Introduction to Sankara's Advaitism

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This book aims to give an exposition of basic tenets of Advaitism as propounded by Sankara in a succinct yet comprehensive manner. It is often claimed that Sankara looked upon the world as a "Maya" or illusion and rejected karmayoga. It has been clearly brought out how these widespread beliefs are unfounded. Separate chapters have been earmarked to exposition of Sankara's major works like Vivekchoodamani and his seminal commentaries on the Gita, the Upanisads and the Brahma Sutras.

This book highlights the tremendous contribution made by Sankara to the evolution of Hindu metaphysics. It is hoped that through this publication even a lay reader will be able to appreciate why Advaitism has been aptly described as the acme of Indian philosophy.

The author Dr. Prakash V. Joshi was born in 1948 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. After graduating with high honors from the Institute of Science, Bombay, he went to Cambridge where he did Tripos in Mathematics. He was recepient of the Tata scholarship. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1972. He has served with distinction in India and abroad. He was in Guyana from 1998 to 2002 where he was posted as India's High Commissioner.

He was awarded doctorate by the JNU in 1990 in the field of International Studies. Dr. Joshi is keenly interested in comparative study of religions, Hindu metaphysics and spiritualism. His other publications include: Saga of Hinduism (Volume I and II), and Vedanta to Modern science. An accomplished speaker Dr. Joshi has given several talks on spiritual themes. He delivered a weekly discourse on the Gita on the TV while in Guyana.

It gives me great pleasure to place this small book Advaitism before the readers. Adi Sankara's philosophy on Advaitism is justly famous for its breadth of vision, universality of its scope and impeccability of its logic. This is the reason why Adi Sankara is revered as one of the topmost philosophers of Hinduism.

2. This book is divided into thirteen chapters and attempts to give a succinct overview of different facets of Advaitism. It contains a brief profile of Sankara's life. An entire chapter (No.3) has been devoted to the portrayal of evolution of metaphysical thought in India from earliest of times until Sankara emerged on the scene. The reader thus will be able to appreciate how Advaitism blends harmoniously into the ideas and concepts which were in vogue earlier. The main features of Advaitism have been explained on the basis of Sankara's seminal work 'Vivekchoodamani'.

3. Sankara is famous for his commentaries on the Gita, Upanisads and Brahmasutra. In view of the importance of these works, a separate chapter has been devoted to each of these commentaries. Despite the constraints of space, several quotations from Sankara's original works have been adduced so that the reader gets a flavour of Sankara's mode of argumentation as well as his unique literary style.

4. An attempt has been made to counter the two widely prevalent misconceptions about Advaitism in this publication. It is held by many that Sankara called for severing of links with the temporal world and for adoption of a monastic existence by one and all.

The Advaita or non-dual school of thought stands at the centre of India's philosophical tradition, and, Bhagavatpada Adi Sankaracarya, the principal exponent of Advaita is the most illustrious of Indian thinkers. It is hard to think of a parallel to Sankara in any of the philosophical systems of the world. Maybe if one were to put together Plato, Aristotle, Acquinas, Hegel, Kant and Heidegger in one personality it would be possible to have someone approaching the importance of Sankara.

Advaita darshana is indeed highly scholastic and intellectually challenging. To understand Advaita requires considerable discipleship and to write a book on it is certainly even more daunting. It would not be so difficult if one were writing for one's peers but to seek to simplify the system for a general readership is something few would have courage to contemplate and undertake. Yet this is exactly what Dr. Prakash Joshi, India's High Commissioner to Guyana has done in this remarkable little book Advaitism Made Easy. Only one who has the deepest understanding of the Advaita can think in terms of simplifying it for a general readership.

Dr. Joshi is no new comer to expounding India's religious, theological, and philosophical traditions. He is the author of an impressive two-volume work, Saga on Hinduism and a large and more comprehensive work on Advaita is currently with publishers in India. In this regard he is ideally qualified to not only represent but also re- present India abroad.

**Contents and Sample Pages**