern institutions, like the Ramakrishna Math and Mission (swAmI
vivekAnanda), the Self-Realization Fellowship (paramahamsa yogAnanda), the Divine
Life Society (swAmI SivAnanda), Yoga Vedanta Center (swAmI vishNudevAnanda),
the Chinmaya Mission (swAmI cinmayAnanda), and others. Among these, the founders
of the Ramakrishna Mission, the Divine Life Society and the Chinmaya Mission trace
their spiritual descent through the Sringeri paramparA. The Self-Realization Fellowship
has links to the Puri paramparA. These organizations usually teach some variant or the
other of advaita vedAnta, generally combined with yoga practice, or an acceptance of the
prophets of the Semitic religions, and/or an emphasis on social service. These modern
institutions tend to have as much a presence in the West as in India, and their ideologies
have come to be called by the generic name of neo-vedAnta. It remains to be seen
whether these institutions will be the catalysts for the growth of a truly universal
philosophy/religion that has been a dream of most of their founders.

There have been countless other nameless, realized masters over the centuries, who have
realized the non-dual brahman. As a living tradition of philosophy and religion, advaita
is not always restricted to daSanAmI sannyAsIs in the lineage of SankarAcArya. For
example, within the 20th century CE, one has the example of the famous mystic SrI
ramaNa mahaRshi (1879 - 1950), who did not formally take sam.nyAsa, but was
nevertheless a jIvanmukta, who taught pure advaita.
Literature:

1. Read an article at the Indology website, on the Jyotirmath succession.

2. Sir Jadunath Sarkar, A history of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis, Mahanirvani,

Allahabad, 1946.
LC Call No.: n.a.

3. G. S. Ghurye (with L. N. Chapekar), Indian Sadhus, Popular Prakashan, Bombay,

1st ed., 1953, 2nd ed., 1964.
LC Call No.: Microfilm BUL-ENG-111 (B)

4. Haripada Chakraborti, Asceticism in ancient India in Brahmanical, Buddhist,

Jaina, and Ajivika societies, from the earliest times to the period of
Sankaracharya, Punthi Pustak, Calcutta, 1973.
LC Call No.: BL2015.A8 C47

5. Swami Sadananda Giri, Society and sannyasin - a history of the Dasnami

sannyasins, Kriyayoga Asrama, Rishikesh, 1976.
LC Call No.: BL1245.D27 S2

6. William Cenkner, A tradition of teachers: Sankara and The Jagadgurus Today,

Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1983.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 C44 1983

7. Yoshitsugu Sawai, The faith of ascetics and lay smartas: a study of the Sankaran
tradition of Srngeri, Sammlung de Nobili, Institüt für Indologie der Universität
Wien (Institute of Indology, University of Vienna), 1992.
LC Call No.: acquisition in progress (as of September 9, 1997)

8. Maulana Mohammed Ali, The historic trial of Ali brothers, Dr. Kitchlew, Shri
Shankaracharya, Maulana Hussain Ahmed, Pir Ghulam Mujaddid and Maulana
Nisar Ahmed, "New Times" Office, Karachi, 1921, with a foreword by Mahatma
Gandhi.

9. Wade Dazey, Tradition and Modernization in the Organization of the Dasanami

Sannyasins, in Monastic life in the Christian and Hindu traditions - a comparative
study, Austin Creel and Vasudha Narayanan (eds.), Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston
(NY), 1990.
LC Call No.: BL631 .M65 1990

10. Wade Dazey, The Dasanami Order and Monastic Life, Ph. D. dissertation, Univ.
of California, Santa Barbara, 1987.
 ADVAITA VEDANTA BEFORE SANKARACARYA

Transliteration Key

There is no doubt that there was a tradition of advaita vedAnta dating to before Sankara's
times, although Sankara and his writings are of prime importance in advaita vedAnta.
However, SankarAcArya is regarded not as the founder of advaita vedAnta, but only as
the premier exponent of the ancient doctrine. Sankara himself salutes the teachers of the
brahmavidyA sampradAya in the beginning of his commentary on the bRhadAraNyaka
upanishad. The roots of advaita thought have been traced back to the Rgveda samhitA by
one author. [1]

Sankara's paramaguru, (teacher's teacher) gauDapAda, was the author of the

mANDUkya kArikas that are attached to the mANDUkya upanishad. It might be
difficult to consider the upanishadic Rshis and bAdarAyaNa, the author of the
brahmasUtras, to be advaitins, because the same Rshis are also claimed by other
vedAnta traditions. bAdarAyaNa is usually identified with vyAsa, who is included in the
advaita guru-paramparA. The names given here are taken to be advaitins in the sense
that the upanishads and the brahmasUtras can be consistently interpreted according to
advaita.

upanishadic Rshis -

With some justification, both uddAlaka AruNI of the chAndogya upanishad and
yAjnavalkya of the bRhadAraNyaka upanishad can be considered to be votaries of a
non-dualistic/monistic philosophy. The name of uddAlaka is famous through the sad-
vidyA section of the chAndogya upanishad. Here, uddAlaka teaches the sAmaveda
mahAvAkya tattvamasi to his son Svetaketu, using a number of examples. yAjnavalkya
is the key figure in the bRhadAraNyaka upanishad. It is through his teaching that one
learns the mahAvAkya of the yajurveda, aham brahmAsmi. It is also in the course of his
dialogue with his wife maitreyI, that one finds the via negativa teaching of neti, neti, and
the famous passage 'yatra tu dvaitamiva bhavati, .... yatra tvasya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt,
....'. This forms the basis for the later theory of two truths (paramArtha and vyavahAra)
in advaita, in which all duality is said to be in the vyAvahArika level, and is seen by the
one who does not know the supreme AtmajnAna. On the other hand, there is no duality
for one who knows the paramArtha jnAna i.e. 'yatra tvasya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt' - for
whom all this is indeed known to be the Atman itself. Although the upanishads are not
systematic expositions of a unique philosophical system, the seeds of the later
philosophical systematization of advaita vedAnta lie in the teachings of these two
upanishadic Rshis.

purANic figures -
The vishNu purANa is in the form of a dialogue between parASara and his student
maitreya. The Rshi parASara also finds mention in the advaita guru-paramparA. In this
purANa, the dialogue of the sage, Rbhu with nidAgha is also recounted, where the
supreme teaching of non-duality is elaborated briefly. This Rbhu gItA is also found in
other purANas. Similarly, ashTAvakra is another legendary name associated
traditionally with the teaching of advaita in the ashTAvakra-gItA. These figures are thus
early advaitins referred to in the purANas.

Others -

Since Sankara provides some quotes from previous writers in his tradition, we come to
know of names of a few pre-Sankaran vedAntins, although their works are no longer
extant. Thus, bhagavAn upavarsha is the author of vRttis to the brahmasUtra and also
probably the bhagavad-gItA. sundara pANDya wrote vArttikas to upavarsha's vRttis,
while brahmAnandin wrote the chAndogyopanishad-vAkya, and drAviDAcArya wrote
a bhAshya on brahmAnandin's vAkya. [2-4] kASakRtsna, whose opinion is listed in the
brahmasUtra (avasthite: - iti kASakRtsna:), may also be taken as a pre-Sankaran advaita
vedAntin. The same name is also found in old grammatical tradition. Another very
important pre-Sankaran advaitin is bhartRhari, the grammarian. He is the author of
works on grammatical philosophy like the vAkyapadIya, and a commentary on
patanjali's mahAbhAshya, the famous work on pAnini's grammar. He is also credited
with a collection of poems called nIti-Sataka, SRngAra-Sataka and vairAgya Sataka.
Although bhartRhari is mainly a grammarian, and his theory of sphoTa-vAda is not
accepted by classical advaita vedAnta, his philosophy of grammar is explicitly based on
the non-dual brahman. Also, even with philosophical disagreements, bhartRhari's
vairAgya-Sataka is often quoted by later advaitins. To be sure, there were also pre-
Sankaran representatives of non-advaita vedAnta traditions, many of whom seem to
have been bhedAbheda-vAdins of one kind or the other - proponents of a doctrine of
identity-in-difference. Chief among them are the names of auDulomi, Asmarathya (both
mentioned in the brahmasUtras), bhartRprapanca, brahmadatta, bhartRmitra and
bodhAyana.

GAUDAPADA

Transliteration Key

gauDapAda is the first historically known author in the advaita vedAnta tradition, whose
work is still available to us. He may be said to be the pioneer of the ajAti vAda school in
advaita vedAnta. gauDapAda is traditionally said to have been the guru of govinda
bhagavatpAda, who was the guru of SankarAcArya. Not much is known about
gauDapAda, the person. The name gauDa indicates that he was a north Indian by birth,
and many places, from Kashmir to Bengal, have been postulated as his home. The
sArasvata brAhmaNas of Goa and northern (coastal) Karnataka, who are said to have
immigrated from north India, trace the lineage of the Kavale maTha to gauDapAda, but
not through SankarAcArya. However, one branch of the sArasvata brAhmaNa
community is affiliated to the citrapura maTha, the lineage of which is traced through
SankarAcArya, while yet other (gauDa) sArasvata groups are followers of the dvaita
school.

gauDapAda composed the gauDapAdIya kArikAs (GK), which constitute an expository

text on the mANDUkya upanishad. The GK is divided into four books (prakaraNas),
titled Agama-prakaraNa, vaitathya-prakaraNa, advaita-prakaraNa and alAtaSAnti-
prakaraNa respectively. The kArikAs of the first book are traditionally found
interspersed with the prose passages of the mANDUkya upanishad, while the other three
books are separated from the body of the upanishad. Other works that are attributed to
gauDapAda are: sAm.khyakArikA bhAshya, uttaragItA bhAshya, nRsimhottaratApanI
upanishad bhAshya, and a couple of works on SrIvidyA upAsanA - subhAgodaya and
SrIvidyAratnasUtra.

There is a lot of controversy in modern critical scholarship about the identity and the
philosophy of the author(s) of the GK. Thus, there is one opinion that each book is
probably written by a different author. And there is another opinion that all books are
written by the same author. [1] One author traces connections between gauDapAda's
kArikAs and the later pratyabhijnA school of Kashmir Saivism. [2] From the various
vedAnta schools comes another kind of controversy. According to the advaita school, all
four prakaraNas are writings of a human author named gauDapAda, and are therefore
not regarded as Sruti, even though the first prakaraNa is found interspersed with the
sentences of the mANDUkya upanishad. According to the dvaita school, however, 27
kArikAs of the first prakaraNa are not compositions of a human author, and are therefore
as much Sruti as the prose passages of the mANDUkya upanishad.

The most notorious controversy about the GK is about the influence of mahAyAna
buddhism on its author. Curiously enough, even those rival vedAnta schools which
criticize advaita as pracanna-bauddham (buddhism in disguise) do not quote the GK to
substantiate their criticism. However, among modern scholars who are interested in
studying Eastern philosophies such as advaita vedAnta and mahAyAna buddhism, this
has been a hot topic for debate. [3]

It is clear that the GK has been written in the context of a vedAntic dialogue with
various schools of mahAyAna buddhism, more prominently the yogAcAra and
madhyamaka schools. GK IV (alAtaSAnti prakaraNa) refers to the mahAyAna school of
buddhism as agrAyana. Moreover, the very metaphor of the alAtacakra is a peculiarly
buddhist one. The alAtacakra is a burning firebrand that is waved in a circle, creating an
impression of a continuous circle of fire. It is interesting to note here that gauDapAda
characteristically inverts the use of the buddhist metaphor. The buddhist uses the
metaphor to insist that the impression of a continuous circle is an illusion, there being
nothing more than the momentary spatial positions of the burning brand. Hence, from
the buddhist prespective, it is plainly an error to see the burning circle as having any
svabhAva - "own-nature". gauDapAda on the other hand points out that the burning
brand is itself the substratum of its momentary spatial positions and the illusion of a
burning circle caused by waving the brand. Hence, according to him, even if the burning
circle is an illusion, its svabhAva is nothing other than that of the burning brand.

Seen in context, the entire discussion in the GK seems to be a continuation of the age-old
svabhAva vs. nihsvabhAvatA and Atman vs. nairAtmya debates between vedAntic and
buddhist schools. According to Sankara's commentary on these kArikAs, gauDapAda
uses buddhist metaphor and buddhist terminology to come to vedAntic conclusions
regarding the ultimate existence of the Atman = brahman as the substratum
(adhishThAna) of all experience. That he speaks the buddhist language does not mean
that he is a buddhist in disguise. Moreover, it is not very surprising that gauDapAda, a
vedAntin, is very familiar with buddhist doctrine. Tradition recounts that the famous
pUrva-mImAm.saka, kumArila bhaTTa, learnt from bauddha and jaina teachers, with a
view to understanding their schools before he wrote his own works on mImAm.sA.
Besides, by its very nature, classical Indian philosophical writing proceeds by means of
demarcating one's own position from that of another's, pointing out where they are
similar and on what issues they differ. An intimate knowledge of the other's
philosophical system is necessary for such refutation to take place.

The contention of some modern scholars that gauDapAda's philosophy is nothing more
than buddhism clothed in vedAntic colors is based on two errors, that do not do justice to
either mahAyAna buddhism or to advaita vedAnta.

• The first and the more serious error lies in interpreting the madhyamaka concept
of SUnyatA as an Absolute, equivalent to the Atman or brahman of vedAnta. A
careful reading of nAgArjuna's mUlamadhyamaka-kArikAs and other works
shows what pains the madhyamaka school takes to avoid the extreme of
absolutism (SAsvata-vAda). While the buddhist ajAtivAda maintains, "There is no
birth," gauDapAda's argument about ajAtivAda says, "There is an Unborn." Thus,
gauDapAda clearly upholds the Atman as the absolute. For nAgArjuna, no view is
correct, because every view ultimately entails some absolutist positon, an extreme
that is avoided by the buddhist middle path. gauDapAda, on the other hand, is
inclusivistic in his scope. He argues that every view entails an absolutist position,
and precisely for this reason, all views are said to be non-conflicting (avirodha)
with the absolutism of advaita.

There are other points of contrast. For nAgArjuna, there is no need to affirm a
substratum (adhishThAna) of phenomena, whereas for gauDapAda, the Atman is
the substratum of all experience. The madhyamaka non-duality is in terms of the
emptiness (SUnyatA) of all phenomena, while in the vedAnta view of non-duality,
phenomena are possible only due to the essential reality of the Atman, which is
pure consciousness. The madhyamaka school does not describe SUnyatA as an
independent absolute entity, whereas the advaita vedAnta emphasizes
brahman/Atman as an Absolute. In the light of these significant differences,
seeing nothing but mahAyAna buddhism in gauDapAda's advaita vedAnta is
 impossible without seeing madhyamaka buddhism itself through vedAnta-tinted
glasses. As for the other schools of buddhism such as vijnAnavAda, the
madhyamaka school itself criticizes them for holding views that entail
consciousness as an Absolute. gauDapAda possibly agrees with this evaluation of
the vijnAnavAda school.

• The second error lies in ignoring the fact that advaita vedAnta no doubt developed
to a substantial degree before the time of composition of GK IV. Already in the
paingala upanishad of the Sukla yajurveda, which Sankara quotes in his bhAshya,
there is a detailed exposition of non-duality through the method of adhyAropa-
apavAda, (sublation of superimposition). With Sruti being interpreted in this way,
advaita vedAnta, with all its "illusionist" conclusions, follows very naturally: the
ultimate reality of only the substratum is upheld, and the superimposition is
denied an independent reality. Obviously, gauDapAda hails from this vedAntic
tradition, and in his kArikas, he addresses his contemporary mahAyAnists.

It is also important to remember that the development of both mahAyAna buddhism and
vedAnta took place more or less simultaneously, and within the same larger
geographical area. It would be foolhardy to expect that there would not have been some
interaction between the two most powerful streams (brAhmaNa and bauddha) of Indian
philosophical thought. It is clear from the history of Indian philosophical thought that
both brAhmaNa and bauddha sides held steadfastly to their basic axioms, although the
individual systems within each stream held diverse opinions on various philosophical
issues. On the whole, it seems as if reading too much mahAyAna buddhism into the GK
is jumping to conclusions. This is not a chauvinistic defense of advaita vedAnta with
respect to buddhism. I only want to point out that there are many subtle points which
make the two systems very different, although both systems describe Reality as being
beyond name and form. It would be well to remember that the converse criticism, i.e.
that mahAyAna buddhism is but vedAnta clothed in buddhist colors, has been addressed
by as early a buddhist writer as bhAvaviveka (6th century CE).

SANKARACARYA

Transliteration Key

SankarAcArya is arguably the most important philosopher in the history of advaita. The
story of Sankara's life is recounted in traditional works called Sankara-vijayams.
SankarAcArya's guru, govinda-bhagavatpAda, was a disciple of gauDapAda. Just as
SankarAcArya is considered to be an incarnation of Siva, govinda is popularly regarded
as an incarnation of AdiSesha.
It is SankarAcArya's interpretation of the source texts of vedAnta that lays the
foundation for classical advaita. It is also largely because of Sankara's composition of
bhAshyas on the brahmasUtras, upanishads and the bhagavad-gItA, that these three have
become important in all vedAnta literature as the prasthAna-trayI.

The following bhAshyas (commentaries) are his principal compositions: [1]

1. upanishad (Sruti prasthAna) bhAshyas on

o aitareya upanishad
o bRhadAraNyaka upanishad
o ISa upanishad
o taittirIya upanishad
o kaTha upanishad
o chAndogya upanishad
o kena upanishad
o muNDaka upanishad
o praSna upanishad
o mANDUkya upanishad and kArikAs
2. bhagavadgItA (smRti prasthAna) bhAshya,
3. brahmasUtra (nyAya prasthAna) bhAshya.

In addition to the upanishads in the list above, SankarAcArya also quotes the kaushItakI,
SvetASvatara, mahAnArAyaNa, jAbAla, paingala and a few other upanishads in his
brahmasUtra bhAshya. There are bhAshyas on SvetASvatara, kaushItakI and
nRsimhatApanI upanishads, the attribution of which is doubtful.

Sankara is also said to have written texts in other Indian philosophical traditions. There
are texts on yoga, like the yogasUtra bhAshya vivaraNa and a commentary on the
adhyAtma paTala of the Apastamba dharmasUtras, [2] and commentaries on the vishNu
sahasranAma and lalitA triSati. A sAm.khya work called jayamangalA and a nyAya
work called sthirasiddhi are also attributed to him.

A large number of advaita treatises, called prakaraNa granthas, [3]are also usually
attributed to Sankara. There is doubt within modern critical scholarship, regarding the
authorship of these works. It is possible that works of later advaitins have been assumed
to be those of Sankara himself, as his successors in the various maThas have also come
to be called SankarAcAryas. However, the living advaita tradition itself views the
prakaraNa granthas as Sankara's own compositions. These works are often used to
teach beginners. The important ones are:

1. upadeSasAhasrI
2. Atmabodha
3. aparokshAnubhUti
4. daSaSlokI
5. SataSlokI
6. vivekacUDAmaNi
 7. vAkyavRtti
8. pancIkaraNa

Other such compositions include svAtmanirupaNam, tattvabodha, ekaSlokI,

yogatArAvalI, svarUpAnusandhAnam, Atmapancakam and prapancasAra. A few
stotrams (hymns) are also attributed to Sankara. These range from the famous bhaja
govindam hymn to the dakshiNAmUrti stotram. There is a large number of sub-
commentaries to Sankara's works, called TIkAs, TippaNis, vArttikas and dIpikAs, which
will be noticed in the section on post-Sankaran advaitins.

