Adi Sankara and Sri Aurobindo

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'Adi Sankara and Sri Aurobindo' reads closely between the philosophies of the two great thinkers of their times. Both of them considered the mystery of the universe as supra-rational and transcendental. Both talked about the Spiritual Man and the Superman. But despite this, Sankara is called an Illusionist and Sri Aurobindo a Prophet of Integration. One shows the path of liberation and the other of transformation and total change. Sankara's dauntless exposition of the nature of the Ultimate Reality strengthens in us the belief that man is in essence spirit and it is the forgetfulness of this truth that causes all his miseries. Sri Aurobindo argues out a case in favour of collectivity, progress and perfection on the one hand and existence of supra-rational awareness or consciousness on the other.

In short, the present attempt is a seeker's quest to know the base-lines of teachings of the two masters against the background of Buddha's popular teachings of the Boddhisatva and Jeevanmukta.

An established researcher in the field of Axiology, Philosophy, Education, Futurology, Aesthetics and allied areas of modern knowledge, Dr. Vedre Narayan Karan Reddy is currently a UGC Emeritus Fellowship holder in philosophy. His writings cover a wide range of humanistic studies. The significant books that he has authored include: The Concept of Man in Tagore and Radhakrishnan; Man, Education and Values; An Introduction to Eastern and Western Philosophy, and Problems of Futurology.

Dr. Reddy has participated in and chaired some national and international conferences. He has been editing 'New Consciousness and East-West Journals' for the last three decades.

The present book on "Adi Sankara and Sri Aurobindo" envisages a new outlook on Man and the Divine in many respects. If there is any future for Man it is because of his inherent and infinite potentialities. His status in the world is next to God. He is altogether different from the rest of creation or evolution. Man is not a mere man in the coming years. Both Sankara and Sri Aurobindo talked about Spiritual Man and Superman respectively. Despite of this synthetic view, Sankara is branded as an Illusionist and Sri Aurobindo as a Prophet of Integralism. One has shown the path of liberation and the other of transformation and total change. It is needless to state that our country has been always replete with great sages and saints who have shown the true path of life to generations after generations in the past. Their teachings and light of knowledge was meant for all men of all countries. As such Hinduism is one torrential stream of consciousness quenching the spiritual thirst of all people irrespective of races and regions of the world. But some thinkers and writers in their efforts to simplify the lofty ideals of sages and saints have been not always accurate as the language of the oversoul transcends all boundaries of logical reasoning and thought. The more is the mystic sage the greater will be the extent of misinterpretation of his ideas. It is only faith and conviction of Light and Knowledge which clears the way of Truth in every field.

The present book 'Adi Sankara and Sri Aurobindo' deals with the analysis of the prime concepts involved in the classical teachings of the two important prophetic thinkers of India, Sankara and Sri Aurobindo. Both of them considered the mystery of the universe as Supra-rational and Transcendental. According to Sri Aurobindo "The Buddha applied his penetrating rational intellect supported by an intuitive vision to the world as our mind and sense see it and discovered the principle of its construction and the way to release from all constructions, but he refused to go farther. Sankara took the farther step and regarded the supramental Truth, which Buddha kept behind the veil as realisable by cancellation of the constructions of consciousness but beyond the scope of the reason's discovery Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, India Library Society, New York, 1965, p. 416. Both Buddha and Sankara stressed on the philosophies of world negation. One of these thinkers believed in universal Illusionism and the other on universal Realism although both of them believed in one Reality. Love, Truth and Righteousness can be viewed as the gist of Buddha's teaching The Mother: Commentaries on Dharmapada, pp 41 and 86; while Altruism, Service and Philanthropy were given prime importance in the scheme of Christianity. All these moves only give infinitesimal bits of momentary relief. The suffering and mysery of the world remain as eternal barriers in the evolution of man and progress towards higher and higher realms of consciousness. Terrestrial existence will be so fixed that it will never reach the peaks of supramental manifestation. For the first time, it was Sri Aurobindo who has shown the way as how the present man can attain the status of superman through austerities and liberations. It is needless to mention in this particular context that Buddha as an Avatar, Sankara as Vibhuti and Sri Aurobindo as Divine prophet of this age have all revolutionised the course of human history and its destiny.

**Contents and Sample Pages**