able to span the breadth of passionate debate to cool, dispassionate philosophy.
Shankara skillfully amalgamated many of the beliefs of his time into a whole that was appealing and understandable to the masses as well as the purest ascetics. At the everyday level, he went along with the belief in many Hindu deities; at the next level, he supported the belief in the one Isvara; and above that he believed in the supra-personal Brahman, the absolute God. Although he recognized that people, at times, needed a personal god, he forcefully stressed that Nirguna Brahman is absolute and, as such, is without attributes that one normally associates with a personality.
Although Shankara bitterly debated with the Buddhists (some of them committed suicide at their defeat!), he nevertheless was indebted to them for clearing the air and providing for more clarity of thought among the masses. Buddhism is known for its ability to incorporate apparent contradictions, and Shankara seemed to intuitively grasp that necessity in order to teach a philosophy and religion that would appeal to many levels of sophistication.
The term maya is important in understanding Shankara's philosophy. He used this word to explain away polarities such as positive and negative. Maya literally means magic or miraculous power, but to Shankara, it denoted a type of surrender to the absolute, the unity of the knowable and unknowable, which takes away any need for positive and negative. Shankara tried not to get into debates about the nature of maya, but when it was necessary, he would say that it is very close to the same as Brahman, the mysterious existing and non-existing which defies description. This element of Shankara's philosophy is very close to the essence of Vedanta literature, where we find enlightenment and illusion compared to mistaking a rope for a snake when there is insufficient light.
Shankara was able to immerse himself in oneness with...