In the first edition (or is it the last edition?) we have dealt with the contribution of Shri Adi Sankaracharya to the Hindu Religion. Now we may discuss the Philosophy he preached viz., ADVAITA (NON-DUALISTIC) PHILOSOPHY.
Unlike Western Philosophy, Philosophy of any variety in India, be it Buddhist, Jain, Samkhya or Dwaita, does not exist in a vacuum. Their founders evolved them for a purpose i.e. to save the people from going astray, being misguided by others etc. and to reform them.
Let us try to understand the context under which Sankaracharya had to evolve this Philosophy.
What were the main causes responsible for the rise of new Religions like Buddhism and Jainism? In the 6th century B.C. people found Hinduism to be complicated and ritualistic. Animal sacrifices became very common. Only the rich could afford it. The poor masses did not find any role to play in the Hindu religion. Even foolish and wicked Brahmins were given respect while pious and wise people belonging to other Castes never got that respect. Hindu literature was in Sanskrit, which the ordinary people could n ot understand. Upper caste Hindus ill-treated the people of lower castes.
All these led the masses to yearn for a new religion which was devoid of all complications and rituals, whose literature would be in the language they easily understood, a religion where there were no class-distinctions and atmosphere of hatred.
Buddhism fulfilled all the criteria mentioned above. Its literature was in the local language PALI. It preached suppression or killing of Desire to attain freedom from misery and sorrow. To this end it advised its adherents to follow the eight-fold path: (1) Right Belief, (2) Right Thought, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5) Right Living, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Recollection, and (8) Right Meditation. Regarding the existence of God, Buddhism maintains silence. It denounced the caste system in the bitterest words. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism was a missionary faith. Buddha Bhikshus were men of high character and great learning. They created influence over the people who flocked there in great numbers. Last but not the least, the state patronage that was provided to Buddhism by such rulers as Ashoka, Kanishka and Harsha went a long way in making Buddhism a world Religion.
Buddhism flourished for about 17 centuries. But gradually it became weaker and weaker till it was completely wiped out of the land of its birth. The chief causes of this decline are:
Instead of performing religious ceremonies in the open air and venerating different powers of Nature, they began to erect beautiful temples for their gods and began to have faith in Avataras.
They gave up the age-old practice of sacrifices and adopted the principle of Ahimsa. They laid much emphasis on the study of the epics, Puranas and the Upanishads.
There were six schools of Philosophy among Hindus at the time of Adi Sankaracharya. They are: SAMKHYA, YOGA, NYAYA, VAISESHIKA, POORVA MEEMAMSA AND UTTARA MEEMAMSA. Among these, Samkhya and Vaiseshika were not so popular; very few people practised Yoga; Nyaya or Logic was adopted by Buddhists as their main weapon to attack Hinduism with and Poorva Meemamsa (the cult of sacrifices) was their main target. What was left unblemished was the theory enunciated in the Upanishads or Vedanta.
Sankaracharya synthesised the Philosophy enshrined in the Upanishads, Brahmasutras and the Bhagavadgita and evolved the Advaita Philosophy.
According to this philosophy the world of phenomena or the Universe is something, which cannot be defined exactly (anirvachaneeya) since it is constantly changing. It has some sort of reality, which cannot be called existent or non-existent. For, if it has any real existence, it can never become non-existent, as in that case something will have to be nothing, which is absurd. But as a matter of fact, every moment it is dying and giving birth to a new state of affairs. So it cannot be called existent or non -existent. Nor can it be both simultaneously. For, how can a thing be permanent and impermanent at the same time? Sankara uses the term MAYA to denote that such is the nature of the universe i.e. JAGAT.
