Adi Shankara has been central to the revival of Hindu Dharma in Bharat. His teachings are important for the promotion of national integration today.
Pointing out the causes of the country’s downfall in the face of foreign invasion, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar says, “one gets weakened first, defeat follows.” The spirit of organisation of the country was shattered first, and the reign of slavery took hold of it later.
“Steeped with low loyalty of caste and sect, as the sense of political-social oneness among the people went to pieces and left through the windows, the freedom was inevitably to leave through the main gate,” Dinkar writes in his Sanskruti ke chaar adhyeyay.
However, many took the weakness of social-segregation as one of the main problems of the country and worked towards its eradication. Bhagwan Adi Shankara is the foremost among them. Adi Shankaracharya’s Statue of Oneness was unveiled last year in Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Omkareshwar.
Bhagwan Adi Shankaracharya was born in Kerala in 508 BCE. He took diksha as a Brahmachari. According to tradition, a brahmachari (celibate) goes to seek his first alms only from his mother after having gone through the rite of Yagyopavit sanskara. But Acharya Shankara went to the house of a poor Valmiki woman engaged in the work of sanitising the village. He touched her feet as a gesture of salutation, asking- ‘Maa bhikshaam dehi’ (Mother! give me the alms).
Thus, he preferred to consume food from the hands of a poor woman instead of his mother, breaking tradition and leading the path for Hindus to follow. Later, Sri Adi Shankara came to Omkarnath teerth on the bank of the Narmada River in MP. He was initiated into Sanyasa by Shri Govindpad. He took it upon Himself to bring social integration in the Hindu society that was fragmented into sects at that time.
This is not all! Adi Shankaracharya also made important contributions to national integration. The most notable contribution in this direction was the establishment of the four Mathas (religious shrines) in the four corners of the country, namely in Rameshwaram, Dwarka, Badrinath and Jagannathpuri. And what can better underline their significance than these words of Gandhi- “Our seers in ancient time constructed Setubandh (Ramsetu) in the south; created Jagannath in the east; in the north they built Haridwar.”
“They were all established for the pilgrims. But do you know why? You will agree that they (seers) were not ignorant. They knew that Bhagwan could be worshipped at home also. They learnt that those who have realised the truth, Ganga flows in their hearts. But they visualised that nature did create Bharatvarsha as an indivisible nation. Therefore, after contemplation, they understood that Bharatvarsha is a nation. And only keeping this in view, they established sacred places in the different parts of Bharat, writes Gandhi in his book Hind Swaraj (Chapter 9)
(Featured Image Source: Swarajyamag)
