Sankara, an 8th century Indian philosopher, is discussed as a potential role model for 21st century leadership. Sankara established the Advaita philosophy of non-dualism, promoting religious harmony in India. He traveled widely disseminating knowledge through eloquent discussions that motivated self-reflection. Sankara is presented as embodying traits of great leadership, such as being egoless, empathetic, and free from desires that could entangle a leader. His approach of allowing followers their own beliefs and accepting suggestions established him as a solitary thinker who empowered others through inclusive action.

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Sankara: 8th Century Philosopher Or The 21st Century
Management Guru?
“Tomorrow’s successful leaders will value principles more than they
value their companies”
---- Stephen Covey
Possession of Knowledge is an intelligent dimension to Leadership. But
possessing enough wisdom to use the knowledge wisely makes the true
leadership! This is the projected difference in leadership of today and
tomorrow. Tomorrow’s leaders need to have enough wisdom to translate
their intelligence and knowledge into definable actions.
Francis Bacon says “Knowledge is power”. Modern science and
technology have risen to those heights that these two –knowledge and
power have become demons ready to wipe out humanity from the world-
Knowledge supplemented by Science and Technology and Power
supplemented by Ego and in satiated Desire of the human beings! Knowledge
and power need to be handled by a true leader very carefully. Both these
along with some personal traits of leadership, bring extremely interesting
dividends to leaders that result in huge success. If knowledge has been power
and if this power was giving all success, then why are leaders not making
histories? Why organizations crunch for leaders?

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These questions are much deeper than what they seem to be! How can
knowledge and power that a leader has, be tamed to suit the future scenario?
The future may be characterized as a world of drastic competition,
excess knowledge and information, net work economy, with a new fight
within capitalism itself. New world order or government can emerge at the
end of this .As the world is becoming increasingly complex, change becomes
non linear, discontinuous and unpredictable, says Robert Gibson. It is going
to be a totally unfamiliar terrain that is ahead of us, Gibson continues. We
need an altogether concerted, unique and different approach to reach there.
There is always an excitement that the future is being created by us. Each
organization has a future in front of it and the leader’s responsibility is to
create the future with the help of the team. The knowledge and power that
he has to acquire to move to success, propels him to go further and realize
the vision of the organization. Whatever be the difficulties that lie ahead of
the leader in realizing the vision, he has to look at as opportunities for
action and not impediments. It is going to become imperative today and
tomorrow for organizations to move from managing knowledge to using
that knowledge for generating insights--Generating, prioritizing and acting
on insights is the natural progression to knowledge management. The leader
has to act and not react as the Bhagavad Gita says. For right action, he
needs right thoughts. For begetting right thoughts, he needs to get right
impressions. For getting right impressions, he needs to have right attitude!
Right impressions lead to right thoughts and right thoughts lead to right
actions!
How to get right impressions?
Spiritual values and principles are to be ingrained in the basic thoughts of
the leader and that create impressions. One has to imbibe quality

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impressions in order to give quality thoughts. These quality thoughts lead to
quality action and quality action results from good and quality thoughts. The
results of these actions make the psyche and thereby form personality. How
a personality is formed determine the kind of action that can be expected of
that person. The personality is also refined by the right attitude of the
leader. The perceptions that he forms are greatly tainted by his attitude.
The world is moving from information management to knowledge
management. What kind of knowledge management the organization adopts
will depend to a large extent on the leader. Most of the leadership styles
that are being followed today somehow have grown with a feeling that
whatever has gone wrong can be fixed by any means. Michael Crichton in
‘Jurassic Park’ says ‘straight linearity does not exist. Real life is not a series
of interconnected events occurring one after the other like beads strung on a
necklace. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may
change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way”.
Extrapolating this concept to life of business organizations and corporate
sectors of today, we may assume that leaders will have to explore the
horizon for themselves anticipating untoward challenges. The implicit
meaning is that linear thinking is impossible in a non linear world, as put by
Alvin Toffler.
For practicing a non linear thinking, the leader needs to face challenges!
What kind of challenges that are awaiting leaders is something that
needs a thorough study in the light of the current advancement that is
taking place around us. Unfortunately there is no resting place in the path