Regarding the knower of JAGAT, the self, Sankara says that we wrongly identify ourselves with the ever-changing body when we say I am a man. An individual is made of 3 factors the body, the mind and the self or the Ego behind the other two. The first two are changeable. The third is changeless. For, there has been no break in the self-identity from babyhood to the present time. Now change means death of one and birth of another, exit of one and entrance of another. Hence changeless means beginningless and endless or in other words eternal. Sankara shows that that which is eternal must also be infinite. Thus he proves the infinite and eternal nature of soul. There cannot be two infinities: Myself means the real self behind the body and the mind. This is true with regard to every other creature. Behind the body and behind the mind of everyone the self is one. This is Advaita Vaada or the Monistic system. O beloved, when there was no creation, there was only one soul existing, one alone without a second. Thes e individual souls are the shadows of that one eternal soul. The self is not outside me. It is inside. That which words cannot describe, where the mind cannot reach that is the all-blissful self.
The Advaita philosophy is based on four Mahavaakyas (1) THATHVAMASI (2) PRAJNANAM BRAHMA (3) AHAM BRAHMASMI (4) BRAHMA SATYAM JAGANMITHYA JEEVO BRAHMAIVA NAAPARAH. These are the pillars on which the Advaita Philosophy is erected. Roughly translated, these sentences mean (1) You are That (Brahman) (2) Knowledge is Brahman (3) I am Brahman (4) Brahman is real, the world is an illusion, the Soul is nothing else other than Brahman.
Shankaracharya has explained his philosophy beautifully in his DAKSHINAMOORTHY ASHTAKAM, a stotra containing eight stanzas. The translation of these stanzas is given below:
A person while sleeping sees many bad dreams. Though the dreams are inside his mind only, he feels that these are happening in the outside world and gets worried. When he gets up, when he sees he is alone, he feels relieved. Similarly, the individual soul sees this vast world in his mind only, like an image of a city seen through a mirror. But he feels that he is seeing it outside and gets worried. Then, through the teaching of the preceptor he sees his individual soul in full purity without the tinge of t he world. I salute that Dakshinamoorthy who is in the form of the preceptor.
Before its creation this world was without any clarity, similar to a sprout existing in a seed. Then, through the power of maya (illusion), it appears in many forms because of the permutation and combination of time and space. Just like a magician creates a magic or a yogi creates wonders through his powers, the God Dakshinamoorthy who is my preceptor creates the world. (Just like magic and yogic wonders are unreal similarly the world created by God is also unreal).
The self is the only existing reality SAT. All other things in the world are unreal. The non-existing world is seen in the existing soul, as a non-existing serpent is seen in the existing rope. We get worried because we see the serpent in the rope. So the preceptor Dakshinamoorthy, when we take refuge under him, awakens us through the Vedic sentences like, THOU ART THAT (You are Brahman and hence you have no connection with the world). By meditating on him an individual soul never gets into the whirlpool o f life and death. I adore him.
The individual soul is like a big lamp imprisoned in the pot-like body. This pot has many holes through which the light of the lamp is seen outside. Similarly the individual soul is self-illuminating. Its illumination is not fully seen outside as it is encaged in the body. Through the sense organs this light comes in contact with the objects of the outside world and illuminates them and we are able to see them. The world objects do not have self-illumination but only the illumination of the ATMAN (individu al soul).
Some people like Charvakas consider the body as the Atman. They are like ladies. Some others argue that Prana is the soul. They are like children. A third group feels that the fickle intellect is the self. They are blind. Buddhists say that self is non-existent (soonya). They are fools and are devoid of correct knowledge. This delusion or ignorance in them through the display of the illusory power of the preceptor Dakshinamoorthy. He alone can destroy that illusion. I salute him.
During deep sleep all the five senses are fully under the control of illusion and there is no action of any type. This does not mean that the Atma or self was non-existent during deep sleep. Though one cannot see the sun or the moon during their respective eclipse periods nobody says they are non-existent. They do exist. Similarly the self exists even during deep slumber. Otherwise how can one get an idea that he had a sound sleep, if self would not have existed? I bow to that preceptor Dakshinamoorthy wh o is in the form of that Self.
