they are not only great thinkers, He was also an organizer of a high order. One of the most famous monuments of his organizational fervor was by him at Sringeri in Karnataka. , in Dwarka, Gujarat, There are famous monasteries established in Puri of Orissa and in Badrinath on the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Shankaracharya freed Hinduism from many evils. The Shakta sect associated with ancient goddess worship, the five makaras i.e. Matsya, meat, Alcohol, Believed in mudra (dance) and sex.
May 6 – Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti In Indian cultural history, Dravid Deshottpanna Brahmin Shankaracharya, who first came to North India with a new religion from the South and imposed his new religion in North India with his extraordinary ability, not only studied and purified all the scriptures, grammar, etc., including the four Vedas. He had acquired knowledge at the young age of eight years, but at the age of sixteen he had even composed the Gita, Upanishads and commentaries on the Brahmasutras. After that, he restored Sanatan Dharma in India by defeating all those who were against Vedas in the debate for twenty-four years. Shankaracharya, the great Hindu religious reformer, died at a young age of thirty-two, but before his death he traveled all over India thrice and created the doctrine of monism by arguing with famous scholars.
He was not only a great thinker but also a great organizer. The most famous monuments of his organizational zeal are the famous monasteries he established at Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Orissa and Badrinath on the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Shankaracharya freed Hinduism from many evils. The Shakta sect associated with ancient goddess worship believed in the five makaras i.e. Matsya, Meat, Madya, Mudra (dance) and Maithuna. Shankaracharya reformed this sect and restored its original reputation. Shankaracharya also corrected the immediate kapalikas who sacrificed human beings to please the Bhairav deity. In this way, Shankaracharya revived the Hindu religion and gave it a new philosophy and a new form.
Born in the eighth century of Christ in Kaladi village of Kerala state, India, Shankaracharya’s mother tongue was Malayalam, in the house of a Vedic ascetic Namboodiri Brahmin, but on the strength of supernatural talent, he studied Sanskrit till Mahabhashya in a very short time. After that, he reached Uttarakhand, the inaccessible part of the Himalayas, while traveling for a long time in search of Govind Bhagvatpad, a disciple of the great teacher of Advaita Vedanta, Gaudapada. Govind Bhagavatpad was astonished to see the wonderful talent of this intelligent young student and he told this child the secret of the Advaita principle. Shankar became proficient in the Advaita Tattva by doing Advaita Sadhana for three years at the feet of the Guru. From there he came to Kashi and started preaching his Advaita doctrine by sitting on the Manikarnika Ghat.
On hearing such a great mystery and blasphemous voice of a minor yet, the scholarly congregation was ecstatic with joy, while the pundits of Kashi were in turmoil. Sanandan, the first disciple of Shankar, took initiation in Kashi itself. After balancing his scholarly power in Kashi, Shankaracharya decided to make a commentary on the Brahmasutra and proceeded towards Vyasashram. While going towards Uttarakhand with his disciples, he came to know that the entire Uttarakhand till Hrishikesh is beset by the fear of Chinese dacoits. Upon reaching the Badrinath area, he came to know that the dacoits had destroyed the temple and the priests had hidden the idol of Yajneshwar Vishnu in the Narad Kund of the Ganges, then after taking the idol out of the Naradkund, Shankar established it in the original temple and a Namboodiri of the indigenous Appointed a Brahmin to worship him.
The descendants of the same Brahmin have been worshipers of Lord Badrinath till date and they are called Rawal. Shankar started living in Vyas Guha, north of Badrinath. Staying in the inaccessible Vyasa cavity for four years, composed his commentaries on Brahmasutra, Gita, Upanishad and Santjatiya and taught them to the disciples. His disciple Sanandan was very talented. Shankara taught him his commentary three times and, being pleased with his service, named him Padpadma. Later on, the same name of Sanandan became famous. During the four years he stayed there in Vyasguha, composed a commentary on Prasthanatrayi and after teaching his disciples, he came to Kedarkshetra. In Kedarkshetra, Shankara invented the Taptakund. Then he stayed in Gangotri for a few days. Thereafter he went to Uttarkashi. By this time Shankar’s name and fame had spread all over Uttarakhand and big pundits used to debate and debate with the countrymen from far and wide who used to reach there.
At this time two so-called great scholars of Vedas, Kumaril Bhatt and Mandan Mishra were present in North India. Shankar had heard many names and fame of both of them. Therefore, after defeating them in debate and wishing to make both of them his disciples, Shankar reached Prayag from Uttarakhand on the banks of Yamuna. Shankaracharya was also in search of an extraordinary scholar to write a commentary on the self-written Brahmasutra. But when Shankar reached Prayag after walking from Uttarkashi, he saw that Kumaril was doing atonement by burning his body in fire. Seeing such a huge Mimamsaak being mortified in this way, Shankar felt very sad.
In a short conversation, Kumaril advised Shankaracharya to make Mandan Mishra his follower. When Shankar came to Uttarkashi, he had an encounter with the great Pandit Purva Mimamsa Vadi Mandan Mishra of Kashi. Both Mandan Mishra and his wife Ubhay Bharati were very eloquent, but Shankara defeated them in debate and made them sannyasis. Named him Sureshwar and taking him along he reached Sringeri and established the Math there and made it the main center of Advaita propaganda. In the Sringeri Math, Shankar got his disciples to write Vartika on his commentary. Now Shankar’s congregation consisted of eminent scholars, five of his fourteen chief disciples were ascetics. There were four disciples – Sureshwaracharya (Mandan Mishra), Padmapadachari (Sanandan), Hastamalakacharya and Torakacharya. Shankar established his four disciples in all four directions and made them Pithadhishwar. Determining the jurisdiction of these monasteries, the northern and central parts of India were under the rule of Jyotirmath, the western part under the rule of Sharda Mat in Dwarka, the southern part under the Shringeri Mat and the eastern part under the Govardhan Mat. The four disciples who were appointed as Peethadhipas in these monasteries were also made by rules.
In the Vedic sect, the relation of Vedas is considered to be from different directions. Rigveda is related to the east, Yajurveda is related to the south, Samveda to the west and Atharva to the north. According to the same rule, the priests sit in the sacrificial vessels as well. The disciple, whose Veda belonged, was appointed in that direction. Padmanabha Rigvedi was a Kashyap Gotri Brahmin, he was appointed to the Govardhan Math in the east direction, Sureshwaracharya was a Brahmin of the Kanva branch of Shukla Yajurveda, he handed over the Hastamalak of Sringeri Math in the south to Samvedi of Sharda Math in the west and Torak Atharvavedi as Jyotirmath of Uttarakhand. . After staying for a few days at Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, Shankar ascended the Omniscient Peeth over Kashmir. After that again went to Badrinath. After spending some days in Badrinath, Shankar stayed with him in Dattatreya’s cave. After traveling to Nepal, he went to Kailash and there he left his mortal body. Thus this Dharmacharya, who was born in the South, by imposing his religion in distant Uttarakhand, disappeared there. He attained a short life of only thirty two years and in this his name and religion rang from south to north.
