Eknath Easwaran (December 17, 1910 – October 26, 1999^[1]) was a spiritual teacher, an author of books on meditation and ways to lead a fulfilling life, as well as a translator and interpreter of Indian literature.

In 1961 Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and Nilgiri Press, based in northern California. Nilgiri Press publishes over two dozen books he authored.

Eknath Easwaran was influenced by Gandhi, whom Easwaran met when he was a young man. Easwaran developed a method of meditation – silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world's great religions^[2] – which later came to be known as Passage Meditation.

[edit] Biography

Eknath Easwaran was born in 1910 in a village in Kerala, British India.^[1] Eknath is his surname, Easwaran his given name.^[3] Brought up by his mother, and by his maternal grandmother whom he honored as his spiritual teacher, he was schooled in his native village until the age of sixteen, when he went to attend a Catholic college fifty miles away. Here he acquired a deep appreciation of the Christian tradition. He graduated at the University of Nagpur in English and law.^[4]:118 He served as Professor of English literature at the University of Nagpur.

In 1959, he came to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.^[5][6]

From 1960 he gave classes on meditation in the San Francisco Bay Area. He met his wife Christine at one of these talks. Together with his wife, he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in 1961. After a four-year stay in India, he returned to the Bay Area in 1965

In 1970 he founded Ramagiri Ashram as a community of dedicated followers in Marin County.^[7]

He set up a publishing activity, Nilgiri Press, which printed his first book Gandhi The Man, telling the story of Gandhi as a spiritual as well as a political leader. His first major work was his 3-volume commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, the first volume of which was printed in 1975 and the last in 1984. His book Meditation on the program of meditation and allied disciplines that he developed first appeared in 1978.

[edit] Written works

Easwaran's writings may be grouped into several major categories—primarily books, but also articles in newspapers and other periodicals. Most of his books have been reviewed by spiritually oriented publications or websites, or by nationally known media such as The New Yorker,^[8] or the New York Post.^[9]

[edit] Translations

His translations of the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Dhammapada (see article) have been critically acclaimed. Religion scholar Huston Smith is cited by the publisher as writing: "No one in modern times is more qualified – no, make that 'as qualified' – to translate the epochal Classics of Indian Spirituality than Eknath Easwaran. And the reason is clear. It is impossible to get to the heart of those classics unless you live them, and he did live them. My admiration of the man and his works is boundless."^[10] In Buddhism: A Concise Introduction^[11] Smith and his coauthor Philip Novak wrote that "Our favorite translation is Eknath Easwaran's The Dhammapada. His Indian heritage, literary gifts, and spiritual sensibilities... here produce a sublime rendering of the words of the Buddha. Verse after verse shimmers with quiet, confident authority. A bonus is the sparkling 70-page introduction to the Buddha's life and teachings."

[edit] Commentaries

Essence of the Upanishads (see article), originally entitled Dialogue with death: The spiritual psychology of the Katha Upanishad, explains how the Katha Upanishad embraces the key ideas of Indian spirituality within the context of a powerful mythic quest – the story of a young hero who ventures into the land of death in search of immortality. "Essence of the Upanishads is a westerner's guide to this vitally important Indian text and its modern relevance to the Indian mindset and spirituality."^[12]

In Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, Easwaran places the Gita’s teachings in a modern context and comments on the Gita's view of the nature of reality, the illusion of separateness, the search for identity, the meaning of yoga, and how to heal the unconscious. The book views the key message of the Gita as how to resolve our conflicts and live in harmony with the deep unity of life, through the practice of meditation and spiritual disciplines.

[edit] Books on meditation

His book Passage Meditation (original title Meditation) describes the Eight Point Program that Easwaran developed, while his book Conquest of Mind goes further into the practice of these disciplines in daily life. Timeless Wisdom is a companion book to Passage Meditation and contains passages for meditation drawn from across the world's spiritual traditions. His book Mantram Handbook: a practical guide to choosing your mantram and calming your mind addresses The Mantram, the second point in the program.

