shivsomashekhar
Well-Known Member
Shankara (7th Century CE) is traditionally accepted to be the founder of the present Smartha Sampradaya and the associated doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. Though a lot of works are attributed to him, it is likely that most of them are not really his works. Among the few works of indisputable authorship, Upadesha Sahasri is an important text for it is mostly non-polemical and is focused on explicating Advaita - in contrast with Bhashyas where a significant portion of the texts are devoted to countering other doctrines. The other advantage of a Prakarana text is it is more original as it not an attempt to prove the doctrine by commenting on someone else's text.
The first two prose verses (reproduced below) from the US are very informative as they explicitly lay out Shankara's target audience, describing their qualifications.
We shall now explain a method of teaching the means to liberation for the benefit of those aspirants after liberation and are possessed of Shradha - 1.1.1
That means to liberation, viz. knowledge should be explained again and again until it is firmly grasped, to a pure Brahmana disciple who is indifferent to everything that is transitory and achievable; who has given up the desire for a son, for wealth and for this world and the next; who has adopted the life of a wandering monk and is endowed with control of the mind and senses, with compassion as well as the qualities of a disciple well versed in scripture and who has approached the teacher in the prescribed manner and has been duly examined for his caste (Jaati), profession, conduct, learning and lineage - 1.1.2
Shankara is clear. The target audience is a Sanyasin who has renounced worldly life. A householder who has family or desires family; having worldly responsibilities does not qualify. And in keeping with tradition, the student has to be a Brahmana (by lineage). Non-Brahmanas are not qualified. A text such as the Upadesha Sahasri - and indeed, all of Shankara's texts - would be hand copied into manuscripts and only available with teachers. This made it easy to control the target audience as students were screened per the above requirements and so there was no possibility of others getting their hands on the teaching.
Now let us contrast this with modern Neo-Vedanta, which arose during the 19th Century. In an attempt to portray Hinduism as a unified and uniform religion that can appeal to Westerners, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda et al., created a new flavor of Hinduism with Advaita concepts central to it. In this version of Hinduism, all Hindus - regardless of caste - are striving towards Moksha. In copying the Western model, the entire Hinduism is based on scripture (Veda) which teaches monotheism and everyone follows scripture. They essentially summed up Hinduism as Advaita Vedanta philosophy, while downplaying the associated Smartha tradition (as it involved rituals, idol worship, photograph worships, temples, etc., seen as pagan/heathen practices and therefore non-palatable to Westerners). They project a picture of Unity among all Hindus in their beliefs, ignoring the various diverse beliefs as actually followed by the masses. When they do (reluctantly) address this diversity, the apologetic opinion is that the heterogeneity is an unfortunate corruption of - the once pristine - Vedic Sanatana Dharma, by uneducated masses. Some other forms of this modern characterization include portraying Hinduism as a set of philosophical Darshanas, once again ignoring the ground reality of non-Vedic, non-scriptural, ritual based religion - as practiced by the overwhelming majority of Hindus. The reasons for this Neo-Vedanta movement are many - including Western influence, a reaction to foreign rule and the need for National unity among Indians. The Neo-Vedanta drive has found considerable success. Many Hindus (including some who live in India) believe in these new ideas of a vastly simplified, homogeneous, Veda based religion named Sanatana Dharma and are unwilling to admit or accept the actual diversity and complex variety that makes up Hinduism.
In Neo-Vedanta, Advaita has assumed a new form. It is now available to anyone, without discrimination, with no prerequisites of qualifications. One can be a householder and simultaneously engage in worldly affairs and strive for Moksha. A fantastic concept of 'Nishkama Karma' has been introduced into the mix to make this theoretically possible. Regardless of how appealing this may be to some people, the fact remains that this is *not* traditional Advaita as taught by Shankara. Shankara did not teach that people should mix up Purusharthas by attempting two polar opposites (Trivarga and Moksha) at the same time. If such Nishkama Karma was possible, he would not have had to limit his teaching to Sanyasins (Paarivrajakas). This is a new age distortion (Nishkama karma has its place, but it is meant for a class of Sanyasins who are engaged in social service).
