Vedanta - Sankara's Path of Self-inquiry
PRANAV KHULLAR
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Adi Sankaracharya's life was dedicated to a quest for Truth.He said, `Brahmn (Consciousness) alone is real, the world is illusory . The individual and Universal Soul are one'. Sankara's advaita is in contrast to other thought-systems of the time, like Ramanujacharya's visishtadvaita which treads middle ground by focusing on the relation between world and God; and Madhava's dvaita or dualistic world-view.Sankara's is a call to free inquiry , which sets the tone of all speculation.His two-level theory of the Brahmn is at once abstruse and simple, as detailed in his magnum opus Brahma-sutra Bhashya, and also in smaller masterpieces like AtmaBodha and Vivekachudamani. He perceives Consciousness as being essentially featureless, but manifesting itself with illusory attributes.
Sankara uses everyday metaphors and similes to illustrate advaitic concepts, comparing at one point the practice of knowledge which purifies by removing ignorance with the method of purifying muddy water with kataka-nut powder. Just as powder sprinkled on the surface of water forms a film and drags all impurities to the bottom leaving pure water on the surface, constant practice and use of knowledge removes the dirt of ignorance.Also, like the kataka-nut powder, which merges into the water after doing its work, knowledge too disappears after the Self emerges.
Sankara also used the metaphor of oyster shells scattered along a beach, which on a moonlit night, are mistaken for silver. Just as the illusion of silver lasts in the perceiver's mind only till he recognises the reality of oyster shells, so too does the world of names and forms exist till Self-knowledge dawns.
Sankara uses everyday metaphors and similes to illustrate advaitic concepts, comparing at one point the practice of knowledge which purifies by removing ignorance with the method of purifying muddy water with kataka-nut powder. Just as powder sprinkled on the surface of water forms a film and drags all impurities to the bottom leaving pure water on the surface, constant practice and use of knowledge removes the dirt of ignorance.Also, like the kataka-nut powder, which merges into the water after doing its work, knowledge too disappears after the Self emerges.
Sankara also used the metaphor of oyster shells scattered along a beach, which on a moonlit night, are mistaken for silver. Just as the illusion of silver lasts in the perceiver's mind only till he recognises the reality of oyster shells, so too does the world of names and forms exist till Self-knowledge dawns.