All creatures have three stages in life viz., childhood, youth and old age. They also have three states of existence viz. the awakened state, the dream state and the deep slumber state. In all these three states of existence and the three stages of life, one thing i.e. the self exists in an unchanged manner constantly. Hence it is clear that it is unaffected by any of these stages or states. For example, a youth tells his friend about his childhood. He remembers his activities during his childhood though the childhood is not with him at present. There was something, which existed both in the childhood and the youth, but is different from both of them. That is Self. Similarly a person who had a dream gets up and says, I saw a dream. From this it is clear that the person who has seen the dream and who got up is the same but the dream state and the waking state are not the same. The common thing, which exists in all the three states, is called the self. The creatures having these states are like garlands of flowers. The states are like flowers; the self is like the thread, which runs throughout the garland. Dakshinamoorthy teaches his devotees that the individual soul and the cosmic soul are one and the same. This he shows through his Chinmudra by joining the thumb and the forefinger. The sign means the unity of Jeevatma and Paramatma. I worship him.
The Brahman or the cosmic soul enters its own illusory power and comes out as various Jeevatmas. These individual souls, through the effect of illusion, see the world as cause and effect, Master and slave, preceptor and disciple, father and son, and many similar differentiations. I prostrate before that preceptor Dakshinamoorthy.
The last stanza above has been explained beautifully by the late Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam through a mathematical illustration.
1 divided by = 2, 1 divided by 1/1000 =1000, 1 divided by 1/1 lakh = 1 lakh
From the above we can see that, as the divisor gets smaller and smaller, the quotient becomes bigger and bigger. Now 0 being smaller than the smallest possible number, 1 divided by 0 will be bigger than the biggest possible number i.e. infinity. In short 1 divided by 0 is infinity. Similarly 2 divided by 0, 1000 divided by 0, 1 crore divided by 0 will all be infinity only as there cannot be a bigger number than infinity.
Infinity x 0 will be = 1, as well as 2, as well as 1000, as well as 1 crore, so on and so forth.
The revered Acharya of Kanchi equates Brahman with Infinity, 0 with Maya and 1, 2, 1000, 1 crore etc., with the innumerable souls of the world which we see as different. As we all know, both 0 and Maya have only connotation but no denotation.
Everything in the world has two causes. One is Upadanakarana (material cause), just as clay is the material cause for a pot and thread is the material cause for a cloth. There is also a Nimithakarana (incidental cause), just as the potter for the pot and weaver for the cloth. According to the Advaita philosophy, Brahman is both the Upadanakarana and the Nimithakarana of the world. (Brahmasutra-Sankarabhashya)
Thus we have taken a birds-eye view of what constitutes Advaita philosophy. Though it is difficult to conceive and understand, once understood, it stands out as an enlightened passage to moksha or salvation or freedom from bondage.
But Advaita philosophy is criticized on two grounds:
Due to the excessive stress on knowledge (Jnana), Karmayoga and Bhaktiyoga have been fully neglected. Half-baked Advaitians have neither Jnana nor Bhakti and also are inactive. This charge is incorrect. Sankaracharya himself was a karmayogi who travelled throughout India for sixteen years and worked with full vigour to protect Hinduism. His compositions of Sthotras on various deities are standing proof for his attitudes towards Bhakti. In fact, if Jnana is the knowledge of the self, Bhakti is the tantra, o r technique, to attain the same.
It is charged that while reforming Hinduism, Sankaracharya negated, concealed or devalued some good elements of Hinduism like the Shakta cult along with bad cults like Charvaka, Kapalika, etc., like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The critics go to the extent of calling him Prachanna Baudha (concealed Buddhist). This charge also is absolutely false. Some followers of the Shakta cult were giving a bad name to the cult itself. Hence Sankaracharya had to conceal them in order to defeat the bigger en emy at that point of time, ie Buddhism. However, he kept the seeds of Shakta philosophy intact by (a) composing Soundaryalahari, (b) by appointing the Peethas in the names of the goddesses, (c) composing many other Devi Sthotras, and (d) by including Devi in the six deities accepted by him, viz Ganapathy, Skanda, Shiva, Vishnu, Devi and Surya.
Thus, both the charges being baseless, let us accept that Advaita philosophy is the crown jewel among the various philosophies India, nay the world, has produced.
[Thanks to Mr Gurudutt Joshi, for his beautiful rendering of the Sanskrit verses.]