TEACHINGS

Being the 169th Gurumahasannidhanam (pontiff) of the Shankara Parambara, Swamiji, in his teaching emphasises the knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, a Hindu philosophy by the great master Adi Shankara.

As an Advaitic, he believes that the Bhakti goes beyond devotion and can lead one in the direction of Jnana to realise the absolute truth, thus to attain Moksha. He believes the ultimate reality is to be Adi Parashakti, the Para Brahman. He uses the practice of Sri Vidya to educate his devotees.

Below are the brief descriptions of the Advaita Vedanta system.

Introduction

Hindu Philosophy is traditionally divided into six Astika (school of thought) which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed sacred text. The Astika schools are: Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, and Vedanta.

Vedanta is one of the six schools of Astika or simply referred to as the school of Hindu philosophy that interpreted the Upanishads, a collection of Vedic Text considered as the conclusion of Vedas. Vedanta is the interpretation of Upanishads thus, both mean the same.

Advaita Vedanta is one of the versions of Vedanta or simply can be defined as a sub-school of Vedanta, advocated by the great guru Adi Shankara.

Vedas at a Glance

Vedas are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism composed in Sanskrit. The Vedas are believed to be Apauruṣeya, meaning “not the work of a human”. This explains that the Vedas were not authored by human beings but were by divine creation.

Vedas are believed to be directly revealed, thus are called Sruti ("what is heard") distinguishing them from other religious texts, namely, Itihasas (epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata), Puranas, Agamas and Darshanas, which are called Smriti ("what is remembered").

There are four Vedas namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Each Veda has been divided into four sections, Samhita, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads.

In this context, the Advaita Vedanta is a version of Upanishads (Vedanta).

Advaita Vedanta

Adi Shankara, also known as Adi Shankaracharya Bhagavatpada, the most admired Indian philosopher, consolidated the principles of Advaita Vedanta. He, who systematised the works of the preceding philosophers, is considered to be the founder or principal of Advaita Vedanta.

The philosophy of Advaita Vedanta is based on the sacred texts of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras. Adi Shankara gave a systematic foundation of this review in his explanations, which have become central texts in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.

Adi Shankara projected the theory of Advaita, saying that the Upanishad actually teaches that the Atman (Individual soul) is not different from Brahman (God). He explained further that there is only one essential principle called Brahman and everything else is a kind of manifestation of that one Brahman. Because of this theory of one being, his teaching became popular as Advaita (means “not two” or “non-dual). The way he conveyed this to people was "Atman is Brahman."

Adi Shankara said that the ignorance of this reality due to the influence of Maya (illusion) makes one feel separated from God and the best way to realize this reality will be through knowledge (Jhana). When one gains true knowledge, there is no difference between known and knower, thus Moksha is attained.

According to Adi Shankara, anyone seeking to follow the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta needs a guidance of a Guru. Only the skills of a Guru in explaining the ancient scriptures of Sruti, generates the knowledge in the disciple.

Worship of Deities

There are three paths to liberation (Moksha): Jnana (the way of knowledge), Karma (the way of works), and Bhakti (the way of devotion). Jhana directs the individual to use his will power to cut through the veil of ignorance and attain the truth with the knowledge of sacred texts. Karma directs the individual to perform faithfully all the duties, actions and procedures prescribed by the Vedas without any selfish expectations.

Bhakti is where the individual is provided with a form of deity as to enable the mind to hold on something, rather than the formless Brahman. This form would be of individual's choice or as indicated to him by his Guru. This devotion towards a form of deity leads individuals to the direction of Jhana.

Within the Advaita schools, it is believed that the human mind needs a concrete form to understand the divine that ultimately can never be defined. Thus, one can only realize the deity through a form of Murti (Vigraha), an image that expresses a Divine Spirit.

Adi Shankara supports the Bhakti aspect, thus reformed the Smarta Tradition (also known as Smartism) during 8th century using the Advaita Vedanta as a benchmark. Based on the belief of one essential principle, Brahman, Adi Shankara introduced the Shanmata system of worship in Smarta Tradition. In this system, six manifestations of God are worshipped namely, Shivam, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesh, Skanda and Surya. This teaching of Adi Shankara made it possible for devotees to choose one of these deities as an Ista Deivata (desired deity) and at the same time worship the other deities as different forms of the same powerful Brahman.

Advaita Vedanta is a foundation for non-sectarianism, thus all deities of Hinduism are equally worshiped. Hindus adhering Advaita Vedanta are indirect followers of Smarta Tradition.

Tantra (rituals action) embraced these Hindu deities (especially Shiva and Shakti) and the Advaita philosophy that represents the aspect of the ultimate Para Brahman or Adi Parashakti.

The concept of Sri Vidya

Soundarya Lahari (meaning Waves of Beauty), a famous work by Adi Shankara contains 100 slokas (verses) praising the beauty, grace and generosity of Goddess Shakti (Tripurasundari). Verses 1 - 41 are the original work of Lord Shiva, contains Tantra, Yantra and Mantras, which describes the spiritual experience of the union of Shiva and Shakti with a statement that "only when Shiva is united with Shakti does he have the power to create". The remaining 42 - 100 verses are composed by Adi Shankara, describing the physical beauty of the Goddess.

Soundarya Lahari is a Tantra textbook, giving instructions on Poojas and offerings. It contains a series of Mantras (mystic formula) to be used by devotees along with the Yantra (mystic diagram) and describes the Tantric ways of performing devotion in which worship of the Supreme Being is done in the form of Shakti known as Sri Vidya. 

Sri Vidya is a Hindu Tantric religious system devoted to the Goddess as Lalita Tripurasundari ("Beautiful Goddess of the Three Cities"). She is worshiped in the form of a mystical diagram, a central focus and ritual object composed of nine intersecting triangles, called the Sri Yantra or Sri Chakra. The nine triangles are interlaced in such a way as to form 43 smaller triangles in a symbol of the entire cosmos or a symbol of creation. Together they express Advaita or non-duality. This is surrounded by a lotus of eight petals, a lotus of sixteen petals, and an earth square resembling a temple with four doors. Lalitha Tripurasundari is one of the ten goddesses of Hindu belief, collectively called Dasha-Mahavidyas. She is the highest aspect of Goddess Adi Shakti, Parvati or Durga.