Adi Shankara Quotes
Adi Shankara was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, the school of non-dualism. Working in a brief but extraordinarily productive life, he composed commentaries on the principal Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, and he founded monastic centers in the four corners of the Indian subcontinent. The quotes below are attributed to Adi Shankara, organized by topic.
Adi Shankara on Freedom
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“There is no liberation for one who is attached to the body, the senses, or the objects of the senses.”
Adi Shankara on Happiness
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“Pleasure and pain are mere ideas, transient and unreal; renounce them.”
Adi Shankara on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“Knowledge of the Self is the only means to liberation.”
Adi Shankara on Mind
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation for human beings.”
Adi Shankara on Truth
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“Brahman alone is real; the world is illusory; the individual self is non-different from Brahman.”
-
Attributed to Adi Shankara:
“He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings has no fear.”