‘Adi Shankara and his disciples’ – by Raja Ravi Varma, 1904 – Wikimedia
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अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकार रूपो,
विभुत्वाच सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः,
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ।
ahaṃ nirvikalpo nirākāra rūpo
vibhutvā ca sarvatra sarvendriyāṇaṃ |
na cāsaṅgataṃ naiva muktir na meyaḥ
cidānandarūpaḥ śivo’ham śivo’ham |
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The early spiritual works produced in India were anonymous, probably stated by some ancient sages whose identities got lost. There is one name though that rose and was brought to fame and excellence, a teacher whose life has been narrated in many hagiographies and legends. His name: Adi Shankara, or Shankaracharya. His work as a philosopher and religious reformer is considered prominent in the unfolding of Hinduism. He is also known for having formulated and codified the ancient spiritual current of Non-duality, called in India Advaita Vedanta.
India’s most celebrated teacher was born in Kerala, in a village called Kaladi, in the accepted year of 788. Everything is uncertain about Shankara, since his numerous biographies were written centuries after his death and were designed to build a legend around his life. The name ‘Shankaracharya’ means the teacher ‘acharya’ of the way to bring about happiness (‘sham’ means ‘auspicious’ and ‘kara’ ‘maker’). He died at the early age of 32. A short life that nevertheless allowed him to travel widely all over India, initiating debates, founding monasteries ‘Matha’, and writing numerous pieces of work among which commentaries of ancient texts like the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, or the Principal Upanishads.
Amongst the many works authentically attributed to him is the Atmashatkam, also known as Nirvanashatkam. The legend says that Shankara, aged only eight at the time, wrote this devotional poem of six slokas as an answer to his newly found guru Govindapada who asked him the simple question “Who are you?”. This is a very striking and moving exposition of everything that we are not, everything that has been wrongly attributed as being our identity. Through experientially discarding every such thing, one comes to dawn on the simple realisation of our true nature, namely the Self or, as it is named in this translation, ‘the auspicious, love and pure consciousness’. This was concluding each stanza in the original Sanskrit as: ‘I am Shiva! I am Shiva!’, (shivoham).
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I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego,
nor the reflections of inner self.
I am not the five senses. I am beyond that.
I am not the seven elements or the five sheaths.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
Neither can I be termed as energy,
nor five types of breath,
nor the seven material essences,
nor the five sheaths.
Neither am I the organ of Speech,
nor the organs for Holding, Movement, or Excretion.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
I have no hatred or dislike,
nor affiliation or liking,
nor greed, nor delusion,
nor pride or haughtiness,
nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty, nor any money,
nor any desire, nor even liberation.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
I have neither merit, nor demerit.
I do not commit sins or good deeds,
nor have happiness or sorrow, pain or pleasure.
I do not need mantras, holy places,
scriptures, rituals or sacrifices.
I am none of the triad of the observer or one who experiences,
the process of observing or experiencing,
or any object being observed or experienced.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
I do not have fear of death, as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self,
no doubt about my existence,
nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother, nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative, nor the friend,
nor the guru, nor the disciple.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes, and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world,
nor to liberation.
I have no wishes for anything
because I am everything, everywhere,
every time, always in equilibrium.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss,
the auspicious, love and pure consciousness.
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One eminent contribution of Shankara, in a time when ritual worship and oblations to God were a common practice, was to emphasise enquiry and investigation as the only reliable means to manifest the presence of God in our life. Direct experience and understanding was for him the only guide and means of verifying the truths that were found in the ancient Vedas and Upanishads, and were believed to have been revealed by God. The realisation of our true nature was a practical matter, and needed not being confined to the sacred prescriptions of the Scriptures. He stressed forward that these truths could be directly experienced through exercising our reason and our capacity for observation.
These various means have been described by Shankara in one of his most famous work, the Upadesasahasri. This is a collection of prose and verses — the latter being comprised of 675 slokas and divided in nineteen chapters — whose title means ‘A thousand teachings’. The opening words of the work describe its scope and purpose eloquently: “We shall now explain a method of teaching the means to liberation for the benefit of those aspirants who deeply desire liberation, who have asked for this teaching and are possessed of faith (in it).” In the verse section, Shankara is clearly stating the object of this enquiry and the nature of the problem we are faced with…
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“I bow down to that all-knowing One
which is pure Consciousness, all-pervading, all,
residing in the hearts of all beings
and beyond all objects of knowledge.” 1:1
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”Just as dreams appear to be true as long as one does not wake up,
so, the identification of oneself with the body etc.
and the authenticity of sense-perception and the like in the waking state
continue as long as there is no Self-knowledge.” 11:5
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Shankara believed that self-knowledge was the primary requirement to achieve peace and happiness in this life. He made clear that the all-pervasiveness of consciousness in all beings, along with the very revelation of this hidden identity, is indeed the remedy. This revelation is at the core of the message of non-duality or Advaita, which he has tirelessly committed himself to emphasise and describe…
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“Ever free and different from names, forms, and actions,
I am the supreme Brahman, the Self,
consisting of pure Consciousness
and always without a second.” 11:7
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“How can there be knowledge or ignorance in Me
who am eternal and always of the nature of Pure Consciousness?
No knowledge, therefore, other than the Self
can be accepted.” 12:9
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“I am always
the free supreme Knower in all beings
in as much as there cannot be a more comprehensive knower
different from Me.” 12:12
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“All beings are by nature Pure Consciousness Itself.
It is due to Ignorance that they appear to be different from It.
Their difference from It is removed
by the teaching ‘Thou art existence’.” 11:1
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“I am the Self of all
as the intellects of all beings are illumined
by Me who am of the nature
of the Light of Consciousness.” 14:7
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“It is the individual Self known to be the seer, the hearer,
the thinker and the knower that is Brahman, the imperishable One.
As the individual Self is not different from It,
I am the imperishable Principle.” 14:20
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Now that he has established the true nature of our own being, Shankara, in the next few verses, gives a clear and thorough description of the nature of this consciousness, that is “beginningless and devoid of attributes”. This has reminiscences of the first work we saw here, the Nirvanashatkam…
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“I am the supreme Brahman which is pure consciousness,
always clearly manifest, unborn, one only, imperishable,
unattached and all-pervading like the ether and non-dual.
I am, therefore, ever free.” 10:1
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“Pure and changeless consciousness I am by nature,
devoid of objects (to illumine). Unborn and established in the Self,
I am all-pervading Brahman in the front, oblique, upward,
downward and all other directions.” 10:2
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“I am unborn, deathless, devoid of old age,
immortal, self effulgent, all pervading and non-dual.
Perfectly pure, having neither causes nor effect
and contented with the one Bliss, I am free. Yes.” 10:3
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“Beginningless and devoid of attributes, I have neither actions nor their results.
Therefore I am the supreme One without a second.
Though in a body, I do not get attached on account of My subtleness
like the ether which, though all-pervading, does not get tainted.” 10:7
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“Just as the ether is in the interior of all,
so am I in the interior of even the ether.
Therefore I am without any change, without any motion,
Pure, devoid of old age, ever free and without a second.” 12:19
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“I bow down to that all-knowing and all-powerful One
who is of the nature of Consciousness
and besides whom there is nothing else such as
a knower, knowledge, or an object of knowledge.” 17:88
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“The self is regarded as the doer of everything
though It is a non-doer. It is pure.
It runs ahead of those that run, though it does not move at all.
It appears to be many though unborn. For It possesses all power by Maya.” 17:79
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“As the intellects of all beings are illumined
by [Me who am Pure Consciousness]
all beings are bodies belonging to Me,
who am all-knowing and free from all sins and virtues.” 9:6
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Photo by Erminig Gwenn on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
Shankara always stressed the importance of the teacher-student relationship. He made repeated attempts at describing the process of inquiry, with all the subtle helps that a teacher can give to reveal in the student his true Self. His subtle descriptions of the mechanisms hidden behind our false identification show his scholarly inclinations, and his brilliant ability in the use of words, logic and concepts. Some of his stanzas are close to being riddles, and have the illuminating power of koans…
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“No one different from Me can belong to me who am one only.
Nor can I who am unattached belong to anybody.
I have, therefore, no benefit to be derived from anything done by you.
As you are not other than Myself you can have no effort nor its results.” 8:4
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“It is through the indiscrimination between the Self
and the modifications of the mind, false adjuncts to the Self,
that the Knowledge of the Knower is wrongly conceived by the people
to be impure and transitory, and the Self happy or miserable.” 13:9
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“Why should a knower of Brahman make any more effort
if the Self which is left over by negating the non-Self
according to the Sruti, Not this, not this,
is considered to be the Self?” 14:11
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“A knower of the Self
will wish to perform actions
if one who has reached the other bank of a river
wishes to reach that bank while there.” 14:13
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“Similarly, the Self has no change of states
as It is of changeless nature.
It would, no doubt, be destructible
if It underwent any change.” 16:38
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“The Self is to be known.
It is beyond everything knowable
as there exists nothing else except It.
I bow down to that pure, all knowing and omniscient One which is to be known.” 17:1
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“Of the nature of being always attained,
the Self does not depend on anything else in order to be acquired.
The acquisition that depends on other things (e.g. effort etc.)
is due to ignorance (and so vanishes when the means to which it is due vanish.)” 17:6
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“The Self is not an object (of knowledge).
There is no change or many-ness in It.
It is, therefore, capable of neither being accepted
nor rejected by Itself or by anyone else.” 17:42
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Shankara stated that the one ultimate reality as pure consciousness, the illuminating force and presence named Brahman or God’s presence, is the only entity present in each of our mind as our individual self, or Ātman. He has used many an analogy with the sun, and the power of light, to convey the knowing power of consciousness, and how the universal is present in the particular…
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“The sun does not require any other light
in order to illumine itself;
so, Knowledge does not require any other knowledge
except which is its own nature in order to be known.” 15:41
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“Just as the sun though devoid of effort on its part,
is called the revealer of a snake coming out of its hole,
so, the Self, though of the nature of Pure Consciousness only
is called a knower (without agency on Its part).” 15:46
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“Just as light assumes the forms of objects revealed by it,
but is really different from, though apparently mixed up with them,
so, the Self is different from the mental modifications
(whose forms It assumes while revealing them).” 16:5
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“Nothing can be an object
of its own quality.
For fire does not burn
or illumine itself.” 16:13
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“Just as there is no darkness in the sun
as it is of the nature of light only,
so, there is no Ignorance in the Self
as It is of the nature of eternal Knowledge.” 16:37
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“Just as the reflection and the heat of the sun,
found in the water, do not belong to it,
so, Consciousness, though perceived in the intellect, is not its quality;
for It is of a nature opposite to that of the intellect.” 17:35
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In chapter eighteen, no less than 233 slokas are used to describe, through a subtle interplay of affirmations, objections, and replies, the meaning of the phrase ‘Thou art That’. Shankara engages in a subtle but thorough examination of the nature of the Self, the mind, and the person as a separate self. The reality and nature of the Self is here not stated, but proved as self-evident…
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“Being in the same predicament with the word ‘Thou’,
the word ‘That’ comes to mean the Innermost Self.
(Similarly, being in the same relation with the word ‘That’)
the word ‘Thou’ comes to mean the same thing as the word ‘That’.
(Thus in relation to each other) the two words show
that the Innermost Self is not unhappy
and that Brahman is not other than the Self.” 18:197
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“Therefore accept the Self as self-evident,
which means the same thing as self-knowable.
The knowledge of the Innermost Self according to us
thus becomes possible when the ego vanishes.” 18.203
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“The knowledge that one is free
arises from a different evidence viz. the evidence, ‘Thou art That’.
Arising from fallacious perceptual evidence,
unhappiness deserves an explanation.” 18:217
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“I am not deluded by your efforts.
For I have known the Truth and am free from all bondage and change.
I have no difference in the conditions preceding the knowledge of Truth and succeeding it.
Your efforts, oh mind, are, therefore, useless.” 19:6
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“The unborn Self can never be regarded as non-existent
because there cannot be the superimposition of existence or non-existence on It.
