By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation

Sadhguru: Adi Shankara was an intellectual giant, a genius of linguistics, and, above all, a spiritual light, the pride of India. In the brief span of his life, he walked the length and breadth of this nation. Where did this energy, this zest and this wisdom come from?

Shankara came from a village called Kaladi, which literally means “beneath the feet.” In the South, we are at the feet of Bharat Mata. Bharat means we always learnt how to be at the feet of the Divine. By being at the feet of the Divine, we evolved and blossomed. This is not a culture of pumped up pomp, but a culture of natural piety.

Everything is Maya

Shankara said, “Everything is maya.” Maya means an illusion, in the sense that you are not seeing it the way it is. Here you are with this seemingly solid body, but with the food that you eat, the water that you drink and the air that you breathe, the cells of your body are being exchanged on a daily basis. This means after some time, you have a completely new body. But in your experience, it looks like it is the same thing — this is maya. Similarly, the way you perceive existence through the five senses, is completely off the mark — this is the illusion, the maya, that Shankara talked about.

There is a story how once in Kashi, Shankara was entering a temple in the early morning after his bath. Then a chandala came in his way. Chandalas were a particular caste who maintained the cremation grounds. They were considered the lowest of the lowest and inauspicious. There was a belief that if you see a chandala, death will come. No one wanted anything to do with them and they were shunned.

So when this man came in front of him, Shankara said, “Move away.” That man remained standing there and asked, “Who should move away — me or my body?” This just hit Shankara so hard. He had gone about teaching everybody, “This body is not you, this is all maya.” Now when this man asked this question, it struck him.

After that, he never uttered a word again, never gave a teaching. He just walked off into Himalayas. In Kedarnath, even today there is a monument for him — just his hand and staff carved in marble, jutting out of a wall. That is the last place where he was seen. The story goes that he walked up and merged with Shiva.

This is the fundamental nature of our nation and culture — we don’t rise by elbowing our way — we rise by bowing down. Whether it is a god, a man, a woman, a child, an animal, a tree or a rock — we learnt to bow down to everything. This has been our strength, this has been our way, this has been the process and the method of our evolution and realisation. Let us reignite the spirit of Shankara in this country and the rest of the world.

[Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru’s wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life. www.ishafoundation.org]