To close, people are free to adopt Neo-Vedanta and consider it as definitive Hinduism. However, it is wrong when they claim it to be traditional Vedanta and/or if they use it as the basis to practice exclusivity. If someone considers himself to be a Hindu, then he is one. Hinduism consists of diverse practices, diverse gods, diverse rituals and every one of them has a place within the religion. No one has the authority to cherry pick; to decide who is Hindu and who is not.
The first two prose verses (reproduced below) from the US are very informative as they explicitly lay out Shankara's target audience, describing their qualifications.
We shall now explain a method of teaching the means to liberation for the benefit of those aspirants after liberation and are possessed of Shradha - 1.1.1
That means to liberation, viz. knowledge should be explained again and again until it is firmly grasped, to a pure Brahmana disciple who is indifferent to everything that is transitory and achievable; who has given up the desire for a son, for wealth and for this world and the next; who has adopted the life of a wandering monk and is endowed with control of the mind and senses, with compassion as well as the qualities of a disciple well versed in scripture and who has approached the teacher in the prescribed manner and has been duly examined for his caste (Jaati), profession, conduct, learning and lineage - 1.1.2
Shankara is clear. The target audience is a Sanyasin who has renounced worldly life. A householder who has family or desires family; having worldly responsibilities does not qualify. And in keeping with tradition, the student has to be a Brahmana (by lineage). Non-Brahmanas are not qualified. A text such as the Upadesha Sahasri - and indeed, all of Shankara's texts - would be hand copied into manuscripts and only available with teachers. This made it easy to control the target audience as students were screened per the above requirements and so there was no possibility of others getting their hands on the teaching.
Now let us contrast this with modern Neo-Vedanta, which arose during the 19th Century. In an attempt to portray Hinduism as a unified and uniform religion that can appeal to Westerners, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda et al., created a new flavor of Hinduism with Advaita concepts central to it. In this version of Hinduism, all Hindus - regardless of caste - are striving towards Moksha. In copying the Western model, the entire Hinduism is based on scripture (Veda) which teaches monotheism and everyone follows scripture. They essentially summed up Hinduism as Advaita Vedanta philosophy, while downplaying the associated Smartha tradition (as it involved rituals, idol worship, photograph worships, temples, etc., seen as pagan/heathen practices and therefore non-palatable to Westerners). They project a picture of Unity among all Hindus in their beliefs, ignoring the various diverse beliefs as actually followed by the masses. When they do (reluctantly) address this diversity, the apologetic opinion is that the heterogeneity is an unfortunate corruption of - the once pristine - Vedic Sanatana Dharma, by uneducated masses. Some other forms of this modern characterization include portraying Hinduism as a set of philosophical Darshanas, once again ignoring the ground reality of non-Vedic, non-scriptural, ritual based religion - as practiced by the overwhelming majority of Hindus. The reasons for this Neo-Vedanta movement are many - including Western influence, a reaction to foreign rule and the need for National unity among Indians. The Neo-Vedanta drive has found considerable success. Many Hindus (including some who live in India) believe in these new ideas of a vastly simplified, homogeneous, Veda based religion named Sanatana Dharma and are unwilling to admit or accept the actual diversity and complex variety that makes up Hinduism.
In Neo-Vedanta, Advaita has assumed a new form. It is now available to anyone, without discrimination, with no prerequisites of qualifications. One can be a householder and simultaneously engage in worldly affairs and strive for Moksha. A fantastic concept of 'Nishkama Karma' has been introduced into the mix to make this theoretically possible. Regardless of how appealing this may be to some people, the fact remains that this is *not* traditional Advaita as taught by Shankara. Shankara did not teach that people should mix up Purusharthas by attempting two polar opposites (Trivarga and Moksha) at the same time. If such Nishkama Karma was possible, he would not have had to limit his teaching to Sanyasins (Paarivrajakas). This is a new age distortion (Nishkama karma has its place, but it is meant for a class of Sanyasins who are engaged in social service).
To close, people are free to adopt Neo-Vedanta and consider it as definitive Hinduism. However, it is wrong when they claim it to be traditional Vedanta and/or if they use it as the basis to practice exclusivity. If someone considers himself to be a Hindu, then he is one. Hinduism consists of diverse practices, diverse gods, diverse rituals and every one of them has a place within the religion. No one has the authority to cherry pick; to decide who is Hindu and who is not.
Last edited:
