“Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker” – Book released

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, received the first copy of the book “Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker”, from the author Shri Pavan Varma, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

• The book was released on 21st April 2018 to mark the birth anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya.

Key Facts

• The President said that the 21st century India is a synthesis of both the Upanishads and the Internet. Both are important for the Indian soul. 
• Adi Shankaracharya instinctively understood this. Way back in the 8th Century, he combined pride in India’s earliest philosophical traditions with the realities of his age. 
• The book is a meticulously researched and a comprehensive account of the life and philosophy of the child-saint Adi Shankaracharya.
• He was the first to give Hinduism a definite form.
• The book is highly readable and includes a select anthology of Shankaracharya’s seminal writings.
• The book also examines the startling endorsement that the contemporary science is giving to his ideas today.
• This book remind one of the remarkable philosophical underpinning of Hinduism making it one of the vibrant religions in the world.

About Adi Shankaracharya

Adi Shankaracharya was an early 8th century Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He was the first to give Hinduism a definite form. He established four peethas - in the north, south, east and west which are not just a pilgrimage but a cultural exploration of the frontiers of the Indian civilization and of the diverse Indian society. He also explained the key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism, stating that Hinduism asserts "Atman while Buddhism asserts that there is "no Soul, no Self".