The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya Quotes

“Shankara’s approach to this basic problem is quite different. In the first place, there are in his view three entities to be accounted for—(a) the pure Self, (b) the antahkarana, and (c) the body and other matter. The essential interaction was, for him, between (a) and (b), whereas the Western philosophers have been looking mainly at the interaction of (b) and (c). For him, the apparent incompatibility of the Pure spirit or Self and the antahkarana was not real but only empirical: ultimately, both of them are in essence the non-dual Atman. He says frankly that the Self contains the antahkarana, and the antahkarana reflects (though it does not contain) the Self.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“The antahkarana is ever active and assumes various forms or ‘modes’ — except in deep sleep, when its activity is latent in itself. One of its modes is the consciousness of itself, which may be called ‘ego-hood’. The ego commonly confuses itself with the real Self. ‘When we say ‘I am restless’, we mean that the antahkarana is restless, but we wrongly transfer the restlessness to our inner Self. Herein lies the essential difference between mere introspection and the knowledge of the inner divine Self, which comes from knowing this philosophy as Shankara knew it. Knowing his philosophy and knowing ‘about’ it are on two different planes. When the antahkarana assumes the mode of doubt or indetermination, it is called ‘mind’ — in the sense used in the statement ‘I cannot make up my ‘mind’. The item ‘mind’ includes resolution, sense-perception, desires and emotions. When the antahkarana has the mode of certainty or determination, it may be called ‘intellect’, including the powers of judgment and reasoning; and when in the mode of reflection and remembrance, it may be called ‘attention’. The ego, the mind, and the intellect function only intermittently; their activity has a birth, growth and death. An argument, for example, begins with the premises and works through a chain of reasoning to a conclusion. ‘Attention’, however, may endure; and this mode of the antahkarana is regarded as the most important, because meditation, contemplation and concentration belong to its province, and these are the activities by which a person uses his antahkarana to seek and find Reality. They are the point of the thorn used to extract the other thorn of avidya.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“The Self is not an attribute of consciousness because it is consciousness itself. The Self is not the body, the ego, or the soul, nor is it a series of mental states or a logical postulate. What is it, then? It is impossible to describe or define it. It does not have qualities or parts or attributes. The Self is not established by proofs of its existence it is prior to all proof. It is not possible to deny the existence of the Self because it is the very essence of him who doubts or denies it. It cannot be grasped by thought; it has. to be grasped whole with the whole being. The most important property of the Self is that it is directly revealed, or if, owing to the inadequacy of language, we may use the word in a double meaning, it is self-revealing; and its immediate revelation is the source of its certitude. But owing to avidya, there arises a confusion when we search for it. ‘The Self, which is ever with us, appears, owing to ignorance, as if it were unattainable; but when that ignorance is removed by knowledge, the Self is attained.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“Brahman is the universal aspect of the Self which needs to be revealed; Atman is the self-revealing essence deep within us. But to the enlightened person, Atman and Brahman are known to be the same. The problem that the mind contains the world and the world contains the mind is solved when this identification is intuitively known.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“I’ can denote: (1) the inner consciousness, or knower; (2) the ‘antahkarana’, or ‘inner organ’; (3) the ego; (4) the ‘jiva’, or soul.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“my mind is in the world, and the world is in my mind. How are we to solve this puzzle?”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya

“Reality cannot be made dependent on the cleverness or length of tongue of debaters.”
― Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya