Śaṇkara’s Life: A Lesson in Itself

I’ve been reading the life of Śri Adi Śaṇkaracharya, the great Indian philosopher and theologian and have been struck by certain facts and incidents. He was only sixteen when he wrote his major philosophical treatises. That is hard to imagine! But this fact is alluded to in most accounts of his life. At sixteen, I on my part was struggling to understand the ‘simple’ material being fed to me in higher secondary school. Whereas this lad was not only well-versed in the numerous Hindu texts but was writing commentaries on them. I find it astonishing. He was beyond doubt a prodigy.

He lived a relatively short life of 32 years but he lived them fruitfully. Such was the impact of his life that he was a huge sensation in his day and still is one in ours. His philosophy is one of the most lucid and coherent systems in the world. His genius must be admired.

One incident that struck me in his life was his meeting with a chandala (dalit). The rigid caste system was beginning to engulf society and Śaṇkara too was influenced by it. The story goes that one day he was walking down to the Ganga with his disciples when he saw a chandala walking up the path with his dogs. Instinctively, he commanded the chandala to get out of the way of him and his disciples. To his surprise, the chandala stood his ground and issued him a challenge. A gist of what the chandala said is reported in the book I was reading. A series of questions were hurled at the young scholar. “You preach that the Vedas teach the non-dual Brahman to be the only reality and that it is immutable and never polluted. If this is so, how has this sense of difference overtaken you?”

“You asked me to move aside and make way for you. To whom were your words addressed, O Learned Sir? To the body, which comes from the same source and performs the same functions in the case of both a Brahmin and a social outcaste? Or to the Ātman, the witnessing Consciousness, which is the same in all, unaffected by the body? How do differences such as, ‘This is a Brahmin, this is a social outcaste’ arise in non-dual experience?”

This experience shook him up and helped him set aside the vestiges of dualism from his mind and experience the truth of non-dualism. Mythology narrates that the chandala revealed himself to be Lord Shiva, and the dogs-the four Vedas.

This experience of Śaṇkara indicates that the anti-caste discrimination arose around the same time as caste discrimination did. From the earliest times people who have had a mystical experience have spoken against the reductionist nature of the caste system. Basically, caste-based discrimination is a result of a dualistic way of perceiving the human person. A philosophy of dualism is bound to encounter such problems. An integral, holistic view of the human person is necessary for a respectful and meaningful exchange between people. This is the challenge Advaita or non-dualism places before us. Can you perceive the Ātman in yourself and the other?

Cl. Ian Pinto, SDB