His book Strength in the Storm^[13] is an introduction to The Mantram, containing many stories and practical examples to help the reader learn how to harness the inner resources for dealing with challenges in daily living. His book Take Your Time^[14] explores "Slowing Down" and "One-Pointed Attention" in daily lives. Renewal^[15][16] is a pocket book of short readings on themes such as loving relationships, raising children, living simply, and aging wisely; Patience, the second in the pocket book series, shows how to cultivate Patience – "the ornament of the brave" – at any age. Other (older) books describe various aspects of leading a spiritual life: Climbing the Blue Mountain, Compassionate Universe, and Undiscovered Country.

[edit] Daily readers and reference

God Makes the Rivers to Flow^[17] is an anthology of writings from the sacred literature of the world, selected by Easwaran as useful for meditation. A larger (and earlier) version of Timeless Wisdom, it contains dozens of passages from diverse traditions, and identifies passages for particular stages in life, such as caregiving, families with small children, death and dying, grief and loss, and for building positive qualities such as patience, courage, devotion to God, and putting others first. Words to Live By^[18] is a set of daily readings with Easwaran's commentary on applying the reading to daily life.

[edit] The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living

The three volumes of the Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living are conceived as handbooks for applying the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to lives today. End of Sorrow^[19] concentrates on the individual – how one can discover one's innermost nature, and transform one's life through self-realization, selfless service, and meditation. Like a Thousand Suns^[20] addresses relationships – how one can heal divisions in society, within one's relationships, and within oneself, and realize the unity governing all creation. To Love is To Know Me^[21] gives a global view, describing what individual readers can do to make a difference in the world today, and ends with a description of bhakti yoga, the path of devotion.

[edit] Spiritual biographies

Gandhi the Man^[22] traces how Mohandas Gandhi transformed himself into one of the world's great spiritual leaders.

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam is the life story of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pathan (or Pushtun) of Afghanistan and a devout Muslim, who raised the first nonviolent army in history to free his people from British imperial rule. This book was favorably discussed in The New Yorker.^[8] The book also inspired^[23] filmmaker and writer T.C. McLuhan, daughter of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, to make the film The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace, which won the 2009 Black Pearl Award for Best Documentary Film.^[24]

[edit] Commentaries on Christian literature

Original Goodness (see article) is a commentary on the Beatitudes. Seeing with the Eyes of Love is a commentary on The Imitation of Christ. Love Never Faileth is a commentary on the writings of St Francis, St Paul, St Augustine, and Mother Teresa.

[edit] Newspapers and other periodicals

In the 1980s and 1990s, Easwaran published a variety of commentaries on public events in prominent periodicals, especially the Christian Science Monitor,^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]} and also in the New York Times,^[35] elsewhere in the US,^[36] and internationally.^[35] He also wrote numerous commentaries that appeared in the Little Lamp (1961–1995), and in Blue Mountain (1990–present), quarterly journals published by the meditation center that he founded.^[37] In the 1960s, Easwaran published articles in other spiritual journals, such as the Mountain Path, published by Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram.^[38][39] Before coming to the US in 1959, Easwaran contributed short stories and other writings to literary anthologies,^[40] and to magazines such as the The Illustrated Weekly of India.^[41]

Eight-point program[link]

Easwaran's program for spiritual growth consists of eight points, and was described comprensively in his 1978 book Meditation (later republished as Passage Meditation). Each point had a dedicated chapter:^[42]

1. Meditation: Silent repetition upon memorized inspirational passages from one of the world's great religions. Practiced for one-half hour each morning.
2. The Mantram: silent repetition of a mantram, holy name or hallowed phrase from one of the world's great religions.
3. Slowing Down: set priorities to reduce stress and hurry
4. One-Pointed Attention: give full concentration to whatever matter is currently at hand
5. Training the Senses: enjoy simple pleasures in order to avoid craving for unhealthy excess
6. Putting Others First: denounce selfishness and cultivating altruism
7. Spiritual Companionship: practice meditation in the company of others
8. Reading the Mystics: draw inspiration from the writings of the scriptures of all religions.

