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Dear Swāmījī, I would like to know something about Śrī Śaṅkarāchārya: who he was, something about his life and teaching, and why we place his picture in the highest place at the altar. Śaṅkarāchārya was incarnated in South India. He was a very highly developed incarnation, like a Śiva incarnation. When he was small, at five years old, his father died. He had a very great longing for spirituality. At the age of five, seven, or eight years, he knew all the śāstras by heart. At that time, he was like a preacher, and he asked his mother to allow him to become a sannyāsī. He asked her permission, and she did not permit him. One day, they were going bathing—mother and he—and washing clothes on the bank of a river. A crocodile came and drew him away. His mother was screaming for help. She could not swim very well. The crocodile was taking him away in the water. So he came a little out of the water and said, "Mother, if you promise, if you allow me to become a sannyāsī, then he will leave me." "Mātā, pokud mi dovolíš, abych se stal sanyāsinem, tak ten krokodil mě pustí." And she said yes. "A ona řekla ano." And then he just walked on the water. "A pak on jen šel po hladině vody." And where his footsteps were, lotuses came out. "A tam, kde se dotkl chodidlem hladiny, tak tam vyrašily lotosy." At that time, when he was incarnated, there was too much dualism and many Jain and Buddhist followers. They damaged the Vedānta philosophy. In dualism, they all believed only in the body, mind, and senses, and that is all. But Śaṅkarāchārya brought again the philosophy of non-dualism. A very famous word of his is the partition: there are different ornaments, but the reality is one, the gold. Forms are different, but the reality is the same. So there are different bodies, different colors, different creatures, but the reality is one: the light of God, the Ātmā. He had many, many followers, and he had four successors in every four corners of India. Śaṅkarāchārya had established them, and he protected again the Sanātana Dharma. He reformed the new sannyāsa order; before that, only one could become a sannyāsī who was above 75 years old. But it was Śaṅkarāchārya who said, "If one gets vairāgya and becomes a sannyāsī earlier, why not? That can help the society." After 75 years old, one is not capable to travel and preach. Śaṅkarāchārya is known as one of the highest thinkers in human incarnations. One German philosopher said that Śaṅkarāchārya is one of the greatest thinkers in humanity to have ever incarnated. So all sannyāsīs are following his footsteps. He made the ten orders of sannyāsa who should preach in the mountains, on islands, and many, many places; these are ten different names. We are now in a Puri; Puri means the city. So there are Sarasvatīs, Purīs, Gīrīs, and many, many names. So all these Hindu monks whose highest initiation is sannyāsinization. He was very great, and he knew everything. He knew what we think, and he was a very learned person. There are many books written by him. There is a very small book called Aprokṣaṇānubodhi, on which I am now, for three years, giving lectures. It is only 40 or 50 pages, but he has many other books. One of the beautiful books is called Vivekachūḍāmaṇi; Vivekachūḍāmaṇi is very, very good to read. In German, there is; I do not know if it is in the Czech language. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar