Adi Shankara and the revival of knowledge

Knowledge needs to be revived from time to time; and Adi Shankara did just that. At one time in history, people had become highly ritualistic. They believed that God is nature and nature is God. They worshipped the whole nature - fire, water, mountains, rivers, trees, cows - because everything represented God.

Then came Jainism and Buddhism. The core of both these religions was meditation. But gradually the posture and quality of meditation came to be depicted through statues of Buddha and Mahavir; thus, the practise of meditation also became associated with idols. In fact, the statues went on to surpass meditation; they were decorated, adored, taken out in processions, etc. Around this time, India also adopted many other statue forms - those of Rama, Krishna, etc. Thus, by Shankara’s time, statues were highly prominent.

Shankaracharya said, “Do it, but with knowledge and awareness.” He said, “How can you perform arti of One who is the God of the sun and the moon? How can you bathe someone to whom all the water belongs? What will you offer to someone to whom everything already belongs?”

Then came Guru Nanak. He too said, “Don’t keep any statue or idols. The book is the Guru, the knowledge.” But now the same rituals surround Guru Granth Sahib; it is draped with a cloth, treated with ceremony. What used to be done for the statue is done for the book.

Mohammed had also said, “No pictures. No human forms. No worship.” But what happened? The Kaba took the place of the statue. You will see pictures of the Kaba stone in Muslim homes or some written letters which they adore and worship. Muslims too take out processions, they too revere the text and the crescent moon.

Then take the case of the communists who had completely discarded rituals. What did they do? They started erecting Lenin’s statues everywhere. In Moscow, at an appointed hour, a posse of soldiers marches to the mausoleum where Lenin was supposed to have been buried and salutes it.

So the same phenomenon occurs among people over and over again. People cannot be without rituals, practiced so mechanically and lifelessly.

Shankara realized this. So he said, “OK, revive the ancient method of worship”. But simultaneously with reviving the rituals, Shankara promulgated the belief that life is bliss (and not misery). His entire attitude towards devotion was different. In Buddhist and Christian traditions, a monk is one who has renounced; monks withdraw and live in poverty. In Shankara’s tradition, a monk was one who was full of bubbling enthusiasm, joy and celebration. Two completely different ideas of life. He who is centered, who can love everyone equally and who can be unconditionally happy is Shankara’s idea of a monk.

The Upanishads say that life is pure bliss. And you can experience the bliss by letting go of all impressions, cravings and aversions, by becoming dispassionate. As you go to the center, true smile, true celebration and true love dawn. Even if only for a few minutes, they are so intense and right and bright that you feel complete. So where Buddha says emptiness, Shankara says fullness. It is the same thing, said differently. Every moment is full because you are not hankering for something. If you are hankering for something tomorrow, you are missing something in this moment. If you are thinking about tomorrow’s meal, you don’t enjoy today’s repast. So each moment should be celebrated.

When you are complete, you will see that you enjoy every moment. And everything will come to you. That was the main focus of Shankara. The individual self and the cosmic self are not different. They are one and the same. And all the Gods, the entire Divinity is present in the cells. Where are your eyes and nose located? In the body. One single cell, as it becomes bigger, manifests itself as eyes, nose, ears, lips; everything emanates from that one egg, that one sperm. One single cell had the intelligence to grow hair somewhere, to create an eye somewhere, to place a nose somewhere. How does this happen? It is said that in a single cell there are 33 different types of Devas (intelligence); the Devas bring about this expansion.

Knowledge has to be revived from time to time. Today the revival is happening in a particular way; after a thousand years, the revival will take place in a completely different way. Then another level of knowledge will be revealed. Krishna said to Arjuna in the Gita, “I have given you this knowledge as I gave it to others.” He said, “In the wheel of time, the knowledge gets lost and again it is revived. Again it is lost and again it is revived. And again. And again.” The path of knowledge is “beginning less”. A “beginning less” path is like that path where nobody walks and which gets covered by grass. But when people start walking on that path, it becomes visible. Even through the grass. Similarly, ancient knowledge needs to be revived again and again.

Shankara was brilliant. He only lived till 32 years of age. But in that short lifespan, despite no means of transportation, he traveled the length and breadth of India. He established four ashrams in the north, south, east and west. He established one disciple at each of the four ashrams. Shankara also created an organization at each of the ashrams; he established rules as to how the ashrams should be run, how the regions should be regulated, etc. Thus, Adi Shankara brought together knowledge, devotion and action.