MANDANA MISRA

Transliteration Key

According to tradition, maNDana miSra was originally a pUrva mImAm.saka, who

debated with Sankara, and lost. He is then said to have become a disciple of Sankara,
and taken the name sureSvara.

A number of works on grammar (vyAkaraNa - sphoTasiddhi) and vedic exegesis (pUrva

mImAm.sA - vidhiviveka, bhAvanAviveka and mImAm.sAnukramaNikA) have been
written by maNDana miSra. He is also the author of vibhramaviveka, a treatise on
theories of error, in which he refers both to the "anyathAkhyAti" theory of pUrva
mImAm.sA and the "anirvacanIyakhyAti" theory of advaita. Moreover, although he is
traditionally held to be a disciple of kumArila bhaTTa, the most famous pUrva
mImAm.saka, maNDana clearly holds non-dualistic philosophical views in vidhiviveka
and sphoTasiddhi. maNDana also severely criticizes kumArila's mImAm.sA theory of
language in the sphoTasiddhi, and following bhartRhari, he upholds the non-duality of
Sabda-brahman.

maNDana miSra's treatise on advaita, the brahmasiddhi, consists of four chapters,

containing both prose and verse sections. He shows a sharp knowledge of the crucial
aspects of all the systems which he refutes in the brahmasiddhi, including nyAya-
vaiSeshika, pUrva mimAm.sA, bauddha and jaina schools and other vedAnta schools.
He is arguably the first among a galaxy of advaitin scholars who made substantial
contributions to other schools of Indian philosophy. There are a number of commentaries
to the brahmasiddhi, including brahmasiddhi-TIkA by SankhapANi, abhiprAya-
prakASikA by citsukha, and bhAvaSuddhi by AnandapUrNa vidyAsAgara. It is said that
vAcaspati miSra's tattva samIkshA, which is not available now, was a commentary on
the brahmasiddhi.
The traditional identification of maNDana miSra with sureSvara has been doubted in the
modern literature. Much can be said on both sides of this issue. It has been pointed out
that maNDana miSra and Sankara are most probably contemporaries, and that maNDana
must have known of Sankara's philosophical views when he wrote the brahmasiddhi.
Many themes are common to both maNDana and Sankara, e.g. that the reality of the
universe lasts only until liberation, which is nothing more or nothing less than realizing
the true nature (svarUpa) of the Atman; and that the jIva is really brahman, but appears
to be different by false knowledge and limiting adjuncts.

Perhaps this similarity is to be expected, because these are some of the cardinal
principles of advaita, and any advaitin of note would necessarily follow these lines.
There does seem to be some contrast between maNDana and Sankara on some other
issues. maNDana shows a tendency to accommodate what is known as
"jnAnakarmasamuccayavAda" - a combined path of jnAna and karma to achieve
liberation. On the other hand, Sankara is uncompromising in emphasizing jnAna and
denying that karma can directly lead to liberation, except for its role in cittaSuddhi, i.e.
as a means of purification. And sureSvara's independent work is titled
naishkarmyasiddhi - the achievement of the state of the absence of karma. maNDana
and sureSvara also differ on the question of the locus of avidyA. maNDana holds that
the avidyA rests on the jIva, and has brahman for its object. sureSvara maintains that
avidya both rests on brahman and has brahman for its object. This difference in view
about the nature and locus of avidyA is also seen in post-Sankaran advaita. vAcaspati
miSra takes the same view as maNDana does, and authors in the bhAmatI sub-school
expand their views along these lines. However, the vivaraNa writers mostly follow
sureSvara's line of reasoning, and hold that brahman is both the locus and object of
avidyA. Many contemporary scholars think that this difference of opinion is a late, post-
Sankaran development. In this connection, it is important to remember that maNDana
was a contemporary of Sankara, so that this difference of opinion indeed has an old
history.

Did maNDana miSra, the author of brahmasiddhi, write several treatises on pUrva
mImAm.sA earlier? If so, did maNDana, the pUrva mImAm.saka, change his
philosophical views later in his life to become maNDana, the vedAntin? Is maNDana,
the pUrva mImAm.saka, the same as maNDana, the vedAntin? Or are they different
people? Finally, is maNDana the same as sureSvara? Such questions will probably never
be answered to everybody's satisfaction. It is interesting to note in this connection that,
in the post-Sankaran advaita literature, the names sureSvara and viSvarUpa are used
interchangeably to refer to the vArttikakAra, while maNDana, the author of the
brahmasiddhi, is usually referred to only as the brahmasiddhikAra . However, many
traditional hagiographies, including the mAdhavIya Sankara-vijaya, identify the two.

SANKARACARYA'S DISCIPLES
 Sankara with disciples: sureSvara,
padmapAda, toTaka and hastAmalaka

Transliteration Key

sureSvara is the most prolific writer among Sankara's immediate disciples. His advaita
writings include vArttikas on SankarAcArya's bRhadAraNyakopanishad bhAshya and
taittirIyopanishad bhAshya, naishkarmyasiddhi, an independent exposition of advaita,
and minor works like pancIkaraNa vArttika, mAnasollAsa, a commentary on Sankara's
dakshiNAmUrti stotram. Other works include bAlakrIDA, svarAjya siddhi and
kASImoksha vicAra. Tradition also identifies sureSvara with maNDana miSra, and with
viSvarUpa, a disciple of kumArila bhaTTa. Sankara is said to have gone to viSvarUpa's
home in order to debate with him. The debate ended in Sankara's triumph, and
viSvarUpa became a sannyAsI disciple of Sankara, under the name of sureSvara. If this
identification is correct, then numerous other works on pUrva mImAm.sA, vyAkaraNa
and other subjects are also the work of the same person.

According to tradition, sureSvara composed the taittirIyopanishad bhAshya vArttika in

honor of Sankara, his guru, who belonged to the taittirIya SAkhA of the kRshNa
yajurveda. Since he himself belonged to the kANva SAkhA of the Sukla yajurveda, he
next wrote the bRhadAraNyakopanishad bhAshya vArttika, with an introduction
known as sambandha vArttika. The naishkarmyasiddhi was composed before he wrote
these two upanishad bhAshya vArttikAs. The naishkarmyasiddhi has attracted the
attention of many later commentators, including jnAnottama miSra, who wrote the
candrikA, citsukha, who wrote bhAva tattva prakASikA, jnAnAmRta, who wrote
vidyAsurabhI and rAmadatta, the author of sArArtha. sureSvara was installed as
Sankara's successor at the southern advaita maTha at Sringeri. An old samAdhi at
Sringeri is traditionally identified as the site where sureSvara was buried. Another
tradition connects him with the western advaita maTha at Dvaraka.

padmapAda is the author of the pancapAdikA, a commentary on Sankara's

brahmasUtra bhAshya. There are a few traditions current about him. His name was
originally sanandana, and like his guru, he hailed from southern India. The story goes
that while learning with Sankara at kASi, he was once on the opposite bank of the
gangA, when he heard Sankara call out his name. Oblivious to the fact that there was a
wide river between him and his guru, he started walking across it, and the river
miraculously supported his step by sprouting lotus flowers (padma) under his feet, as he
crossed it. Hence he was given the name padmapAda.

padmapAda is said to have once written a complete commentary to Sankara's

brahmasUtra bhAshya. However, his original manuscript was lost in a fire orchestrated
by a jealous uncle of his. He had read out the portion of his work dealing with the first
five padas of the brahmasUtras once before to Sankara. On learning of the loss of the
original manuscript, Sankara dictated this portion back to him from memory. Hence the
work came to be known as the pancapAdikA. This story is recounted in some of the
Sankaravijayam texts. In any case, the extant work titled pancapAdikA ends abruptly
after elaborating on Sankara's bhAshya upto the fourth sUtra. padmapAda is said to have
succeeded Sankara at the eastern maTha at Puri. The pancapAdikA has a commentary
named vivaraNa, by prakASAtman, which forms the basis for the later vivaraNa school
of advaita vedAnta. Other works attributed to padmapAda include vijnAna dIpikA,
AtmAnAtmaviveka, and a commentary on Sankara's Atmabodha, titled vedAntasAra.
padmapAda is associated with the pUrI maTha as the first guru after Sankara.

toTaka is the author of two works, toTakAshTakam and SrutisArasamuddhAraNa,

both in the delightful toTaka meter. The tradition about him is that he was originally a
quiet student named giri, who did not impress Sankara's other students as being very
scholarly. However, Sankara would not begin his regular class without his being present.
The other students once asked Sankara to begin, without waiting for giri to finish his
other chores. In order to teach them giri's true worth, Sankara is said to have caused him
to understand the deepest truths in a moment's insight. giri returned singing the praises
of his guru in the toTakAshTakam, stunning the other students, who had not believed
him to be capable of scholarly composition. He was thereafter known as toTakAcArya.
He also wrote the SrutisArasamuddhAraNa set to the same meter. An
AtmAnAtmavivekavidhi is also said to be his composition. toTakAcArya is traditionally
said to have been Sankara's successor at the northern maTha at Jyotirmath near
badrinAth. toTakAcArya is sometimes wrongly identified in some modern literature
with Anandagiri. toTaka was a direct disciple of SankarAcArya, while Anandagiri, who
wrote many sub-commentaries to Sankara's works, was a disciple of SuddhAnanda, and
he lived much later, in the 13th century CE.

hastAmalaka is known mainly through a poem called the hastAmalakIya Sloka.

According to the mAdhavIya Sankaravijayam, hastAmalaka's parents lived in a village
called SrIbali, near gokarNa (Karnataka). He was born already Self-realized. His
behavior as a child caused his parents a lot of concern, because the young boy would
remain dumb and completely unaffected by happenings around him. The troubled
parents brought him to Sankara, who asked him who he was. The boy replied in verse,
describing his essential nature as the non-dual Atman. Sankara realized that this
seemingly dumb boy was actually like the vedic Rshi vAmadeva, and asked the parents
to leave the boy with him as a sannyAsin, who was then called hastAmalaka. This name
comes from a well-known metaphor. The words hastAmalaka and karatala-Amalaka are
often used in advaita writings, when the immediate knowledge of the Atman is said to be
grasped as if it were the gooseberry (Amalaka) fruit in one's hand (hasta). As such, the
name hastAmalaka denotes this disciple's depth of AtmajnAna. His dialogue with
Sankara came to be known as the hastAmalakIya Sloka. Some of Sankara's disciples felt
that such an accomplished master as hastAmalaka would be the ideal candidate to write
sub-commentaries to Sankara's bhAshyas. However, Sankara did not want to ask him to
descend from his height of non-dualistic brahmAnubhava, even to write commentaries to
his own works, and asked sureSvara and padmapAda to write them instead. Another
work called vivekamanjarI is attributed to hastAmalaka, who is said to have been
appointed at the western advaita maTha at Dvaraka, under the guardianship of
sureSvara.

POST-SANKARAN ADVAITINS - AN OVERVIEW

Transliteration Key

• jnAnaghana, jnAnottama etc.

• vAcaspati miSra and the bhAmatI school
• prakASAtman and the vivaraNa school
• sarvajnAtman and vimuktAtman
• SrIharsha
• citsukha and others in the 13th century CE
• Anandagiri
• bhAratItIrtha, vidyAraNya and SankarAnanda
• sadAnanda yogIndra
• prakASAnanda sarasvatI
• nRsimhASrama and his disciples
• appayya dIkshita and others
• madhusUdana sarasvatI, the great kRshNa bhakta
• sadASiva brahmendra, upanishad brahmendra
• advaita authors in this century

A large number of teachers and writers have left their impress upon the advaita tradition
during the 12 centuries after SankarAcArya. This page mentions only the seminal figures
in the history of post-Sankaran advaita. True to the advaita spirit of not identifying with
the body, our writers rarely give any clues to personal details in their texts.
Consequently, all dates mentioned here rely upon the academic research that has been
done within the last two centuries. Traditional details are mentioned where necessary,
and it is important to remember that some historical details are still being disputed in the
literature.
A list of post-Sankaran authors in advaita will have to include both sannyAsins and
householders. Moreover, some householder authors took the vows of sannyAsa at a later
stage in their lives, which means that some authors are known by more than one name
(e.g. janArdana - Anandagiri). A general rule of thumb is that an author whose last name
is miSra, or a variant of upAdhyAya, or dIkshita is a householder, while the names of
sannyAsins are indicated by daSanAmI suffixes. However, there are some early
sannyAsin authors whose daSanAmI suffixes are not known, such as jnAnaghana
(grand-disciple of sureSvara, and author of tattvaSuddhi), his disciple, jnAnottama (the
author of vidyASrI), vimuktAtman, citsukha, sukhaprakASa, amalAnanda and others. In
these cases, that they were sannyAsins is known by the terms muni, yati, yogi etc. used
by later commentators. The sannyAsin authors were generally associated with the four
maThas established by Sankara and the other maThas established later. Thus,
jnAnaghana and jnAnottama are found on the succession list of the Sringeri maTha, and
Anandagiri is found on the list of the Dvaraka maTha. Meanwhile,the householder
scholars formed the communities in which the sannyAsins were born, and from which
the maThAdhipatis were chosen.

The name of vAcaspati miSra (9th century CE) stands out among the early post-
Sankaran authors in the advaita tradition. His commentary, named bhAmatI [1], on
SankarAcArya's brahmasUtra bhAshya, is celebrated, and has given birth to a sub-
tradition within advaita, called the bhAmatI school. Many commentaries to bhAmatI
have been written in the course of the centuries. vAcaspati miSra is said to have written
a commentary named tattva samIkshA to maNDana miSra's brahmasiddhi, which is now
unfortunately lost to us. He is also well-known as a scholar who wrote authoritative
treatises in various Indian philosophical traditions, including nyAya-vaiSeshika
(nyAyasUcInibandha and tAtparyaTIkA), yoga (tattvavaiSAradI), mImAm.sA
(nyAyakaNikA) and sAm.khya (tattvakaumudI), in addition to advaita vedAnta. His
erudition made him famous as a sarvatantra-svatantra, a title of high respect in India.

The next important author from the 10th century CE is prakASAtman, who wrote the
vivaraNa [2] to padmapAda's pancapAdikA. This work has also received a long line of
commentaries from later authors, and lends its name to the other important sub-tradition
in advaita vedAnta, namely the vivaraNa school. prakASAtman also wrote the
SabdanirNaya and the nyAyamuktAvalI, a commentary on the brahmasUtras.
sarvajnAtman, the author of samkshepa-SArIraka, pancaprakriyA and pramANa-
lakshaNa [3] is another notable 10th century author. sarvajnAtman salutes his guru
deveSvara in his works. The name deveSvara is usually seen as a synonym of
sureSvara, Sankara's disciple, and on this basis, sarvajnAtman is sometimes identified
with nityabodhaghana. However, in the pramANa-lakshaNa, sarvajnAtman mentions
the name of deveSvara's guru as devAnanda, whose guru was SreshThAnanda. Hence,
there is some confusion over whether sarvAjnAtman was a direct disciple of sureSvara
or not.

sarvajnAtman was probably a younger contemporary of vimuktAtman, the author of

ishTasiddhi. [4] One author named jnAnottama, who lived in the 12th century CE, wrote
the candrikA on sureSvara's naishkarmyasiddhi, and a vivaraNa to the vimuktAtman's
ishTasiddhi. This jnAnottama lived in the region of Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. His full
name in the manuscripts is jnAnottama miSra mahopAdhyAya, which indicates that
unlike the jnAnottama mentioned earlier, he was a householder scholar. There is some
evidence from the last verse of the candrikA that this author later became a sannyAsin by
name sarvajnASrama.

Between the 9th and 13th centuries, SankarAcArya's exposition of advaita came under
attack by rival vedAntin teachers, such as bhAskara (bhedAbheda), rAmAnuja
(viSishTAdvaita), nimbArka (dvaitAdvaita), and AnandatIrtha (dvaita). There was also a
resurgence of nyAya-vaiSeshika philosophy around the same time, culminating in the
fully developed navya-nyAya school of later times. After this period, all later authors in
the advaita tradition concentrate on addressing issues raised by philosophers from
nyAya, and rival schools of vedAnta. This is in contrast with the early authors whose
major concerns were with the tenets of the sAm.khya, mahAyAna buddhists and the
pUrva mImAm.sakas.

SrIharsha, who wrote the khaNDana-khaNDa-khAdya, [5] is an important author in the

history of advaita vedAnta. He mainly addresses the nyAya school, and points out
fallacies in their definitions of various concepts. Such criticisms lead to a later reworking
of the nyAya system, which soon lost its earlier naive realism. After SrIharsha's time,
logical formalism took center stage, culminating in the highly formal logical system of
the navya-nyAya (new logic) school. The khaNDana-khaNDa-khAdya was commented
upon both by advaitins and naiyyAyikas. SrIharsha is also famous as the author of the
naishAda-carita, which relates the purAnic story of nala and damayantI. He is known for
using extremely difficult grammatical constructions in the sam.skRta language, and
constructing sentences using words in such a way as to yield multiple meanings. For
example, the word yAgeSvara can be split as yAgAnAm ISvara:, the lord of sacrifices, or
as yA ageSvara:, the lord of mountains, and both meanings are significant in the same
sentence. SrIharsha's work has been commented upon by many later advaitins, and also
by authors in the nyAya-vaiSeshika tradition.

citsukha, a disciple of jnAnottama, wrote a number of works, including commentaries

on the khaNDana-khaNDakhAdya, brahmasiddhi and naishkarmyasiddhi. His
tattvapradIpikA is more famously known as citsukhI. [6] Like SrIharsha before him,
citsukha also makes effective use of the dialectical method seen in the works of
nAgArjuna, the buddhist philosopher. Both acknowledge this fact, but criticize the
madhyamaka school for not affirming the ultimate reality of brahman. Anandabodha,
AnandAnubhava, akhaNDAnanda and anubhUtisvarUpAcArya are other important
authors in the 13th century. sukhaprakASa, a disciple of citsukha, wrote commentaries
on Anandabodha's and anubhUtisvarUpa's works. amalAnanda, a disciple of
sukhaprakASa, wrote the vedAntakalpataru on the bhAmatI and also a pancapAdikA-
darpaNa, thus forming an early link between the bhAmatI and vivaraNa schools.

