Philosophy › Faith and reason › The classical Indian schools (darshanas)
Adi Shankara and Advaita Vedanta
c. 700–750 (dates debated)· Philosopher· Asian traditions
DebatedScholars disagree about what happened, what it means, or who said it.
Indian philosopher who systematized Advaita ('non-dual') Vedanta: only Brahman is real, and your true self is Brahman.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Idea: the world of many separate things is like a rope mistaken for a snake in dim light; the only reality is Brahman, and the self (atman) is identical with it. Ignorance (avidya) creates the appearance (maya) of separateness, and liberation (moksha) comes through knowledge, not ritual. Shankara wrote commentaries on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita. Tradition says he debated across India and founded four monasteries (mathas). Main objection: Ramanuja asked whose ignorance it is, if only Brahman exists.
Why it matters
Advaita became the best-known Hindu philosophy, inspired modern reformers such as Vivekananda, and largely shaped how the West came to picture Hinduism.
Legacy and sources
His commentary on the Brahma Sutras is accepted as genuine; many hymns credited to him are later. His traditional biographies (Shankara-vijayas) were written centuries afterward.
Still debated
His dates (traditionally 788–820; many scholars prefer about 700), which works are really his, and whether he founded the four monasteries are debated.
Connections (3)
▸Brahman and Atman: the self and ultimate reality was systematized by Adi Shankara and Advaita VedantaWell documented
The connection
Shankara took the Upanishads' claim that atman is Brahman ('you are that') and read it as strict identity: only Brahman is real, and the sense of being a separate self is ignorance. Defending this passage by passage in commentaries, he turned scattered sayings into a rigorous system, Advaita Vedanta.
When and how
India, c. AD 700–750 (dates debated), in Shankara's commentaries on the principal Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras.
How we know
His commentaries quote and interpret the Upanishadic passages line by line, so the dependence is explicit on the page.
Debates and open questions
Whether the Upanishads themselves teach strict non-duality, or Shankara read it into them, is disputed by rival Vedanta schools such as Ramanuja's and Madhva's.
▸The Bhagavad Gita was commented on by Adi Shankara and Advaita VedantaWell documented
The connection
Shankara wrote the oldest surviving commentary on the Gita, reading it as teaching that liberation comes through knowing the self as Brahman, with selfless action only a preparation. His reading helped fix the Gita as one of Vedanta's three canonical sources, with the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras.
When and how
India, c. AD 700–750 (dates debated), in Shankara's Gita commentary (Gita Bhashya).
How we know
The commentary survives; it mentions earlier commentaries now lost, and later Vedanta teachers wrote rival commentaries in reply.
Debates and open questions
Whether the Gita ranks knowledge above action and devotion is debated; Ramanuja read it as teaching devotion (bhakti) first.
▸Adi Shankara and Advaita Vedanta became the most famous voice of The classical Indian schools (darshanas)Mostly agreed
The connection
Of the six orthodox schools, Vedanta became the most influential, and Advaita its best-known form. Shankara's arguments against Buddhists, Mimamsa ritualists and Samkhya dualists made his non-dualism the standard image of Indian philosophy, especially after 19th-century reformers presented it to the West.
When and how
India, 8th century onward; worldwide prominence after Swami Vivekananda's speeches at Chicago's Parliament of Religions in 1893.
How sure are we?
Monasteries founded in his name still operate, and Advaita dominated colonial-era and modern presentations of Hindu thought.
Debates and open questions
Historians argue that the image of Advaita as 'the' Hindu philosophy owes much to colonial and modern reformers and sidelines other influential schools.