Adi Shankara (Śaṅkara, Shri Shankaracharya, Adhi Shankaracharya, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya; 'the first Shankara' in his lineage), reverentially called Bhagavatpada Acharya (the teacher at the feet of Lord) (approximately 8th century, but see below) was the most famous advaita philosopher, who had a profound influence on the growth of Hinduism through his non-dualistic philosophy. He advocated the greatness and importance of the important Hindu scriptures, the Veda (most particularly on the Upanishads), spoke to a spirituality founded on reason and without dogma or ritualism, and gave new life to Hinduism at a time when Buddhism and Jainism were gaining popularity. He is considered the founder of the Dasanami sannyasin. (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Basic beliefs What can be said to be common to all Hindus is the belief in Dharma (duties and obligations), Samsara (Reincarnation/rebirth), Karma (actions, leading to a cause and effect relationship), and Moksha (salvation) of every soul through a variety of paths, such as Bhakti (devotion), Karma (action) and... ... A Hindu (also spelt Hindoo) is an adherent of philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, also known as Sanatan (सनातन) Dharma, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural systems of Bharat (India) and Nepal and the island of Bali A popular name for India is Hindustan, or Land of the Hindus. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ... The Vedas (Sanskrit:- वेद), collectively refers to a corpus of ancient Indo Aryan religious literature that are considered by adherents of Hinduism to be revealed knowledge. ... The Upanishad (उपनिषद्, Upaniá¹£ad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas) is belief or doctrine held by a religion or any kind of organisation to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. ... A ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. ... The term Buddha is a word in ancient Indian languages including Pāli and Sanskrit which means one who has awakened. It is derived from the verbal root budh, meaning to awaken or to be enlightened, and to comprehend. It is written in devanagari script as Hindi: and pronounced as... Jainism (pronounced in English as //), traditionally known as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म) , is a classical religion with its origins in the prehistory of India. ...

Life

Shankara was born in Kalady, a small village in Kerala, India, to a Namboothiri brahmin couple, Shivaguru and Aryamba. The traditional source for accounts of his life is the Shankara Vijayams, which are essentially hagiographies. The most important among them are the MadhavIya Shankaravijaya, the AnandagirIya Shankaravijaya, cidvilAsIya Shankaravijaya, and keralIya Shankaravijaya. What follows is the standard story of Shankara's life; some of it is clearly mythical, but a substantial portion is historical, according to most scholars. In fact some of them are blatantly misleading. For example it is mentioned in Madhaviya Sankaravijaya that Adi Sankara had an encounter with a great tantric Abhinavagupta of Kamarupa. In fact the great scholar Abhinavagupta, who wrote Tantraloka and Tantrasara among his many books, was a contemporary of Abhinava Sankara and was from Kashmir and not Kamarupa. Kaladi Kaladi is a village located at 10. ... List of famous Keralites Districts of Kerala Local Body Election in Kerala Malayalam External links Government of Kerala Chief Minister of Kerala Kerala Trivia Poorams Pachakam Categories: | | ... The Namboothiris are the Brahmins of Kerala. ... A Brahmin (pronunciation is Brahmann) is a member of the Hindu priestly caste. ... Hagiography is the study of saints. ...

Birth

Shankara's parents were childless for many years, and prayed at the Vadakkumnathan (vRashAcala) temple in Thrissur, Kerala, for the birth of a child. Legend has it that Shiva appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams, and offered them a choice: a mediocre son who would live a long life, or an extraordinary son who would not live long. Both Shivaguru and Aryamba chose the latter. The son was named Shankara, in honour of Shiva. Location & description One of the oldest temples in the state, the vadakkumnathan temple is a classical example of the Kerala style of architecture and has many decorative murals and pieces of art. ... Thrissur (Malayalam: തൃശു൪) is a city situated in the central part of Kerala state, India. ... List of famous Keralites Districts of Kerala Local Body Election in Kerala Malayalam External links Government of Kerala Chief Minister of Kerala Kerala Trivia Poorams Pachakam Categories: | | ... Lord Śiva. ...

Formal education

Shivaguru died while Shankara was very young. The child showed remarkable scholarship, and is said to have mastered the four Vedas by the age of eight. Following the common practice of that era, Shankara lived and studied at the home of his teacher. It was customary for students and men of learning to receive Bhiksha or alms from the laity; on one occasion, while accepting Bhiksha, Shankara came upon a woman who had nothing to eat in her house except a single dried amlaka fruit. Rather than consume this last bit of food herself, the pious lady gave away the fruit to Sankara as Bhiksha. Moved by her piety, Shankara composed the Kanakadhara Stotram on the spot. Legend has it that on completion of the stotram, golden amlaka fruits were showered upon the woman by the goddess Lakshmi. Popular image of Lakshmi In India, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी) is the goddess of wealth, light and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ...

