ADI SHANKARACHARYA (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 – Art & Culture)

Context: The Madhya Pradesh chief minister recently unveiled the 'Ekatmata Ki Pratima' or 'Statue of Oneness' of Adi Shankaracharya in Omkareshwar.

Adi Shankaracharya

• Born: 788 CE in Kaladi, Kerala
• Death: 820 CE
• Philosophy: Advaita Vedanta (Non-Dualism).
• Opposed:  Buddhist philosophers
• Influence: Revived Hinduism and helped unify various philosophical schools of thought. 
• Literary work: Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, and 12 major Upanishads
• Statue: 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Kedarnath (Uttarakhand)

Mathas founded by Adi Shankaracharya 

• Badrinath for Atharva Veda.
• Puri for Rig Veda
• Dwaraka for Sama Veda
• Sringeri for Yajur Veda

Advaita Vedanta (Non-Dualism): It is a school of Hindu philosophy and a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience. It refers to the idea that Brahman alone is ultimately real, while the transient phenomenal world is an illusory appearance (maya) of Brahman.

• In this view, jivatman, the experiencing self, is ultimately non-different from Ātman-Brahman, the highest Self or Reality.