PANCHADIK | 2017 Spring Issue
Shri Gaudapadacharya,
the founder of the
tradition of Advaita
Vedanta
By Sunil Kumar Bhattacharjya*
Shri Gaudapadacharya was one of
the highest intellectuals born in
India. It is not exactly known where
he was born, and many believe that
he was born in the Gauda desha,
which may include parts of West
Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Some believe that he was born in
one of the southern states of India.
According to the tradition of
Advaita Vedanta, Shri
Gaudapadacharya is considered to
be the first author, and he is the first
great Advaitin of the Kaliyuga.
His guru
Gaudapadacharya referred to
himself as “shreeparamahamsa-
parivraajakaachaarya shreemad-
shukamuneendrashisyah : the
disciple of Shuka-muni, the highest awareness and full of miseries, yet the foolish person, who thinks of
of the ascetics”. This may be difficult it appears as real, while the full you the original soul to be a
to understand, as to how Shri
Shuka-muni, who lived some five
thousand years ago in the
Mahabharata times, could have
been the guru of Shri
Gaudapadacharya. In India, there
has been the tradition from the
ancient times, where spiritually
advanced disciples could establish
communication with gurus, who
lived before his or her times. Sant
Ramdas had Lord
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6
Rama
as his
guru
life, do not
and Sant Tukaram had Babaji as his
understand that you are the
guru, who lived centuries earlier.
supreme soul, but with the
Shuka-muni was the narrator of the
dawning of spiritual knowledge
Bhagavata Purana and he was a
they get to understand the truth,
great Advaitin and the Bhagavata
just like a rope appearing as a
Purana, like the Upanishads, clearly
snake and then the snake
expounds the Advaitavada. The
disappears when the rope is known.
translation of Bhagavata purana 10,
Statements like being bound to
14, 21-28 is given in brief as follows:
matter and being liberated are due
to being ignorant of the fact that
Lord Brahma says : “O Supreme
the so-called binding is only due to
Lord, who in the world knows how,
the illusion, like there cannot be
how many, when and where are
the days and nights for the Sun.
your leelas with your Yogamaya in
With true knowledge, arises the
the wide world? This world is not
awareness of the pure
real and is like a dream, devoid of
transcedental soul. How ignorant is
consciousness, eternity and
separate to be looked for in the
happiness is in you. You are the
outside world. The seeker of inner
without a second, without
truth, the man of discrimination, is
beginning or end, the original,
indeed looking for you within the
eternal, imperishable, pure bliss
body, O the unlimited one, without
and indescribable or beyond
negating the unreal snake how can
attributes (nirguna) . You are
one see the rope, which is so close
described as soul of all souls, and
to him”.
only those who receive the hidden
perfect knowledge from an
His teachings, disciples and
enlightened spiritual guru easily
institutions
crosses over this untrue worldly
existence. There are those who,
Shri Gaudapadacharya taught that
because of living the materialistic
the ultimate reality is the pure
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PANCHADIK | 2017 Spring Issue
consciousness, without any
attributes. The appearance of the
individual Jeeva as separate from
the Brahman is due to Avidya
caused by Maya. When one realizes
the falsity of this appearance, one
gets liberated. According to his
doctrine of the Ajativada or Non-
creation, what is not there in the
beginning nor in the end, is also
same like that. (in the middle)
Though unreal the objects appear
like real. This is the Ajativada verse
2.6 in the Mandukyakarika and this
also appears as verse 2.19 in the
Original Bhagavad Gita of 745
verses. Some of his writings are
similar to Lord Buddha's highest
teachings in Mahayana as seen in
Nagarjuna's
Mulamadhyamakarikas, He as well
as his grand-disciple
Shankaracharya have been called
the Pracchanna-Buddha (or the
concealed-Buddha) by
Jamunacharya. However, their
teaching was not exactly the same
as what Lord Buddha taught. Some
scholars are of the opinion that Shri
Gaudapadacharya and Adi Shankara
taught exactly the same, however,
some like A.G. Krishna Warrier say
that while Shri Gaudapadacharya
affirms only the immutable
absolute, rejecting all else as
illusory, Adi Shankara on the other
hand, shows three degrees of
Vyavaharika appearance of reality,
such as the illusory, the empirical
and transphenomenal. Some
consider these differences as not
important because the
Copyright © 2017 Konkani Association of California (KAOCA)
Paramarthika alone is the truth and
the Vyavaharika is only the
appearance.
Shri Gaudapadacharya was the
guru of Shri Govinda
Bhagavadpada, who in turn was the
guru of Shri Vivaranananda and Shri
Shankaracharya. Shri
Gaupadacharya established the
Kavle (Kavale) math (now known as
Shree Saunsthan Gaudapadacharya
Kavle Math) in Goa. After the
samadhi of Govinda Bhagavadpada,
Shri Vivaranananda succeeded as
the pontiff of the Kavle math. The
Kavle math has a long guru
paramapara and Shri Sivananda
Saraswati Swamiji has been the 77th
pontiff of the math since the year
1994.
On the other hand, Shri
Shankaracharya (also called Adi
Shankara) established four Maths.
These are as follows: The Dwaraka
math, headed by his disciple Shri
Vishwarupa, also known as Shri
Sureshvaracharya, the Jyotir math
in Badrikashrama, headed by his
disciple Shri Totakacharya, the
Govardhana math in Puri, headed
by his disciple Shri
Padmapadacharya and the Kudali-
Shringeri math near Shimoga on the
bank of the river Tungabhadra,
headed by his disciple Shri
Prithvidharacharya (who is also
called Shri Hastamalaka). There is
also the Shringeri math in Shringeri
on the bank of the river Tunga,
which too traces its origin to Adi
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7
Shankara. After establishing the
four maths,
Adi Shankara is said to have retired
to the Mokshapuri Kanchipuram,
where he had a new disciple, and
asked Shri Sureshvaracharya to look
after this young disciple. Thus the
fifth math (the Kanchi Kamakoti
math in Kanchipuram) came to be
formed and this math traces its
guru-parampara from Adi
Shankara, followed by Shri
Sureshwaracharya and so on. Later
on, Shri Prithvidharacharya of the
Kudali-Shringeri math wished to
retire to the Mokshapuri
Kanchipuram and was accordingly
relieved by Shri Sureshvaracharya.
Thus the name of Shri
Sureshvaracharya has been linked
to several of the Shankara-maths.
All the Pontiffs of these Shankara
maths are called Shankaracharyas.
His date
There is considerable debate about
the date of Shri Gaudapadacharya.
Chinese emperor Wu-Ti sent
emissaries to India in the 2nd century
BCE, for bringing Indian scholars to
China for translating the Indian
religious and philosophical texts.
Shri Gaudapadacharya's bhashya on
the Sankshyakarika along with the
Matharavritti on the Sankhyakarika
were also among these translations
and that shows that Shri
Gaudapadacharya should have been
born before the 2nd century BCE.
PANCHADIK | 2017 Spring Issue 8

The better way for finding the date Secretary to the

of Shri Gaudapadacharya appears to Head of
be from the date of his grand Sringeri Math,
disciple Adi Shankara. Five of the Sarada
Shankara mathas claim the date of Peetham, on
Adi Shankara, to be 509 BCE. With the present
the help of modern Astronomical view held
software, Prof. Narahari Achar of by that
the Memphis University in USA, Math
confirmed that 509 BCE is indeed about the
the year of birth of Adi Shankara. date of Sri
There are some historical evidences
too and one such evidence is that Sankaracharya :
Adi Shankara visited Nepal during “Nowhere have the Sringeri
the reign of the Lichchavi king Math authorities themselves given
Vrishadeva, who ruled Eastern the B.C. or A.D. Period. The record However,
Nepal in the early 5th century BCE, of the Sringeri Math says that Rajatarangini tells us about another
and Vrishadeva's son was named as Sankara was born in the 14th year Vikramaditya who was living in the
Shankaradeva, in memory of Adi of the reign of Vikramaditya.” 6th -5th century BCE and he fits in
Shankara's visit to that country. with Shri Harsha Vikramaditya, who
Further to this, the dates when Adi However the math has been unable was the son of Shri Govinda
Shankara established the five of the to identify the Vikramaditya, in Bhagavadpada (who, according to
th
Shankara maths, are known from whose 14 year of reign the records of the Kanchi Kamakoti
the math records, including the Shankaracharya was born. The math, passed away on 17th October,
Guruparamparas. The Dwarka period of 788 -820 A.D.(C.E.) 494 BCE). Shri Govinda
math, the Jyotir Math, the assigned to Adi Shankara by that Bhagavadpada, was known in his
Govardhana math, the Kudali- math is at best a tentative one, as Purvashrama as Shri Chandra
Shringeri math, and the Kanchi there was no Vikramaditya, whose Sharma. Shri Harsha Vikramaditya,
Kamakoti math were established in reign started in 788 - 13 = 775 A.D. who reigned in the 6th -5th century
the years 490 BCE, 485 BCE, 484 (C.E.). In the beginning of the 20th BCE, is different from Shri
BCE, 483 BCE and 481 BCE century the math took the Harshavardhana Shiladitya who
respectively. All these maths have Vikramaditya to be the one after reigned in the 7th century A.D.(C.E.).
the guru parampara from the time whom, the Vikrama Samvat of 57 Alberuni, in Alberuni's India, tells us
of establishment of the math to this BCE was started and accordingly that there were two Vikrama
day except the Jyotir math, which claimed that the year of birth of Adi Samvats, the first one of these
has a discontinuous history. Shankara was 44 BCE. When this started in 457 BCE and the other
date was claimed, a big gap of started from 57 BCE. The first
As regards the Shringeri (Tunga) about 800 years was shown in the Vikrama-Samvat was obviously
math, Swami Tapasyananda writes Guruparampara till 834 A.D. (C.E.) started at the end of the reign of Sri
in a footnote in page XVIII of his when Shri Nityabodaghana became Harsha Vikramaditya, who was the
book “Sankara Digvijaya” as follows: the pontiff and there were 33 son of Shri Chandra Sharma and this
pontiffs between Sri shows that Adi Shankara indeed was
“After the publication of the first Nityabodaghana and the present born towards the end of the 6th
edition of the book, the following Pontiff Shri Bharati Tirtha, who century BCE. This also shows that
letter was received from the Private became the pontiff in 1989. Shri Gaudapadacharya lived in the

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PANCHADIK | 2017 Spring Issue 9

6th century BCE. If we consider this His other works are : (1)
Shri Harsha Vikramaditya of the 6th Gaudapadabhashya of the
century BCE and this matches the Sankhyakarika, (2)
6th century date of Adi Shankara, as Gaudapadabhashya of the Uttara
seen from the Guru parampara of Gita, (3) Subhagodayastuti, (4)
the other Shankara maths. Shrividyaranya Sutra, (5)
Durgasaptashati, (6) work on
As regards the other Shankara Anugita and (7)
maths, the Dwarka math, the Nrsimhottaratapaniyopanishad.
Govardhana math, the Kudali-
Shringeri math and the Kanchi ----o----
Kamakoti math are presently having
the 77th , 145th , 69th and 69th * The author Sunil Kumar
Bhattacharjya, is a retired scientist.
pontiff respectively. All these math-
records support the fact that Adi After the passing away of his wife,
Shankara was born in 509 BCE. late Dr. Sunita (nee Golikeri) he has
From the above discussions we find been living in the Silicon Valley, with
that Adi Shankara's Paramguru, Shrihis children. After his Masters degree,
Gaudapadacharya was living in the he joined the BARC (Bhabha Atomic
6th century BCE. Research Centre) Training School in
Mumbai and then joined there as a
No discussion on Shri scientist. Later on he moved to
Gaudapadacharya is complete Industry. In his professional career, he
without mention of his great produced 32 papers in the field of
philosophical and literary science and Technology and has 8
contributions. patents to his credit. After his
retirement, he pursued his interest in
His contributions in Philosophical Indian Philosophy and Ancient Indian
literature history. In 2014, he published the
book “The Original Bhagavad Gita,
Lord Ram says in the with 745 Verses, including all the Rare
Muktikopanishad that if one reads Verses”, with translation and
only one Upanishad then that commentary. The 2nd edition of the
should be the Mandukya upanishad. book is due to appear.
This shows the great importance of
the Mandukya Upanishad. Shri
Gaudapadacharya had written the
Gaudapadakarika on the Mandukya
Upanishad. Anandagiri in his
commentary on the Gaudapada-
karika-bhashya writes that Shri
Gaudapadacharya did penance at
Badrikashrama and Lord Narayana
revealed to him the Karikas on the
on the Manduktopanishad.

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