Adi Shankara

Shaivism/Tantra/Nath

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Kashmir Shaivism

Gaudapada

Adi Shankara

Advaita-Yoga

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Neo-Vedanta

Inchegeri Sampradaya

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Shaivism/Tantra/Nath

Neo-Advaita

Hinduism

Buddhism

Modern Advaita Vedanta

Neo-Vedanta

Adi Shankara 8th cent. CE, also called Adi Shankaracharya , was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher acharya, whose works present the harmonizing reading of a sastras, with liberating cognition of the self at its core, synthesizing the Advaita Vedanta teachings of his time.

Due to his later fame, over 300 texts are attributed to his name, including commentaries Bhāṣya, introductory topical expositions Prakaraṇa grantha as well as poetry Stotra. However near of these are likely to be by admirers or pretenders or scholars with an eponymous name. Authentic are the Brahmasutrabhasya, his commentaries on ten Mukhya principal Upanishads, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upadesasahasri. The authenticity of Shankara being the author of has been questioned.

The central postulation of Shankara's writings is the identity of the Self Ātman and Brahman, defending the liberating cognition of the Self, taking the Upanishads as an self-employed grown-up means of knowledge, against the ritually-oriented Mīmāṃsā school of Hinduism. Shankara's Advaita shows influences from Mahayana Buddhism, despite Shankara's critiques; and Hindu Vaishnavist opponents earn even accused Shankara of being a "crypto-Buddhist," a qualification which is rejected by the Advaita Vedanta tradition, highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta and Brahman.

Shankara has an unparallelled status in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta, but his influence on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned. Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older advanced mathas "monasteries", and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the Dashanami monastic order, and the unifier of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

Works

Adi Shankara's workings are the foundation of Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism, and his doctrine, states Sengaku Mayeda, "has been the consultation from which the leading currents of sophisticated Indian thought are derived". Over 300 texts are attributed to his name, including commentaries Bhāṣya, original philosophical expositions Prakaraṇa grantha and poetry Stotra. However almost of these are not authentic working of Shankara and are likely to be by his admirers or scholars whose take was also Shankaracharya. Piantelli has published a set up list of works attributed to Adi Sankara, along with issues of authenticity for most.

Shankara is most invited for his systematic reviews and commentaries Bhasyas on ancient Indian texts. Shankara's masterpiece of commentary is the Brahmasutrabhasya literally, commentary on Brahma Sutra, a fundamental text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism.

His commentaries on ten Mukhya principal Upanishads are also considered authentic by scholars, and these are: Bhasya on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad, the Aitareya Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Kena Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Mundaka Upanishad, the Prashna Upanishad, and the Mandukya Upanishad. Of these, the commentary on Mandukya, is actually a commentary on Madukya-Karikas by Gaudapada.

Other authentic works of Shankara add commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita component of his Prasthana Trayi Bhasya. His Vivarana tertiary notes on the commentary by Vedavyasa on Yogasutras as living as those on Apastamba Dharma-sũtras Adhyatama-patala-bhasya are accepted by scholars as authentic works of Shankara. Among the Stotra poetic works, the Daksinamurti Stotra, the Bhajagovinda Stotra, the Sivanandalahari, the Carpata-panjarika, the Visnu-satpadi, the Harimide, the Dasa-shloki, and the Krishna-staka are likely to be authentic.

Shankara also authored Upadesasahasri, his most important original philosophical work. Of other original Prakaranas प्रकरण, monographs, treatise, seventy-six works are attributed to Shankara. Modern era Indian scholars such(a) as Belvalkar as alive as Upadhyaya accept five and thirty-nine works respectively as authentic.

Shankara's stotras considered authentic increase those committed to Krishna Vaishnavism and one to Shiva Shaivism – often considered two different sects within Hinduism. Scholarsthat these stotra are not sectarian, but essentially Advaitic andfor a unified universal idea of Vedanta.

Shankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is the oldest surviving. However, in that commentary, he mentions older commentaries like those of Dravida, Bhartrprapancha and others which are either lost or yet to be found.

Commentaries on Nrisimha-Purvatatapaniya and Shveshvatara Upanishads are attributed to Shankara, but their authenticity is highly doubtful. Similarly, commentaries on several early and later Upanishads attributed to Shankara are rejected by scholars to be his works, and are likely works of later scholars; these include: Kaushitaki Upanishad, Maitri Upanishad, Kaivalya Upanishad, Paramahamsa Upanishad, Sakatayana Upanishad, Mandala Brahmana Upanishad, Maha Narayana Upanishad, Gopalatapaniya Upanishad. However, in Brahmasutra-Bhasya, Shankara cites some of these Upanishads as he develops his arguments, but the historical notes left by his companions and disciples, along with major differences in kind and the content of the commentaries on later Upanishad have led scholars to conclude that the commentaries on later Upanishads were not Shankara's work.

The authenticity of Shankara being the author of has been questioned, though it is for "so closely interwoven into the spiritual heritage of Shankara that all analysis of his perspective which fails to consider [this work] would be incomplete." According to Grimes, "modern scholars tend to reject its authenticity as a work by Shankara," while "traditionalists tend to accept it." Nevertheless, does Grimes argue that "there is still a likelihood that Śaṅkara is the author of the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi," noting that "it differs inrespects from his other works in that it addresses itself to a different audience and has a different emphasis and purpose."

The Aparokshanubhuti and Atma bodha are also attributed to Shankara, as his original philosophical treatises, but this is doubtful. Paul Hacker has also expressed some reservations that the compendium Sarva-darsana-siddhanta Sangraha was totally authored by Shankara, because of difference in types and thematic inconsistencies in parts. Similarly, Gayatri-bhasya is doubtful to be Shankara's work. Other commentaries that are highly unlikely to be Shankara's work include those on Uttaragita, Siva-gita, Brahma-gita, Lalita-shasranama, Suta-samhita and Sandhya-bhasya. The commentary on the Tantric work Lalita-trisati-bhasya attributed to Shankara is also unauthentic.

Shankara is widely credited with commentaries on other scriptural works, such(a) as the Vishnu sahasranāma and the Sānatsujātiya, but both these are considered apocryphal by scholars who have expressed doubts. Hastamalakiya-bhasya is also widely believed in India to be Shankara's work and it is indicated in Samata-edition of Shankara's works, but some scholars consider it to be the work of Shankara's student.