Anandagiri (also known as AnandajnAna), a disciple of SuddhAnanda, is well-

known as the author of a number of TIkAs and TippaNas on SankarAcArya's upanishad
bhAshyas. [7] anubhUtisvarUpa, mentioned earlier, was an important figure in the
sArasvata grammatical tradition, and was probably another guru of Anandagiri's. He
wrote the prakaTArtha-vivaraNa on Sankara's brahmasUtrabhAshya and a mANDUkya-
kArikA-bhAshya. Both SuddhAnanda and Anandagiri are mentioned in the lineage of the
Dvaraka maTha. Anandagiri is popularly known as the TIkAkAra. His tarka sangraha
is a refutation of the vaiSeshika categories, and is a very popular text in the tradition.
Anandagiri is probably identical with janArdana, the author of vedAntatattvAloka.
Anandagiri is often mistakenly identified with toTakAcArya, an immediate disciple of
SankarAcArya. The Sankara-vijaya of anantAnandagiri, a much later author, is also
mistakenly attributed to Anandagiri. Needless to say, both identifications are erroneous.

By far the most important authors in the 14th century are SankarAnanda, bhAratI
tIrtha and vidyAraNya. Together, the latter two wrote a number of definitive works,
including the adhikaraNa ratnamAlA (also called vaiyAsika nyAyamAlA), pancadaSI,
jIvanmuktiviveka, anubhUtiprakASa and vivaraNaprameyasangraha. [8] Both authors
were from the Sringeri lineage, and were disciples of vidyAtIrtha (also called
vidyAsankara), as attested by the evidence of the anubhUtiprakASa. vidyAraNya is
traditionally known to be the guiding spirit behind the founders of the Vijayanagar
empire in southern India. That vidyAraNya and bhAratI tIrtha wrote together is
mentioned by their direct disciple, rAmakRshNa bhAratI, who wrote the pancadaSI-
tAtparyabodhinI.

In the pancadaSI, vidyAraNya mentions SankarAnanda as another guru of his. This

SankarAnanda was a disciple of AtmAnanda, and he wrote many dIpikAs on the
upanishads belonging to the atharvaveda. He also wrote the AtmapurANa and the
bhagavad-gItA-tAtparyabodhinI. He is said to have been a native of Tiruvidaimarudur in
Tamil Nadu, and is also associated with the holy places Srisailam and Ahobilam in
Andhra Pradesh. His name is also found in the lineages of a few branch maThas of the
Sringeri and Puri maThas. [9] vidyAraNya is normally identified in modern literature
with a mAdhava, but the identification remains controversial. The mAdhavIya
Sankaravijaya is traditionally attributed to vidyAraNya. The sarvadarSana-sangraha,
which is a compendium of Indian philosophical thought, presents the tenets of the major
contemporary schools of thought in a hierarchical fashion, with advaita vedAnta as the
ultimate truth.

There are many authors from the 14th and 15th centuries CE. The growth of the
Vijayanagar empire and its vassal states in southern India was a crucial factor in the
preservation and transmission of all Indian religious and philosophical traditions.
Beginning with the sons of sangama, the founders of the Vijayanagar empire, the kings
of the first dynasty identified closely with advaita vedAnta and regarded the
SankarAcAryas of the Sringeri maTha as their gurus. A brahmasUtravRtti is even
attributed to prauDhadevarAya, one of the early Vijayanagar kings. The later dynasties
which ruled the Vijayanagar empire were predominantly Vaishnava, but the kings
encouraged and patronized teachers from all sects and faiths, including Muslims. All
aspects of traditional Indian culture found patronage in the empire. Among the texts
written in the 15th century, the vedAntasAra of sadAnanda yogIndra [10] enjoys great
popularity. It is often used as an introductory text in the advaita tradition. sadAnanda
also wrote the vedAntasiddhAnta-sArasangraha, bhavaprakASa on the gItA and the
brahmasUtra-tAtparyaprakASa.

In the 16th century, prakASAnanda sarasvatI's vedAntasiddhAnta-muktAvalI, [11] and

siddhAntadIpa, a commentary on this work by nAnA dIkshita, represent a move away
from the influential bhAmatI and vivaraNa sub-schools. These two authors argue for the
dRshTi-sRshTi vAda, but not many other works are found along this line. prakASAnanda
also wrote a few works in the SAkta tradition, such as tArAbhakti tarangiNI. This work
is also not very widely known, although the worship of saguNa brahman in the form of
the Goddess has been intimately connected with the advaita vedAnta tradition, since
ancient times. The SrIvidyA tradition , in particular, has been largely assimilated into
advaita communities, especially in southern India.

In philosophy, the vivaraNa sub-school continued to be very important, as represented

by nRsimhASrama (disciple of jagannAthASrama), who was an extremely influential
teacher in the 16th century. His bhedadhikkAra [12] is an early example of the polemical
debate between dvaita and advaita philosophers. He also wrote advaitadIpikA,
tattvaviveka, vedAntaratnakoSa, a commentary on padmapAda's pancapAdikA,
tattvabodhinI on sarvajnAtman's samkshepasArIraka and bhAvaprakASikA on
prakASAtman's vivaraNa. He and his disciples, nArAyaNASrama, rAmASrama and
others flourished in the south and wrote many texts. One of the most famous disciples of
nRsimhASrama was dharmarAja adhvarIndra, whose vedAnta paribhAshA is
immensely popular. [13] All these authors of the vivaraNa school pay a lot of attention
to epistemological issues, and dharmarAja systematizes the pramANas (source of valid
knowledge) in pUrva mImAm.sA and advaita vedAnta.

In the 16th-17th centuries, a number of south Indian householder scholars, surnamed

dIkshita, rose to prominence in the advaita tradition. The name dIkshita is used only for
those who have performed certain Vedic sacrifices. Chief among them was appayya
dIkshita, whose most famous work was the siddhAntaleSasangraha. [14] He also wrote
the parimala on amalAnanda's kalpataru, thus representing the bhAmatI sub-school.
However, appayya dIkshita points out that the differences between the vivaraNa and
bhAmatI schools are not because of philosophical disagreement on fundamental
principles, but a result of differing technique and the emphasis on different issues, such
as epistemology in one and ontology in the other. Like vAcaspati miSra, appayya
dIkshita has also written many texts on nyAya-vaiSeshika, pUrva mImAm.sA and other
schools. He also wrote the madhva-tantra-mukha-mardanam, attacking the dvaita
school, and an autocommentary to it, called vidhvamsana. Many descendents of appayya
dIkshita were great scholars and authors in various fields of traditional learning well into
recent times, including tyAgarAja makhin of the 19th century. Popularly known as
Raju Sastrigal, this scholar wrote the sadvidyAvilAsa on the famous uddAlaka-Svetaketu
dialogue of the chAndogya upanishad. swAmI SivAnanda, who founded the Divine Life
Society, was another descendent of appayya dIkshita.

Tradition records that appayya was initially a follower of the SivAdvaita school of the
13th century teacher, SrIkaNTha. appayya wrote the SivArkamaNidIpikA on
SrIkaNTha's brahmasUtrabhAshya. In the SivAdvaitanirNaya and the Sivatattvaviveka,
appayya dIkshita tries to accommodate SrIkaNTha's thought within Sankaran advaita
vedAnta. He represents the close connections between Saivas and the followers of
SankarAcArya during this period in southern India. narasimha bhAratI, who was an
AcArya in the Sringeri line, and a contemporary of appayya dIkshita, wrote a
commentary to the SivagItA. An earlier example of this synthesis is mallanArAdhya,
who wrote the advaitaratna, to which nRsimhASrama wrote a commentary called
tattvadIpana. mallanArAdhya's name indicates that he belonged to the ArAdhya group
of brAhmaNas, who greatly respected the vIraSaiva leader basavaNNa, but unlike the
vIraSaivas, did not reject the authority of the vedas. A great motivating factor for this
was surely the fact that south Indian vaishNava religion had given birth to two schools of
vedAnta, namely the viSishTAdvaita of rAmAnuja and the dvaita of AnandatIrtha.
Meanwhile, advaitins and Saivas found common cause in various social, religious and
political issues, which is reflected in appayya's works. This understanding must have
been helped by the religious customs of most traditional advaitins. For example, a
Sivalinga is consecrated at the site where a sannyAsin of the advaita order is buried, and
advaitins themselves worship Siva and vishNu as equally valid forms of saguNa
brahman. However, appayya dIkshita was no narrow sectarian. He is known to have
composed a commentary on the yAdavAbhyudaya, a work of vedAnta deSika, a
vaishNava leader. The inclusivistic and non-sectarian nature of the followers of Sankara
is also seen from other customs and texts dating from this period.

bhaTTojI dIkshita, the great grammarian scholar from the north was a disciple of
appayya dIkshita. bhaTTojI's brother, rangojI bhaTTa, wrote advaita works such as
advaitacintAmaNi and attacked the dvaita school of AnandatIrtha in his madhva-
siddhAnta-bhanjanI. bhaTTojI wrote advaitakaustubha, a dIpana on nRsimhASrama's
tattvaviveka, and the madhvamata-vidhvamsana against dvaita. rangoji's grandson,
lakshmInRsimha, wrote the well-known Abhoga commentary in the bhAmatI line.

madhusUdana sarasvatI, disciple of viSveSvara sarasvatI and mAdhava sarasvatI,

is the most celebrated name in the annals of the great dvaita-advaita debate. He also
flourished in the 16th century. His advaitasiddhi [15] is a classic work, and most advaita
teachers maintain that all the logical issues raised by the dvaita school of AnandatIrtha
have been more than sufficiently answered by madhusUdana. His gUDhArthadIpikA on
the bhagavadgItA is another well-known treatise. In addition, he wrote the
ISvarapratipatti-prakASa, vedAntakalpalatikA, sArasangraha on sarvajnAtman's
samkshepa-SArIraka, and the justly famous siddhAntabindu on SankarAcArya's
daSaSlokI. madhusUdana sarasvatI was a great devotee of Lord kRshNa. Just like
appayya dIkshita, who integrated SivAdvaita into advaita vedAnta, madhusUdana
bridged the sAtvata school of pAncarAtra vaishNavism and advaita vedAnta philosophy.
It is also interesting to note that madhusUdana boldly differs from Sankara in some of
his interpretations of the brahmasUtras and the gItA, although he salutes Sankara and
sureSvara in the most reverential terms.

madhusUdana sarasvatI is popularly reported to have been a contemporary of the

Mughal emperor Akbar. It is said that on Akbar's suggestion, madhusUdana initiated
large numbers of sannyAsins from kshatriya and vaiSya communities to the daSanAmI
orders, in order to form a group of martially trained ascetics to protect the people. This
most probably reflects historical fact. Armed nAga sannyAsin warriors, tracing their
origins to madhusUdana sarasvatI, and affiliated with the daSanAmI akhADas, were a
component of almost every Rajput army in northern India, till fairly recent times.
Tradition also recounts that viTThaleSa, the son of vallabhAcArya of the SuddhAdvaita
pushTimArga school, studied under madhusUdana sarasvatI, who thus forms a crucial
link between advaita vedAnta and many vaishNava sects in the north.

In the 18th century, sadASiva brahmendra and upanishad brahmendra were very
important teachers in southern India. sadASiva brahmendra was a disciple of
paramaSivendra sarasvatI (author of Siva gItA vyAkhyA and dahara vidyA prakASikA)
and grand-disciple of abhinava nArAyaNendra sarasvatI, who wrote many upanishad
dIpikAs. sadASiva wrote AtmavidyAvilAsa, advaitarasamanjarI and other popular
works. [16] Numerous legends are reported about his saintliness, the miracles he worked
and the height of his brahman realization. His simple kIrtanas are meant to teach advaita
values to even the most illiterate person, and are very popular in Carnatic music today.
He passed away in Nerur in Tamil Nadu, where annual ArAdhanas are held at his
samAdhi-sthala. The sannyAsins in sadASiva brahmendra's lineage lived and taught in
the extreme south of India, and were widely known, but their maTha affiliations, if any,
are not known.

rAmacandrendra sarasvatI, disciple of vAsudevendra sarasvatI, was popularly

called upanishad brahmendra. He was the first author in the advaita tradition to write
commentaries on all the 108 upanishads listed in the muktikopanishad. His
commentaries are considered to be authoritative, and are quite popular among sannyAsin
communities in the south. In the tradition of samanvaya used in the brahmasUtras, he
harmonizes the various doctrines found in these texts, and weaves their extensive
religious lore into the consistent philosophical framework of Sankaran advaita.
upanishad brahmendra lived and taught in Kancipuram in the south. He established hiw
own maTha at Kanci, which continues to this day, under the leadership of illustrious
sannyAsins. Tyagaraja, the great composer in Carnatic music, was a disciple of
upanishad brahmendra.

The 20th century: In the 20th century, there has been an enormous amount of activity in
terms of publishing manuscripts, translating works of the advaita masters, and writing
commentaries in English and in Indian languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. The "neo-Vedantin" groups have contributed
immensely towards bringing a greater awareness of advaita philosophy to the West and
the common man in India. The list of people is too large to mention, so here I only
mention those who have composed philosophical texts in sam.skRta in the traditional
style. I also exclude Indian and Western academic scholars and philosophers, who were
non-dualists, whether due to an interest in traditional advaita vedAnta or otherwise. This
is because I believe that while these other authors are contributing a lot to the interest in
advaita philosophy, those who carry on the work of writing sam.skRta commentaries and
teaching their disciples in the traditional way represent the core of the living advaita
tradition.

A few authors stand out among the 20th century savants in the advaita daSanAmI
tradition. One is SrI candrasekhara bhAratI of Sringeri, the world renowned
jIvanmukta, who wrote the vivekacUDAmaNi bhAshya. [17] This commentary was
reportedly begun by his guru, Sri saccidAnanda SivAbhinava nRsimha bhAratI. It is
incomplete, with no commentary to the last few verses of the work. Another important
author is SrI saccidAnandendra sarasvatI of the Adhyatma Prakasa Karyalaya,
Holenarsipur, who brought the critical thinking of modern academic scholarship to the
advaita tradition. He wrote the brahmavidyA-rahasya-vivRti on the chAndogya
upanishad, gItASAstrArtha-viveka, vedAntaprakriyA-pratyabhijnA and kleSApahAriNI
on sureSvara's naishkarmyasiddhi, in addition to many other texts in English and
Kannada on the advaita tradition. [18] A third author is SrI vidyAnanda giri, who wrote
a TIkA to toTaka's SrutisArasamuddhAraNa. [19]

Among the householder scholars of recent times, particular mention may be made of
Vasudev Sastri Abhyankar, author of advaitAmoda, N. S. Anantakrishna Sastri, who
wrote advaitatattvasudhA and other works, Kadalangudi Natesa Sastri (1878-1961),
whose periodical, Aryamata samvardhinI published many upanishads and bhAshyas,
with Tamil translations and Tetiyur Subrahmanya Sastri, whose Sankara Gurukulam
school has produced many scholars.

This brief survey of post-Sankaran authors in the advaita tradition attests to its basic
continuity irrespective of India's numerous historical upheavals. A large number of the
teachers in the tradition have remained anonymous, as they taught only select students,
and did not write commentarial texts. Great teachers and authors are found from all over
India, but the scholastic tradition has always been stronger in the south. The sannyAsins
travelled far and wide all over India, preaching basic religious values to the masses and
teaching philosophy to competent students. These teachers often lived and taught side by
side with Saiva siddhAntins, viSishTAdvaitins, dvaitins, bhedAbhedavAdins, leaders of
various bhakti movements, Jains, Muslims and others. As no human being lives in a
vacuum, the rapid changes in India's social, political and religious landscape made their
presence felt in the personal lives of the post-Sankaran teachers in advaita. We see
teachers of the stature of appayya dIkshita, madhusUdana sarasvatI and prakASAnanda
sarasvatI bringing various Saiva, vaishNava and SAkta religious groups, with their own
legacies, within the fold of the orthodox advaita vedAnta tradition. The leadership of
teachers of advaita vedAnta contributed immensely to the inclusivistic nature of
Hinduism, and encouraged a tolerant attitude towards diverse religious practices, that is
so essential to a pluralistic society. However, through it all, the basic "Great Equation"
of advaita vedAnta (Atman = brahman) has been firmly adhered to. The tradition
continues to this day, and possesses an enormous amount of resilience to continue well
into the future.

INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES
 Transliteration Key

There are various traditional schools of philosophy in India, often classified into
orthodox (Astika) and heterodox (nAstika) systems. This classification is mainly based
upon the acceptance or otherwise of the vedas. [***] The vedas are four in number -
Rg, yajus, sAma and atharva. Each veda consists of mantra portions (hymns), also called
karma kANDa, and brAhmaNa portions (in prose and verse) including upanishads
(esoteric doctrine) and AraNyakas (forest treatises), also called jnAna kANDa.

A key concept in understanding the structure of Indian philosophies is that of

purushArtha - the goals of mankind. As far as life in this world is concerned, these goals
are three - dharma - to lead an ethical life, artha - to acquire wealth, position and
social/political status, and kAma - to fulfil all other desires, including sexual desire. The
fourth purushArtha, namely moksha - salvation/liberation, deals not with life in this
world, but with the eternal destiny of the individual. The various Indian schools of
philosophy and religion differ mainly on questions of dharma and moksha.

The heterodox Indian schools explicitly reject the claim of the vedas to being an
independently valid source of knowledge about dharma and moksha. These schools are:

• lokAyata or cArvAka (materialists)

• bauddha (including a number of schools of Buddhism)
• jaina or syAdvAda (Jainism, including digambara and SvetAmbara groups)

The cArvAka school has died a natural death in India. It is said to be based on the
lokAyata sUtras of bRhaspati. Most of our information about the cArvAkas comes from
the tattvopaplavasimha of jayarASi, and from later anthological texts. It is usually
portrayed as a crass materialism, which promoted immoral behavior, and endorsed an
early Indian equivalent of Machiavellian politics. The cArvAkas are said to have
recognized only artha and kAma as valid goals in life, both dharma and moksha not
being amenable to direct perception, and therefore invalid. A more charitable view
regards this school as an Indian version of skepticism.

Buddhism is a world religion, having spread to all parts of Asia, and is now spreading to
Europe and the Americas too. In India itself, Buddhism has more or less died out, except
in the north-east, and in Ladakh, near Kashmir. Buddhism is returning to India in recent
times, with the formation of the neo-Buddhist communities in Central India, and the
presence of Tibetan refugees and the Dalai Lama. In contrast, Jainism has always
flourished all over India, and is practised by large numbers of Indian trading
communities. Jainas are found from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south to the
Gangetic plains in the north. Gujarat and Rajasthan have significant Jaina populations.
Both Buddhism and Jainism place a high value on dharma and moksha, but deny the
validity of the vedas in this regard.
The orthodox schools are traditionally counted as six in number (shaD darSana), usually
grouped in pairs, to form three pairs. These are:

• nyAya and vaiSeshika

• yoga and sAm.khya
• pUrva and uttara mImAm.sA (The word mImAm.sA usually refers to pUrva
mImAm.sA, while uttara mImAm.sA is more popularly called vedAnta.)

nyAya-vaiSeshika: nyAya is the school of Indian logic. It is based on the nyAya sUtras
of gautama, and a long tradition of commentaries. It is very realistic in outlook, and has
historically amalgamated itself with the vaiSeshika, which is the old Indian school of
atomism. The vaiSeshika sUtras of kaNAda (or kaNabhuk, the `atom-eater') and its line
of commentaries form the basis of this school. Here, the entire universe is considered to
be ultimately composed of `atoms' (aNu)of the old five elements (earth, water, fire, light
and space). Laws of combination of atoms to form `molecules' (dvyANuka, tryANuka
etc.) were also formulated. Authors of nyAya and vaiSeshika works freely drew upon
each other's principles, to form the combined school.

According to nyAya-vaiSeshika thought, the individual soul is supposed to be a

substance, atomic in size and other qualities. Another one of the important features of
nyAya thought is that it offers a number of cosmological, teleological and anthropic
arguments for the existence of a Creator God. The vedas are generally regarded to be
compositions of this Creator. The standard solution to the question of human liberation
is to follow the teachings of the vedas, and perform the requisite sacrifices, in order to
attain a heaven. A number of these arguments are extremely similar to those offered by
theologians from the Judaic, Christian and Islamic religions. The nyAya-vaiSeshika
school has not seen any new developments for a long time now. They have been mostly
replaced by the navya-nyAya (neo-nyAya) school, which specializes in a rigorous logical
formalism, comparable with modern mathematical formal logic.

sAm.khya-yoga: The first teacher of the sAm.khya school is said to be kapila, one of
the famous Rshis or siddhas in Indian mythology. The oldest texts of the sAm.khya
school are the sAm.khya kArikas of ISvarakRshNa. This text and its commentaries
enumerate 24 fundamental principles, which constitute the universe. 22 of these are
evolutes of one more basic principle, called prakRti. The other principle is purusha, the
individual soul, whose liberation consists of isolation from prakRti. Thus, the basic
scheme is one of duality, based on two fundamental principles, prakRti and purusha,
although this school also allows for an infinite number of purushas. There is no real
place for a Creator God in this scheme, nor is there any great emphasis on the vedas.
However, none of the sAm.khya authors explicitly deny the validity of the vedas, which
allows their inclusion among the Astika thinkers. There is another set of texts, deriving
from the so-called sAm.khya sUtras, attributed to kapila. There is a commentary in this
line, by vijnAnabhikshu, a 17th century author, but after him, there has not been much
development of sAm.khya thought.
The yoga sUtras of patanjali form the basis for the yoga school of thought. Generally,
the principles of sAm.khya are accepted in the texts on yoga, so that these two schools
are usually paired together. However, ISvara, an Omniscient God, as a 25th principle, is
an important feature of the yoga school. There is a commentary on the yoga sUtras by
vyAsa, to which SankarAcArya has written a sub-commentary. The metaphysics and
psychology of yoga (and sAm.khya, through yoga) have been absorbed into the vedAnta
schools. Indeed, most of the post-Sankaran non-advaita schools of vedAnta can be seen
as restatements of the sAmkhya pluralism, with an added theistic dimension, which
comes from the influence of bhakti in Indian religion.

Thus, these four schools emphasize one or more of logic, psychology, ontology and
metaphysics. They do not necessarily rely on Sruti (i.e. the vedas) as an independent
pramANa (valid source of knowledge), though they do not explicitly reject it either.
vaiSeshika, sAm.khya and yoga schools of thought do not offer an exalted place to the
vedas. The nyAya school makes these texts to be the compositions of a Creator God, but
the existence of this Creator is itself established only through the inferential arguments
proposed by the logicians. Thus, the validity of the veda is dependent on the validity of
their logical analysis. When the nyAya authors say that the vedas also offer evidence for
the existence of a Creator God, they commit the fallacy of arguing in a circle - the veda
is valid because it was composed by a Creator God, and the Creator God exists because
the veda says so. This is a logical fallacy committed by most theologians, and is not
acceptable to the mImAm.sA and vedAnta schools of thought.

*** An alternative definition of an Astika school is acording to its acceptance of an

Omniscient, Omnipotent Creator God. In this viewpoint, all the usual nAstika schools
remain so, but both sAm.khya and pUrva mImAm.sA would have to be described as
nAstika. It is very interesting to note that such a notable mImAm.sA author as kumArila
bhaTTa argues vigorously for the unquestioned validity of the vedas, and equally
vigorously against the notion of a Creator God. And it should also be noted that,
according to this definition, the ajAti vAda school of advaita vedAnta would be
considered nAstika by rival schools of vedAnta. Therefore, the demarcation of
Astika/nAstika thought, according to the acceptance of the vedas or otherwise, is
historically and doctrinally more accurate.

THE UPANISHADS

Transliteration Key
The upanishads are expositions of doctrine, typically found in the concluding portions of
the brAhmaNas and AraNyakas of the four vedas. A number of upanishads are extant
today, with commentaries on them by representatives of various schools of vedAnta. The
upanishads are not to be seen as uniform books - each text is connected to the veda in
which it occurs, and the upanishadic teaching is often presented in the context of a
particular vedic hymn or ritual. In the vedAnta traditions, the upanishads are referred to
as the Sruti prasthAna, i.e. revealed scripture, from which knowledge of brahman is
obtained.

The Principal upanishads: The upanishads that have been commented upon by Sankara
and other teachers have have acquired extra significance as the principal or more or less
"canonical" upanishads. These are:

aitareya (Rg veda)

bRhadAraNyaka (Sukla yajurveda)
ISa (Sukla yajurveda)
taittirIya (kRshNa yajurveda)
kaTha (kRshNa yajurveda)
chAndogya (sAma veda)
kena (sAma veda)
muNDaka (atharva veda)
mANDUkya (atharva veda)
praSna (atharva veda)

These ten are the most important and principal texts. Modern scholars believe that these
also represent the oldest of the upanishadic texts. Others add the kaushItakI and
SvetASvatara upanishads to the list of principal upanishads, and some add the
maitrAyaNI too.

Other upanishads: A number of other upanishads are extant today. The Indian
traditions regard the upanishads as Sruti, which is timeless, eternal, and apaurusheya
(unauthored). Hence, finding dates of composition for the various upanishads is a
meaningless non-issue to them. Some of the texts that are called upanishads may not be
accepted by specific traditions. However, this is really a question of acknowledging the
Sruti status of a given text, not one of finding a date of composition. Modern scholars
attempt to fix periods of composition for all these texts. Needless to say, the date of
composition of these texts, including those of the principal upanishads, is of no real
concern to the vedAnta traditions.

It has become popular to classify the upanishads in terms of the subject matter they
cover. Thus, we have a large number of upanishads dealing with general topics of
vedAnta, in addition to those that teach yoga, and those that detail the rules of
sam.nyAsa. The upanishads that tend to concentrate on one of the Great Deities of
Hinduism are usually classified as Saiva, vaishNava and SAkta upanishads.
A list of 108 upanishads as found in the muktikopanishad is given in the table below.
The yajurveda column has two rows under each heading - kRshNa yajurveda texts are in
the upper row, and Sukla yajurveda texts in the lower one.

108 upanishads
Rg veda yajur veda sAma veda atharva veda

(10) (51) (16) (31)

10 Principal upanishads
kaTha
praSna
taittirIya kena
aitareya mANDUkya
ISAvAsya chAndogya
muNDaka
bRhadAraNyaka

24 sAmAnya vedAnta upanishads

akshi

ekAkshara

garbha

prANAgnihotra

SvetASvatara

SArIraka
mahat
Atmabodha Sukarahasya
maitrAyaNI AtmA
kaushItakI skanda
vajrasUcI sUrya
mudgala sarvasAra
sAvitrI
adhyAtma

nirAlamba

paingala

mAntrika

muktika

subAla
 17 sAm.nyAsa upanishads
avAdhUta

kaTharudra

brahma
AruNeya nArada-
jAbAla -parivrAjaka
kuNDika
nirvANa turIyAtIta parabrahma
maitreyI
paramaham.sa paramahamsa-
sam.nyAsa -parivrAjaka
bhikshuka

yAjnavalkya

sAtyAyanI

20 yoga upanishads
amRtanAda

amRtabindu

kshurika

tejobindu

dhyAnabindu

brahmavidyA
pASupata-
yogakuNDalinI -brahma
jAbAladarSana
nAdabindu yogatattva mahAvAkya
yogacUDAmaNi
yogaSikhA SANDilya

varAha
advayatAraka

triSikhi-
-brAhmaNa

maNDala-
-brAhmaNa

ham.sa

14 vaishNava upanishads
 kaliSAntaraNa kRshNa

nArAyaNa gAruDa

gopAlatApanI

tripAdvibhUti-
avyakta mahAnArAyaNa
-
vAsudeva dattAtreya
tArasAra
nRsimhatApanI

rAmatApanI

rAmarahasya

hayagrIva

14 Saiva upanishads
kAlAgnirudra atharvaSikhA

kaivalya atharvaSira

dakshiNAmUrti jAbAlI gaNapati

akshamAlA
pancabrahma rudrAkshajAbAla bRhajjAbAla

rudrahRdaya bhasmajAbAla
- Sarabha

9 SAkta upanishads
sarasvatIrahasya annapUrNA
tripurA
tripurAtApanI
bahvRcA
- devI
-
saubhAgya-
-lakshmI bhAvanA

sItA

Comments: The classification of the upanishads on the basis of their subject matter
seems reasonable, and other than the 10 principal ones, most of the upanishads quoted
by the earliest commentators fall under the sAmAnya vedAnta category. However, some
upanishads could possibly be classified under more than one heading. For example,
varAha and pASupatabrahma upanishads are classified as yoga upanishads and not as
vaishNava and Saiva upanishads respectively. Similarly, gaNapati upanishad is included
as a Saiva upanishad, while skanda upanishad is not. Also, hamsa upanishad is called a
yoga upanishad and not a sam.nyAsa upanishad, whereas paramahamsa is included as a
sam.nyAsa upanishad. Similarly, the mahAvAkya upanishad and the brahmavidyA
upanishad might also justifiably be included under the sam.nyAsa upanishads.

In any case, there seems to be a large overlap in subject matter between the "yoga"
upanishads and the "sam.nyAsa" upanishads, pointing to the close relationship between
yoga practice and sam.nyAsa as an institution. This also raises the possibility that the
traditional association of yoga with sAm.khya in terms of the six darSanas may be
slightly misleading. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the most important
texts on the yoga system are by teachers of advaita vedAnta, from Sankara downwards,
although all these commentators explain yoga more or less in sAm.khyan terms. Another
interesting observation in this connection is that advaita vedAntins have completely
internalized yoga practice as an aid to meditation and to realize the non-dual brahman.

The bulk of the vaishNava (9 out of 14), Saiva (6 out of 14) and SAkta (5 out of 9)
upanishads are assigned to the atharva veda. However, it should be noted that the other
three vedas also have a significant share of the "late" upanishad texts. Three SAkta
upanishads are from the Rg veda, while there are no vaishNava upanishads and only one
Saiva upanishad assigned to the Rg veda. Also, there are no Saiva or SAkta upanishads
assigned to the Sukla yajurveda, but a substantial number of Saiva (5 out of 14)
upanishads are from the kRshNa yajus. The SAkta upanishads are grouped together,
although some teach worship of sarasvatI, lakshmI or pArvatI, and others describe
SrIcakra upAsanA, where Sakti is identified with brahman Itself, rather than being the
Sakti of one of brahmA, vishNu or Siva. Since the upanishads are associated with
individual SAkhAs within each veda, it might be interesting to investigate the
distribution of these upanishads further, and correlate them with the distribution of the
vaidika SAkhAs among today's communities of vaishNavas, Saivas and SAktas.

PURVA MIMAM.SA, ADVAITA AND OTHER SCHOOLS OF VEDANTA

Transliteration Key

The mImAm.sA (literally, enquiry) schools admit of Sruti (that which is heard, i.e.
revelation) as a pramANa. Usually, the word mImAm.sA refers exclusively to the pUrva
mImAm.sA school. The uttara mImAm.sA school is more popularly known as vedAnta.
A wide variety of texts, collectively called smRti (that which is remembered), is taken as
a lower authority that is valid when it does not conflict with Sruti. Other sources of
knowledge accepted by both pUrva mImAm.sA and vedAnta are: pratyaksha (sensory
perception), upamAna (analogy), anumAna (inference), arthApatti (postulation) and
anupalabdhi/abhAva (non-cognition/absence). The first three are borrowed from the
nyAya-vaiSeshika schools, but arthApatti and anupalabdhi are unique to the bhATTa
school of mImAm.sA thought. The mImAm.sA school of prabhAkara, called guru-mata,
does not accept abhAva as an independent pramANa. Above all these, the veda stands as
the supreme source of knowledge. The primacy concern of mImAm.sA is textual
exegesis, in addition to being a school of philosophy. Theology and religion are
inseparable from philosophy in the mImAm.sA schools. However, both pUrva and uttara
mImAm.sA schools maintain that Sruti exists only to reveal that which cannot be known
otherwise. Moreover, Sruti cannot deny a fact that is amenable to ordinary perception,
e.g. no amount of repetition by the vedas that fire is cold will make fire cold. Thus, if
there occurs a statement in Sruti that goes contrary to perception, it requires
interpretation in a metaphorical or allegorical sense. Hence, there is a place for logical
thinking based on perception and inference in these schools.

pUrva mImAm.sA interprets the vedas mainly as a set of injunctions (vidhi), with
adjoining recital (mantra) and commentary (arthavAda) portions. Thus, a statement, "he
who is desirous of heaven should perform the jyotishToma rite" is a vidhi, an injunction,
and the rite itself is to be performed with the relevant mantras. The knowledge conveyed
by this statement is not known by any other means, and its purpose is to impel the
listener to action. According to pUrva mImAm.sA, this heaven is the highest salvation
that is available to human beings, and thus the vedas are the sources of knowledge about
both dharma and moksha. The upanishads and brAhmaNas which relate to the said
jyotishToma rite are considered to be the arthavAda, the explanatory commentary. The
knowledge conveyed by the upanishads is also not known by any other means, but the
upanishads are considered to be subordinate to the statements which impel man to
action. Along with injunctions, there are also pratishedhas, statements which prohibit
certain actions. The tradition of such textual exegesisis codified in the mImAm.sA sUtras
of jaimini, with commentaries by Sabara, and sub-commentaries by kumArila
bhaTTa and prabhAkara. The mImAm.sA that is taught in traditional vaidIka
pAThaSAlAs in India today is based mainly upon the SAbara bhAshya and kumArila's
vArttikas. This school is called bhATTa mImAm.sA; the rival school called guru mata,
following prabhAkara's interpretation, is mostly extinct today.

uttara mImAm.sA, also called vedAnta, does not consider the upanishads and
brAhmaNas as arthavAda subservient to vidhis. Instead, they are seen to be sources of
brahman knowledge, addressed solely to those who seek moksha. The rituals enjoined in
the vedas are applicable to the realm of dharma, but the one who seeks liberation does
not merely desire a place in heaven; he is in search of ultimate Reality itself. The
upanishads are viewed as those portions of the Sruti that address philosophical questions
about Reality, here called brahman. This tradition of exegesis follows the brahmasUtras
of bAdarAyaNa. Within vedAnta, there is considerable difference of opinion on whether
the upanishads enjoin anything at all. The non-advaita schools consider some of the
statements in the upanishads to be injunctions. The most famous example is AtmA vA are
drashTavya: Srotavya: mantavya: nididhyAsitavya:. Most, if not all, non-advaita schools
would take this to be an injunction. In contrast, the advaitin approach to this statement is
to treat it as advice to the mumukshu, not as an injunction. This is because the AtmA is
an accomplished fact; it is not a result of any action and therefore meditation on the
innermost AtmA cannot be enjoined. In this respect, knowing the Atman contrasts with
the heaven which is attained as a result of the performance of the jyotishToma sacrifice.
According to advaita vedAnta, the veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the
ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result
of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know brahman. Thus, the
pUrva mImAm.sA, with its emphasis on the karma kANDa of the vedas, is meant for the
first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the vedAnta, with its
emphasis on the jnAna kANDa, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient
pleasures.

As a mImAm.sA, vedAnta has a function of textual exegesis, with its uniquely Indian
views on the origin, relevance and scope of revelation. In itself, any school of vedAnta
can be considered to be a philosophy and also as a religion, there being no distinct line
that can be drawn between the two, at least in the Indian context. vedAnta literally
means "the end of the vedas." This can be interpreted in more ways than one. From the
textual point of view, the upanishads, the source books of the vedAnta, are considered to
be the end of the vedas. From a philosophical point of view, vedAnta is the fruit or the
goal of all the vedas. The philosophical interpretation is more preferable in the tradition.
This is because the vedic texts are considered to be eternal, revealed scripture, so that
they have no definable chronological beginning or end. advaita vedAnta is the oldest
living school of vedAnta. It is also generally considered to be the premier school of
vedAnta,and the word vedAnta is used synonymously with advaita in most literature.

vedAnta bases itself mainly upon three sets of texts, called prasthAna trayI. These are
the upanishads (Sruti prasthAna), the bhagavad gItA (smRti prasthAna) and the
brahmasUtras of bAdarAyaNa (nyAya prasthAna). A working definition for a Hindu
tradition to be called vedAnta is that it should have definitive commentarial texts on the
three prasthAnas. Consequently, the following brief description overlooks important
traditions like those of Kashmir Saivism and southern Saiva siddhAnta.

An essential identity between Atman and brahman is upheld in advaita vedAnta. The
personality of SankarAcArya and the force of advaita teaching is so strong that most
post-Sankaran schools of vedAnta consciously define their doctrines against advaita
thought. A number of pre-Sankaran vedAntins seem to have been proponents of
bhedAbheda (bheda+abheda, or identity in difference). The earliest post-Sankaran
school of vedAnta is also one of bhedAbheda. This is seen from the commentaries of
bhAskarAcArya, which are still available, although the number of followers of this
school is quite small. In the 14th century, SrIpati paNDita, a commentator from the
vIraSaiva tradition, also identifies himself as a bhedAbhedavAdin. However, in general,
the vIraSaiva school does not pay much attention to vedAntic questions. Some early
advaita vedAnta influence on the monistic schools of Kashmir Saivism is also
postulated. However, these schools base themselves upon an independent set of texts,
namely the Saiva Agamas, and do not consider themselves to be vedAntic in origin.

A body-soul relationship between Atman and brahman is upheld in the school known as
viSishTAdvaita. Here, the highest brahman is considered as a "person" with a body
consisting of souls and matter. Theistic devotion to this highest brahman is held to be the
sole means to final moksha. The viSishTAdvaita schools split on the question of
identifying the highest brahman with Siva or vishNu, the Great Gods of Hinduism. The
school of SrIkaNTha regards Siva to be the highest brahman, and teaches a variety of
viSishTAdvaita. However, appayya dIkshita reinterpreted SrIkaNTha's thought in terms
of advaita vedAnta, and consequently, this school has come to be known as SivAdvaita.
Thus, only the vedAnta schools associated with vaishNava religion have maintained an
identity distinct from advaita vedAnta.

Most people understand the word viSishTAdvaita to refer to the SrI vaishNava school of
rAmAnujAcArya, which considers the highest brahman to be vishNu as
SrImannArAyaNa, and continues to have a distinct identity in southern India, with major
centers at Srirangam and Kancipuram. There is remarkable similarity between the
teachings of rAmAnuja and SrIkaNTha, except that while the former insists upon the
supremacy of nArAyaNa, the latter insists upon that of paramaSiva. Many northern
bhakti schools trace their thought to rAmAnuja's tradition, through the person of
rAmAnanda, a SrI vaishNava monk, who travelled extensively in the north and had
many disciples. These vaishNava monks also belong to the tradition of tridaNDI
sam.nyAsa, as compared to the ekadaNDI sam.nyAsa tradition of the daSanAmI monks.
The tridaNDI ascetics carry a staff that consists of three sticks tied together, symbolizing
the unity of three separate entities (God, individual soul and matter). The ekadaNDI
monks carry a single stick, symbolizing the essential identity of brahman and Atman.

Complete difference and dualism is taught in the dvaita school of AnandatIrtha (also
known as pUrNaprajna). This is a vaishNava tradition, centered at Udupi in Karnataka.
AnandatIrtha was the disciple of an advaita daSanAmI monk named acyutapreksha
tIrtha, but he completely rejected advaita teaching. Because of this historical legacy,
monks of the dvaita tradition continue to use daSanAmI suffixes, especially tIrtha, and
are ekadaNDI sam.nyAsins, although they would not interpret their single staff as a
symbol of brahman-Atman identity. The gauDiya vaishNavas claim to be affiliated to
the dvaita tradition, but their teaching of acintya bhedAbheda is quite different
philosophically. They have also affiliated themselves with the tridaNDI sam.nyAsa
tradition in recent times. And there is the devotional vaishNava school of
vallabhAcArya, which is known as pushTi-mArga, and as SuddhAdvaita. Despite this
name, this school should not be confused with advaita vedAnta. The gauDiya
vaishNavas have substantial following in Bengal, and the vallabha school in Gujarat.
nimbArka, another vaishNava teacher, taught dvaitAdvaita, which is similar to
bhedAbheda. This is a vaishNava school that has a small following in the plains of the
Yamuna river.

ADVAITA VEDANTA

Transliteration Key
Introduction -
The advaita philosophy is not easy to explain briefly, and it is not my intention to repeat
in a www home page what takes whole volumes for accomplished experts. I will content
myself with providing a brief synopsis of the various aspects of advaita vedAnta.

A very important assumption in all vedAnta is that man suffers from bondage in the
course of his life in this world. This is said to be sam.sAra, which involves being caught
in an endless cycle of births and deaths. The quest therefore is to seek a way out of this
bondage, to break the cycle of rebirths and attain moksha or liberation. The most
important issues in vedAnta have to be understood with respect to what constitutes
bondage and what constitutes liberation. The advaita school is of the view that jnAna
(knowledge) of man's true nature is liberation. Bondage arises from ignorance (avidyA)
of man's true nature, and therefore removal of ignorance roots out this bondage.
Liberation is therefore nothing more or nothing less than man knowing his true nature.
This true nature is his innermost essence, the Atman, which is nothing other than
brahman. He who knows this, not merely as bookish knowledge, but through his own
Experience, is liberated even when living. Such a man is a jIvanmukta, and he does not
return to the cycle of rebirths.

brahman -
It may be noticed that at first glance, advaita's solution to the problem of man's liberation
does not seem to involve God as a Creator or a Savior at all. If all that is required is to
know one's own true nature, what role does God have to play in this universe? advaita's
answer to this issue is buried in the advaitic conception of brahman. One is the view of
the brahmasUtra that brahman is at once both the instrumental and the material cause of
the universe. The brahmasUtra holds such a view because there is nothing that can be
said to exist independent of brahman. Is brahman then just a name for a universal set -
the superset of all things in this universe? Not so, because brahman has been described
as beyond all change, whereas the perceived universe is full of change. Still, this
universe is said to have brahman as the only cause. At the same time, to understand
brahman truly is to know It to be devoid of parts and diversity, and beyond all
causality/action. Such a conception of brahman derives from the upanishads, which say
sarvam khalvidam brahma - all this is indeed nothing but brahman - on the one hand,
and neha nAnAsti kincana - there is no diversity here - on the other. Thus, the conception
of brahman as a Creator in advaita is a unique one, and directly relates to the advaita
views on causality.

Causality: pariNAma and vivarta -

There are different theories of causality described by advaita vedAntins, but they are all
agreed that brahman is the sole cause of the universe, i.e both the instrumental and the
material cause of the universe. The axiom that the One brahman is the cause of the
many-fold universe is the foundation on which the entire system of advaita vedAnta is
based, and numerous efforts have been made over the centuries, to address logical
problems arising out of it. This brahman is also held to be eternal and changeless. It is
easy to understand brahman as the instrumental cause of the universe. This view is not
very different from the traditional perspective shared by almost all religions - some
creator is usually credited with having created this universe. This creator is the
instrumental cause of the universe. What differentiates the standard vedAnta position
from such general theistic views is that brahman is simultaneously also the material
cause of the universe. In other words, creation is never ex nihilo, but proceeds out of
brahman Itself, although brahman remains unchanged.

Common-sense views of material causality always involve some kind of change. Thus,
for example, milk is said to be the material cause of curds. However, in the process of
curdling milk, the milk cannot be recovered. All we have at the end is the curds, the milk
being irretrievably lost. This kind of causality involving change is called pariNAma.
There is another kind of material causality. For example, gold is the material cause of an
ornament made out of gold. In the process of making the ornament, the metal does not
change into something else. It is only drawn into another form, from a lump to an
ornament; the gold remains gold. This kind of causality is called vivarta, where the
material cause itself does not change into something else. The chAndogya upanishad
makes very telling use of this kind of causality in its illustrations of how "Being" alone
is the original cause (sadeva saumya idam agra AsIt, ekameva advitIyam), and how all
perceived change is only in the realm of name and form, dependent on language
(vAcArambhaNam vikAro nAmadheyam). The reality of gold is quite independent of
what shape it is in.

Although SankarAcArya makes use of both kinds of causality ( pariNAma and vivarta)
in his analogies, he denies that brahman's role as the material cause of the universe
involves any change in the essence that is brahman. In the logical extreme, both
pariNAma and vivarta views of causality are deficient, as they presume a separate reality
of the effect, apart from that of the cause. Therefore, the most subtle arguments in
advaita vedAnta turn upon the ajAti vAda notion - that there is no real creation. vivarta
and pariNAma are both seen as convenient ways of describing causality, only if some
provisional reality is conceded for the notion of creation. Those who follow the dRshTi-
sRshTi vAda also maintain that brahman is beyond all causality. However, most post-
Sankaran authors, who teach in accordance with what is called the sRshTi-dRshTi vAda,
opt for a vivarta notion of causality, as far as accounting for all creation is concerned. It
should be remembered that the conception of brahman as both the material and
instrumental cause of the universe implies a very special kind of causality, one that is not
similar to any other, and that cannot therefore be captured completely by any analogy. It
is as if brahman has acted upon itself in order to produce this universe, that is full of
change. Yet, the upanishads abound with passages denying that any change is possible in
brahman, and indeed SankarAcArya denies that brahman really acts. brahman is also
described as devoid of all attributes, along with passages that glorify brahman as ISvara,
the Lord of this universe, with infinite attributes.

nirguNa and saguNa brahman -

To resolve such passages in the upanishads, advaita vedAnta maintains that really
brahman is devoid of all attributes, and is therefore known as nirguNa. brahman may be
described as in the upanishads, as Truth (satyam), Knowledge (jnAnam), Infinite
(anantam), or as Being (sat), Consciousness (cit), Bliss (Ananda), but none of these
terms can be truly interpreted as attributes of brahman as a Super-person/God. Rather, it
is because brahman exists, that this whole universe is possible. It is because brahman
exists that man ascribes attributes to brahman. However, brahman's true nature cannot be
captured in words, for all these attributes are ultimately just words. Hence, it is man's
ignorance of Its true nature that postulates attributes to brahman, thereby describing It in
saguNa terms (with attributes). This saguNa brahman is ISvara, the Lord, whose
essential reality as brahman is not dependent on anything else, and does not change
because of the production of this universe. Therefore, advaita holds that brahman's own
nature (svarUpa- lakshaNa) is devoid of any attributes (nirguNa), while It is seen for the
temporary purposes of explaining creation (taTastha- lakshaNa) to be ISvara, with
attributes (saguNa).

So much for saguNa and nirguNa brahman. If brahman cannot be held to have suffered
any change because of creation of the universe, then what is the status of this universe?
Since the cause does not undergo any change in the process of producing the effect, it is
held that the cause alone is Real. The universe only partakes in reality inasmuch as it is
to be considered as dependent on brahman. Therefore the upanishads say, " sarvam.
khalvidam. brahma." If the universe is considered to be independent of brahman, then it
has no real Reality, although the world of human perception can never reveal this truth.
This is simply because brahman Itself is never an object of human perception. It is this
characteristic of dualistic knowledge, derived from perception alone, that prompts the
advaitin to call it mithyAjnAna (false knowledge).

avidyA and mAyA -

Why does human perception fail to see brahman directly? SankarAcArya attributes it
sometimes to avidyA (ignorance) and sometimes to mAyA (the power to deceive). As the
bRhadAraNyaka upanishad puts it, "vijnAtAram. are kena vijAnIyAt?" - How is the
Knower Itself to be known? It also stands to reason, therefore, that any effort at
characterizing brahman falls far short of brahman. No words reach brahman; how can
mere verbal descriptions claim to describe It? advaita now turns to the ancient technique
of adhyAropa-apavAda (sublation of superimposition) to explain this. Thus, although
brahman is called the instrumental and material cause of the universe, advaita tells us
that this is only a preliminary view of brahman, motivated by a need to explain creation
of the universe. In order to understand brahman, one has to go beyond this preliminary
view, and understand brahman in Itself, not necessarily in relation to the universe. Then
it is understood that the whole universe is only superimposed on the underlying Reality
that is brahman. To really know brahman, one needs to sublate this superimposition, and
look at the substratum (adhishThAna) that is brahman. As for the exact nature of avidyA
and mAyA, later authors seem divided into two major schools of thought, namely the
bhAmatI and the vivaraNa schools.

brahman = Atman -
What then of the human self, the jIva? It is here that advaita comes up with the most
radical answer, one that is unacceptable to all other schools of vedAnta. According to
advaita, what is called the universe is in reality not other than brahman. Similarly, what
is called the jIva is in reality, the Atman, which is also nothing other than brahman Itself.
The real jIva is the Atman, which is unchanging, ever free, and identical with brahman.
This is said on the basis of upanishadic passages where the Atman is explicitly equated
with brahman. This equation of Atman with brahman is also explained by means of
adhyAropa-apavAda. By sublating the superimposition of human shortcomings and
attributes on the Atman, the pure Atman, the substratum, shines forth as brahman Itself.
The mani-fold universe and the individual self, which considers itself bound, are both
superimposed upon that Transcendental Reality which is brahman. Once the
superimposition is understood for what it is, the individual is no more an individual, the
universe is no more the universe - all is brahman.

This doctrine of advaita should not be misinterpreted to mean that the human self is in
and of itself God, without any qualification whatsoever. SankarAcArya most
emphatically asserts that such is not his intention. On the other hand, he is at great pains
to point out that one who is desirous of moksha needs to overcome his human
shortcomings in order to achieve full liberation. Sankara prescribes rigorous prerequisite
qualities for the person who is to study vedAnta. These form the practical aspect of the
effort to rise above and sublate the characteristics of the human jIva, in order to
understand the Atman/brahman. The non-dual reality of the Atman is revealed to the
intense seeker, as an experience that defies words. One might call it a mystic experience
of brahman, in which to know brahman is to be brahman. Thus, rather than being
atheistic or non- theistic, advaita vedAnta is meta-theistic: it points to the basic
underlying Reality of all, including what humans call God, what humans call the
universe, and what humans call human. This Reality is the unchangeable brahman.

tattvamasi -
At this juncture, it is instructive to look at the advaitin interpretation of the chAndogya
statement tattvamasi, following SankarAcArya. This is one of the four statements that
have become well- known as the upanishadic mahAvAkyas, which equate Atman with
brahman. The four most important mahAvAkyas (one from each veda) are:

- "ayamAtmA brahma" (muNDaka)

- "tattvamasi" (chAndogya)
- "aham brahmAsmi" (bRhadAraNyaka)
- "prajnAnam brahma" (aitareya)

Sankara explains tattvamasi as follows. tat is a common designation for brahman in the
upanishads, while tvam (thou) addresses the student. The sentence states an equation of
two seemingly different entities tat - that, and tvam - thou, by means of the verb asi - are.
In general, brahman (tat) is commonly understood as ISvara (saguNa brahman), with an
infinity of attributes, including the power of creation. tvam is the individual who is
bound, who is embodied, and who is in need of liberation. The difference between tvam
and tat seems to be a matter of common knowledge for all individuals. What is the
reason for the upanishad to teach an identity then? An identity cannot be stipulated, even
in infallible Sruti, if there is a real difference. Keeping in mind that Sruti is infallible,
advaita therefore concludes that really there is no ultimate difference between tat and
tvam.

The identity expressed in a statement like tattvamasi is therefore held to be Real, and its
realization constitutes the height of knowledge (jnAna). Direct experience of this jnAna
is in fact moksha. It also follows that since this identity is not perceived normally,
difference arises out of avidyA, ignorance of the true nature of Reality. Since Sruti is
superior to perception, this identity is indeed the supreme truth, all difference being in
the realm of relative perception. If non-dualism is the true nature of Reality, why is this
difference perceived in the first place? Given advaita's basis on the non-dualistic
scriptures, the perception of difference remains, in the final analysis, inexplicable. This
is labeled "anirvAcya/anirvacanIya " in advaita - something that can never be fully
understood by the human mind. Since perception of duality presupposes avidyA, no
amount of logical analysis, itself based on this duality, will satisfactorily explain avidyA.
Hence, SankarAcArya is not much interested in explicating avidyA, except to
acknowledge its presence in all human activity, and in trying to overcome it to
understand brahman.

vyavahAra and paramArtha -

This exegesis of scripture leads to the well-known advaitic doctrine of two levels of
understanding: vyAvahArika satya (phenomenal or relative reality or just "reality", where
duality is seen) and pAramArthika satya (transcendental reality, or "Reality", non-
duality). One important upanishadic source for advaita vedAnta's theory of two levels of
truth is the analysis of the Atman as "neti, neti" - not this, not this. This is from the
bRhadAraNyaka upanishad. This upanishad also describes the highest state of the Atman
in purely non-dualistic terms - "yatra tvasya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt, tatra kena kam
paSyet? ..... vijnAtAram. are kena vijAnIyAt?" - Where the Atman alone has become all
this, how is one to see another? ..... How is the Knower to be Known? Most advaitins
point to the quotation from the bRhadAraNyaka that immediately precedes this: "yatra
tu dvaitamiva bhavati, ..." - where there is duality, as it were, ... - as the scriptural basis
for saying that perception of duality is an appearance only, "as it were" and not the
supreme Reality. This rejection of all characterization as partial at best, and ultimately
untrue, means that the Atman is beyond all duality, and all attempts to describe It fail,
because language itself presupposes duality. This via negativa approach is very much
favored in advaita vedAnta. This emphasis on identifying the Atman with brahman by
means of sublating the commonly understood characteristics of each term, to affirm the
real nature of the Atman, is central to advaita vedAnta.

Note: The standard vedAntic position is that brahman is both the material and the
instrumental cause of the universe. This is a notion shared by advaita, viSishTAdvaita
and the various bhedAbheda schools of vedAnta. The dvaita school denies that brahman
can be the material cause of the universe, and (in my opinion) goes against the
brahmasUtras in the process.
 References:

There is a large body of literature on advaita vedAnta. Check the bibliography page for a
list of references.

CREATION THEORIES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA

Transliteration Key

There are three main ways of understanding creation in the advaita tradition - namely,
ajAti vAda (creation is not an absolute, real event), sRshTi-dRshTi vAda (what has been
created is perceived) and dRshTi-sRshTi vAda (perception is simultaneous with
creation). The ajAti view is held in the pAramArthika sense, while the other two views
are held in the vyAvahArika sense. As in most issues in advaita philosophy, the writings
of Sankara themselves draw upon all these views, while later writers develop upon one
or the other view. The ajAti vAda is mainly elaborated by gauDapAda, Sankara's
paramaguru. However, please remember that the advaita tradition is one of oral teaching,
and therefore the description that follows is not exhaustive. A given teacher may use one
or more of these vAdas, depending upon his own views, the student's ability, and other
factors.

sRshTi-dRshTi vAda :-
Whether of the bhAmatI or of the vivaraNa school of post-Sankaran advaita, most
authors start off assuming the universe. For the beginning student, this makes sense,
because everybody starts off by observing a universe distinct from "oneself", and
believing that this observed universe has a distinct reality apart from "oneself". So long
as this "oneself" is identified by the observer, not with the Atman, but with anAtman,
advaitins would say that there is a difference between the observed ("the universe"
which, by the way, is wrongly perceived) and the observer (the "oneself" which is
wrongly identified). At this stage, there is still ignorance about the true nature of external
things and oneself. Taking this ignorance into account, and referring to the IkshaNa-
Sruti (tadaikshta bahusyAm prajAyeya - this sentence occurs almost every time there is
talk of creation in the upanishads, as in the sad-vidyA section of the chAndogya), the
universe is held to be created by brahman in His capacity as ISvara. This is the sRshTi-
dRshTi vAda, i.e. the universe that is seen has been created by ISvara. sRshTi (creation)
is therefore prior to dRshTi (perception). In other words, advaita vedAnta can accept the
view that a thing has to exist, in order for it to be perceived. Note that this view also
entails what is known as aneka-jIva vAda - the view that there are multiple jIvas,
corresponding to numerous sentient individuals in the universe.

