Sankara

“ And Sankara, the Creator of the worlds upon seeing Swetaki, that excellent monarch, immediately said, in great gratification, "I have been gratified by thee, O best of kings, with this thy own act! But, O chastiser of foes, the duty of assisting at sacrifices properly belongeth to Brahmanas. Therefore, O oppressor of foes, I will not myself assist at thy sacrifice today. There is on earth an exalted Brahmana who is even a portion of my own self. He is known by the name of Durvasa. Even that Brahmana endued with great energy will assist you in thy sacrifice. ”

“ From the foregoing observations it will be seen that Sankara's date cannot be determined by the time of the commencement of the Buddhist persecution, even if it were possible to ascertain the said period.
Mr. Barth seems to have discovered some connection between the philosophical systems of Sankara, Ramanuja and Anandathirtha, and the Arabian merchants who came to India in the first centuries of the Hejira, and he is no doubt fully entitled to any credit that may be given him for the originality of his discovery. ”

“ The practical result of his labours was the foundation of a new sect, the Smartas, i.e. adherents of the smriti or tradition, which has a numerous following amongst southern Brahmans, and, whilst professing Sankara’s doctrines, is usually classed as one of the Saiva sects, its members adopting the horizontal sectarial mark peculiar to Saivas, consisting in their case of a triple line, the tripundra, prepared from the ashes of burnt cow-dung and painted on the forehead. Sankara also founded four Maths, or convents, for Brahmans ”

“ As thou seekest to slay me, I shall certainly send thee to the abode of Yama.' And beholding that firm wielder of the bow—Phalguna—about to slay the boar, Sankara in the guise of a Kirata suddenly bade him stop saying, 'The boar like the mountain of Indrakila in hue hath been aimed at by me first'; Phalguna, however, disregarding these words, struck the boar. The Kirata also blazing splendour, let fly an arrow like flaming fire and resembling the thunderbolt at the same object. And the arrows thus shot by both fell at the same instant of time upon the wide body of Muka, hard as adamant. ”

“ This is the interpretation given by Sankara. Ramanuga, however, holds that the soul is a creature of Brahman, though an eternal one, it having existed ever as a mode of the great All [compare the doctrine of the eternal procession of the Son] .
WHAT IS SOUL?
What is soul? It is gna, or knowledge. [The etymology of both these latter words is identical--compare Greek gnosco, etc.] This means, according to Sankara, that knowledge is of the very essence of soul, and not a mere attribute of it. The soul is not merely a knower (gnatri) , but it is knowledge. ”

“ His controversial triumphs (doubtless largely mythical) are related in a number of treatises current, in South India, the two most important of which are the Śankara-dig-vijaya ("Śankara's world-conquest") , ascribed to his own disciple Ānandagiri, and the Śankara-vijaya, by Mādhavāchārya. In Śankara's philosophy [161] the theory that the material world has no real existence, but is a mere illusion of the individual soul wrapt in ignorance,—that, therefore, it has only a practical or conventional (vyāvahārika) but not a transcendental or true (pāramārthika) reality,—is strictly enforced. ”

“ The Calcutta edition not only differs in some very material points from the manuscript copies of the same work found in Southern India, but is opposed to every other Sankara Vijayam hitherto examined. It is quite clear from its style and some of the statements contained therein, that it was not the production of Anandagiri, one of the four chief disciples of Sankara and the commentator on his Upanishad Bhashyam. For instance, it represents Sankara as the author of a certain verse which is to be found in Vidyaranya's Adhikaranaratnamala, written in the fourteenth century. ”

“ The association of Sankara with Kumarila in the passages above cited is highly ridiculous. It is well known to almost every Hindu that the followers of Purva Mimamsa (Kumarila commented on the Sutras) were the greatest and the bitterest opponents of Sankara and his doctrine, and Mr. Barth seems to be altogether ignorant of the nature of Kumarila's views and Purva Mimamsa, and the scope and aim of Sankara's Vedantic philosophy. ”

