Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara

Adi Shankaracharya

c. 700-750 • Indian

Vedanta

8th-century Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated Advaita Vedanta — the doctrine of non-duality. His commentaries on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutras remain the canonical exposition of 'Brahman alone is real.'

Key Works

  • Vivekachudamani
  • Atma Bodha
  • Tattva Bodha
  • Aparokshanubhuti
105

quotes in library

Quotes by Adi Shankara

105 quotes
“To recognize this is the highest knowledge.”
recognitionAtma Bodha 30
“Like the moon reflected in a thousand pots of water — the Self appears as many.”
reflectionAtma Bodha 16
“Yet the moon is one. So too the Self.”
unityAtma Bodha 16
“Maya is neither real nor unreal — it is indescribable.”
illusionVivekachudamani
“Yet Maya yields before knowledge as darkness yields before light.”
knowledgeVivekachudamani
“As long as you say 'I' and 'mine,' you are in bondage.”
identificationVivekachudamani
“When 'I' and 'mine' fall away, you stand free.”
freedomVivekachudamani
“Death and birth, like waves on the ocean, rise and fall — but the ocean is unchanged.”
impermanenceVivekachudamani
“You are the ocean, not the waves.”
identityVivekachudamani
“There is no greater wealth than self-knowledge.”
wealthVivekachudamani
“There is no greater pleasure than the bliss of the Self.”
blissVivekachudamani
“He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman.”
realizationVivekachudamani
“This is the secret revealed by all the Upanishads.”
essenceVivekachudamani
“Search not outside, for what you seek is the Self of you.”
interiorityVivekachudamani
“To turn the senses outward is the way of bondage.”
sensesVivekachudamani
“To turn them inward is the way of liberation.”
sensesVivekachudamani
“That truth is realized through grace, practice, and direct knowledge.”
pathVivekachudamani
“As iron heated by fire takes the form of fire, so the mind, contemplating the Self, takes the form of the Self.”
contemplationVivekachudamani
“By long, steady practice, the wandering mind becomes one-pointed.”
practiceVivekachudamani
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