[edit] Other influence

A variety of influences of Easwaran's life and work have been documented. Easwaran's students, inspired in part by his teachings about compassion and stewardship for the environment, published a well-known vegetarian cookbook entitled Laurel's Kitchen (1976), later republished in revised form as The New Laurel's Kitchen (1986). The book contained extensive nutritional information from a scientific point of view, and sold more than a million copies.^[43]

Outside of the US, Easwaran's life and teachings were profiled, along with those of a variety of other spiritual teachers, in a book published in India entitled Meditation Masters and their Insights.^[44]

Easwaran's words have been included in collections of wisdom teachings, such as ones recently published by Chang (2006)^[45] and Parachin (2011).^[46] Quotations from Easwaran's translations have been used many times by both scholarly and popular writers.^[47][48][49] Easwaran's other writings have also been quoted by various types of authors, including writers of novels and short stories,^[50] popular spirituality,^[51] and articles on management theory.^[52] Psychiatrist Aaron Beck and his colleagues quoted from Easwaran's commentary on the Katha Upanishad.^[53] The NAPRA ReView wrote that "The volume of [Easwaran's] work and the quality of his discourse suggest a man who has had a profound impact on the spiritual lives of many."^[54]

Easwaran has been listed in reference works on spiritual and religious leaders.^[1][55][56]

[edit] Bibliography

Easwaran's books, initially written in English, have also been translated into more than 20 other languages, and published in non-US editions by indigenous (non-US) publishers. Languages in which his books are currently in print include Bahasa Indonesian, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Telugu.^[57] His books have also been translated into Chinese (PRC).^[58] (Some non-English translations are not currently in print—for example, the German biography of Gandhi.^[59]).

• Passage Meditation: Bringing the Deep Wisdom of the Heart into Daily Life (see article), 2008 (ISBN 978-1-58638-026-7), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380304), a republication of
  • Meditation: Commonsense Directions for an Uncommon Life, 1978 (ISBN 0-915132-66-4) (also a 2nd edition, 1991)
• Conquest of Mind: Take charge of your thoughts & reshape your life through meditation, 3rd ed. 2010 (ISBN 9781586380472), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380489)
• The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living (3 vols.):
  • The End of Sorrow (The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Vol. 1), 1975 (ISBN 0-915132-17-6), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380519)
  • Like a Thousand Suns (The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Vol. 2), 1979 (ISBN 0-915132-18-4), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380526)
  • To Love Is to Know Me (Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Vol. 3), 1984 (ISBN 0-915132-19-2), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380533)
• The Bhagavad Gita (Translator), 2007 (ISBN 978-158638-019-9), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380236)
• The Dhammapada (Translator), 2007 (ISBN 978-1-58638-020-5), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380243)
• The Upanishads (Translator), 2007 (ISBN 978-1-58638-021-2), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380250)
• Essence of the Bhagavad Gita: A Contemporary Guide to Yoga, Meditation and Indian Philosophy, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-58638-068-7), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380694)
• Essence of the Upanishads: A Key to Indian Spirituality (see article), 2009 (ISBN 978-1-58638-036-6), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380373), originally published as:
  • Dialogue With Death: A Journey Through Consciousness, 1992
• God Makes the Rivers to Flow: An anthology of the world's sacred poetry & prose (see article), 2009 (ISBN 9781586380380), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380397), a larger version of:
  • Timeless Wisdom: Passages for meditation from the world's saints & sages (see article), 2008 (ISBN 978-1-58638-027-4), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380311)
• Climbing the Blue Mountain: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, 1992 (ISBN 9780915132706), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380588), previously published as:
  • Supreme Ambition: Life's Goals and How to Reach It
• Love Never Faileth: The Inspiration of Saint Francis, Saint Augustine, Saint Paul, Mother Teresa, with introductions by Carol L. Flinders, 1993 (ISBN 9780915132898), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380618)
• Seeing With the Eyes of Love: Refections on a Classic of Christian Mysticism, 1993 (ISBN 9780915132874), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380649)
• Original Goodness: On the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, 1996 (ISBN 9780915132911), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380632)
• Seeing With the Eyes of Love: Eknath Easwaran on the Imitation of Christ, 1996 (ISBN 9780915132874), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380649)
• The Undiscovered Country: Exploring the Promise of Death, 1996 (ISBN 9780915132836), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380656)
• Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day, 1996 (ISBN 9781586380168), reissued as Words to Live By: Short Readings of Daily Wisdom, 2010 (ISBN 9781586380496), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380502)
• Gandhi the Man: The Story of His Transformation (see article), 1997 (ISBN 9780915132966), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380427)
• Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains (see article) (ISBN 9781888314007), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380625), previously published as
  • A man to match his mountains: Badshah Khan, nonviolent soldier of Islam (1984)
• A Higher Image, 2002
• Love Alters Not, 2002
• The Compassionate Universe, 1989 (ISBN 9780915132584), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380595)
• Patience: A Little Book of Inner Strength, 2010 (ISBN 9781586380458), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380465)
• Renewal: A Little Book of Courage and Hope, 2009 (ISBN 9781586380342), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380359), a re-edited and republished version of:
  • Your Life Is Your Message: Finding Harmony With Yourself, Others, and the Earth
• Strength in the Storm: Creating Calm in Difficult Times, 2005 (ISBN 9781586380175), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380434)
• Take Your Time: Finding Balance in a Hurried World (ISBN 9781586380182), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380441)
• The Constant Companion (ISBN 9781586380038), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380601), previously published as:
  • Thousand Names of Vishnu
• The Mantram Handbook (see article) (ISBN 9781586380281), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380328), previously issued as:
  • The Unstruck Bell: Powerful New Strategies for Using a Mantram
• A More Ardent Fire: From Everyday Love to Love of God (ISBN 9781888314021), e-book: (ISBN 9781586380571)
• Kabir: Stages of Desire
• Saint Francis: Becoming an Instrument of Peace
• With My Love and Blessings: The Teaching Years, 1966–1999, in Photographs & His Own Words
• The Monkey and the Mango: Stories of My Granny (Illustrated by Ilka Jerabek), 1996 (ISBN 9780915132829)

Contributions to works by others include:

• Eknath Easwaran (1969). "To all mankind". Ramana pictorial souvenir commemorating the Kumbhabhishekam on June 18, 1967 (Tiruvannamalai, India: Board of Trustees Sri Ramanasramam): 7.  (contribution to edited volume)
• Eknath Easwaran (1991). "Working for others [reprinted from the Little Lamp, vol. 22, no. 3, Autumn 1982]" (pp 72–84) in Lilia Lender (1991). The Choice is Yours: Ethics in Vedanta [introduction by Swami Chinmayananda]. Mumbai, India: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust. pp. 72–84. ISBN 978-81-7597-122-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=54QAKZDETqAC&pg=PA72&dq=eknath+easwaran+9788175971226#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Eknath Easwaran (1996). Preface (pp. ix–x) to Devi Vanamali (1996). The play of God: Visions of the life of Krishna. San Diego, CA: Blue Dove Press.  ISBN 978-1-884997-07-5
• Eknath Easwaran (1997). Roger S. Powers, William B. Vogele, Christopher Kruegler & Ronald M. McCarthy. ed. "Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988)". Protest, power, and change: An encyclopedia of nonviolent action from Act-Up to women's suffrage (New York: Garland): 284–286. http://books.google.com/books?id=jlRHZdWJlV4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=0815309139&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%20easwaran&f=false. 
• Preface to The Essential Gandhi by Louis Fischer (2002, 2nd edition). New York: Vintage. (ISBN 1400030501)
• Preface to In Quest of God: The Saga of an Extraordinary Pilgrimage by Swami Ramdas (2002, 2nd American edition). San Diego, CA: Blue Dove Foundation. (ISBN 1884997015)

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Eknath Easwaran on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and Nilgiri Press
• Easwaran biography

Adi Shankara
Srimad Guru Adi Shankaracharya by Raja Ravi Varma
Born	788 CE Kalady, present day Kerala, India
Died	820 CE[1] Kedarnath, Pala Empire present day Uttarakhand, India
Birth name	Shankara
Titles/honours	Expounded Advaita Vedanta, Hindu Revivalism, Founded Dashanami Sampradaya, Shanmata
Guru	Govinda Bhagavatpada
Philosophy	Advaita Vedanta

Adi Shankara (Sanskrit: आदिशङ्करः Ādi Śaṅkara, pronounced [aːd̪i ɕəŋkəɾə]) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian sage from Kalady in present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta.^[1][2] His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.^[3]

Shankara travelled across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta of which he is known as the greatest revivalist.^[2] Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.^[3][4][5]

Life[link]

Traditional accounts of Adi Shankara's life can be found in the Shankara Vijayams, which are poetic works that contain a mix of biographical and legendary material, written in the epic style. The most important among these biographies are the Mādhavīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Mādhava, c. 14th century), the Cidvilāsīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of Cidvilāsa, c. between 15th century and 17th century), and the Keraļīya Śaṅkara Vijayaṃ (of the Kerala region, extant from c. 17th century).^[6][7]

Birth and childhood[link]

The birth place of Adi Shankara at Kalady

Shankara was born in orthodox Hindu family to Sivaguru and Aryamba in Kaladi in central present day Kerala. According to lore, it was after his parents, who had been childless for many years, prayed at the Vadakkunnathan temple, Thrissur that Sankara was born under the star Thiruvathira.^[8][9]

His father died while Shankara was very young. Shankara's upanayanaṃ, the initiation into student-life, had to be delayed due to the death of his father, and was then performed by his mother.^[10] As a child, Shankara showed remarkable scholarship, mastering the four Vedas by the age of eight.^[11]

Sannyasa[link]

At the age of 7, Shankara was inclined towards sannyasa, but it was only after much persuasion that his mother finally gave her consent. He only received her consent in a very interesting manner. While bathing in the river Poorna one day, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Shankara appealed to his mother, who had arrived at Poorna, asking for permission to become a sanyasi. His mother finally gave consent, only to have the crocodile let go of young Shankara. A crocodile had never been found in Poorna ever or since^[12] Shankara then left Kerala and travelled towards North India in search of a guru. On the banks of the Narmada River, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada the disciple of Gaudapada at Omkareshwar. When Govinda Bhagavatpada asked Shankara's identity, he replied with an extempore verse that brought out the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Govinda Bhagavatapada was impressed and took Shankara as his disciple.^[13]

The guru instructed Shankara to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras and propagate the Advaita philosophy. Shankara travelled to Kashi, where a young man named Sanandana, hailing from Chola territory in South India, became his first disciple. According to legend, while on his way to the Vishwanath Temple, Sankara came upon an untouchable accompanied by four dogs. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable replied: "Do you wish that I move my ever lasting Ātman ("the Self"), or this body made of flesh?" Realizing that the untouchable was none other than god Shiva himself, and his dogs the four Vedas, Shankara prostrated himself before him, composing five shlokas known as Manisha Panchakam.^[14][15]

At Badari he wrote his famous Bhashyas ("commentaries") and Prakarana granthas ("philosophical treatises").^[16][17]

Meeting with Mandana Mishra[link]

One of the most famous debates of Adi Shankara was with the ritualist Maṇḍana Miśra. Maṇḍana Miśra held the view that the life of a householder was far superior to that of a monk. This view was widely shared and respected throughout India at that time.^[18] Thus it would have been important for Adi Shankara to debate with him. Madana Mishra's guru was the famous Mimamsa philosopher, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. Shankara sought a debate with Kumārila Bhaṭṭa and met him in Prayag where he had buried himself in a slow burning pyre to repent for sins committed against his guru: Kumārila Bhaṭṭa had learned Buddhist philosophy from his Buddhist guru under false pretenses, in order to be able to refute it. Learning anything without the knowledge of one's guru while still under his authority constitutes a sin according to the Vedas.^[19] Kumārila Bhaṭṭa thus asked Adi Shankara to proceed to Mahiṣmati to meet Maṇḍana Miśra and debate with him instead.(Mahishmati is on the banks of the holy river - Narmada, in Madhya Pradesh. Mahishmati is now known as Mandala. . Mandala finds mention in Pauranic literature as the capital of Sahasrabahu Kartyaveer Arjun who had obstructed the river by his thousand arms by his frolicking, at his capital Mahishmati),