“ And if those who perform good works are opposed to others who delight in true knowledge, that knowledge can be the knowledge of the true Self only.
The difficulty therefore which has perplexed Sankara is this, how, while the orthodox believer is said to enter into blind darkness, the true disciple, who has acquired a knowledge of the true Self, could be said to enter into still greater darkness. While Sankara in this case seems hardly to have caught the drift of the Upanishad, Uvata and Mahîdhara propose an explanation which is far more satisfactory. ”

“ In the doctrine of this Vaishnava prophet, the adualistic theory of Sankara is resorted to as justifying a joyful and voluptuous cult of the deity. For, if the human soul is identical with God, the practice of austerities must be discarded as directed against God, and it is rather by a free indulgence of the natural appetites and the pleasures of life that man’s love for God will best be shown. ”

“ And further we are unable to see which "common tradition" make Sankara "about 1,200 years old." As far as our knowledge goes there is no such common tradition in India. The majofity of people in Southern India have, up to this time, been relying on the Sringeri account, and in Northern India there seems to be no common tradition. ”

“ II.⁠The statements contained in Kerala Utpatti are opposed to the account of Sankara's life given in almost all the Sankara Vijiams (Biographies of Sankara) examined up to this time viz., Vidyaranya's Sankara Vijiam, Chitsukhachary's Sankara Vijayavilasam, Baihat Sankara Vijiam, &c. According to the account contained in these works Sankara left Malabar in his eighth year and returned to his native village when his mother was on her death-bed when he remained there only for a few days. ”

“ It was from an unwillingness to assent to the decided teaching of the Îsâ-upanishad that Sankara attempted to explain vidyâ, knowledge, in a limited sense, as knowledge of the gods, and not yet knowledge of Brahman. He would not admit that knowledge without works could lead to darkness, and even to greater darkness than works without knowledge. ”

“ Sankara is said to have then entered a foundry, and swallowed a cup of molten metal, and handed another to the Brahmins, who had apparently made up their minds to do all that may be done by the Āchārya. But they begged to differ, apologised to him as Atiyāls or humble servants, and accepted social degradation in expiation of their sinful presumption. They are now the priests in temples dedicated to Bhadrakāli, and other goddesses who receive offerings of liquor. They practise sorcery, and aid in the exorcising of spirits. ”

“ These treatises of Śankara speak to the common understanding and moral sense in an unparalleled degree. They are an appeal to the reason that has hardly ever been equalled for clearness and simplicity by the sages of the earth. ”

“ According to the immemorial custom observed amongst initiates, Patanjali assumed the name of Govinda Yogi at the time of his initiation by Goudapada. It cannot be contended that Vidyaranya represented Patanjali as Sankara's Guru merely for the purpose of assigning some importance to Sankara and his teaching. Sankara is looked upon as a far greater man than Patanjali by the Adwaitees, and nothing can be added to Sankara's reputation by Vidyaranya's assertion. ”

“ But Buddhism finds no necessity for God in the world-process. While the ancient sages of India never advocated a withdrawal from the delights of the world, they pro- tested against a life of sense, that of a typical voluptuary. Buddhism holds emancipation from the world to be the supreme end of man. Sankara, without touching the root-principles of Vedantism, grafted on to it the Buddhistic principles of maya and monasticism. The Buddhist spoke of the flux of the finite universe, and Sankara admits the world is maya. ”

“ According to the historical information in their possession he was born in the year B.C. 510 (fifty-one years and two months after the date of Buddha's Nirvana) , and we believe that satisfactory evidence in support of this date can be obtained in India if the inscriptions at Conjeveram, Sringeri, Jaggurnath, Benares, Cashmere, and various other places visited by Sankara, are properly deciphered. Sankara built Conjeveram, which is considered as one of the most ancient towns in Southern India ”

“ Not that there is any evidence of Buddhists ever having been actually persecuted by the Brahmans, or still less of Sankara himself ever having done so; but the traditional belief in some personal god, as the principal representative of an invisible, all-pervading deity, would doubtless appeal more directly to the minds and hearts of the people than the colourless ethical system promulgated by the Sakya saint. Nor do Buddhist places of worship appear as a rule to have been destroyed by Hindu sectaries, but they seem rather to have been taken over by them for their own religious uses ”