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to the future as everyone is in the race. Without losing the direction, with
the courage and conviction of the vision of the organization, to take the
vehicle along is indeed a tough job for a leader. Even if he/she has the
operational efficiency, lacking a sense of strategic direction may lead any
organization to deep perils. The leaders will have to constantly reinvent
their future and there is no room for complacency. Therefore the ‘Law of
Karma’ fits all the leaders very aptly. As Charles Handy says, ‘you have to
invent the world not respond to it! This means, in simple terms “action’.
“Ability to cut through the clutter and provide clarity is one of the traits of
good leadership.
What are the threats of knowledge based tomorrow?
By itself, Knowledge may not be able to manage the ‘tomorrow’.
Knowledge wealth is immense and is scattered. It is an infinite asset and to
manage this knowledge one needs great skills. Human element adds value to
the knowledge and information. Then to do justice to day after tomorrow,
there has to be a world view. What does this world view consist of?
‘Perception of one world” Jay Jagat” as AcharyaVinoba Bhave put it.
Patriotism does not remain confined to a geographical outlines or a country.
Today we have to speak on “International democracy”. Now the leader’s
centre of action will be like “Circle with centre everywhere and no
circumference”.
The simple question that comes up immediately to everyone’s mind is
how we prepare organizations for this kind of a massive reinvention and is
there any such example for a role model of leadership? The simple and
straight answer is the principle of Advaita and leadership style adopted by
Sankara! Advaita gives a basic fundamental principle of “oneness” for
Leadership. Adisankara was a spiritual leader. We can take him as an

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example for a perfect leadership from ancient scriptures. There have been
many philosophers in the world in the past who have created revolutions in
the thinking process of the people of the world. Either they have all
remained as individuals in their own cocoons or known only to very few
sects of the society. None have been that popular like Adi Sankara who has
lived way back in the 8th
Century in India! His name thrives even today
after several centuries in the whole world for popularizing the “Advaita
Philosophy” and simplifying the concepts illustrated in the Upanishads. He
has been a spiritual master to many, yet a leader in the large sense.
Advaita and Adisankara
Philosophy is the mode in which mankind finds a way for self expression.
Sankara was the creative thinker of the first order. It was a very critical
time for Hindu religion because of the advent of theism, Buddhism and
Mimamsakas. There was a general sense of weariness among all the people.
The era needed a religious genius to break the past traditions, yet holding on
to the strength that it gave and fusing with fresh thoughts and good
influences. In the words of Dr Radhakrishnan, Sankara ‘set to music’ the
tune that had been haunting millions of ears and he offered his ‘Advaita
Philosophy ‘as a common basis for religious unity”. “His travels throughout
India, resulted in promoting religious harmony among the Hindus”, says
George Victor (pg 42 in “Life and teachings of Adi Sankara”).The Vedanta
sutra had been commended by other thinkers as well. But Sankara gave a
different magnitude and dimension to it representing a unified truth – the
Truth of Brahman!

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The four mahavakyas of Sankara stand even today as the testimony for
his Advaita philosophy and its acceptance all over. They even stand
testimony for the truth of the Brahmavada that Sankara upheld.
Aham Brahmosmi –“I am Brahman” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad -1.4.10)
Tat Tvam Asi –“That art thou” (Chandokya Upanishad -6.8.7)
Pra -jnanam Brahma-“Brahman is wisdom” (Aitareya Upanishad -3.5.3)
Ayam atma Brahma-“This self is Brahman” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad-
2.5.19)
Even today these Mahavakyas live without a challenge shows the kind of
authority on what he preached. These vakyas have withstood the time and
space for more than 14 centuries. The criticism raised by Buddhists,
Ramanuja, Bhaskara all have once again ascertained what he has been
upholding so far that Brahman is one. His monistic philosophy is unparallel
even today.
Establishing the Advaita Philosophy was not that easy during his times.
The major difference between Advaita propounded by Sri Sankara and other
philosophers is that the former does not need any reason to believe in the
reality of the process of becoming, whereas the latter revolves around faith
to evolution, creation and manifestation as real. The depth of Sankara’s
Brhmajnana earned him the supreme title of “Jagat Guru”. When Sankara
says nothing else besides self exists, he says Atman is Supreme reality and It
is birth less and Non dual. All duality is mere imagination due to ignorance
and hence unreal. He continues,