However, it is pointed out that to even talk of creation, one has to assume avidyA, and
one has to admit of mAyA, as the power of ISvara. Under this view, mAyA is accorded
a measure of reality with respect to the observed universe, and is similar in many
respects to the notion of prakRti in sAm.khya. Still, it is denied that this mAyA has an
independent existence or reality of its own. It is made absolutely dependent on brahman,
which is the sole reality. It is this position that differentiates advaita vedAnta from the
dualistic sAm.khya, although some authors of the bhAmatI school may write in such a
way as to make this distinction very fuzzy indeed. Inasmuch as the only independent
cause is brahman as ISvara, and so far as it is held that the mAyA disappears when
brahman is truly known, this view is still non-dual in its teaching. This notion of
brahman as ISvara, with attributes, who appears to be different from the creation, is
therefore described as the "taTastha-lakshaNa" - a temporary description for the
purposes of explaining creation to those who seek one. This temporary description does
not mean that non-duality is compromised. The sRshTi-dRshTi view may help the
layman to understand the fact that throughout the ages, advaitins have by and large been
very devoutly religious people, who worship their chosen deity. They do not think that
this affects non-duality in any way. So much for vyavahAra.

ajAti vAda :-
The notion that mAyA has no reality in itself, and that brahman is the only real, allows
the sRshTi-dRshTi vAdin to "graduate", so to speak, to ajAtivAda, the view that no
creation really occured ever. Although one initially starts looking for brahman as the
ontological basis of the perceived universe, advaita also recognizes that this search for
origins is ultimately futile, as far as moksha is concerned. It is pointed out that moksha
means that the Atman is fully known as brahman Itself. Therefore, understand the Atman
first, theories about how this creation came about can wait. Until now, the questioner has
been concerned mainly with explaining the external world, which (s)he knows only
through the operation of the senses. The identity propounded by the upanishads (between
the Atman and brahman) opens up an even more fascinating inner world that is not seen
by the eye, not heard by the ear and not felt by touch. It is this inner search that allows
the sAdhaka to acquire the jnAna to deny mAyA any reality whatsover. At this stage,
brahman, which was previously understood to be with attributes, is understood in its
essence to be really nirguNa. This essential nature of brahman is described as "svarUpa-
lakshaNa" - a description that captures the real nature of brahman. When brahman is
apprehended as the nirguNa, without any attributes, mAyA completely disappears. The
universe too, consequently has to disappear. This is the most difficult thing for anybody
to understand and accept, because the senses constantly seem to remind one of the
presence of the universe. But then, the unitary understanding of the Atman as identical to
brahman occurs only at the turIya (the fourth) state, not in the jAgrat (waking), svapna
(dream) and sushupti (deep sleep) states. As the mANDUkya upanishad reminds us, the
turIya is adRshTam (unseeable), avyavahAryam (non-relational), agrAhyam
(ungraspable), alakshaNam (without any attributes), acintyam (unthinkable),
avyapadeSyam (cannot be indicated as an object), ekAtma-pratyaya-sAram (the essence
of cognition of the One Atman), prapancopaSamam (that into which the entire universe
is resolved), SAntam (peaceful), Sivam (auspicious), advaitam (non-dual).
As far as creation theories are concerned, the most important adjectives in the
mANDUkya's list, in my opinion, are prapancopaSamam - that into which the world is
resolved, and ekAtma-pratyaya-sAram - the essence of cognition of the One Atman.
These words indicate that in the turIya state, the mistaken identification of the Atman
with anAtman has ceased, and there is no more external world perceived as separate
from oneself. The "oneself" that was previously talked about doesn't exist anymore, and
the world external to this "oneself" also does not exist anymore. Only the One Atman
remains. It is only at this stage that it makes sense to talk of ajAti. The word
prapancopaSamam indicates that the world-in-itself has no existence. It is as if this
world that was previously seen as external to "oneself", along with the "oneself" that was
previously mistakenly identified with things other than the Atman, is now resolved into
the One Atman, the one and only Reality.

The same idea is mentioned in the bRhadAraNyaka - yatra tvasya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt,
tatra kena kam paSyet? etc. leading to vijnAtAram are kena vijAnIyAt? In the state of
non-duality, the One Atman itself is the whole world; there is nothing other than this
Atman, so talk of a world external to this Atman does not even arise. The questions
posed by the bRhadAraNyaka indicate that there are no senses of sight, smell, touch etc.
that can operate at this state. Hence the question, vijnAtAram are kena vijAnIyAt? - how
is the knower to be known? i.e. not through the senses. The knower knows itself,
immediately, and there is no distinction between the knower, the means of knowledge
and the object of knowledge. I will restrict the urge to indulge in poetic fancy about the
ineffable nature of this vijnAtA, and the experience that defies words. Reverting to our
concern about creation, we can say this much. As the question of creation does not even
arise when the identity of Atman with brahman is known, it follows that nothing either
comes into being nor goes out of being - it is always self-existent. This is ajAtivAda. The
Atman is eternal, unborn and undying, admitting of no divisions. As the creation
(prapanca) has been resolved (upaSamam) into this One Atman Itself, prapanca can be
described as not created. This is the paramArtha. Returning to vyavahAra, one comes
back to the jAgrat, svapna and sushupti states, but the knowledge gained in the turIya
state remains, and the preliminary sRshTi-dRshTi view loses much of its significance.

Thus, traditional advaita vedAntins generally handle creation by provisionally

explaining it in terms of sRshTi-dRshTi vAda, followed by a subsequent ajAti vAda
argument, which denies that creation is an event that took place at some given point of
time in the past. This approach follows the adhyAropa-apavAda method (sublation of
superimposition), and is closely tied to the vyavahAra and paramArtha ways of
understanding reality. So far as the paramArtha is held to be the only Real, ajAti is
upheld. sRshTi-dRshTi is accepted only in the vyAvahAric sense, and needs to be
transcended along with the rest of vyavahAra, for the sake of moksha.

This description of creation theories in advaita holds true for those authors who want to
approach the paramArtha through the vyavahAra, i.e. from sRshTi-dRshTi to ajAti.
There are other authors like SrIharsha, citsukha and sukhaprakASa, who care not a whit
for vyavahAra, and do not feel the need to even talk about creation. These authors are
masters of dialectic, much like nAgArjuna, and are interested in demolishing the logical
premises of any question or definition that presupposes duality. As an aside, these
authors are quite aware that their method is very close to the madhyamaka approach, but
they categorically assert brahman as the only absolute, and still find fault with
nAgArjuna for not asserting the existence of one absolute.

dRshTi-sRshTi vAda :-
This brings me to the third view, namely dRshTi-sRshTi vAda - the view that cognition
and creation are simultaneous. It is generally assumed that this view was first
propounded by prakASAnanda sarasvatI (ca. 16th century CE) - in his vedAnta-
siddhAnta-muktAvalI. This author also wrote texts on SrIvidyA, such as tArAbhakti-
tarangiNI. It is generally assumed that this view is an entirely new position, unknown to
earlier authors in the advaita tradition. However, it should be pointed out that the
gauDapAdIya kArika also teaches a very similar view in its arguments leading up to
ajAti vAda. This view comes close to many schools of subjective idealism and to the
buddhist vijnAnavAda. It also seems to throw up the most interesting logical paradoxes
that are familiar to those interested in interpretations of quantum mechanics, e.g. the act
of observation itself causing a particular collapse of a wave function, thus creating its
outcome in some sense, and the absolute necessity of the observer in any description of
an event.

Within traditional vedAnta discourse, numerous objections can be raised against this
view. If ISvara exists in the vyAvahAric sense, then is he the creator of the universe or
not? If yes, dRshTi-sRshTi vAda is contradicted, for it holds that the jIva creates
simultaneously with cognition. This means there are multiple creators, in addition to
ISvara. If it is said that the jIva and ISvara are both brahman and the created entity is
also brahman (since everything is brahman), so that the creation by a jIva does not
contradict ISvara's creatorship, the objection to this would be that such a view ends up
partitioning brahman into several different real entities, but brahman cannot be so
divided. If ISvara is said not to be the creator, then this view contradicts Sruti. Besides,
what is the practical use, to the spiritual aspirant, of admitting such an ISvara?

In answer to all these objections, it should be emphasized that the dRshTi-sRshTi view is
also closely allied to what is known as the eka-jIva vAda, and cannot be viewed
independently of it. The eka-jIva vAda holds that, ultimately speaking, there is only one
jIva, which is identical with brahman. If this is understood, all the above objections
simply vanish. There is no question of multiple creators, as there is only the one jIva,
identical with brahman. The dRshTi-sRshTi vAdin also does not "really" partition
brahman into several different entities. On the contrary, it is the above mentioned
objector who actually assumes that brahman can be so partitioned. As for the practical
use to the spiritual aspirant, the dRshTi-sRshTi view is freely admitted to be useful only
for the advanced sAdhaka who does not cling to a view of multiple, real jIvas. Such an
aspirant also does not define his ISvara with respect to the creation, and is, in fact, better
suited to really understand what the Sruti means, when it says that brahman creates by
mere seeing (tad aikshata).
I would like to end on a note of caution against reading too much into the names of these
vAdas. The names are meant to capture the most significant thread of discussion in each
vAda, but it is easy to be misled into an analysis of the respective positions that
concentrates only on their names and forgets all the other allied arguments that are not
specifically mentioned in the name. Each vAda touches upon every issue that is of
concern to the advaita vedAntin, but in slightly different ways. Besides, a given advaita
teacher may teach different aspirants differently, based on differing aptitudes. All
vedAntins of non-advaita schools are necessarily sRshTi-dRshTi vAdins in their own
way, but they can never be dRshTi-sRshTi vAdins or ajAti vAdins. An advaitin, on the
other hand, may teach students according to either dRshTi-sRshTi vAda or sRshTi-
dRshTi vAda, but all versions of these vAdas will return to the basic Atman = brahman
equation. In the final analysis, as long as moksha remains the prime issue around which
every discussion revolves, ajAti vAda always remains, and every advaitin returns to it,
whatever other vAda he uses when talking of vyavahAra. Thus, no true advaitin will
deny ajAtivAda, although he may rarely talk of it, and he probably will not actively teach
it to anybody but the most advanced student.

THE PROBLEM OF ONE VS. MANY

Transliteration Key

SankarAcArya, following the upanishads, asserts that the sole cause of the universe is
the One brahman that is really nirguNa. The problem with asserting One brahman that is
without parts, changeless and eternal, as the only cause of the universe is this - the
universe is normally perceived to be full of many separate parts which change all the
time, and has little that is eternal in it. How is it that the changeless and non-relational
brahman produces the variegated universe? This is related to the larger philosophical
problem of change and continuity, which had historically played such a big role in
Indian thinking that many buddhist schools had denied that an eternal entity like
brahman could even exist. Moreover, in the buddhist schools, the notion of an Atman is
itself an erroneous concept, because everything was defined to be momentary.

Among the brahminical schools, the nyAya and vaiSeshika schools handled the problem
of change by postulating atoms (aNus) as the unit constituents of any entity.
Transformation and change were explained by means of combinations of integral
numbers of atoms (dvayaNuka, trayaNuka etc.), and the individual Atman was also
supposed to be atomic in size and qualities. A creator God (ISvara) was arrived at by an
inferential argument, on the premise that everything must have a cause of some sort, so
that the cause of the universe is God. This inferred ISvara was then identified with the
brahman of the vedas. The yoga and sAm.khya schools postulated ultimate reality to be
a duality of purusha and prakRti. The purusha was said to be changeless and the one
undergoing bondage and liberation owing to contact with or withdrawal from prakRti.
All change was then described as the working of prakRti, which deluded the purusha
into activity and thus into bondage (bandha). Liberation (moksha) for the purusha arose
only when the purusha dissociated completely from the workings of prakRti.
Meanwhile, the position of a creator God remained ambivalent in the sAm.khya system.
Most classical sAm.khya authors denied the necessity of an ISvara, while some were
willing to postulate ISvara as an eternally liberated purusha. The yoga system, as
expounded in the yoga-sUtras of patanjali, accepted ISvara and made ISvara-
praNidhana an essential aspect of yogic sAdhana.

The pUrva mImAm.sA system was concerned primarily with asserting the eternal value
of the vedas, and interpreted everything in the vedas in the context of ritual action.
Consequently, impelling the listener to action was asserted to be the over-riding purpose
of the vedas. The fruit of the ritual action was also mentioned in the same vedas, and the
highest fruit that was obtainable by the proper performance of ritual action was heaven.
On this view, the individual Atman attained heaven by the performance of Vedic ritual,
and returned to the cycle of rebirths otherwise. On the other hand, the aupanishada
tradition which gave birth to the mature vedAnta systems asserted an eternal Atman
forcefully. This Atman was also held to be beyond birth and death. Physical death only
meant that the Atman took another body. Moreover, the upanishads declare the Atman to
be ultimately the same as the One brahman which is the sole cause of the universe.

The upanishads relate a higher vision that is mystic and that does not demand to be
logically substantiated. The problem of the one brahman creating the diverse universe
was handled by means of various analogies, as in the chAndogya upanishad. The nature
of the Indian philosophical traditions, however, required every new teacher to not only
relate his vision of reality, but also to substantiate it by logical arguments. The
naiyyAyikas, the buddhists and the grammarians had developed methods of logical
analysis, including inducto-deductive reasoning, evaluating the validity of cognitions
with a consistent theory of language and meaning, and rigorous requirements of
consistency and non-contradiction. Analogies did play an important part in the logical
analysis, but the spirit of the times called for more intellectual speculation and
rationalization. This was the prime motivation for bAdarAyaNa's brahmasUtras, which
attempted to harmonize the many teachings of the upanishads into one consistent system.
The brahmasUtras are therefore called the nyAya-prasthAna (not to be confused with the
independent philosophical system of the nyAya).

The gauDapAdIya kArikAs and Sankara's bhAshyas follow in the same spirit. In
establishing the main tenets of advaita vedAnta, Sankara drew upon mImAm.sA theories
of perception and language, and sAm.khya notions of the transformations of prakRti. He
also gave a place for yogic practice in his system, and used nyAya methods of inferential
reasoning wherever appropriate. This was coupled with a critique of the logical
shortcomings of these systems and rejecting those tenets which were not in accordance
with the thought of the upanishads. Thus, for example, he accepted mImAm.sA rules of
exegesis, but pointed out that their applicability was limited largely to the karma-
kANDa, the upanishads requiring different methods of interpretation. Similarly, he
denied an independent existence to the sAm.khyan prakRti, and in his analysis of the
relation of the universe to brahman, made the equivalent mAyA completely dependent
upon the reality of brahman. maNDAna miSra, Sankara's contemporary, also developed
powerful arguments that denied ultimate reality to difference. Between Sankara and
maNDana, advaita vedAnta became the most important school of vedAnta, and indeed
of all Indian philosophical thought. However, after this time, the followers of rival
schools started re-evaluating their positions, modifying their views and began posing
new objections to advaita. The later teachers in the advaita tradition lived and worked in
such a milieu.

Among the works of Sankara's immediate disciples (8th century CE), toTaka's
SrutisArasamuddhAraNa did not attract sub-commentaries from later authors, while no
texts attributed to hastAmalaka were widely known. sureSvara's upanishad-bhAshya-
vArttikAs and the naishkarmayasiddhi, and padmapAda's pancapAdikA influenced the
course of post-Sankaran advaita vedAnta significantly. Soon after their time, vAcaspati
miSra (9th century CE), wrote his bhAmatI commentary on Sankara's brahmasUtra
bhAshya, and prakASAtman (10th century CE) wrote a vivaraNa to the pancapAdikA.
Later authors sometimes wrote independent treatises of their own, but more often chose
an earlier text to comment upon, thus building up sets of commentaries and sub-
commentaries, which make the philosophical views of the sub-schools clearer. These
authors may be classified under four heads for the sake of convenience -

• those who closely followed sureSvara's line of thought (e.g. sarvajnAtman,

madhusUdana sarasvatI),
• those who followed the pancapAdikA and prAkASAtman's vivaraNa commentary
thereon (the vivaraNa school),
• those who followed vAcaspati's line (the bhAmatI sub-school), and
• those who made independent critiques of difference and thus established non-
duality (e.g. SrIharsha and citsukha).

Both the bhAmatI and vivaraNa lines base themselves upon differing interpretations of
SankarAcArya's brahmasUtra bhAshya. Since the brahmasUtras continued to be the
defining source for all vedAnta schools, the bhAmatI and vivaraNa schools attained the
most prominence in the dialogue that developed between advaita and rival vedAnta
schools on the one hand, and advaita vedAnta and non-vedAnta schools on the other.

THE PROBLEM OF ONE VS. MANY

Transliteration Key

SankarAcArya, following the upanishads, asserts that the sole cause of the universe is
the One brahman that is really nirguNa. The problem with asserting One brahman that is
without parts, changeless and eternal, as the only cause of the universe is this - the
universe is normally perceived to be full of many separate parts which change all the
time, and has little that is eternal in it. How is it that the changeless and non-relational
brahman produces the variegated universe? This is related to the larger philosophical
problem of change and continuity, which had historically played such a big role in
Indian thinking that many buddhist schools had denied that an eternal entity like
brahman could even exist. Moreover, in the buddhist schools, the notion of an Atman is
itself an erroneous concept, because everything was defined to be momentary.

Among the brahminical schools, the nyAya and vaiSeshika schools handled the problem
of change by postulating atoms (aNus) as the unit constituents of any entity.
Transformation and change were explained by means of combinations of integral
numbers of atoms (dvayaNuka, trayaNuka etc.), and the individual Atman was also
supposed to be atomic in size and qualities. A creator God (ISvara) was arrived at by an
inferential argument, on the premise that everything must have a cause of some sort, so
that the cause of the universe is God. This inferred ISvara was then identified with the
brahman of the vedas. The yoga and sAm.khya schools postulated ultimate reality to be
a duality of purusha and prakRti. The purusha was said to be changeless and the one
undergoing bondage and liberation owing to contact with or withdrawal from prakRti.
All change was then described as the working of prakRti, which deluded the purusha
into activity and thus into bondage (bandha). Liberation (moksha) for the purusha arose
only when the purusha dissociated completely from the workings of prakRti.
Meanwhile, the position of a creator God remained ambivalent in the sAm.khya system.
Most classical sAm.khya authors denied the necessity of an ISvara, while some were
willing to postulate ISvara as an eternally liberated purusha. The yoga system, as
expounded in the yoga-sUtras of patanjali, accepted ISvara and made ISvara-
praNidhana an essential aspect of yogic sAdhana.

The pUrva mImAm.sA system was concerned primarily with asserting the eternal value
of the vedas, and interpreted everything in the vedas in the context of ritual action.
Consequently, impelling the listener to action was asserted to be the over-riding purpose
of the vedas. The fruit of the ritual action was also mentioned in the same vedas, and the
highest fruit that was obtainable by the proper performance of ritual action was heaven.
On this view, the individual Atman attained heaven by the performance of Vedic ritual,
and returned to the cycle of rebirths otherwise. On the other hand, the aupanishada
tradition which gave birth to the mature vedAnta systems asserted an eternal Atman
forcefully. This Atman was also held to be beyond birth and death. Physical death only
meant that the Atman took another body. Moreover, the upanishads declare the Atman to
be ultimately the same as the One brahman which is the sole cause of the universe.

The upanishads relate a higher vision that is mystic and that does not demand to be
logically substantiated. The problem of the one brahman creating the diverse universe
was handled by means of various analogies, as in the chAndogya upanishad. The nature
of the Indian philosophical traditions, however, required every new teacher to not only
relate his vision of reality, but also to substantiate it by logical arguments. The
naiyyAyikas, the buddhists and the grammarians had developed methods of logical
analysis, including inducto-deductive reasoning, evaluating the validity of cognitions
with a consistent theory of language and meaning, and rigorous requirements of
consistency and non-contradiction. Analogies did play an important part in the logical
analysis, but the spirit of the times called for more intellectual speculation and
rationalization. This was the prime motivation for bAdarAyaNa's brahmasUtras, which
attempted to harmonize the many teachings of the upanishads into one consistent system.
The brahmasUtras are therefore called the nyAya-prasthAna (not to be confused with the
independent philosophical system of the nyAya).