Renunciation

From a young age, Shankara was attracted to asceticism and to the life of a renunciate. However, his mother, Aryamba, was entirely against his becoming a sannyasi, and consistently refused him her formal permission, which was required before he could take Sannyasam. Once when Shankara was bathing in the river, a crocodile gripped him by the leg and began to drag him into the water. Only his mother was nearby, and it proved impossible for her to get him away from the grip of the crocodile. Shankara then told his mother that he was on the verge of death; if she would give him her formal permission verbally, he would at this moment renounce the world and die a Sannyasi or ascetic. At the end of her wits, his mother agreed; Shankara immediately recited the words that made a renunciate of him, entered Sannyasa, and awaited death. But inexplicably, the crocodile released him from its very jaws and swam away. Shankara emerged unscathed from the river, now a Sannyasi. Asceticism denotes a life which is characterized by refraining from worldly pleasures (austerity). ... Sanyasa symbolizes the conception of the mystic life in Hinduism where a person is now integrated into the spiritual world after wholly giving up material life. ...

Seeing in this incident the hand of God, Aryamba put no further obstacles in the path of her son. Shankara then left Kerala and travelled thoroughout India. When he reached the banks of the river Narmada, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada, the disciple of the Advaitin Gaudapada. Shankara was initiated as his disciple. The Narmada or Nerbudda is a river in central India. ... Gaudapada (c. ...

Travels

Shankara travelled extensively, while writing commentaries on the Upanishads, Vishnu sahasranama, Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. He engaged in a series of debates with Buddhist scholars, and with scholars of the Purva Mimamsa school, which helped in cementing his spiritual ascendancy. One of the most famous of these debates was with the famed ritualist Mandana Mishra. Vishnu The Vishnu sahasranāma (literally: thousand names of Vishnu) is a list of 1,000 names for Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the only Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavites (followers of Vishnu). ... The Brahma sutra is the nyaya prasthana, the logical text that sets forth the philosophy systematically (nyaya - logic/order). ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... The main objective of the Purva (earlier) Mimamsa school was to establish the authority of the Vedas. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

His most famous encounter was however with an untouchable. On his way to the Vishwanath temple in Kashi, he came upon an untouchable and his dog. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable asked: "Do you wish that I move my soul, the Ātman and ever lasting, or this body made of clay?" Seeing the untouchable as none other than the Lord Shiva, Shankara prostrated himself before Ishwara, composing five shlokas (Manisha Panchakam). In South Asias caste system, a Dalit — formerly called untouchable or achuta — is a person outside the four castes, and considered below them. ... Lord Åšiva. ... Varanasi Varanasi (वाराणसी) (also known as Benares, Banaras, Benaras, Kashi, and Kasi) is a Hindu holy city on the banks of the river Ganga (Ganges) in the modern north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Beginning with Vedantic Hindu philosophy, the Ä€tman — Sanskrit (masculine nominative singular: Ä€tmā) is regarded as an underlying metaphysical self. ... Lord Åšiva. ... Saguna Brahma, in Hindu philosophy, is God or Supreme Consciousness with gunas (qualities or attributes). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Once he was saved by Sri Narasimha from being sacrificed to goddess Kali by a Kapalika. He then composed the Laksmi-Nrsimha stotra. Another famous composition of Sri Adi Shankara is his Bhaja Govindam, in praise of Vishnu. A monolithic statue of Narasimha at Hampi. ... A common scene depicting Kali standing over Shiva Although her presentation in the West is usually as simply dark and violent, Kali is a goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism. ... Popular image of Lakshmi In India, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी) is the goddess of wealth, light and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ... This article needs cleanup. ... For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ...