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““ASATO MAYAYA JANMA TATVATO NAIVA YUCHYATE,
VANDHYAPUTRO NA TAVENA MAYAYA VAPI JAYATE”
“The unreal cannot be born either really or through Maya. For the son of
the barren women is born neither in reality nor in illusion”
Perception plays a very important role in a leader’s activities.
Sankara’s commentary says that perception of duality is due to Chittavrtti -
actions of the mind” All these dual objects comprising everything that is
movable and immovable are perceived by the mind, for, duality is never
experienced when the mind ceases to act. “When the mind does not imagine
an account of the knowledge of the truth which is atman, then it ceases to
be mind and becomes free from all ideas of cognition for want of objects to
be cognized”. Perceiving oneness in everyone is the basis of relationship!
Yes, the thought that is basic to any leadership is that all –master and
servant are one, but performs different functions! This is the basic Principle
of Advaita and that is the foundation of all Relationships. And leadership is
all about Relationships! The basic difference between Sankara’s style then
and the leadership styles now is that Sankara possessed the wisdom to
disseminate the knowledge that he had and he believed in the humaneness of
people unlike many others who consider knowledge only as a tool to fix
problems.
The personality of Sankara possesses different images to different people.
What Adi Sankara did was the same kind of reinvention of future when his
society was going in a clueless direction. He did think in a non linear way
and he was not travelling in a straight terrain. He was a visionary! He gave
the people a right direction for the path of self discovery and with a vision
he encouraged the people to realize their own self worth. He believed that

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any change will last long if it is internalized first and hence he concentrated
his eloquence in discussions in motivating people to look with in first. A
leader has to touch the lives of people! He improved the quality of life of
people! And that is what will sustain for generations! Awakening this élan
vital in all the followers is the primary duty of a leader in any organization.
This leader we are talking about will have the worldly wisdom to evoke the
sensory organs of the individual self in order to perceive the ultimate
purpose of Karma and action required for that. This is what Sankara did
centuries before!!!
A great leadership is the need of any organization. The leaders should
have some personal traits that supplement the knowledge and power that
they possess. Leaders have an aura/energy around them that is magnetic--
people gravitate to leaders naturally--not on the basis of authority. Leaders
lead by example--actions is more powerful than words. Principle Centered
Leadership--The unchanging core principle which withstands tests, time and
again but is never compromised .Empathy--the ability to be one with all is
another wonderful trait of a great leader. Mastering ability to deal with
complexity and the stamina--working tirelessly at the symptom and root
cause level add lustre to his personality. A conviction generated through
working selflessly for a strong sense of purpose makes him an inspiring
leader. Adi Sankara is considered as an embodiment of such an evolving
leadership!
Tomorrow’s leader has to be an egoless person- a total human being. He
would respect the fundamentals of all religions of the world with
humaneness anointed with wisdom. He will be able to see the relationship
with himself, with world and environment. Sankara is the role model for
such a leader.

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The leader has to be a person free from greed, desire, anger and
attachment because all these traits entangle the leader in a very dubious
trap and he loses his relationship with people. Relationship, people and
power have to come to oneself by virtue of his qualities. Sankara had
conquered all these human aspects of behavior.
Chanakya Neeti identifies 4 aspects of human character as worst and a
leader should not have them at all. They are Kama (desire), Krodha (anger),
Lobha (greed) and Moha (attachment). If a leader has these traits as part of
his personality, then he cannot inspire the followers. Sankara was very keen
in conquering these worst aspects of the character
A brief note on Sankara and his personality traits
According to Telang, Sankara flourished about the middle or end of 6th
century AD Sri R G Bhandarkar proposes AD 680. According to Max Muller
and Professor MacDonnell, Sankara was born in 788 AD and died in 820
AD. He was a solitary ascetic thinker who gave equal importance to work
and meditation. Sankara belonged to a simple, learned and hardworking
Namboodiri sect of Brahmins of Malabar in Kerala, supposed to have been
born at a place called Kaladi in the West coast of the Peninsula.
Sankara was an illumined, sage, philosopher, scholar, poet and also a
man of action, great -reformer and organizer and stabilizer of society by
the resuscitation of ethical and spiritual values. He defined the universal
spiritual religion called Advaita Philosophy. The nectar of Sankara’s
commentaries churned out through Vedic wisdom saved people from the age
of ignorance and conferred on them immortality of divine knowledge. He
refuted all hostile doctrines- with in16 year span of his life..

