Advaita Vedanta

===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>