Advaita Vedanta Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Sampradaya and Smarta tradition== ===Monastic order - Mathas=== {{See also|Dashanami Sampradaya}} [[File:Vidyashankara Temple at Shringeri.jpg|thumb|(Vidyashankara temple) at [[Sringeri Sharada Peetham]], [[Shringeri]]]] Advaita Vedānta is not just a philosophical system, but also a tradition of [[Sannyasa|renunciation]]. Philosophy and renunciation are closely related:<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" /> {{blockquote|Most of the notable authors in the advaita tradition were members of the sannyasa tradition, and both sides of the tradition share the same values, attitudes and metaphysics.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />}} According to tradition, around 740 AD Gaudapada founded [[Shri Gaudapadacharya Math]]{{refn|group=note|{{lang-sa|श्री संस्थान गौडपदाचार्य मठ}}, {{IAST|Śrī Sansthāna Gauḍapadācārya Maṭha}}}}, also known as {{IAST|Kavaḷē maṭha}}. It is located in [[Kavale]], [[Ponda taluk|Ponda]], Goa,<ref group=web>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org/index.V.html |title=Asram Vidya Order, ''Biographical Notes About Sankara And Gaudapada'' |access-date=14 July 2011 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809145405/http://vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org/index.V.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and is the oldest [[matha]] of the [[South India]]n [[Saraswat Brahmin]]s.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|title=Shri Gowdapadacharya & Shri Kavale Math (A Commemoration volume)| page=10}}</ref><ref group=web>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924101459/http://www.shrikavalemath.org.in/default.htm Kavale Math Official Website]</ref> Shankara, himself considered to be an incarnation of [[Shiva]],<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" /> is credited with establishing the Dashanami Sampradaya, organizing a section of the [[Dashanami Sampradaya|Ekadandi monks]] under an umbrella grouping of ten names.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition">[http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Shankara/shankar4.html Sankara Acarya Biography – Monastic Tradition] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508091224/http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Shankara/shankar4.html |date=8 May 2012}}</ref> Several Hindu monastic and Ekadandi traditions, however, remained outside the organisation of the Dasanāmis.<ref>Karigoudar Ishwaran, ''Ascetic Culture''</ref><ref>Wendy Sinclair-Brull, ''Female Ascetics''</ref><ref>H.A. Rose, Ibbetson, Denzil Ibbetson Sir, and Maclagan, ''Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province'', p. 857</ref> Sankara is said to have organised the Hindu monks of these ten sects or names under four {{IAST|[[Matha|Maṭhas]]}} (Sanskrit: {{lang|sa|मठ}}) (monasteries), called the ''Amnaya Mathas'', with the headquarters at [[Dvārakā]] in the West, [[Jagannatha Puri]] in the East, [[Sringeri]] in the South and [[Badrikashrama]] in the North.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition"/> According to tradition, each math was first headed by one of his four main disciples, and the tradition continues since then. Yet, according to Paul Hacker, no mention of the ''mathas'' can be found before the 14th century CE.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=28}} Until the 15th century, the timespan of the directors of Sringeri Math are unrealistically long, spanning 60+ and even 105 years. After 1386, the timespans become much shorter.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=28-29}} According to Hacker, these mathas may have originated as late as the 14th century, to propagate Shankara's view of Advaita.{{sfn|Hacker|1995|p=29}}{{refn|group=note|Nakamura also recognized the influence of these mathas, which he argues contributed to the influence of Shankara, which was "due to institutional factors". The mathas which he established remain active today, and preserve the teachings and influence of Shankara, "while the writings of other scholars before him came to be forgotten with the passage of time".{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|pp=680–681}}}}{{refn|group=note|According to Pandey, these Mathas were not established by Shankara himself, but were originally ashrams established by [[Vibhandak Rishi|Vibhāņdaka]] and his son [[Rishyasringa|Ŗșyaśŗnga]].{{sfn|Pandey|2000|pp=4–5}} Shankara inherited the ashrams at Dvārakā and Sringeri, and shifted the ashram at Śŗngaverapura to Badarikāśrama, and the ashram at Angadeśa to Jagannātha Purī.{{sfn|Pandey|2000|p=5}}}} According to another tradition in Kerala, after Sankara's [[samadhi]] at Vadakkunnathan Temple, his disciples founded four mathas in Thrissur, namely [[Naduvil Madhom, Thrissur|Naduvil Madhom]], Thekke Madhom, Idayil Madhom and Vadakke Madhom. Monks of these ten orders differ in part in their beliefs and practices, and a section of them is not considered to be restricted to specific changes attributed to Shankara. While the dasanāmis associated with the Sankara maths follow the procedures attributed to Adi Śankara, some of these orders remained partly or fully independent in their belief and practices; and outside the official control of the Sankara maths. The advaita sampradaya is not a [[Saiva]] sect,<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|pp=782–783}} despite the historical links with Shaivism.{{refn|group=note|Sanskrit.org: "Advaitins are non-sectarian, and they advocate worship of Siva and Visnu equally with that of the other deities of Hinduism, like Sakti, Ganapati and others."<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" />}} Nevertheless, contemporary Sankaracaryas have more influence among Saiva communities than among Vaisnava communities.<ref group=web name="MonasticTradition" /> ===Smarta Tradition=== {{Main|Smarta Tradition}} The [[Smarta Tradition|Smarta]] tradition of [[Hinduism]] is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought and practice, which developed with the [[Hindu synthesis]], dating back to the early first century CE.{{refn|group=note|Archeological evidence suggest that the Smarta tradition in India dates back to at least 3rd-century CE.<ref name="Williams1981p2">{{cite book|author=Frederick Asher|editor=Joanna Gottfried Williams|title=Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India|year=1981|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-06498-2|pages=1–4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qoeAAAAIAAJ|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116175658/https://books.google.com/books?id=-qoeAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Harle1994p141"/>}} It is particularly found in south and west India, and revers all Hindu divinities as a step in their spiritual pursuit.<ref name="Harle1994p141"/><ref name="Flood1996p17"/>{{sfn|Doniger|1999|p=1017}} Their [[Puja (Hinduism)|worship]] practice is called ''Panchayatana puja''.<ref name="Bühnemann2003p60">{{cite book|author=Gudrun Bühnemann|title=Mandalas and Yantras in the Hindu Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQf2m8VaC_oC&pg=PA60|year=2003|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-9004129023|pages=60–61|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116175701/https://books.google.com/books?id=kQf2m8VaC_oC&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Harle1994p141">{{cite book|author=James C. Harle|title=The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent|year=1994|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-06217-5| url=https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl/page/140 140]–142, 191, 201–203}}</ref> The worship symbolically consists of five deities: [[Shiva]], [[Vishnu]], [[Devi]] or [[Durga]], [[Surya]] and an [[Ishta Devata]] or any personal god of devotee's preference.<ref name="Flood1996p17">{{harvnb|Flood|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/17 17]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Diana L. Eck|title=Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India|year=1998|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-11265-9|page=49|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWqaD9Hz1bMC|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116175659/https://books.google.com/books?id=wWqaD9Hz1bMC|url-status=live}}</ref> In the Smarta tradition, Advaita Vedānta ideas combined with [[bhakti]] are its foundation. Adi Shankara is regarded as the greatest teacher{{sfn|Doniger|1999|p=1017}} and reformer of the Smarta.{{sfn|Rosen|2006|p=166}} According to [[Alf Hiltebeitel]], Shankara's Advaita Vedānta and practices became the doctrinal unifier of previously conflicting practices with the ''smarta'' tradition.{{refn|group=note|Practically, Shankara fostered a rapprochement between Advaita and ''smarta'' orthodoxy, which by his time had not only continued to defend the ''varnasramadharma'' theory as defining the path of ''karman'', but had developed the practice of ''pancayatanapuja'' ("five-shrine worship") as a solution to varied and conflicting devotional practices. Thus one could worship any one of five deities (Vishnu, Siva, Durga, Surya, Ganesa) as one's ''istadevata'' ("deity of choice").{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2013}}}} Philosophically, the Smarta tradition emphasizes that all images and statues ([[murti]]), or just five marks or any anicons on the ground, are visibly convenient icons of spirituality ''saguna Brahman''.<ref name="lexicon"/><ref name="Bühnemann2003p60"/> The multiple icons are seen as multiple representations of the same idea, rather than as distinct beings. These serve as a step and means to realizing the abstract Ultimate Reality called nirguna Brahman. The ultimate goal in this practice is to transition past the use of icons, then follow a philosophical and meditative path to understanding the oneness of Atman (Self) and Brahman – as "That art Thou".<ref name="lexicon">[https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/four-sects The Four Denominations of Hinduism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618033816/https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/four-sects |date=18 June 2018 }}, Basics of Hinduism, Kauai Hindu Monastery</ref><ref>Falk Reitz (1997), [http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/76/1/Pancayatana_1.pdf Pancayatana-Komplexe in Nordindien: Entstehung, Entwicklung und regionale Besonderheiten einer indischen Architekturform] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009000103/http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/76/1/Pancayatana_1.pdf |date=9 October 2016 }}, PhD Thesis (in German), Awarded by [[Free University of Berlin|Freie Universität Berlin]]</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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