Sri. Shankara Acharya is one of the greatest interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. There are some who regard him as the greatest interpreter of the Gita. He is remembered in history as a Saviour of the Hindu dharma. He appeared at a time when the Hindu dharma was entangled in rites and ceremonies. Whenever you find that rites and ceremonies dominate a religion, remember, it is in a period of decline. When Sri. Shankara appeared, the Hindu Faith was entangled in externalism, ritualism, ceremonialism.
The word used by Sri. Shankara for ritualism is karma. And he pointed out, over and over again, that in ritualism is not the salvation of an individual, a community or a race. Sri. Shankara urged that the way to salvation was not karma but knowledge. As he moved on from place to place, he taught the people that they could not be saved merely by going through certain rites and ceremonies. It was necessary to understand and to know.
Shankara built an Order of sanyasins. The sanyasins, he said, are men of non-possession. They are the real guardians of the Hindu Faith. The Faith will live in the strength of men of non-possession, men of inner renunciation, men of service and sacrifice. This truth which Shankara preached centuries ago is the eternal truth of history. Religion lives through the strength of men of service and sacrifice. Shankara called them sanyasins. Shankara's sanyasins went to the farthest corners of India. They travelled to East and West, to North and South, and relighted the torch of the Hindu Faith. They re-affirmed the wisdom of Hindu dharma. Shankara gave a new life to Hinduism.
What did he mean by knowledge? Sri. Shankara points out that knowledge, true knowledge, is not intellectual knowledge. True knowledge is based on intuition. Sri. Shankara further tells us that to have true knowledge, a person must get rid of sensual desires. He alone can attain knowledge who gets rid of attachment to material objects and sense-gratification.
A great Western mystic, who resembles Shankara in several respects, the great German mystic, Meister Eckhart, uses a beautiful word -- creatureliness. He says that if you would attain knowledge, you must get rid of creatureliness. What is creatureliness? Attachment to a creature or an individual or an object of desire. Rise above these, says Shankara, if you wish to know. The way to knowledge, he says, is to keep clear of the "world of wandering". It is the world of pleasure, the world of desires. The world is wandering from one desire to another. He who would truly know, must keep clear of this world of wandering.
Shankara says that true knowledge comes in a state of stillness. When you go into silence, when you are still, then the sense of unity grows upon you. All sense of separateness departs. You feel that you are one with all -- one with humanity, one with the whole universe, one with the cosmos. You begin to realise the unity of all that is. You begin to feel that there is the One-in-all.
This mystical experience has come to the world's great ones in all ages and climes. That great mystic of Iran, the author of the Masnavi, Jalal-al-Din Rumi, refers to this experience in several of his poems. In one poem, Jalal-al-Din sings beautifully of this mystical experience. He says: I am the mist of the morning; I am the vibration of the evening; I am the breath of the flute; I am the spirit of man; I am the soul in all things!
This experience is emphasised by Shakara as essential to true knowledge. The man of true knowledge, tha man of illumination says, "I am the soul in all things". The same thought is voiced by Emerson, by Hafiz, by all the great mystics of East and West. Sri. Shankara says, when you have the experience that you are one with the world, one with the universe, then alone can you say that you have acquired knowledge.
Sri Shanakara tells us further that this knowledge, this mystical experience, this feeling of unity with the universe, of oneness with the cosmos comes to a man after a long period of preparation or sadhana. It may be that you spend several janmas (births) doing sadhana, before you attain knowledge. An important sadhana (discipline) is attending to one's daily duties, daily work. Shankara does not reject action. There are European critics of Shankara who tell us that the discarded action and exalted knowledge. Shankara exalted knowledge, it is true, but he was careful to point out that in order to attain knowledge, you must go through the discipline of daily work.
You must do your duty. You must act, says Shankara. But -- and here is an important thought for us to note -- you must act unselfishly. Be selfless in your action. Do your daily work in life, but do not be swayed by sordid desires. Do your duty. Work on, but have no thought of the little self within you. So may your work be an offering to the Lord. The sadhaka, the man of discipline, the jignasu, the seeker after knowledge, for a long time, must do his work in the spirit of selflessness. Is not this the teaching of Sri. Krishna unto Arjuna: "Do thy work non-egoistically! Be non-egoistic in your work!"
Sri. Shankara emphasised these two great thoughts of the Hindu Dharma: (i). that there is the One in all, One Divine Life flows into all, and (ii). act non-egoistically! Act unselfishly! These two great thoughts constitute Hindu culture.
Let us act, but let our action be non-egoistic! We are in this world to act. We must be actors before we can become spectators in eternity. Here on the battle-field of time we must act, but let us act in a spirit of unselfishness, offering every action as a sacrifice to the Lord!
