Today is Shankara Jayanti. We celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest philosophers and spiritual teachers in our land. If one has to identify one or two people who were the greatest exponents of spirituality which unfolded in the Upanishads and the Gita, we will identify Adi Shankaracharya and Veda Vyasa. Vyasa analysed the Upanishads and Shankaracharya wrote a commentary on the ten major Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita apart from innumerable works, expounding Advaita.
At first glance, he appears as just another spiritual teacher. But there is something unique in the way Advaita was propounded. The teaching of Vedanta was always present in society. Shankaracharya in his propounding of Vedanta revived the tradition and kept it alive in a manner that nobody else had done. The most beautiful aspect of what he taught was that, Ishvara the truth, the reality is transcendental and immanent. All religions consider God as transcendental but they locate God in one place and talk about him as the only true God. Then these religions come into conflict with every other religion.
But in the way Vedanta was expounded by Adi Shankaracharya and the others, God is transcendental and immanent through every little thing in the creation. Reality that is Consciousness is beyond any known phenomena. Any spiritual teaching that shares this truth cannot be in conflict with any other teaching because everything is a manifestation of Ishvara. To explain all this, we would require hours of teaching.
In a nutshell, the teaching reveals that the whole universe is a manifestation of Ishvara. Therefore, one can worship anything and everything. All forms of worship are valid. A spiritual tradition that says this will naturally not be in conflict with any other religion or tradition. This does not mean that if Sanatana Dharma is attacked, we don't know how to defend ourselves. We will never be aggressors or the one to attack another religion and force them to convert into our system or beliefs. We close with salutations to Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya, one of the greatest teachers.
(The author is founder, Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com)
