Shankaracharya Jayanti 2022 : was he an incarnation of Shiva?

Guru Shankaracharya is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva also known as Jagadguru Shankaracharya. Adi Guru Shankaracharya was a great philosopher and religious leader of India. He provided a solid foundation to Advaita Vedanta.

Guru Shankaracharya took samadhi in Kedarnath at the age of 32. Guru Shankaracharya had studied the scriptures at the age of only 12 & composed more than 100 texts at the age of just 16.Adi Guru Shankaracharya Jayanti is celebrated on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha of Vaishakh month. This year his 1234th birth anniversary is being celebrated on Friday, May 6. 

Origin

Adi Shankaracharya was a great philosopher and religious leader of India, Jagadguru born in the state of Kerala in South India to a Namboodiri Brahmin. It is believed that his father died only a few years after his birth. Guru Shankaracharya mastered the Vedas at a very young age.

Guru Shankaracharya established monasteries in the four corners of the country to propagate and propagate Hinduism, which is currently known as Shankaracharya Peeth:

·        Jyotish Peeth,

·        Sringeri Peeth,

·        Dwarka Sharda Peeth

·        Puri Govardhan Peeth 

Explanation based on scriptural references

As mentioned in numerous Indian scriptures, when a brahmin couple could not take the pleasure of having children for many years, then they worshipped Lord Shankar. Pleased with his penance, Lord Shankar appeared to him in a dream and asked him to ask for a boon. Then the Brahmin couple asked Shankar for the boon of getting child happiness. Along with this, the desire to have longevity, fame etc. in the child was also expressed. Then Lord Shankar said that you can get one thing out of both, either longevity or omniscience. If the son has a long life, he will not be omniscient, and if he is omniscient, he will not have a long life. Then the couple asked for the boon of an omniscient child. By the grace of Lord Shiva, a child was born to a Brahmin couple. The couple named their son Shankar. When Shankar was only 3 years old, his father died. At this age, Shankaracharya had acquired the knowledge of Malayalam.

Strong Relevance with Adi Shankaracharya Temple, Kashmir 

Kashmiri Hindus strongly believe the temple was visited by Adi Shankracharya and has ever since been associated with him; this is how the temple and hill got the name Shankaracharya. It is here that the literary work Soundarya Lahiri was Composed. It was composed by Adi Shankara after accepting the major faith in the region at the time, that ofShakti, and that the union of Shiva and Shakti, as in, transpired into the symbolism of theSri Yantra according to Wikipedia.

Shankaracharya Temple or Jyeshteshwara Temple is a Hindu Temple situated on top of the Shankaracharya Hill on the Zabarwan Range in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India. It is dedicated to Lord- Shiva.. The temple is at a height of 1,000 feet (300 m) above the valley floor and overlooks the city of Srinagar.

Samadhi is in Kedarnath

It is said that when Adi Shankaracharya reached Kedarnath while travelling to pilgrimage places, he died there. Adi Shankaracharya’s samadhi is still there in Kedarnath. With thousands of devotees visiting here, Shankaracharya’s Samadhi in Kedarnath is one of the most popular tourist attractions.

 Government's Initiatives

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his visit to Kedarnath, Uttarakhand on 5th November inaugurated Shri Adi Shankaracharya Samadhi and unveiled the statue of Shri Adi Shankaracharya.The Samadhi has been reconstructed after the destruction in the 2013 floods.

Quintessence of his philosophy

• While travelling Adi Shankara Acharya widely in India and preached his Advaita philosophy wherever he went.

• He taught that supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes) and Akarta (non-agent).

• Brahman is above all needs and desires.

• Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal, and the Jiva is identical with Brahman.

Huge Celebrations to be organised in Delhi

A huge function was organised at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi on 5th May on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya.The ceremony was addressed by Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth Nischalanand Saraswati.Nischalananda Saraswati is the 145th Shankaracharya at Govardhan Peeth in Orissa.In which Shankaracharya sermon the message of religion and spirituality to the whole world. A treatise on Vedic Mathematics was also released on this occasion.