The gauDapAdIya kArikAs and Sankara's bhAshyas follow in the same spirit. In
establishing the main tenets of advaita vedAnta, Sankara drew upon mImAm.sA theories
of perception and language, and sAm.khya notions of the transformations of prakRti. He
also gave a place for yogic practice in his system, and used nyAya methods of inferential
reasoning wherever appropriate. This was coupled with a critique of the logical
shortcomings of these systems and rejecting those tenets which were not in accordance
with the thought of the upanishads. Thus, for example, he accepted mImAm.sA rules of
exegesis, but pointed out that their applicability was limited largely to the karma-
kANDa, the upanishads requiring different methods of interpretation. Similarly, he
denied an independent existence to the sAm.khyan prakRti, and in his analysis of the
relation of the universe to brahman, made the equivalent mAyA completely dependent
upon the reality of brahman. maNDAna miSra, Sankara's contemporary, also developed
powerful arguments that denied ultimate reality to difference. Between Sankara and
maNDana, advaita vedAnta became the most important school of vedAnta, and indeed
of all Indian philosophical thought. However, after this time, the followers of rival
schools started re-evaluating their positions, modifying their views and began posing
new objections to advaita. The later teachers in the advaita tradition lived and worked in
such a milieu.

Among the works of Sankara's immediate disciples (8th century CE), toTaka's
SrutisArasamuddhAraNa did not attract sub-commentaries from later authors, while no
texts attributed to hastAmalaka were widely known. sureSvara's upanishad-bhAshya-
vArttikAs and the naishkarmayasiddhi, and padmapAda's pancapAdikA influenced the
course of post-Sankaran advaita vedAnta significantly. Soon after their time, vAcaspati
miSra (9th century CE), wrote his bhAmatI commentary on Sankara's brahmasUtra
bhAshya, and prakASAtman (10th century CE) wrote a vivaraNa to the pancapAdikA.
Later authors sometimes wrote independent treatises of their own, but more often chose
an earlier text to comment upon, thus building up sets of commentaries and sub-
commentaries, which make the philosophical views of the sub-schools clearer. These
authors may be classified under four heads for the sake of convenience -

• those who closely followed sureSvara's line of thought (e.g. sarvajnAtman,

madhusUdana sarasvatI),
• those who followed the pancapAdikA and prAkASAtman's vivaraNa commentary
thereon (the vivaraNa school),
• those who followed vAcaspati's line (the bhAmatI sub-school), and
• those who made independent critiques of difference and thus established non-
duality (e.g. SrIharsha and citsukha).
Both the bhAmatI and vivaraNa lines base themselves upon differing interpretations of
SankarAcArya's brahmasUtra bhAshya. Since the brahmasUtras continued to be the
defining source for all vedAnta schools, the bhAmatI and vivaraNa schools attained the
most prominence in the dialogue that developed between advaita and rival vedAnta
schools on the one hand, and advaita vedAnta and non-vedAnta schools on the other.

A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY .....

Transliteration Key

Pre-Sankaran vedAnta - (upto 6th cent.)

1. M. T. Sahasrabuddhe, A Survey of the Pre-Sankara Advaita Vedanta, Univ. of

Poona, 1968.

2. Karl H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3, chapter 1, pp. 3-

4, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1981.
LC Call No.: B131 .E5 1977 vol. 3 B132.A3

3. Sangam Lal Pandey, Pre-Sankara Advaita Philosophy, Darshan Peeth, Allahabad,

2nd ed., 1983.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 P36 1983

4. Hajime Nakamura, A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy, translated by Trevor

Leggett et. al., Motilal Banarsidass, 1983.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 N2413 1983

gauDapAda - (6th cent.)

1. The discussion about authorship of the four prakaraNas of the mANDUkya-

kArikas may be found in the following texts, and also in references 5 and 6
below.
o Manilal N. Dvivedi, The Mandukyopanishad with Gaudapada's Karikas,
and the Bhashya of Sankara, Theosophical Publication Fund, Bombay,
1909.
o Emile Lesimple, Mandukya upanisad et Karika de Gaudapada, Adrien-
Maisonneuve, Paris, 1944. (in French)
o Swami Chinmayananda, Discourses on Mandukya Upanishad with
Gaudapada's Karika, Chinmaya Publication Trust, Madras, 1966.
LC Call No.: BL1120.A632 1966
o Raghunath D. Kamarkar, Gaudapada-karika, with English translation,
notes and appendices, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, 1973.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 3813 1973
o Swami Nikhilananda, The Mandukyopanishad with Gaudapada's Karika
and Sankara's commentary, 6th ed., Sri Ramakrishna ashrama, Mysore,
 1974.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.M372 E5 1974
o T. M. P. Mahadevan, Gaudapada : a study in early Advaita, 4th ed.,
University of Madras, 1975
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M29 1975
o Colin A. Cole, Asparsa-yoga : a study of Gaudapada's Mandukya Karika,
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.M376 G3833 1982
o Karunesa Sukla, Acarya Gaudapada aur Pracina Vedanta, Nagarjuna
Bauddha Samsthana, Gorakhpur, 1983. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S824 1983
o S. M. Shaha, The dialectic of knowledge and reality in Indian philosophy:
Kundakunda, Nagarjuna, Gaudapada, and Sankara, Eastern Book Linkers,
Delhi, 1987
LC Call No.: B132.D6 S4 1987
o Swami Gambhirananda, The Mandukya-karika : Mandukya upanisad &
Gaudapada-karika, with an English rendering, Ramakrishna Math,
Trichur, 1987.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.M376 G3813 1987
o Stephen Kaplan, Hermeneutics, holography, and Indian idealism : a study
of projection and Gaudapada's Mandukya karika, Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi, 1987.
LC Call No.: B828.45 .K37 1987
o Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya, The Agamasastra of Gaudapada, Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, 1989.
LC Call No.: B131 .G35413 1989
o Douglas A. Fox, Dispelling illusion : Gaudapada's Alatasanti, with an
introduction, SUNY Press, Albany, 1993.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 F69 1993

2. Natalia V.Isaeva, From early Vedanta to Kashmir Shaivism: Gaudapada,

Bhartrhari, and Abhinavagupta, SUNY Press, Albany, 1995.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 I73 1995

3. Richard King, Early Advaita Vedanta: The Mahayana Context of the

Gaudapadiya Karikas, SUNY Press, Albany, 1995.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 K53 1995

SankarAcArya - (8th cent.)

Numerous publications of Sankara's upanishad bhAshyas and prakaraNa treatises exist.

In fact, there are so many of them that it is impossible to list them all here. Therefore, I
give references only for comprehensive collections of these works. Detailed lists of
references are given for the brahmasUtra bhAshya, bhagavadgItA bhAshya,
upadeSasAhasrI, vivekacUDAmaNi, and pancIkaraNa, because these are extremely
popular texts. Some publications of Sankara's yoga texts are also listed, but for the
opposite reason: they are not very well-known. If you are looking for translations of
specific upanishad bhAshyas or prakaraNa texts, search for publications from
Chaukhamba (Varanasi, Delhi), Motilal Banarasidass (Varanasi, Delhi), Samata Books
(Madras), Chetana (Bombay), Anandasrama (Pune) and Ramakrishna Math (many
Indian cities), to name only a few publishers.

1. Collections of Works
o Sri Sankara Granthavali - Complete Works of Sri Sankaracarya in the
original Sanskrit, v. 1-10, revised ed., Samata Books, Madras, 1998.
(Originally published from Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, 1910ff., under
the direction of the Sringeri maTha.)
LC Call No.: B133.S46 A2 1981
o Sankaracaryera Granthamala, v. 1-4, Basumati Sahitya Mandira, Calcutta,
1995. (complete works with Bengali translation and commentary)
LC Call No.: B133 .S46 1995
o Upanishad-bhashya-sangraha, Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu,
1979-1986. Sankara's bhAshyas on the kaTha, mANDUkya, taittirIya,
chAndogya and bRhadAraNyaka upanishad, with Anandagiri's TIkAs and
other sub-commentaries.
LC Call No.: BL1124.56 .S26
o Prakarana-dvadasi, Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu, 1981. A
collection of twelve prakaraNa texts, with commentaries.
LC Call No.: B133 .S47 1981

2. brahmasUtra bhAshya
o Edited with Marathi translation, by Kasinath Sastri Lele, Srikrishna
Mudranalaya, Wai, 1908.
LC Call No.: Microfilm BUL-MAR-321 (B)
o Edited with vaiyAsika-nyAyamAla of bhAratItIrtha, and Marathi
commentary, by Vishnu Vaman Bapat Sastri, Pune, 1923.
LC Call No.: Microfilm GDL-MAR-331 (B)
o Selections translated into English, by S. K. Belvalkar, Poona Oriental
Series no. 13, Bilvakunja, Pune, 1938.
o Edited with adhikaraNa-ratnamAlA of bhAratItIrtha, Sri Venkatesvara
Mudranalaya, Bombay, 1944.
LC Call No.: Microfiche 91/61164 (B)
o Translated into English, by V. M. Apte, Popular Book Depot, Bombay,
1960.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B19
o Translated into English, by George Thibaut, Dover, New York, 1962.
(reprint of Clarendon Press editions of The Sacred books of the East v.34,
38)
o Sri Sankaracarya Granthavali, no. 3, 1964.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B2 1964
o Caukhamba Vidyabhavan, Varanasi, 1964.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B22
 o Selections translated into English, by S. N. Gajendragadkar, University of
Bombay, 1965.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B2 1965
o Translated into German, by Paul Deussen, G. Olms, Hildesheim, 1966.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B215 1966
o Commentary on first four sutras, translated into English, by Har Dutt
Sharma, Poona Oriental Series no. 70, Oriental Book Agency, Pune, 1967.
o Edited with Hindi commentary, by Balkoba Bhave, Paramdhama
Prakashan, Pavanara, 1967.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B18 1967b (Orien Sans)
o Commentary on first four sutras, translated into Gujarati, by Gautam V.
Patel, Sarasvati Pustaka Bhandara, Ahmedabad, 1971.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 .S36615
o Word index to the Brahma-sutra-bhasya of Sankara, University of Madras,
1971-1973.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 W67
o V. H. Date, Vedanta explained : Sankara's commentary on the
Brahmasutras, Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher, New Delhi, 1973.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B225313 1973
o Edited with brahmavidyAbharaNa of SrI advaitAnandasvAmin, Samskrta
Vidyasamiti, Madras, 1979.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S366 1976
o Translation by Swami Gambhirananda, Advaita Asrama, Calcutta 1965.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B225
o Commentary on the first four sutras, with an English translation by Swami
Vimalananda Bharati, Maunaswami Granthamala, Sri Siddheswari
Peetham, Courtallam, 1978.
LC Call No.: B133.S48 E5 1978

3. bhagavadgItA bhAshya
o Critically edited by Dinkar Vishnu Gokhale, Oriental Book Agency, Pune,
1931.
LC Call No.: n.a.
o Edited with Anandagiri's Tika, by Kasinath Sastri Agashe, Anandasrama,
Pune, 1970.
LC Call No.: BL1138 .6 1970z
o Alladi Mahadeva Sastri, The Bhagavad Gita : with the commentary of Sri
Sankaracharya, Samata Books, Madras, 1977.
LC Call No.: BL1138.62 .E5 1977
o A. G. Krishna Warrier, Srimad Bhagavad Gita Bhashya of Sri
Sankaracarya, Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 1983.
LC Call No.: BL1138.66 .S2613 1983
o C. V. Ramachandra Aiyar, Sri Sanakra's Gita Bhashya, Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, Bombay, 1988.
LC Call No.: BL1138.66 .S2613 1988
o Trevor Leggett, Realization of the Supreme Self : the Bhagavad Gita
Yogas, (translation of Sankara's commentary), Kegan Paul International,
 London, 1995.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 B4213 1991

4. upadeSasAhasrI
o Sitarama Mahadeva Phadke, Sankaracaryakrta Upadesashasri,
Rasikaranjana Grantha Prasaraka Mandali, Pune, 1911. (with Marathi
translation)
LC Call No.: Microfilm BUL-MAR-025 (B)
o Paul Hacker, Unterweisung in der All-Einheits-Lehre der Inder:
Gadyaprabandha, (German translation of and notes on the Prose book of
the upadeSasAhasrI) L. Röhrscheid, Bonn, 1949.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 U6215 1949
o V. S. Gopalakrishna Aiyar and T. A. Venkatarama Aiyar, Atisankara
Bhagavatpadar Aruliya Upadesasahasri, Sri Ramayana Patippakam,
Madras, 1971. (with Tamil translation and notes)
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S253818
o S. Subrahmanya Sastri, Upadesasahasri, with the Sahasrivivrti of
Anandagiri, Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu, 1978.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S2538 1978
o Sengaku Mayeda, A thousand teachings : the Upadesasahasri of Sankara,
University of Tokyo Press, 1979.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 U6213 1979
Republished from SUNY Press, Albany, <B.1992< b>.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 U6213 1992
o A. J. Alston, The thousand teachings : Upadesasahasri of Sri
Sankaracarya, Shanti Sadan, London, 1990.
LC Call No.: B133.S463 U6413 1990
o Mayavati, Sri Sankaracaryaviracita Upadesasahasri - ek adhyayan,
Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi, 1991. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: B133.S49 U6236 1991

5. vivekacUDAmaNi
o Edited with English translation, by Mohini Chatterjee, Theosophical
Publishing House, Madras, 1947.
o Ernest Wood, The Pinnacle of Indian Thought, Theosophical Publishing
House, Wheaton (Illinois), 1967. (English translation)
o Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, Shankara's Crest-jewel
of Discrimination, with A Garland of Questions and Answers, Vedanta
Press, California, 1971.
LC Call No.: B133.S4 V52 1971
o Edited with Bengali translation, Sri Anandamayi Sangha, Varanasi, 1971.
LC Call No.: B133.S43 V5813
o Edited with English translation, by Swami Madhavananda, Advaita
Asrama, Calcutta, 1974.
 o Edited with Telugu translation and commentary, by Anumula Venkatasesha
Kavi, Kurnool, 1990.
LC Call No.: B133.S43 V5818 1990
o Edited with English translation, by Swami Turiyananda, Ramakrishna
Math, Madras, 1992.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 V5813 1992
o Edited with Hindi translation and commentary, by Nandalal Dasora,
Ranadhir Prakashan, Haridvar, 1994.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 V5815 1994

6. pancIkaraNa
o Edited with sureSvara's vArttika and vArttikAbharaNa of
abhinavanArAyaNendra sarasvatI (17th cent.), Sri Vani Vilas Press,
Srirangam, 1970.
o Edited with Gujarati translation and notes, Sri Harihara Pustakalya, Surat,
1970.
LC Call No.: PK1859.R255 P36 1970z
o Edited with sureSvara's vArttika, and English translation, Advaita Asrama,
Calcutta, 1972.
LC Call No.: B133.S4 P3 1972
o Edited with commentaries of sureSvara, Anandagiri, rAmatIrtha,
SAntyAnanda, gangAdhara, Caukhamba Samskrta Samsthana, Varanasi,
1983.
LC Call No.: B133.S48 H57 1983
o Edited with the pancIkaraNavArttika-vivaraNadIpikA of nArAyaNa tIrtha
(17th cent.), Tanjavur Sarasvati Mahal Library, Tanjavur, 1986.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 P3536 1986

7. Yoga texts

yogatArAvalI

ƒ Edited with commentary by Ramarayachar, Jnanasramam, Kerala,

1975.
LC Call No.: MLCS 92/06041 (B)
ƒ Edited with Sanskrit and Hindi commentaries by Pt. Venkatanatha
and Swami Dayananda, Varanasiya Samskrta Samsthana, Varanasi,
1982.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 Y6 1982

yogasUtra-bhAshya-vivaraNa

ƒ Trevor Leggett, The Complete Commentary by Sankara on the

Yogasutras, Kegan Paul International, London, 1990.
LC Call No.: B132.Y6 P278613 1990
 ƒ Trevor Leggett, Sankara on the Yogasutras, Routledge and Kegan
Paul, London, 1981.
LC Call No.: B132.Y6 S364713

ApastambasUtra-adhyAtmapaTala-bhAshya (on adhyAtma-yoga)

ƒ Trevor Leggett, The Chapter of the Self, Routledge and Kegan Paul,
London, 1978.
LC Call No.: B132.Y6 L43

maNDana miSra - (8th cent.)

1. Allen W. Thrasher, The Advaita Vedanta of Brahmasiddhi, Motilal Banarsidass,

New Delhi, 1993.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 T55 1993

2. Madeleine Biardeau, La philosophie de Mandana Misra vue a partir de la

Brahmasiddhi, Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Paris, 1969.
LC Call No.: B133.M342 B5

3. R. Balasubramanian, Advaita Vedanta, University of Madras, 1976.

LC Call No.: B132.A3 B33

4. S. Kuppuswami Sastri, Brahmasiddhi, by Mandanamisra, and commentary by

Sankhapani, with introduction, appendices and indexes, Sri Satguru Publications,
Delhi, 1984.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M34 1984

sureSvara - (8th-9th cent.)

taittirIyopanishad-bhAshya-vArttika

o With English translation, introduction and notes, by J. M. van Boetzelaer,

Orientalia Rheno-Traiectina, v.12, Brill, Leiden, 1971.
o With English translation, introduction, annotation and indices, by R.
Balasubramanian, University of Madras, Madras, 1984.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7 .T356 S8713 1984
o Edited with Anandagiri's TIkA, Anandasrama, Pune, 1977.

bRhadAraNyakopanishad-bhAshya-vArttika

o Edited with Anandagiri's TIkA, Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu,

1982.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B756 S3638 1982
o A number of publications by Shoun Hino and K. P. Jog, from Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982-1996. Check the following books and references
therein.
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B756 S34 1988
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B756 S34 1990
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B765 S34 1993
 LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B75 S34 1995
LC Call No.: BL1124.7.B756 S34 1996
o sambandhavArttika, the introduction to the bRhadAraNyakopanishad-
bhAshya-vArttika
ƒ Edited with Bengali translation, by Dinesh Chandra Bhattacharya,
Calcutta, 1950.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 B743713 1950
ƒ Edited with English translation and extracts from commentaries, by
T. M. P. Mahadevan, University of Madras, 1972.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S83 1972
ƒ Edited with English translation, by S. Venkataramana Aiyar and
Krishna Nath Chatterjee, Caukhamba Amarabharati Series, vol. 7,
Varanasi, 1981.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S8313 1981

naishkarmyasiddhi

o With notes and index by Col. G. A. Jacob, Vidyabhavan Sanskrit Studies,

no. 3, Chowkhamba Vidyabhavan, Varanasi, 1992. (with the candrikA of
jnAnottama miSra)
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S828 1992
o Translations by A. J. Alston, Shanti Sadan, London, 1959 and 1971.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S9 1959
LC Call No.: B132.A8 S9513 1971
o With English translation, introducion, annotation and indices, by R.
Balasubramanian, University of Madras, Madras, 1988.
LC Call No.: B132.A8 S9513 1988
o Edited with introduction and a commentary titled kleSApahAriNI, by SrI
saccidAnandendra sarasvatI, Adhyatma Prakasa Karyalaya, Holenarsipur,
1968.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S9
o Edited with jnAnottama's candrikA and a Hindi commentary titled
naishkarmyaranjanI, by kRshNAnanda sAgara, Sri Madhavananda
Granthalaya, Varanasi, 1990.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S82816 1990
o Ras Vihari Dass, The essentials of Advaitism, Suresvara's
Naishkarmyasiddhi explained in English, Punjab Oriental Series, no. 21,
Lahore, 1933.
o C. Markandeya Sastri, Suresvara's contribution to Advaita, Sundari
Samskrita Vidyalaya, Vemur (A.P.), 1974.
LC Call No.: B133.S832 M37
o Sudha Jain, Advaitatattvamimamsa : Suresvaracaryakrta
Naishkarmyasiddhi ke pariprekshya mem, Pratibha Prakashan, Delhi, 1986.
(in Hindi)
LC Call No.: BL1213.72 .J35 1986
o John Grimes, The Naishkarmyasiddhi of Suresvara, Sri Garib Das Oriental
Series, no. 136, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1992.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 G75 1992
 padmapAda - (8th-9th cent.)

pancapAdikA

o With English translation and notes, by D. Venkataramiah, Gaekwad's

Oriental Series, no. 107, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1948.
o Edited with prakASAtman's vivaraNa, akhaNDAnanda's tattvadIpana and
sarvajnavishNubhaTTa's RjuvivaraNa, by S. Subrahmanya Sastri,
Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu, 1992.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S33635 1992
o T. R. Srinivasan, Pancapadika of Padmapadacarya, Bhavani Book Center,
Madras, 1989.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S366388 1989

toTaka - (8th-9th cent.)