After debating for over fifteen days, with Maṇḍana Miśra's wife Ubhaya Bhāratī acting as referee, Maṇḍana Miśra accepted defeat.^[20] Ubhaya Bhāratī then challenged Adi Shankara to have a debate with her in order to 'complete' the victory. She asked him questions related to sexual congress between man and woman - a subject in which Shankaracharya had no knowledge, since he was a true celibate and sannyasi. Sri Shankracharya asked for a "recess" of 15 days. As per legend, he used the art of "para-kaya pravesa" (the spirit leaving one's own body and entering another's) and exited his own body, which he asked his disciples to look after, and psychically entered the dead body of a king. The story goes that from the King's two wives, he acquired all knowledge of "art of love". The queens, thrilled at the keen intellect and robust love-making of the "revived" King, deduced that he was not their husband, as of old. The story continues that they sent their factotums to "look for the lifeless body of a young sadhu and to cremate it immediately" so that their "king" (Shankracharya in the king's body) would continue to live with them. Just as the retainers piled Shankracharaya's lifeless corpse upon a pyre and were about to set fire to it, Shankara entered his own body and regained consciousness. Finally, he answered all questions put to him by Ubhaya Bhāratī; and she allowed Maṇḍana Miśra to accept sannyasa with the monastic name Sureśvarācārya, as per the agreed-upon rules of the debate.^[21]

Philosophical tour[link]

Sharada temple at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri

Adi Shankara then travelled with his disciples to Maharashtra and Srisailam. In Srisailam, he composed Shivanandalahari, a devotional hymn in praise of Shiva. The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam says that when Shankara was about to be sacrificed by a Kapalika, the god Narasimha appeared to save Shankara in response to Padmapadacharya's prayer to him. As a result, Adi Shankara composed the Laksmi-Narasimha stotra.^[22]

He then travelled to Gokarṇa, the temple of Hari-Shankara and the Mūkambika temple at Kollur. At Kollur, he accepted as his disciple a boy believed to be dumb by his parents. He gave him the name, Hastāmalakācārya ("one with the amalaka fruit on his palm", i.e., one who has clearly realised the Self). Next, he visited sringeri to establish the Śārada Pīṭham and made Sureśvarācārya his disciple.^[23]

After this, Adi Shankara began a Dig-vijaya "tour of conquest" for the propagation of the Advaita philosophy by controverting all philosophies opposed to it. He travelled throughout India, from South India to Kashmir and Nepal, preaching to the local populace and debating philosophy with Hindu, Buddhist and other scholars and monks along the way.

With the Malayali King Sudhanva as companion, Shankara passed through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha. He then started towards Karnataka where he encountered a band of armed Kapalikas. King Sudhanva, with his Nairs, resisted and defeated the Kapalikas. They safely reached Gokarna where Shankara defeated in debate the Shaiva scholar, Neelakanta.

Proceeding to Saurashtra (the ancient Kambhoja) and having visited the shrines of Girnar, Somnath and Prabhasa and explaining the superiority of Vedanta in all these places, he arrived at Dwarka. Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara of Ujjayini, the proponent of Bhedābeda philosophy, was humbled. All the scholars of Ujjayini (also known as Avanti) accepted Adi Shankara's philosophy.

