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The significance of sri Shankaracharya

A discourse on the historical and philosophical role of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya.

"Śaṅkarācārya incarnated to bring back this non-dualism: 'I am not this body, I am not this mind... but I am the Ātmā.'"

"Whenever dharma gets lost... then I manifest myself through my yoga māyā, yoga śakti."

The speaker explains the mission of Śaṅkarācārya to restore Advaita (non-dual) philosophy after a period of perceived decline into dualism. Using the classic analogy of mistaking a rope for a snake, the discourse describes duality as a product of ignorance, contrasting it with the eternal truth of the one universal Ātmā. It covers Śaṅkarācārya's reforms, such as revising rules for monastic life, his establishment of four monastic centers across India, and the ongoing duty of his successors to protect Sanātana Dharma against adversarial forces.

Filming location: Vép, HU.

DVD 367

Long ago, more than 2000 years BC, non-dualism was suppressed and dualism was created. More dogma appeared, dveṣabhāva appeared, and the Sanātana Dharma was forgotten. This was especially true among those who adopted the thoughts of the Jainas and Buddhists. In Vedānta philosophy, in yoga and in Advaita, we say there is only one God. There is only one universal soul, which means only one Ātmā—one in all, all in one. It is one moon which is reflecting in every lake. But some disagree and describe the lake as an individual, meaning duality. Śaṅkarācārya incarnated to bring back this non-dualism: "I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am not these thoughts, I am not this emotion and intellect, but I am the Ātmā." Ātmā is eternal, unborn, immortal, everlasting, supreme bliss, the truth, and that is what you see in the whole universe. Duality exists as long as you do not have knowledge. You see the snake in the rope. A rope is lying on the way, and as you walk, you say, "Oh God, there's a snake." But when you bring light, a battery, or you look more concentrated, you will see it's a rope and not a snake. The fear which came in you, the fear towards the snake—was it frightening you? You were scared because you thought it was a snake. But when your knowledge concentrated and through the light of your knowledge you saw it is not a snake but a rope, immediately the fear disappeared. Similarly, fear is there where there is duality, and duality is there where there is ignorance, because you are not capable of seeing the oneness of that Ātmā. It doesn't matter in which form the liquid is here, or if it emanates from the ocean. Every element, no matter in which form it is, has only one origin. That is why Śaṅkarācārya, the Ādi Guru Śaṅkarācārya, was incarnated. He brought the non-dualism, seeing Brahman in everything—maybe an elephant, a dog, or a human. The bhajan you sing, "Chidānanda Rūpa Śivo'haṁ Śivo'haṁ," is Śaṅkarācārya's; he made this. The Sanātana Dharma was slowly, slowly going down. Many systems, many dharmas got lost in this world, but only the Sanātana Dharma survives always, because Sanātana Dharma is not a man-made dogma. It is the universal principles. You can see it through your eyes only, not through ears. You can hear the Sound. That Śaṅkarācārya became great and everyone followed him again. One German philosopher writes that such a great thinker like Śaṅkarācārya, till now, has never been incarnated in human form—such a great wise person. So we see him as an incarnation of Śaṅkara. Śaṅkara means Śiva. He then made new rules or a system. Before, you could become a sannyāsī only after 75 years of age, but he said if one gets vairāgya and lives according to the sannyās rules, one can become a sannyāsī anytime. He divided and said to his disciples, so to call, to do the missionary work to mission the Sanātana Dharma. Sanātana Dharma is not against any Dharma. Sanātana Dharma will support you, not misguide you. Believe what you like to believe, but you should know, finally, the truth is one. Kṛṣṇa speaks, "Arjuna, it doesn't matter through which way you will go, which direction you will go, finally you will find me there." That means, finally, there is only truth. Kṛṣṇa means the truth. God means the truth, and that is your Ātmā. He is sitting in you. He is the king of your phenomenon, and that is one with all. Śaṅkarācārya traveled around the whole of India from north to south and east to west. He established four āśramas. The person whom he put there to take care of that āśrama and continue his teachings became a successor of Śaṅkarācārya. So anyone who is a successor of that holy throne is respected as Śaṅkarācārya himself. Anybody who will win the election and sit on the chair of your president will be respected as your president. So the duty of the Śaṅkarācāryas is to protect Sanātana Dharma and maintain the non-dualism. The Śaṅkarācāryas, the Gadi or Holy Throne, have got great respect in the Indian system or government too. But always there has been fighting. Humans created war all the time. Do not think war is only now; wars were all the time. This is a fight between negative and positive energy: Āsurī Śakti and Devī Śakti. So whenever the Āsurī Śakti is dominating in human intellect and heart, then they become greedy. They get ego. And through the Āsurī Śakti, they get so many desires inside—an energy which they cannot control. This is the sign of a distraction because of your kuśaṅga, your not right way of eating and ambitions. So, always they were fighting. When the good things come, also come the bad things. So, in order to protect the Sanātana Dharma all around India and everywhere, they created āśramas. The āśrama system existed before Śaṅkarācārya also, but there were then the sādhus, so-called the monks. They renounced everything; they even renounced their clothes, and they were ready to renounce their lives to protect the bhaktas, protect the people, protect the Sanātana Dharma. And of course, the Āsurī Śakti is ready to fight always. Even God is there; they will attack him. Sometimes your own children say, "Father, Mother, you created us. You gave birth to us, but now is my chance. I am against you. Do not tell me what to do. I know what to do. If you force me, I will destroy you." Like these children are there, so this is Āsurībhāva. So always, even the God Viṣṇu has to escape from these Asuras because it is so. His creation, Brahmā's creation—also, Brahmā has trouble with that. So to protect Dharma, Kṛṣṇa is saying in the 14th chapter, I think the 14th chapter: "Whenever dharma gets lost, dharma is suffering and adharma is coming up, O Arjuna, time to time, then I manifest myself through my yoga māyā, yoga śakti." And so, to protect the dharma—Sanātana Dharma, ethics and morals, and ahiṃsā, and to create compassion for all—Sanātana Dharma is there. So they created a force, you may call it the army, to fight against Adharma, against so-called religious groups that do not believe in non-duality, creating duality and misleading others. And so there was a group of the sādhus, and their heads, what you call in the army as a general, is created the post of a mahāmaṇḍaleśvara. So they had to follow the mahāmaṇḍaleśvara's order, command. So like this it was, but one in all. And all in one means for the sake of the protection of society and Sanātana Dharma, to maintain peace and spirituality. Definitely, there are many misguidances. Definitely, there are many different ideas. But the main role, what you ask, is this: the sannyāsī's orange cloth is symbolizing the fire, and you are moving 24 hours in the fire. If you do not follow the principle, this fire will burn you. The vow to take sannyāsa is not so easy.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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