It is a traditional belief that Adi Sankara installed at Srirangam a yantra called janakarshana to attract pilgrims to this sacred temple, just as at Tirupati he installed the dhanakarshana yantra. Indeed, Srirangam is the most visited Hindu temple in the world, and Tirupati is the richest. Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam Srirangam, also known as Thiruvarangam, is a small island town adjoining Tiruchirapalli in South India. ... Yantra is also a yoga technique, see Tantra. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam Srirangam, also known as Thiruvarangam, is a small island town adjoining Tiruchirapalli in South India. ... A Hindu (also spelt Hindoo) is an adherent of philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, also known as Sanatan (सनातन) Dharma, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural systems of Bharat (India) and Nepal and the island of Bali A popular name for India is Hindustan, or Land of the Hindus. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Shankara is believed to have attained the Sarvajnapitha in Kashmir. After a while, he withdrew to Kedarnath and attained samadhi at the age of thirty-two. The Kamakshi Amman temple at Kanchipuram also has a vrindavanam where he is believed to have attained siddhi. (A variant tradition expounded by keraliya Shankaravijaya places his place of death as Vadakkumnathan (vRashAcala) temple in Thrissur, Kerala.) Shown in green is the Kashmiri region under Pakistani control. ... Kedarnath is one of the four monasteries (called maths) holy to the Hindus. ... Samadhi is a term used in Hindu and Buddhist yogic meditation. ... Kanchipuram temple, engraved in 1811. ... Location & description One of the oldest temples in the state, the vadakkumnathan temple is a classical example of the Kerala style of architecture and has many decorative murals and pieces of art. ... Thrissur (Malayalam: തൃശു൪) is a city situated in the central part of Kerala state, India. ...

He died in 820 at Kedarnata in the Himalayas when only thirty-two years of age.

Shankara's dates

All modern scholars do not agree to the dates in the 8th century, though it has proved controversial to reach agreement on Shankara's precise dates of birth or death. The protagonists of the 8th century CE cite the quoting of Dharmakirti,a Buddhist scholar of the 7th century CE, in the Brahmasutra Bhashya. According to other scholars the Brahmasutra Bhashya was not a work of Adi Sankaracharya because while commenting on a verse in Bhagavad Gita, where there is reference to Brahmasutra, Adi Sankara in his Bhagavad Gita Bhashya refers to a verse of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and not of Brahmasutra. Brahmasutra Bhashya was most probably composed by Abhinava Sankara. Again some other scholars believe that Several authors have contributed to the Brahmasutra Bhashya. Some religious institutions dedicated to Shankara, such as Shankara mathams, however, ascribe much earlier dates to him. If these dates were true, they would require moving back the date of Buddha (which used to serve as an anchor for modern academic history of India). Modern Scholars think that Max Muller and Sir William Jones wrongly identified Sandrocottus as Chandragupta Maurya whereas it was Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty, who was Sandrcottus. Thus Buddha's date gets moved back by more than 1200 years. (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... A stone image of the Buddha. ...

Of the major Shankara Mathams active today, the Kanchi, Dwaraka, and Puri ascribe the dates 509–477 BCE to Shankara. The Sringeri Peetham, on the other hand, accepts the 788–820 CE dates. (See also below.) Sringeri is the site of the first matha established by the Adi Sankaracharya, the 8th century Hindu reformer and exponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. ...

According to Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati's biography of Shankara, published in his book Sannyasa Darshan, Shankara was born in Kalady, Kerala, in 686, and attained mahasamadhi at Kedarnath, Uttaranchal, in 718. Events October 21 - Conon becomes Pope, succeeding Pope John V. Empress Jito ascends to the throne of Japan Kingdom of Kent attacked and conquered by West Saxons under Caedwalla Births August 23 - Charles Martel, winner of the Battle of Tours Deaths Emperor Temmu of Japan Korean Buddhist monk Weonhyo See... Uttaranchal (उत्तरांचल) became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after a relatively short and peaceful struggle by its people in the 1990s, having previously comprised part of Uttar Pradesh. ... Events Pelayo established the Kingdom of Asturias in the Iberian peninsula (modern day Portugal and Spain). ...

See below for external web sites with evidence and arguments on this subject.

Philosophy and religious thought

At the time of Shankara's life, Hinduism had lost some of its appeal because of the influence of Buddhism and Jainism. Shankara stressed the importance of the Vedas, and his work helped Hinduism regain strength and popularity. Although he did not live long, he had travelled on foot to various parts of India to restore the study of the Vedas. The term Buddha is a word in ancient Indian languages including Pāli and Sanskrit which means one who has awakened. It is derived from the verbal root budh, meaning to awaken or to be enlightened, and to comprehend. It is written in devanagari script as Hindi: and pronounced as... Jainism (pronounced in English as //), traditionally known as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म) , is a classical religion with its origins in the prehistory of India. ...

Shankara's theology maintains that spiritual ignorance (avidya) is caused by seeing the self (Ātman) where self is not. Discrimination needs to be developed in order to distinguish true from false and knowledge (jnana) from ignorance (avidya). Shankara proposed that, while the phenomenal universe, our consciousness and bodily being are certainly experienced, they are not true reality, but are rather maya. He considered that the ultimate truth was Brahman, the single divine foundation, which is beyond time, space, and causation. Brahman is immanent and transcendent, but not merely a pantheistic concept. Indeed, while Brahman is the efficient and material cause for the cosmos, Brahman itself is not limited by self-projection, and transcends all binary opposites or dualities, especially such individuated aspects as form and being. Avidya is the Buddhist term for ignorance. ... Jnana is the Sanskrit term for knowledge. ... Avidya is the Buddhist term for ignorance. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise such key features as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Maya, in Hinduism, is many things. ... Here the underlined vowels carry the Vedic Sanskrit udātta pitch accent. ... Immanence is a religious and philosophical concept. ... Wikimedia needs your help in its 21-day fund drive. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ...

We must pierce through a hazy lens to understand our true being and nature, which is not change and mortality, but unmitigated bliss for eternity. If we are to understand the true motive behind our actions and thoughts, we must become aware of the fundamental unity of being. How, he asks, can a limited mind comprehend the limitless Ātman? It cannot, he argues, and therefore we must transcend even the mind and become one with Soul-consciousness.

Shankara denounced caste and meaningless ritual as foolish, and in his own charismatic manner exhorted the true devotee to meditate on god's love and to apprehend truth. His treatises on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Vedanta Sutras are testaments to a keen and intuitive mind that did not want to admit dogma but advocated reason. His greatest lesson was that reason and abstract philosophising alone would not lead to moksha (liberation). It was only through selflessness and love governed by viveka (discrimination) that a devotee would realise his inner self. Charges that his philosophical views were influenced by Buddhism are unfounded, since Shankara vehemently opposed negation of being (shunyata), and believed that the unmanifest Brahman manifested itself as Ishwara, the loving, perfect being on high who is seen by many as being Vishnu or Shiva or whatever their hearts dictate. Shankara is said to have travelled throughout India, from the South to Kashmir, preaching to the local populaces and debating philosophy (apparently successfully, though no documentation exists) with other Hindu and Buddhist scholars and monks along the way. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. ... Moksha (Sanskrit: मोक्ष, liberation) or Mukti (Sanskrit: विमुक्ति, release) refers, in general, to liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. ... Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit, Pali: suññatā), or Emptiness, is a term for an aspect of the Buddhist metaphysical critique as well as Buddhist epistemology and phenomenology. ... Saguna Brahman, also called Iswara, in Hinduism, is God with personal characteristics or attributes. ... For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... Lord Śiva. ... A map of South India, its rivers, regions and water bodies. ...

His beliefs form the basis of the Smarta tradition, or Smartism and influenced Sant Mat lineages such as Advait Mat. ^[1] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Smartha Sect. ... Sant Mat translates from Hindi into English as The Religion of the Saints. ...

Even though he lived for only thirty-two years, his impact on India and on Hinduism cannot be stressed enough, as he countered the increasing sacerdotalism (the belief that priests can mediate between humans and god) of the masses, and reintroduced a purer form of Vedic thought. He presented a face of Hinduism that could reasonably contend with Buddhist ideas and spread it, as well as reformist measures, across the land, travelling from as far up as Kashmir from areas in South India. His Hindu revival movement paved the way for the strict theistic movements of Ramanuja and Madhva, and helped lead to the decline of Buddhism in much of India. Sacerdotalism (from Latin sacerdos, priest, literally one who presents sacred offerings, sacer, sacred, and dare, to give) is a term applied (usually in a hostile sense) to the system, method, and spirit of a priestly order or class, under which the functions, dignity, and influence of the members of the... The Vedic civilisation is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, the earliest known records of Indian history. ... Theism is the belief in one or more gods or goddesses. ... Sri Ramanuja Acharya (1017 - 1137 AD) was an Indian philosopher and is recognized as the most important saint of Sri Vaishnavism. ... Madhva can refer to: Shri Madhvacharya, Vaishnavite saint and founder of Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi a person belonging to the Dvaita school of thought This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Works

Books certainly written by Adi Shankara:

• The "Crest-Jewel of Discrimination" or Viveka Chudamani, one of his most famous works, which summarises his ideas of non-dual Vedanta
• The commentary Bhasya on the Brahma Sutra
• The commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
• The commentary on the Taittiriya Upanishad
• The commentary on the Bhagavad Gita
• The Thousand Teachings or Upadesasahasri
• A hymn to Krishna as the Herder of Cows, known as Bhaja Govindam
• Benedictory invocation to Siva and Sakti, namely Sivanandalahari and Saundaryalahari respectively
• Commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama

Books he probably wrote are: The two Epics and the Prasthana thraya—the triple foundation of the Vedanta school of philosophical and spiritual system, namely the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras (Vedanta Sutras) and the Bhagavad-Gita—are the perennial sources of ethical and spiritual knowledge and wisdom, inspiring thousands of earnest seekers of truth. ... Vedanta (Vedānta, वेदान्त, pronounced as ) means the anta or culmination of Vedas. ... The Brahma sutra is the nyaya prasthana, the logical text that sets forth the philosophy systematically (nyaya - logic/order). ... The prime Upanishad among the many Upanishads written in ancient India, known very widely for its profound philosophical statements. ... The Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the Upanishads associated to the taittiriya samhita of the Black Yajurveda. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... This article needs cleanup. ... This article is about the Hindu God. ... This article is about the Hindu religious concept. ... Saundaryalahari is a famous literary work written by Adi Shankara. ... Vishnu The Vishnu sahasranāma (literally: thousand names of Vishnu) is a list of 1,000 names for Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the only Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavites (followers of Vishnu). ...

• The commentary on Gaudapada's Karika to the Mandukya Upanishad
• The commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, though there is no scholarly agreement on this.

MāndÅ«kya Upanishad is one of the shortest Upanishads, that form the speculative metaphysical parts of the Hindu texts, the Vedas. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ...

Mathas (monasteries)

Shankara is said to have founded four maṭhas (a matha is a monastery or religious order), which are important to this day. 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 Uttaranchal in the north. He put in charge of these mathas his four main disciples: Sureshwaracharya, Hastamalaka, Padmapada, and Trotakacharya respectively; the heads of the mathas trace their authority back to them. However, there is no concrete evidence for the existence of these mathas before the 14th century. A maá¹­ha (also written matha and mutt) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of the Hindu religion. ... Sringeri is the site of the first matha established by the Adi Sankaracharya, the 8th century Hindu reformer and exponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. ... Karnataka (ಕನಾ೯ಟಕ in Kannada) is one of the four southern states of India. ... Dwarka is a city in Gujarat, India. ... Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ... Puri can mean: Puri, a city in the Indian state of Orissa, which is famous for the Jagannath temple and the serene beaches located there . ... Orissa (2001 provisional pop. ... Jyotirmath, also called Jyotir Math and Joshimath, is a place in Uttaranchal, India in the Himalayas. ... Uttaranchal (उत्तरांचल) became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after a relatively short and peaceful struggle by its people in the 1990s, having previously comprised part of Uttar Pradesh. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ...

The matha at Kanchipuram or Kanchi in Tamil Nadu claims that it was also founded by Shankara. According to this matha, it was where he settled in his last days and attained mahaasamaadhi (i.e. left his body), but there are other, equally well-founded accounts which claim that he attained mahaasamadhi at Kedarnath. Kanchipuram temple, engraved in 1811. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ...

References

1. Geaves, Ron. From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara), (2002). Paper presented at the 27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford. March 2002.

Ron Geaves BA, MA, PhD, CertEd, is a Senior Lecturer, Programme Leader and Chair in religious studies at University College Chester in England. ...

External links

• Advaita Vedanta library
  • Brief life history of Adi Shankara with informative additional links
  • Biography of Shankara
  • Advaita Vedanta Anusandhana Kendra
• Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
  • Official website
  • American historian, Will Durant's article on Shankara's Vedanta

• The story of Adi ShankaraBiography of Adi Shankara
• Some of Shankara's works
• Website of the Shringeri Sharada Peetham
• Shankaracharya on OM
• Original Shankaracarya (PDF)
• "Life of Shankaracharya — The Adventures of a Poet Philosopher" — by Nitin Kumar
• Adi Śańkara — short introduction to his life & philosophy (by Peter J. King)
• biography of Shankara by Swami Shivananda

• Concerning Adi Shankara's dates:
  • Guru Parampara of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
  • Guru Parampara of the Sringeri Sarada Peetham
  • External material supporting the 509–477 BCE dates (PDF)
  • (non-Peetham) material supporting the 788–820 CE dates