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Sankara is a typical example for a world class leader. When the west
was in the idealistic mind set in the 19th
century it was Sankara’s idealism
that gripped the western thinkers. In the early 20th
century the interest
shown by the Western philosophers in the works of Sankara, shows the kind
of impact he had even after 12 centuries of his existence. Leaders do not
preach. They show by action! Sankara did not preach any single
methodology of salvation. He did not preach even a single person, but
allowed everyone to follow their own beliefs of salvation in a refined way He
worked with his disciples to empower them; enhance their self realization
process by being part and parcel of the whole process. He wandered as a
teacher from place to place. With him, the 7th
and 8th
centuries saw the
rise of Hinduism.
It is a rare trait of a leader to accept suggestions from his team
members. Madugula (pg46) says Sankara even accepted suggestions from his
followers. “If it is untenable, he would indicate the problem with them”.
Though Sankara belonged to the Advaita Cult, he had respect for all the
Philosophies and treated them all with respect. Even his opponents were
treated with respect by Sankara and he gave an ear to their philosophies too.
Sankara does not ignore those who believe in the external realities and who
believe in external objects as real. He is generous enough to say that the
belief in the reality of external objects is not all serious. One of the most
important quality that is seen in Sankara was that he did not reject what
was rational in others system of philosophy also Vedic or non Vedic/ The
basic urge that he was interested in was only in search of Truth wherever it
is. (Acharya Sankara-an interpretation-Swami Mukyananda) This shows the
supreme quality of a leader to accept and respect others views also and also
focused on his goal. The encounter with the great Mandana misra stands
testimony to this trait in him. Buddhism totally denies Vedas and its

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supremacy. Yet Sankara has adapted many good philosophies of Buddhism.
Advaita uphold Brahman as supreme and rituals as useless. Sankara was not
an atheist –but he realized that everything is just one! His philosophy’s core
idea is to help the individual realize the inner beauty of the soul and its
association with the Brahman. For this purpose of spreading the philosophy,
he wandered from Malabar to the Himalayas.
A leader is in the midst of action all the time yet very calm. Just as the
Bhagavad gita upholds it, Sankara was always in the action mode of
refinement of Hinduism, but he was very calm and appeared passionless.
Ordinary people, who are day in and day out struggling in emotional battles,
may feel that Sankara lacked color and joyful cheer of social amusement of
life. Some consider him as a person who did not love his life. But that is the
true nature of people who pursue higher realms of life and fellowship with
the Supreme Being. He appeared, says Dr Radhakrishnan, at one and the
same time, as an eager champion of the orthodox faith and spiritual
reformer. He spent his time in bringing back the glory of the Upanishads
which he believed will lead the soul to higher life.
Quoting the words of Dr Radhakrishnan, “The life of Sankara makes a
strong impression of contraries. He is a philosopher and a poet, a savant and
a saint, mystic and a religious reformer. One sees him in youth, on fire with
intellectual ambition, a stiff and intrepid debater, another regard him as a
shrewd political genius, attempting to impress upon people a sense of unity:
for a third, he is a calm philosopher engaged in the single effort to expose
the contradictions of life and thought with an unmatched incisiveness; for
the fourth, he is a mystic who declares that we are all greater than we
know. There have been few minds more universal than this”.

