Upadesa Sahasri: A Thousand Teachings

by Adi Shankaracharya, Jagadananda (Translator)

Upadeshasahasri written by Sri Sankara, the great Teacher, is translated into English with explanatory footnotes, which will be found useful by readers while going through the book. References to Upanishads, the Vedanta Aphorisms and the Bhagavad-Gita mostly quoted by the author have been carefully traced and shown at the bottom of the pages, which, it is presumed, will throw much clear light on the Text and solve difficulties.

In this book, the great author has made clear the idea of the distinction between oneself and one's body, mind, etc. and is able to convince one that one is not other than the Unlimited Bliss untouched by hunger and thirst, grief and delusion, old age and death, the only real Existence, the Goal of all human beings to be realized in life. Ramatirtha's glossary on Sankara's Upadeshasahasri has been followed in translating the book and appending footnotes.

Genres: Hinduism, Religion, Spirituality, Mysticism, Philosophy

317 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 1941

About the author

Adi Shankara(788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian guru from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta. His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.

Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.

AKA Śaṅkarācārya; Śaṃkara; Śaṃkarācārya; Ṣaṅkara Āchārya; Shamkaracharya; Çamkara; Śaṃkara-bhagavat-pāda; Shankara; Çankara; Ādi Śaṅkara; Shankarâchârya; Śaṁkarācharya; Sankara; Shang-chieh-lo; Shangjieluo; Śankaracharya; Adi Sankar; Āticaṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Caṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Adi Sankaracharya; Āticaṅkar; Āticaṅkarācāriyar; Āticaṅkarar; Adi Sankaracarya; Adi Shankaracharya; Camkaracarya

Reviews

[Madhav Ramanathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a bit trivial for my taste, it just translates the work of Adi Shankaracharya, for someone without too much knowledge it was a bit bland for my taste probably because I expected there'll be a commentary with examples. Although parts of the book were really great and helpful, some parts were difficult to understand. I'd suggest to try other books if you want to go deep with the contents of the book.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise and rich presentation of advaita vendanta. At times it is a bit difficult to fathom and the arguments are somewhat opaque, but I think this is the fault of an occasionally clunky translation. Sankara's commentary on Guadapada's Karika is not necessarily easier to comprehend, but it seems to cohere a little better while explaining many of the same principles. (it could be that Nikhilanada is simply the superior translator.)

One interesting thing about this work is that it explains how advaita vedanta abrogates the caste system, among many other things. (Maybe everything.)