Page 28 - PR Communication Age - JULY 2016

IS SANKARACHARYA
INDIA'S 'NATIONAL
PHILOSOPHER'?
What exactly is meant by
India's "national" philoso-
phy?
Indian philosophy is an incredibly rich, losophy, unless the very diversity of its It is generally accepted that Sankara
complex, and diverse bouquet of
thoughts and ideas that can be divided,
at the most fundamental level, between
the Astika and the Nastika schools.
The Astikas believe in the supremacy
of the Vedas (and not, significantly, in most closely associated?
God). There are six major branches of
Astika thought: Mimamsa, Sankhya,
Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika and Vedanta.
Mimamsa and Sankhya do not believe
in God as the Creator.
The three chief Nastika strands are
Charvaka, Jaina and Bauddha. All of
them emerged in opposition to Vedic
supremacy. They do not believe in God
and the Vedas.
Indian philosophy has been occupied
with ontological and metaphysical
questions such as 'Who are we?', 'What
is the relation between the body and
the self?', 'What is this world all
about?', 'Who is the creator?', 'What
is knowledge and its nature?', 'What
are the various levels of reality? 'How
does one attain knowledge?' etc. Un­
like western systems of philosophy, in
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28 PR COMMUNICATION AGE July 2016
India, the various branches co­existed
over centuries, and sometimes evolved
after intense debates among them.
There is no one 'national' Indian phi­
many streams is considered the na­
tional characteristic of the Indian sys­
tem of thought.
What is Vedanta, the sys-
tem with which Sankara is
As the nomenclature indicates,
Vedanta or the Upanishads mark the
'End of the Vedas'. Vedanta represents
the culmination of the vast Vedic
thought. The Vedas are polytheistic,
with a belief in many gods. However,
all of these gods have a supreme lord
above them. Upanishadic or Vedantic
thought shifts the centre from God to
the Self (Atma), and the entire endeav­
our is to realise this Self.
There have been many commentators
on Vedanta, such as Sankaracharya
(early 9th century), Ramanujacharya
(11th century), Madhavacharya (13th­
14th centuries), and Vallabhacharya
(15th­16th centuries). Each differs from
others on many aspects. But Sankara
is almost unanimously seen as the
most prominent.
So what are Sankara-
charya's main philosophi-
cal thoughts?
was born in Kaladi, not far from
today's Kochi, in 788 AD. At the heart
of his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta
(non­dualism) is Tat Twam Asi or Thou
Art That, the famous phrase from the
Chhandogya Upanishad, which per­
ceives the Self (Atman) as the Absolute
Reality (Brahman). Brahman is the sole
cause, creator, and consumer of the
universe.
Sankara is also famous for his theory of
Maya, which, according to him, is the
charismatic power that creates the
world, and is inseparable (ananya,
abhinna, aprithak) from Brahman.
Change, according to Sankara, is an il­
lusion ­ nothing that did not exist ear­
lier will come into existence. The
change of outer form is visible to some
eyes due to the operation of Maya, but
truth remains the same.
Still, the world does possesses a prac­
tical reality. The dream is real until we
wake up. Sankara doesn't refute the
dream, only points at the Maya that
creates the illusion of dream. His no­
tion of Brahman or Absolute Reality