SrutisArasamuddharana

o Edited with a commentary titled Girisambhutaratna, by Swami

Vidyananda Giri, Sri Kailash Ashrama, Rishikesh, 1972.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 T67

vAcaspati miSra - (9th-10th cent.)

bhAmatI on Sankara's brahmasUtra bhAshya

o Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1917. (Includes vAcaspati's bhAmatI,

amalAnanda's kalpataru and appayya dIkshita's parimala - texts of the
bhAmatI tradition, edited by N. S. Anantakrishna Sastri and Vasudev
Lakshman Sastri Panshikar)
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B2253 1917
o Republished by Parimala Publications, Ahmedabad, 1981.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S366 1981
o Republished from the Krishnadasa Academy, Varanasi, 1982.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B2253 1982
o Caukhamba, Varanasi, 1935. (Edited with various commentaries, by
Dhundiraja Sastri)
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S36638 1935
o Caukhamba, Delhi, 1995. (with nine sub-commentaries)
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S366 1995

prakASAtman - (10th cent.)

vivaraNa on pancapAdikA - See entry under padmapAda.

vimuktAtman - (10th cent.)

ishTasiddhi

o Edited with vivaraNa of jnAnottama miSra and bhUmikA of

kRshNAnandasAgara, Pratyabhijna Prakashan, Varanasi, 1986.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 V55 1986
o Swadharma Swarajya Sangha, Madras, 1980.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 V55 1980

sarvajnAtman - (10th cent.)

sam.kshepa-SArIraka on brahmasUtras

o Edited along with the anvayArtha prakASikA of rAmatIrtha, Caukhambha,

Varanasi, 1992.
LC Call No.: in process
o Edited with notes and translation by N. Veezhinathan, University of
Madras, 1972.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S38613
o Tilman Vetter, Sarvajnatman's Samkshepa-Sariraka, Böhlans, Wien, 1972.

pramANalakshaNa

o Edited by Easwaran Nambudiri, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, 1973.

LC Call No.: B132.M5 S32

pancaprakriyA

o Translated by Ivan Kocmarek, Language and Release, Motilal Banarsidass,

Delhi, 1985.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S2656713 1985

SrIharsha - (12th cent.)

khaNDanakhaNDa-khAdya

o Critically edited by Brahmadatta Dwivedi, Sampurnananda Samskrta

Visvavidyalaya, Varanasi, 1990.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S675 1990
o See entry under citsukha below.

citsukha - (12th-13th cent.)

tattvapradIpikA (also known as citsukhI)

o Edited with pratyaksvarUpa's nayanaprasAdinI, and Hindi commentary of

Hanumandas, Caukhambha, Varanasi, 1987.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 C6 1987
 o Edited with pratyaksvarUpa's nayanaprasAdinI, and yogIndrAnanda's
TippaNi, Shad-darsana Prakasana Pratisthanam, Varanasi, 1974.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 C6 1974

abhiprAya prakASikA on maNDana's brahmasiddhi

o Edited with AnandapUrNa vidyAsAgara's bhAvaSuddhi, Government

Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras, 1963.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 A47
o Priti Sharma, Abhiprayaprakasika : Citsukhacaryapranita Brahmasiddhi ki
tika, ek adhyayan, Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi, 1994. (in Hindi)
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S46 1994

bhAvatattva prakASikA on sureSvara's naishkarmyasiddhi

o Edited with Hindi translation, Dakshinamurthy Matha, Varanasi, 1996.

LC Call No.: B132.A3 S82816 1996

khaNDana bhAvadIpikA on SrIharsha's khaNDanakhaNDa-khAdya

o Edited with other commentaries by Sankara miSra, raghunAtha SiromaNi,

pragalbha and sUryanArAyaNa Sukla, Caukhambha, Varanasi.
LC Call No.: Microfiche 91/61119 (B)

Anandagiri - (13th cent.)

TIkAs on Sankara's upanishad bhAshyas

o The twelve principal upanishads, with Sankara's bhAshyas and

Anandagiri's TIkAs, edited by E. Roer, Theosophical Publishing House,
Madras, 1931-2.
o Also see entries under Sankara.

TIkAs on sureSvara's vArttikas - See entries under sureSvara.

vedAntatattvAloka (of janArdana)

o Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1969.

LC Call No.: B132.A3 A45 1969

bhAratI tIrtha and vidyAraNya - (13th-14th cent.)

Note - A number of texts are jointly attributed to these authors, and sometimes to either
one of them. See T. M. P. Mahadevan, The philosophy of Advaita, with special reference
to Bharatitirtha-Vidyaranya, Arnold-Heinemann, New Delhi, 1976.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M3 1976.
vaiyAsika nyAyamAla (also called adhikaraNa ratnamAlA) on brahmasUtras
 o With ratnaprabhA of govindAnanda and TippaNi by keSavAnanda,
Venkatesvara Press, Bombay, 1944.
LC Call No.: Microfiche 91/61164 (B)
o Anandasrama, Pune, 1980.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B449 1980
o Govinda Matha, Varanasi, 1973.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B2233

dRk-dRSya viveka (also called vAkyasudhA, sometimes wrongly attributed to

SankarAcArya)

o Published with English translation and notes by Swami Nikhilananda,

Ramakrishna Asrama, Mysore, 1964.
LC Call No.: B133.S4 D7 1964
o With translation and notes by Manilal Nathubhai Dvivedi, Antiquarian
Book House, Delhi, 1982.

jIvanmuktiviveka

o Edited with English translation by S. Subrahmanya Sastri and T. R.

Srinivasa Ayyangar, Theosophical Publishing House, Madras, 1978.
LC Call No.: BL1213.72 .M3315 1978
o With Hindi explanatory notes, Caukhambha, Varanasi, 1984.
LC Call No.: BL1213.72 .M3315 1984
o Translated into English by Manilal N. Dvivedi, Tookaram Tatya, Bombay,
1897.
LC Call No.: BL1200 .M33

pancadaSI

o With English translation and notes by SrI jnAnAnanda bhAratI, Sri

Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamigal Educational Trust, Madras, 1983.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M26 1983
o Translated into English by Swami Swahananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math,
Madras, 1975.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M2 1975
o T. M. P. Mahadevan, The Pancadasi of Bharatitirtha-Vidyaranya, an
interpretative exposition, University of Madras, 1969.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M298
o Translated into English by Hari Prasad Shastri, Shanti Sadan, London,
1966.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M2 1966
o Translated into English, with notes by Nandalal Dhole, Society for the
resuscitation of Indian Literature, Calcutta, 1899.
LC Call No.: BL1200 .M32 1899

vivaraNaprameya sangraha
 o Translated into English by S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri and Saileswar Sen,
Andhra University, Waltair, 1941.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 B4513
o Acyutagranthamala Karyalaya, Varanasi, 1938.

anubhUtiprakASa

o Nirnayasagar, Bombay, 1926.

LC Call No.: Microfiche 85/61244 (B)
o Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1983.
LC Call No.: BL1124.56 .M328 1983
o Advaita Sabha, Trichy, 1984.
LC Call No.: BL1124.56 .M33 1984
o Critically edited with English translation and notes by Godabarisa Misra,
University of Madras, 1992.
LC Call No.: BL1124.56 .M3413 1992

SankarAnanda - (13th-14th cent.)

Atma purANa

o With translation by Badarinatha Bhattarai, Nepala Rajakiya Prajna-

Pratishthana, Kathmandu, 1981-2.
LC Call No.: B 3 298 72
o Swami Brahmananda, The Philosophy of Sage Yajnavalkya: a free
rendering of the Yajnavalkya-kanda of the Brhadaranyakopanishad as
expounded in the Atma Purana, Divine Life Society, Shivanandanagar,
1981.

dIpikAs on upanishads

o Eleven Atharvana Upanishads with Dipikas, edited with notes by Col. G.

A. Jacob, Govt. Central Book Press, Bombay, 1916.
LC Call No.: B 64 664
o Kausitaki Brahmanopanishad with Dipika, edited with translation by E. B.
Cowell, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, Varanasi, 1968.
LC Call No.: PK3521 .K351 1968

bhagavad gItA tAtparyabodhinI

o Caukhamba Vidyabhavana, Varanasi, 1990.

LC Call No.: B 3 936 300

sadAnanda yogIndra - (15th-16th cent.)

vedAntasAra

o With the subodhinI of nRsimha sarasvatI and vidvanmanoranjanI of

rAmatIrtha, notes and indices by Col. G. A. Jacob, Caukhambha, Varanasi,
 1975.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S2 1975
o With the bAlabodhinI of Apadeva, and an English introduction by K.
Sundararama Iyer, Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, 1911.
LC Call No.: B32.V3 S3 1911
o With introduction, translation and notes by Mysore Hiriyanna, Oriental
Book Agency, Pune, 1929.
o Edited and Translated by Swami Nikhilananda, Advaita Asrama, Calcutta,
1931, 1949 and 1968

prakASAnanda sarasvatI - (16th cent.)

vedAntasiddhAnta muktAvalI

o With translation and notes by Arthur Venis, Caukhambha, Varanasi, 1975.

LC Call No.: B132.A3 P6813 1975

nRsimhASrama - (16th cent.)

bhedadhikkAra

o A Critique of Difference, a free English rendering by S. S. Suryanarayana

Sastri and T. M. P. Mahadevan, University of Madras, 1936 and 1965.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S93

advaitadIpikA (written against a key dvaita work, namely jayatIrtha's nyAyasudhA)

o Sampurnananda Samskrta Visvavidyalaya, Varanasi, 1982.

LC Call No.: B133.J383 N935 1982

madhusUdana sarasvatI - (16th-17th cent.)

advaitasiddhi (written against a key dvaita work, namely vyAsatIrtha's nyAyAmRta)

o Edited with viTThaleSa's vyAkhyA and gauDabrahmAnanda sarasvatI's

vyAkhyA, Parimala Publications, Delhi, 1982.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M2417 1982
o Edited by D. Srinivasachar and G. Venkatanarasimha Sastri, with the
gurucandrikA vyAkhyA, Government Branch Press, Mysore, 1933.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M2417 1933
o Published with the nyAyamRta, and sub-commentaries
1. Shad-darsana Prakasana Pratishthana, Varanasi, 1977.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 V9 1977
2. Dvaita Vedanta Studies and Research Foundation, Bangalore, 1994.
LC Call No.: B132.D8 V92 1994
o Translated into English by M. M. Ganganatha Jha, Belvedere Steam Press,
Allahabad, 1917.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M28E 1917
 o Translated into Marathi by Kevalananda Sarasvati, Prajna
Pathasalamandala, Wai, 1976.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 M2416

bhagavad gItA gUDArthadIpikA

o Published with Hindi translation by Pandit Sriharihara Kripalu Dvivedi, V.

Murarka, Calcutta, 1975.
LC Call No.: XM80.8013
o Translated into English by Sisir Kumar Gupta, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi,
1977.
LC Call No.: BL1138.66 M3213 1977
o Translated into Bengali by Bhutanatha Saptatirtha, Navabharat Publishers,
Calcutta, 1986.
LC Call No.: BL1138.62 B46 1986

siddhAntabindu on Sankara's daSaSlokI

o Caukhambha, Varanasi, 1989.

LC Call No.: B133.S49 D373 1989
o Mahesanusandhana Samsthanam, Mt. Abu, 1978.
LC Call No.: XM80.8121
o Edited with nArAyaNa tIrtha's laghuvyAkhyA and purushottama sarasvatI's
bindusandIpana, Bharatiya Book Corportation, Varanasi, 1986.
LC Call No.: B 3 923 340
o Critically edited with English translation, introduction and notes by P. C.
Divanji, Gaekwad Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1933.
LC Call No.: PK2971 G118
o Translated into English by K. N. Subramanian, Rishi Publications,
Varanasi,1989.
LC Call No.: B133.S49 D37313 1989
o Published with English translation and notes by Acalananda, Prasaranga,
University of Mysore, 1981.
LC Call No.: B 3 923 516

dharmarAja adhvarIndra - (17th cent.)

vedAntaparibhAshA

o Edited with dIpikA of Sivadatta, from Lakshmi-Venkatesvara Steam Press,

Kalyan, Bombay, <B.1936< b>.
LC Call No.: Microfiche 85/61224 (B)
o Edited with translation and annotation by Swami Madhavananda, Belur
Math (Ramakrishna Math), Howrah 1963 and 1972.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 D548
o Edited with English translation by S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri, Adyar
Library, Madras, 1942, and 1971.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 D548 1971
 o Bina Gupta, Perceiving in Advaita Vedanta : Epistemological Analysis and
Interpretation, Associated University Press, 1991.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 G87 1991

appayya dIkshita - (17th cent.)

siddhAntaleSa sangraha

o Edited with the kRshNAlankAra of acyutakRshNAnanda tIrtha,

Caukhambha, Varanasi, 1989.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 A73 1989
o Edited with the vyAkhyA of jIvAnanda vidyAsAgara, Caukhambha,
Varanasi, 1990.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 A73 1990
o Translated by Esther Solomon, Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology,
Ahmedabad, 1990.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 A7316 1990
o Edited with the kRshNAlankAra of acyutakRshNAnanda tIrtha,
Srimadappayya Dikshitendra Granthavali Prakasana Samiti, Secunderabad,
1973.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 A73 1973

parimala on amalAnanda's kalpataru, a sub-commentary on vAcaspati miSra's

bhAmatI on Sankara's brahmasUtra bhAshya

o See entries under vAcaspati miSra.

sadASiva brahmendra - (18th cent.)

advaitarasamanjarI

o Edited with commentary of Sri kRshNadAsASramin, and English

translation, Educational Supplies Depot, Palghat, 1965.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S213 1965

brahmatattvaprakASikA

o Travancore Government Press, Trivandrum, 1909.

yogasudhAkara

o Commentary on Patanjali's Yogasutras, Karkotaka Vayalore Trust, Madras,

1993.
LC Call No.: B132.Y6 S233 1993

candraSekhara bhAratI - (20th cent.)

vivekacUDAmaNi bhAshya
 o Edited with English translation, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1983.
LC Call No.: B133.S4 V47 1973

saccidAnandendra sarasvatI - (20th cent.)

In the following list, only some select Sanskrit works are included. Many other works
are available in English and Kannada. Unless otherwise indicated, the publisher is
Adhyatma Prakasa Karyalaya, Holenarsipur/Bangalore. Also see entry under sureSvara's
naishkarmyasiddhi.
pancapAdikAprasthAnam, 1966.
brahmavidyArahasya vivRti, 1969.
LC Call No.: BL1120.A459 S28
gItASAstrArtha viveka, 1965.
LC CallNo>: BL1130 .S35
pAramaham.sya mImAm.sA
Sruti-Sankara-Samskrta Samsodhana Pratishthana, Shimoga, 1994.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 S288 1994
SAnkara-vedAntamImAm.sA bhAshya, 1974.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 S389713

General References

1. Karl H. Potter (ed.), Advaita Vedanta up to Sankara and his Pupils: Encyclopedia
of Indian Philosophies, vol. 3, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1981.
LC Call No.: B131 .E5 1977 vol. 3 B132.A3

2. Karl H. Potter, Austin B. Creel and Edwin Gerow, Guide to Indian philosophy, G.
K. Hall, Boston, 1988.
LC Call No.: Z7129.I5 P68 1988 B5131

3. Eliot Deutsch and J. A. B. van Buitenen, A source book of Advaita Vedanta,

University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1971.
LC Call No.: B132.V3 D542

4. Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedanta: a philosophical reconstruction, East-West

Center Press, Honolulu, 1969
LC Call No.: B132.V3 D54

5. Raghunath D. Karmarkar, Sankara's Advaita, Karnatak University, Dharwar,

1966.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 K3

6. S. G. Mudgal, Advaita of Sankara, a reappraisal: Impact of Buddhism and

Samkhya on Sankara's thought, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, <B.1975< b>
LC Call No.: B133.S5 M82

7. A. Ramamurti, Advaitic mysticism of Sankara, Visvabharati, Santiniketan, 1974.

LC Call No.: BL1215.M9 R26 1974
8. Kapil N. Tiwari, Dimensions of renunciation in Advaita Vedanta, Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, 1977.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 T58

9. Kokileswar Sastri, An introduction to Adwaita philosophy : a critical and

systematic exposition of the Sankara school of Vedanta, Bharatiya Publishing
House, Varanasi, 1979.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 B5 1979

10. A. J. Alston, A Samkara source-book, Shanti Sadan, London, 1980-1989.

LC Call No.: B133.S48 E5 1980

11. Satyapal Verma, Role of Reason in Sankara Vedanta, Parimal Publication, Delhi,
1992.
LC Call No.: B133.S45 V47 1992

12. Arvind Sharma, The philosophy of religion and Advaita Vedanta : a comparative
study in religion and reason, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.
LC Call No.: BL51 .S497 1995

13. M. K. Venkatarama Aiyar, Advaita Vedanta, according to Sankara, Asia

Publishing House, New York, 1965.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 V48 1965

14. Sangam Lal Pandey, The Advaita view of God, Darshana Peeth, Allahabad, 1989.
LC Call No.: BL1216 .P29 1989

15. Rewati Raman Pandey, Scientific temper and Advaita Vedanta, Sureshonmesh
Prakashan, Varanasi, 1991.
LC Call No.: B132.A3 P35 1991

16. Adya Prasad Mishra, The development and place of bhakti in Sankaran Vedanta,
University of Allahabad, 1967.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 M56

17. Natalia V. Isaeva, Shankara and Indian philosophy, SUNY, New York, 1993.
LC Call No.: B133.S5 I84 1993

18. V. Panoli, Upanishads in Sankara's own words : Isa, Kena, Katha, and Mandukya
with the Karika of Gaudapada : with English translation, explanatory notes and
footnotes, Mathrubhumi, Calicut, 1991-1994.
LC Call No.: BL1124.54 .E5 1991a