Reclaiming Adi Shankaracharya in Viksit Bharat

Shankaracharya's enduring influence flows from the depth of his writings. They address the root causes of human confusion: ignorance, ego, fear and attachment.

- SANTISHREE DHULIPUDI PANDIT

Adi Shankara with his disciples. A painting by Raja Ravi Verma.

Shankara is the foremost among the masterminds and the giant souls which Mother India has produced. He was the expounder of the Advaita philosophy. Shankara was a giant metaphysician, a practical philosopher, an infallible logician, a dynamic personality and a stupendous moral and spiritual force. His grasping and elucidating powers knew no bounds. He was a fully developed Yogi, Jnani and Bhakta. He was a Karma Yogin of no mean order. He was a powerful magnet.

There is not one branch of knowledge which Shankara has left unexplored and which has not received the touch, polish and finish of his superhuman intellect. For Shankara and his works, we have a very high reverence. The loftiness, calmness and firmness of his mind, the impartiality with which he deals with various questions, his clearness of expression—all these make us revere the philosopher more and more. His teachings will continue to live as long as the sun shines.

Shankara's scholarly erudition and his masterly way of exposition of intricate philosophical problems have won the admiration of all the philosophical schools of the world at the present moment. Shankara was an intellectual genius, a profound philosopher, an able propagandist, a matchless preacher, a gifted poet and a great religious reformer. Perhaps, never in the history of any literature, a stupendous writer like him has been found. Even the Western scholars of the present day pay their homage and respects to him. Of all the ancient systems, that of Shankaracharya will be found to be the most congenial and the most easy of acceptance to the modern mind.