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Abhinavagupta Adi Shankaracharya Anandamayi Ma Atmananda Krishna Menon Buddha Chinmayananda Dalai Lama Gautama Buddha Huang Po Lao Tzu Nisargadatta Maharaj Papaji Ramesh Balsekar Rumi Swami Dayananda Ramana Maharshi U.G.KrishnamurtiPointers to Presence
And what is mind
And how is it recognized?
If I clearly draw
In sumi ink, the sound
Of breezes drifting through pine
Is all that is seen.
Adi Shankaracharya: Advaita Vedanta
Adi Shakaracarya: Born 788 CE, Shankara only lived to the age of 32.
His great feat was to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a monistic system of thought, travelling across all of India from the South to Kashmir to Nepal propogating and reviving Vedantic doctrine using debate and commentary (bashyas on the Bhagavad Gita, 10 Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras).
Shankara established four monastic schools, or mathas. Mastering the four Vedas by eight years of age, he became a sanyasi and travelled to study under Govinda Bhagavatpada, the direct disciple of Guadapada, perhaps best known for his karika, or commentaries on the Mandukya Upanishad.
His greatest truth is encapsulated in Vivekacudamani:
“Brahman is the only truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self.” Maya, Shankara etolled, is a “trick of the magician.”
See entry here.
Suggested Reading
Media
"Become The Sky"
A fusion of Rumi poems set to music and images
"I Am Not Who You Think I Am"
A great poem video to enjoy
