Ādi Śaṅkarācārya
c. 8th century · Kālaḍi, Kerala · Advaita Vedānta
Ādi Śaṅkara was born at Kālaḍi in Kerala, became a sannyāsī as a boy, and studied under Govinda Bhagavatpāda on the banks of the Narmadā. He wrote commentaries (bhāṣyas) on the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā and the Brahma Sūtra, establishing Advaita Vedānta — the teaching that brahman alone is real and the Self (ātman) is not different from it.
He travelled the length of India in debate and, by tradition, founded four maṭhas: Śṛṅgerī in the south, Dvārakā in the west, Purī in the east and Jyotirmaṭh in the north. Devotional hymns such as Bhaja Govindam are attributed to him. Tradition says he passed away at Kedārnāth at the age of thirty-two.
Tradition tells that in Kāśī an outcaste with his dogs blocked Śaṅkara’s path, and a disciple told him to move aside. The man asked: “Should this body move away from that body, or this Self from that Self?” Śaṅkara bowed to him as his guru and composed the Manīṣā Pañcakam, declaring that whoever sees the one Self in all is his teacher, whatever his birth.
c. 8th century · Kālaḍi, Kerala · Advaita Vedānta · Four maṭhas · Bhaja Govindam