Adi Shankara (c. 788 – 820 AD) was the first philosopher to
consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of
Vedanta.
His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and God, in which
God
is viewed as simultaneously personal and attributeless. In the
Smārta
tradition, Adi Shankara is regarded as an incarnation of Shiva. Adi
Shankara toured India with the purpose of propagating his teachings
through discourses and debates with other philosophers. He founded
four mathas which played a key role in the historical development and
spread of Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara was the founder
of the Dashanami monastic order and the Shanmata tradition of
worship.
His works in Sanskrit, all of which are extant today, concern
themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita (Sanskrit,
"Non-dualism"). Adi Shankara quotes extensively from the Upanishads
and other Hindu scriptures in forming his teachings. He also
includes
polemics against opposing schools of thought like Samkhya and
Buddhism
in his works.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara
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Today's selected anniversaries:
3761 BCE:
The epoch of the modern Hebrew calendar.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar)
1571:
The Ottoman Empire was decisively defeated by the Christian West for
the first time, as a multinational fleet led by Don John of Austria
crushed the Turkish navy near the Gulf of Corinth in the Battle of
Lepanto.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_(1571))
1949:
The German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Berlin.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Democratic_Republic)
1985:
The Mediterranean ocean liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestine
Liberation Front terrorists while sailing from Alexandria to Port
Said.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro)
2003:
California recall: Californians voted to recall Governor Gray Davis
from office and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger from a list of 135
candidates.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_recall_election%2C_2003)
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Wikiquote of the day:
It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how
nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature. -- Niels
Bohr
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr)