Joshimath

Adi Shankaracharya was a great Indian philosopher and Guru born in southern India in a village named Kalady in state of Kerala. Was the only child to his parents, father Shivaguru and mother Subhadra. He was considered as a great incarnation of  Lord Shiva and not surprisingly so as he was a child prodigy as he was speaking his mother tongue fluently by age of 1 and was reciting all the Indian scriptures by heart at the age of 7. Ever since his childhood Adi Shankaracharya had showed great inclination towards renunciation of worldly things. The story goes that he actually tricked his mother to give him permission, when she did not allow him. One day he was bathing in the river where his mother was there and suddenly a crocodile seized Shankara. Seeing her son’s life in danger she became apprehensive. Then Shankara told his mother that if she allowed him to take vows of renunciation (Sannyasa) the crocodile will let him off. To save her son’s life she permitted him and the crocodile left its grip at once. Thus Shankara left his house at age of 8.

He took his vows of renunciation and travelled greatly across the length and breadth of India participating in public philosophical debates with other orthodox Indian philosophical school as well as Buddhist, Jaina and       Charvakas. By teaching, preaching and propagating his ultimate interpretation of the Vedas and Upanishads in form of Advaita Vedanta doctrine which is the classical non-dual approach to reality. It says:

“Brahman is alone real.
The known universe is an illusion.
The individual soul(atman) is identical with Brahman.”

Adi Shankaracharya is also known for his wide and extensive literature on Indian scriptures and philosophical thought, with over 300 texts attributed to him including commentaries, original philosophy, poetry and hymns.

Shankaracharya also reorganise the monastic order known as ‘Dashnami Sampradaya’. It is order of swamis or sannyasis who take formal vows of renunciation seeking to achieve spiritual salvation through selfless service, study of Vedanta and meditation. Then to unify India geographically, philosophically and spiritually he established four Maths (monasteries) in the four directions so that the vedic knowledge is safe and is past on from generation to generation systematically.

Joshimath has the temple of Narsimha, the forth incarnation of Lord Vishnu – whose head, shoulder and arms are of lion (Simha) and rest of the body of human (Nara).

We will stop here only to visit the temples and food and will move on to Badrinath.