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scholars of different beliefs or understanding
of Vedas.
1) Once while travelling, Sri Shankara came
across a person belonging to a “different
caste”. A disciple asked the person to move
away so that Sri Shankara had a clear path to
walk. The person asked Sri Shankara whether
he was asking the body or the soul to move.
It immediately opened Sri Shankara’s eyes
and he recognized the person as a Guru and
touched his feet. The person had reaffirmed
to the world that there is only one caste and
it is the “human caste”. Then Sri Shankara
composed “Maneeshaa Panchakam” a set of
five slokas (verses). It contains the essence
of Advaita Vedanta. The word “maneeshaa”,
meaning “conviction” occurs in the last line
in all the five verses.
2) Sri Shankara during his travels met Mandan
Mishra, a reputed scholar who was a
well-known exponent of Purva Mimamsa
(ritual part of Vedas). When they first met,
Mandan Mishra treated Sri Shankara with
a bit of arrogance. The two great scholars
of Advaita and Purva Mimasa held a
marathon discussion for over 18 days. Mata
(mother) Bharathi, wife of Mandan Mishra
was the mutually agreed referee. At the 9HGDQWD /LEHUDWHV $WPD
end of the marathon discussion, Mandan
Mishra acknowledged spiritual-victory of Sri
Shankara and renounced gruhasthashram
(house-holdership) and became a sanyasi in
front of Mata Bharathi. She unhesitatingly
agreed for her husband to become a Sanyasi
while she was still living. This showed the
extraordinary sacrifice the blessed mother
made to uphold Advaita, in spite of great
personal sacrifice. Mandan Mishra became
the well-known Sri Sureshwaracharya, a
great disciple of Sri Shankara and the first
Pontiff or spiritual-head of Sringeri Mutt.
3) Maharishis (sages) from time immemorial non-duality spiritual-philosophy. It is more
have without any exceptions have acknow- commonly or universally known as Advaita
ledged the immensely important and vital Vedanta. Non-duality, means ”not two”,
role mothers have not only in the upbringing “undivided one” or “one”.
10 FEBRUARY 2018
of the children but more importantly in the
total welfare of the society. Sri Shankara just
before he left Kalady made a promise to his
mother that when the time comes he would
respect her desire that he should perform her
funeral. . Once, Sri Shankara heard about his
mother’s illness, he was at her bedside. On his
mother’s death, he requested the villagers to
help him with her cremation. However, the
centuries of established traditions required
a person to stop performing all karmas or
religious rituals upon embracing sanyasam.
Many of the “traditional” and “orthodox”
villagers ignored Sri Shankara’s request for
help. He had no choice but to do the final
rites with minimum support from the vil-
lagers. Sri Shankar clearly demonstrated
that traditions that are not based on human
dignity, values and respect to the elders and
parents have no place in the civilized world,
then and now. Sri Shankara reiterates that
the “soul is potentially divine” for all. Tradi-
tions are dynamic and the society needs to
get rid of “static, superstitious or obsolete”
traditions, even if they had existed or been
imposed for a long time.
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The Vedas are eternal. Upanishad forms
the end part of Vedas and it is also called
as Vedanta. The word ‘anta’ in Sanskrit
means ‘end’. Karma may refer to “actions”
or “religious rites/rituals”. However, Karma
Kanda in Vedas relates to religious rites.
It is said that more than ninety percent of Vedas
deals with aspects of innumerable rituals. Rituals
are done by a person to appease and please gods
to win their favors or blessings.
Sri Shankara’s Advaita is considered as one
of the grandest ever philosophy conceived
by a person. Sri Shankara propounded the
A principal part of
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