What exists prior to you and on which you yourself are superimposed
cannot Itself be superimposed.” 19:13
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“False notion cannot be negated in anyway other than thus knowing the Self.
It is these wrong notions that are the causes of delusion.
These notions, bereft of their cause, come to an absolute end
like fire bereft of fuel (when knowledge is achieved).” 19:27
Photo by magnetisch on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Shankara lived in a period when many a spiritual traditions were converging and thriving, traditions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Islam and the various sects and trends of Hinduism itself. His clarifying and directing these manifold ideas into a thorough exposition of the process of understanding gave to the Vedantic tradition of India a new importance and lead that would live up until now. He also made clear, within the social beliefs prevailing in India, that the universality of the self contradicts and cancels the hierarchy of the cast system.
Shankara composed a lovely work of five verses to that effect, called the Manisha Panchakam (the five firm convictions). As the legend asserts, when Shankara lived in Varanasi, he used to go and have a bath in the Ganges, as do the many pilgrims there. On his way back home, he met an outcast man and his four dogs, and asked him to move away. The offended man then asked Adi Shankaracharya the question whose answer is the subject of this text, “You have asked me to move aside and make way for you. To whom were your words addressed O learned Sir?”
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To move matter from matter, or to separate Spirit from Spirit?
O best among the twiceborn, which of these two do you wish to achieve by saying, ‘Move away, move away’?
In the waking, dream and deep sleep states, That which is their Illuminator, by which one comes to know and understand things
From the Creator down to the ant, that which is the very spark of life in them; the witness of the entire universe
That alone am I, and not the objects that are “seen”, firmly established in this Consciousness – if there is such a person,
be he a Chandala or be he a Brahmana, such a one indeed is worthy of being a Guru. This is my firm conviction.
I am pure Consciousness, and this entire universe, is only an expansion of pure Consciousness
Out of this Maya all this that we see, made of the three gunas, has been conjured by imagination,
He whose intellect is firmly established in the all blissful, eternal, Supreme Reality,
be he a Chandala or be he a Brahmana, such a one is indeed worthy of being a Guru. This is my firm conviction.
Permanently in a state of flux is this entire world of change, reflect thus on the words of his Guru
“Brahman is Eternal” dwelling on this only, casting aside all dissimilar thoughts, his mind is quietened and poised
And all past and future residual Vasanas of evil deeds are burnt in the fire of Pure consciousness, He thereafter offers his body to Prarabdha
Such a one is worthy to be a Guru, be he a Chandala or a Brahmana, this is my firm conviction.
Upon That which in animals, man and the Deities is, as the inner “I” or Ego clearly perceived to be present
Upon That Light by which the mind, senses and body instruments are enlivened, though in themselves inert
Upon that Radiance covered by dark clouds, yet shining forth from behind them he who always meditates a Yogi, with mind freed of all thoughts,
is indeed worthy of being a Guru, this is my firm conviction.
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Where Adi Shankara died is not known, but it is indeed extraordinary that a man was able to bring so much, in the realm of spiritual understanding, in such a short life span. After 32 years of intense travelling, encountering and debating with other wise men, founding monasteries and orders, giving a new life and perspective to the understanding of Advaita, and writing extensively about it, he finished his life as mysteriously as he started it. Some said he died in Tamil Nadu, some said in Kerala, and still others said that he was last seen walking behind the temple of Kedarnath, a famous pilgrimage centre in the Himalayas, where he disappeared from the eyes of his disciples.
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“The mind is the place of pilgrimage
where devas, Vedas and all other purifying agencies
become one. A bath in that place of pilgrimage
makes one immortal.”
~ Upadesasahasri, 14:40
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Verses by Adi Shankara (788-820)
Painting by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906)
Accompanying text by Alain Joly
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Read this beautiful prayer composed by Adi Shankara, ‘In the Morning I Remember’…
Bibliography:
– ‘In the Light of the Self: Adi Shankara and the Yoga of Non-dualism’ – by Alistair Shearer – (White Crow Books)
– ‘Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker’ – by Pavan K. Varma – (Tranquebar)
Websites:
– Adi Shankara (Wikipedia)
– Raja Ravi Varma (Wikipedia)
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