“ In the island of Wetar there are magicians who can make a man ill by stabbing his shadow with a pike or hacking it with a sword.244 After Sankara had destroyed the Buddhists in India, it is said that he journeyed to Nepaul, where he had some difference of opinion with the Grand Lama. ”

“ The great lord of all creatures, viz., the Grandsire Brahman himself, endued with wealth of penances, composed those Mantras, after having observed especial penances for some time. O sire it is Sankara who created all the creatures in the universe, mobile and immobile. There is no being that is higher, O monarch, than Mahadeva. Verily, he is the highest of all beings in the three worlds. There is no one who is capable of standing before that high-souled Being. Indeed, there is no Being in the three worlds that can be regarded as his equal. ”

“ Sankara Atcharya, who is distinguished among the Brahmans 103 and the Sanyasis, professed this doctrine, and to whatever side he turned his face, contentment followed him. One day the adversaries and deniers of this creed resolved to drive an elephant against him; if he do not fly but remain firm, he is a saint; if otherwise, a bad man. When they had impelled the animal against him, Sankara fled; then they said to him: “Why didst thou fly before an illusion?” He replied: “There is no elephant, nor I ”

“ Thereupon pleased and bowing unto Sankara he returned to his house where he found the standard broken which increased his joy.
At that time the foremost of Apsaras, Chitralekha, came back from Dwārakā and by virtue of her magic powers brought Aniruddha with her. Finding him there with Ushā, the warders of the inner apartments reported it to the king, who immediately sent a number of his retinue to seize the prince. But taking up an iron club the powerful youth killed all his adversaries. Thereat Bāna ascended his chariot, proceeded against him and tried to kill him. ”

“ Setting out for Kalolaka and Nandikunda and Uttara-manasa, and reaching a spot that is hundred yojanas remote from any of them, one becomes cleansed of the sin of foeticide. One who succeeds in obtaining a sight of image of Nandiswara, becomes cleansed of all sins. Bathing in the tirtha called Swargamarga one is sure to proceed to the regions of Brahman. The celebrated Himavat is sacred. That prince of mountains is the father-in-law of Sankara. He is a mine of all jewels and gems and is the resort of the Siddhas and Charanas. ”

“ In prowess, O Kunti, he will be even as Jamadagnya or Vishnu. The foremost of all men endued with prowess, he will achieve great fame. He will gratify in battle (by his heroism) Sankara, the god of gods (Mahadeva) , and will receive from him the great weapon named Pasupata. This thy son of mighty arms will also slay, at the command of Indra, those Daityas called the Nivatakavachas who are the enemies of the gods. He will also acquire all kinds of celestial weapons, and this bull among men will also retrieve the fortunes of his race. ”

“ Taylor and Mr. Colebrooke, concur in assigning to him an antiquity of about 1,000 years. The remaining traditions referred to by Mr. Wilson are as much opposed to his opinion as to the conclusion that Sankara lived before Christ. We shall now leave it to our readers to say whether, under such circumstances, Mr. Wilson is justified in asserting that "the weight of authority is altogether in favour" of his theory.
We have already referred to the writings of almost all the European Orientalists who expressed an opinion upon the subject under discussion ”

“ The question as to what the Stûras really teach is a critical, not a philosophical one. This distinction seems to have been imperfectly realised by several of those critics, writing in India, who have examined the views expressed in my Introduction to the translation of Sankara's Commentary. ”

“ Monier Williams merely copies the date given by Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Weber seems to rely upon the same authority without troubling himself with any further enquiry about the matter. Mr. Wilson is probably the only Orientalist who investigated the subject with some care and attention; and he frankly confesses that the exact period at which "he (Sankara) flourished can by no means be determined" (page 201 of Vol. I of his Essays on the religion of the Hindus) . ”