He then defeated the Jainas in philosophical debates at a place called Bahlika. Thereafter, the Acharya established his victory over several philosophers and ascetics in Kamboja (region of North Kashmir), Darada and many regions situated in the desert and crossing mighty peaks, entered Kashmir. Later, he had an encounter with a tantrik, Navagupta at Kamarupa.^[24]

Accession to Sarvajnapitha[link]

Statue of Adi Shankara at his Samadhi Mandir, behind Kedarnath Temple, in Kedarnath, India

Adi Shankara visited Sarvajñapīṭha (Sharada Peeth) in Kashmir (now in POK, Pakistan).^[25] The Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door (representing South India) had never been opened, indicating that no scholar from South India had entered the Sarvajna Pitha. Adi Shankara opened the southern door by defeating in debate all the scholars there in all the various scholastic disciplines such as Mimamsa, Vedanta and other branches of Hindu philosophy; he ascended the throne of Transcendent wisdom of that temple.^[26]

Towards the end of his life, Adi Shankara travelled to the Himalayan area of Kedarnath-Badrinath and attained videha mukti ("freedom from embodiment"). There is a samadhi mandir dedicated to Adi Shankara behind the Kedarnath temple. However, there are variant traditions on the location of his last days. One tradition, expounded by Keraliya Shankaravijaya, places his place of mahasamadhi (leaving the body) as Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur, Kerala.^[27] The followers of the Kanchi kamakoti pitha claim that he ascended the Sarvajñapīṭha and attained videha mukti in Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu).

Dates[link]

Several different dates have been proposed for Shankara:

• 788–820 CE: This is the mainstream scholarly opinion, placing Shankara in mid to late 8th century CE. These dates are based on records at the Śṛṅgeri Śāradā Pīṭha, which is the only matha to have maintained a relatively unbroken record of its Acharyas; starting with the third Acharya, one can with reasonable confidence date the others from the 8th century to the present.^[28] The Sringeri records state that Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of "VikramAditya", but it is unclear as to which king this name refers. Though some researchers identify the name with Chandragupta II (4th. c. CE), modern scholarship accepts the VikramAditya as being from the Chalukya dynasty of Badami, most likely Vikramaditya II (733–746 CE),^[29] which would place him in the middle of the 8th c.^[28] Max Muller, Macdonnel, Pathok, Deussen and Radhakrishnan all accept the dates 788-820 CE.^[30] The date 788–820 is also among those considered acceptable by Swami Tapasyananda, though he raises a number of questions.^[31][32]
• 509–477 BCE: This dating, more than a millennium ahead of all others, is based on records of the heads of the Shankara Maṭhas at Dvaraka Pitha and Govardhana matha and the fifth Peetham at Kanchi.^[33] However, such an early date is not consistent with the fact that Shankara quotes the Buddhist logician Dharmakirti, who finds mention in Xuanzang (7th c.).^[28] Also, his near-contemporary Kumārila Bhaṭṭa is usually dated ca. 8th c. CE. Most scholars feel that due to invasions and other discontinuities, the records of the Dwaraka and Govardhana mathas are not as reliable as those of Sringeri.^[28] Thus, while considerable debate exists, the pre-Christian Era dates are usually discounted, and the most likely period for Shankara is during the 8th c. CE.

• 44-12 BCE: Anandagiri believed he was born at Chidambaram in 44 BCE and died in 12 BCE.^[30]

• 6th Century CE: Telang placed him in this century. Sir R G Bandarkar believed he was born in 680 CE.^[30]

• 805-897 CE: A D Venkiteswara not only places Adishankara later than most, but also had the opinion that it would not have been possible for him to have achieved all the works apportioned to him, and has him live ninety two years.^[30]

Mathas[link]

(Vidyashankara temple) at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri

Adi Shankara founded four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ) to guide the Hindu religion. These are at Sringeri in Karnataka in the south, Dwaraka in Gujarat in the west, Puri in Orissa in the east, and Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttarakhand in the north. Hindu tradition states that he put in charge of these mathas his four main disciples: Sureśvara, Hastamalakacharya, Padmapāda, and Totakacharya respectively. The heads of the mathas trace their authority back to these figures. Each of the heads of these four mathas takes the title of Shankaracharya ("the learned Shankara") after the first Shankaracharya. The table below gives an overview of the four Amnaya Mathas founded by Adi Shankara and their details.^[34]