Shankara's Teaching

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

 [Abstract of the Divine Discourse delivered in Town Hall of Narasaraopet on January 06^th, 2006]

Shankara preached that this world is Mithya, which does not mean absence of everything or vacuum. He Himself defined the word Mithya as “Sadasat Vilakshana”. It means it is neither true nor untrue. It is true because it is giving entertainment to the Lord. The Lord created the Universe for entertainment as said in the Veda (Ekaki Na Ramate). If the creation is untrue then the Lord is again leftover alone and thus there is no entertainment to the Lord. But the Veda says that the Lord is entertained and His wish cannot become false, because He is called as ‘Satya Kamah’ by the Veda. But the creation is just His imagination only and is not a materialised form. Therefore, the truth is negligible because the imagination is made of the weakest mental energy. The imagination cannot be considered as existing item. When you are walking with a person imagined by your mind, nobody says that you are two persons. Therefore, anything which is negligible can be treated as non-existent and hence, it cannot be also treated as true. In this angle, Shankara convinced the theory of His preacher, called as Gaudapada who propagated the Ajativada. This means that the world is not at all born. The reason for this as given by Gaudapada is that anything is produced from something, which is also produced from some other thing. This chain leads to ad-infinitum (Anavastha Dosha), which means that there is no beginning or end for this chain. He also says that the second reason is that we do not see anything produced from something, which has no birth. Therefore, these two reasons conclude that this Universe is not at all produced. This is another form of the theory of Buddhists called as Shunya Vada. But Shankara modified this and gave existence as well as non-existence to the world through the theory of Mithya Vada. But this Mithya is from the angle of the Lord. The world is imagination for the Lord and not for the soul because the soul is a part and parcel of this universe only. Therefore, for the soul the world is completely real. In fact, the soul is Mithya compared to the world. The reason is compared to the content of energy and power of the world, the energy and power of the soul is very negligible. Therefore, the soul is Mithya from the angle of the world.

The advaita scholar takes the reverse of this and says that the world is Mithya from the angle of the soul. The drop is negligible from the angle of the ocean but the ocean is not negligible from the angle of the drop. The ocean is negligible for the Lord, which is His imagination. Even the ocean of imagination is negligible from the angle of the imagining person. Therefore, the world is completely true from the angle of the individual soul. Shankara preached the concept of universe from the angle of the Lord because He Himself was the incarnation of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva destroys the entire world just by one wish. An imagining person can destroy his entire imaginary world just by one wish. Shankara also proved His theory by practical demonstration. He swallowed the molten lead like a cup of drink. For Him, the molten lead is just an imagination. Shankara entered through the bolted doors of the house of Mandana Mishra because the house is just His imagination. But His disciples could not drink the molten lead because they are individual souls and are just drops of this entire world. Ramanuja preached the world as perfect true entity. Ramanuja is the incarnation of Adi Shesha, who is the serpant present around the neck of Lord Shiva like garland. Adi Shesha is an individual soul.

Therefore, Ramanuja preached the concept of the world from the angle of an individual soul. Again, Madhva declared Himself as the son of Vayu, who is one of the angels governed by the Lord. Therefore, Madhva was also the incarnation of an individual soul only and hence, supported the view of Ramanuja only. Thus, the concept of universe is complete from the angles of both the Lord and the soul through the preaching of the three divine preachers. Similarly, Shankara declared Himself as the Lord (Shivah Kevaloham). The word Kevala means that He alone is the Lord. Since He was the incarnation of the Lord, His theory is correct from His angle. Ramanuja and Madhva preached that the individual soul is completely different from the Lord. This is again correct from their angle. Thus, the theory becomes complete from the angles of both the Lord and the individual soul. Well! If you really feel that you are the human incarnation of the Lord you can preach like Shankara. If you feel that you are an individual soul, you should preach the theory of Ramanuja and Madhva. Your inner consciousness is your best judge of your own preaching.

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