Lord Krishna Forum - Krishna Talk

sridatta1 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 637 Location: india

Shankara preached to uplift atheists
151. Ativyaptih na niruddha tadastitvalaabhaat.

Translation: The extrapolation of the concept of human incarnation to all the souls was not contradicted by Shankara, since it has use in the case of atheists, who accepted the existence of God.

Explanation: The concept of Shankara was extended by all human beings to themselves and every human being concluded that he is God. The silence of Shankara about this misunderstanding was of great use in that time. Then, Shankara was surrounded by Buddhists and Purvamimamsakas, who were complete atheists. At least they agreed in the existence of God even though they have misunderstood that they were God. Atheism to theism is essential step in the beginning for anybody and hence Shankara kept silent about such misunderstanding. This shows that Shankara was not a mere scholar to expose the truth but also a preacher (Guru) to uplift the foolish atheists.