Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti Celebrations
TEMPLE OF INNER WISDOM celebrates the Birth Anniversary of Ādi Shankaracharya.
श्रुतिस्मृतिपुराणानामालयं करुणालयम्।
नमामि भग्वत्पादं शङ्करं लोकशङ्करम्॥
Ācharya Shankara came to the rescue of the spiritual legacy of Bharat at a crucial time
when faith and integrity were dwindling and at the lowest.
The peoples of this sacred land found themselves benumbed and incapable to perceive
their own tragedies of life, as doubt and misapprehension of the reality prevailed deep
and wide.
Religion merely served as an escape from the lingering sorrow dulled by blind faith and
superstition.
Ācharya Shankara was born in 788 CE in Kalady(Kerala) to Namboodari Brahmin
parents, Sivaguru and Aryamba.
He took to a monastic way of life very early on, making Govinda Bhagavatpada His Guru.
He is seen as the “restorer of the Sanatan Dharma” which had starting loosing its appeal
amidst the many emerging sects and belief systems of the time.
Ācharya Shankara reconciled the various sects like Vaishnavism, Shaivism and
Shaktism (simultaneous Worship of Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi).
All the deities are but the different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme
Being, and The Self and the Brahman are not different.
The Upanishads advocate the
“worship of God as One’s own real Self. The one who thinks of the worshiped as
different from oneself, does not know the Truth.”
यद्दष्ट्वा नापरं दृश्यं यद्भूयवा न पुनर्भवः।
यज्ज्ञात्वा नापरं ज्ञेयं तद्बब्रह्मत्यवधारयेत॥
-आत्मबोध
Realize that to be Brahman, having seen which nothing more remains to be seen, having
become which, one is not born again in this world, and having known which, nothing
remains to be known.
– Atmabodha
[A Prākararaṅ Granth by Adi Shankara.]
Acharya Shankara is one of the greatest philosopher and exponent of Advaita Vedanta.
He established the 4 Mathas or Siddhi Peerthams in all the 4 corners of India, namely –
- Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Chikmagalur in Karnataka.
- Jyotir Matha in the Garhwal region in Uttarakhand.
- Kalika Matha in Dwarka in Gujarat.
- Govardhan Matha in Puri, Odisha.
Shankara took Samadhi in Kedarnath in 820 CE , at the age of 32.
Ācharya Shankara’s contribution in the revival and restructuring of Sanatan Dharma is
unparalleled.
There is no space of prayer, worship, commentary or Bhāshya , or philosophical thought
that the Great Ācharya has not left his indelible mark on.
Let us all come together to cherish and celebrate this auspicious Shukla Panchami Tithi
of the Vaishakh month, to mark our respect and gratitude to the Guru of all Gurus – Adi
Shankaracharya.