Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism's Greatest Thinker

by Pavan K. Varma

The Chandogya Upanishad explicates this beautifully in the story of Shvetaketu who asks Uddalaka, his father: what is wisdom? And, Uddalaka says to Shvetaketu: As by knowing one lump of clay, dear one, We come to know all things made out of clay: That they differ only in name and form, While the stuff of which all are made is clay; As by knowing one gold nugget, dear one, We come to know all things made out of gold: That they differ only in name and form, While the stuff of which all are made is gold; As by knowing one tool of iron, dear one, We come to know all things made out of iron: That they differ only in name and form, While the stuff of which all are made is iron— So through that spiritual wisdom, dear one, We come to know that all life is one. Having explained the unity of all things, the Chandogya sublimely puts an end to all notions of duality by pronouncing the foundational concept: Tat tvam asi: That thou art: In the beginning was only Being, One without a second. Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos And entered into everything in it. There is nothing that does not come from him. Of everything he is the inmost Self. He is the truth; he is the Self Supreme. You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that. But camouflaging this fundamental and indestructible unity of the universe is the apparent multiplicity of the world. How do we then reconcile the two? The Shvetashvatara Upanishad provides the answer: From his divine power comes forth all this Magical show of na...