Sankaram Sankaracharyam

About this stotra

Śrī Sankara presents the very method of teaching in his commentary. Even though there is no discussion exclusively dealing with the method of teaching in his bhāṣya, Sankara employs the method. We learn how to present a subject-matter, how to expand it and how a word is to be unfolded, how do we come to know exactly what the śruti says in a given sentence-it is for all this that you require a sampradaya. Śrī Sankara says that a teacher should be a sampradaya-vit, a knower of the teaching tradition. He says, asampradayavid mürkhavad upekṣaniyah, just as one keeps away from a murkha, an uninformed person who seriously debates, one has to keep away from asampradayavit. Śrī Sankara identifies with the sampradaya and reveals himself as a sampradaya-vit.It is also necessary for us to see Śrī Śankara as a sampradaya-kṛt, one who creates and maintains the tradition. He did not say that. It was not necessary for him to do so. Without his revealing the sampradaya through his own bhäşya, there would have been no way for us to approach the śruti and get the vision. In the second chapter of the Brahmasutra-bhāṣya, he deals with the various schools of thought and points out their errors. In doing so, he also reveals himself as a sampradaya-kṛt in a way. Therefore, Śrī Sankara is looked upon as a link in the sampradaya.
Many people wrote commentaries on Śrī Śankara's bhāṣya to further their own understanding and clarity. We thus have many commentaries available. Some of them are popular. We need not read them all, but they are useful. These commentaries help us in understanding the original.
This wisdom helps one understand that the truth is above all perceived differences. In this, it helps one to become more accommodative of all differences. It is not an accommodation with a patronising attitude, but born of understanding from where the perceptions come. In a healthy dialogue they can be resolved.
Śrī Sankara's teaching is a blessing to humanity, which is now struggling to cope with the problems of differences. Vande punaḥ punaḥ. To that Śrī Śankarācārya, I offer my salutation again, and again.
Om tat sat
- A talk by Swami Dayananda Saraswati