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A leader is immensely talented and knowledgeable. This leader Sankara
who inspired many, is described by Madhava Vidyaranya as, “In the
knowledge of Vedas he was like Brahma, its auxiliaries like Gargya, of sacred
narratives like Brihaspati; of the doctrines of rituals like Jaimini and of
philosophy like Badarayana”. The extensiveness of learning was so great that
he looked the very embodiment of Vyasa’. All branches of learning when
interpreted by Sankara gave an altogether different significance. His
interpretation of the Vedas gave him the status of an Acharya. Ordinary
people were left clueless at the eloquence of Sankara. The Buddhist
philosophers began to tremble while teachers of Sankhya lost their eloquence.
A leader does not lose his cool very easily and is self restrained. Sankara
was greatly self restrained. He got control over all defects of human mind by
practice of their opposite qualities and reflecting on its evils-anger and
violence by cultivation of patience, greed and duplicity by earning
contentment, pride by recognition of others merits and the demoness of
unquenchable desires by learning to be satisfied with what one possesses. A
leader is a great communicator. Sankara’s rare virtues were Power of
speech, Great intelligence, and Compassion. Sankara was full of human
kindness and filial affection.
A leader has to be teacher himself. All those teachable points in
management of an organization have to be communicated in such depth
and passion to all the people in the organisation by the leader himself. The
meeting of his Guru Govindapada at a cave and his reply to the question of
the guru “who are you?” and Sankara’s reply as ‘I am neither the Earth nor
water nor fire nor air nor sky nor any of their properties. I am not the
senses or the mind even. I am the division less of the consciousness”. Guru
Govindapada happened to hear about his disciple’s prodigious feat from the

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reports of the people” Truth is at the dawn of knowledge” The guru accepts
him as disciple. This disciple becomes the master himself later! Respect for
the Guru was something that is worth emulating from the Acharya.
Humility of Sankara in front of Guru is something worthy of emulation to all
at all times. Sankara requested Vyasa, the Guru to make a critical estimate
of the commentaries that he has made on Brahma sutra –a work of Vyasa.
Vyasa appreciated its methodology, clarity and profundity. Vyasa says “You
are unrivalled in your grasp of technique of interpreting the Vedic passages
universal mastery of grammar”. I S Mudgula writes to say that Vyasa the
great sage acknowledges the skill of Sankara by saying” What is most
impressive is the lucid style in which you discuss the profoundest concepts
embodied in my sutras. The powers of reasoning are remarkable” (pg43,
Madugula, (‘The Acharya Sankara of Kaladi’,, by Motilal Banarasidass
Publishers). Madugula continues to say that “Sankara elevated every human
being without exception to the level of the greatest god” (pg 45). He had
great respect for humanity. On instruction from Vyasa, Sankara went on a
spiritual conquest of the whole world through debates and to establish the
Advaita philosophy.
Sankara was a brilliant writer in Sanskrit also, another feat-a skill to
write well- that is desirable for a leader. His Sanskrit is mellifluous and at
the same time very forceful, impressive and direct – befitting a leader
whose characteristic trait should be forceful communication skill. Sankara
has written commentaries for almost all the important Upanishads like the
Chandokya, Brihadaranyaka, Taittriya, Aitareya, Svetasvatara, Kena, Katha,
Isa, Prasna, Mundaka and the Mandukya. He has written commentaries on
many other Upanishads too He has not only written commentaries on the
ten major Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Gita but also produced a
large number of other illustrated auxiliary works like “Upadesh Sahashri”,

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“Vivekachudamani” etc. His writings include clarity, sweetness and power
that surpass a river of nectar. By his “Kanakadhara Stotra” he brought
prosperity to a family. By ‘Soundarya Lahiri’ he revealed the divine glory of
the mother. Through the ‘Shivabhujanga Stotra’ - he produced a cure for
the obsession of fear in men-His compositions excelled with lucid flow of
words, communication with the eloquence of language. The very complex
texture of his Personality found their expression in his writings, says, Dr
Radhakrishnan. He writes with such a lucid style that it reflects the qualities
of his mind, its logic, its feelings and sense of humour.
Madugula says,” He was accessible to all people at all times. His patience
and his courtesy were proverbial, his compassion overflowing. His only desire
and ambition throughout his life had been to make each and every human
being see the Almighty in himself and in everyone else, everything else, and
everywhere else. Joy could not elate him nor does sorrow sadden. He was, at
all times, unruffled.
Taking challenges was something very unique of the Acharya. Leaders
challenge status quo and while that may not the consensus position, through
inspiration, reason and persistence they shift the needle and create a new
norm. Sankara always loved debates and establishing the unparallel
eloquence of the scriptures and the Brhmajnana. When Ubhaya Bharati,
challenged the Acharya during a debate on matters related to “Kama
sastra”, though he was a Sanyasi, he requested for a month’s time from her
to know the sastras, which is one of the 64 sastras. He promptly returned
after learning what he did not know and challenged Ubhaya Bharati and
won her in the debate. He was a great learner. With just 4 disciples in the
beginning, he started 4 mutts in the country establishing the non dualist
philosophy. He was just not a leader, but elevated the disciples from their

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ordinary self and identified second line leaders. He identified Padmapada,
Hastamalaka, Totaka and Sureswara as leaders who would establish the four
renowned mutts. He created second line leadership while serving others.
Sankara was highly a modest person and his modesty makes him say
that the doctrine he is expounding is nothing more than what is contained
in the Vedas, says Dr Radhakrishnan ( pg 467, Indian Philosophy, Volume 2,
published by Oxford University Press).
Sankara’s Advaita philosophy is a system known for its logical subtlety
and intellectualism. It is free from theological obsessions, religion and the
whole approach is based on purely philosophical study. Sankara stands as a
heroic figure of the first rank in somewhat motley crowd of the religious
thinkers of medieval India. “His philosophy is complete, says Dr
Radhakrishnan needing neither a before nor an after. “It has a self justifying
wholeness characteristic of works of art. It expounds on its own
presuppositions, is ruled by its own end and holds all its elements in as
stable reasoned equipoise”. His disciples propagated Sankara’s’ work and
philosophy even after 200 years, throughout the length and breadth of India.
Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Parmahansa also propagated this
philosophy.
Sankara gives a lot of weightage to avidya (ignorance) and how
ignorance causes bondage. Sankara acknowledges the good influences of
Buddhism and accepts it as a vital force in the life of the country. Sankara
gave an ending treatise to all loose thinkers who existed then through his
powerful philosophy. Sankara is the most remarkable rationalist India has
ever produced. He says, the Brahman, appears itself through infinite
number of things (Namarupa), all of which are only appearances and not
real. Real is the Brahman.

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Though Sankara is very popular Philosopher, he is one of the most
misunderstood leaders. Sankara accepted ’Intuition’ as a source of Knowledge.
The questions that Sankara faced were about the nature of Brahman,
relation between Jivatman and Paramatman, Maya, Vidya, Cause effect
relationship etc. He was expected by the scholars to bridge the logical gap in
all these speculative themes. Sankara grew up as a unique leader here by not
imagining things or giving fake answers but by incredibly fine philosophies
that proved as answers to all questions leveled against him. Deep intuitive
abilities--gained through experience externally and internally, support the
leader. As a spiritual leader, he depended largely on his power of intuition.
This great leader Sankara had to face challenges to his Advaita
philosophy in various forms and various thinkers. Ramanuja from South who
upheld theism- duality of Brahman was his first opponent. Vignanavadins of
Buddhism also challenged the Advaita cult. It was not a very easy path this
ascetic had to take up while initiating the principles of Advaita in a dualist
society and a society that was embedded with principles of Buddhism and
Jainism. The main aim in front of him was restoring the traditional
concepts of the Vedas. Sankara’s views are greatly influenced by Gaudapada
who first propounded the Advaita Philosophy. Naulaka says, “the very fact
that Sankara undertook to write a commentary on his Mandukya Karika,
and thus to associate himself with him, is adequate enough to show that he
endorsed at least some of the fundamental ideas of his predecessor” (pg 29).
It is however the Upanishads that form the major component of
Sankara’s Advaita Philosophy. The most fundamental doctrine of Sankara’s
Brahmavada is the ultimate identity of every individual self with Brahman,
the eternally immutable and pure consciousness, says Naulaka (pg23)

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Some charge Sankara with the argument that Advaita does not have a
place for God. Sankara refutes it by bringing the concept of higher
knowledge and lower knowledge and establishing that the highest knowledge
is Nirguna Brahman and the Lowest is Saguna Brahman. (pg111, “what is
Advaita? By P Sankaranarayanan, published by Bharatiya vidhyabhavan,
1999) .Upanishads speaks about Saguna Brahman (possessing qualities) and
Nirguna Brahman (devoid of qualities). Sankara uses a technique of
reconciling them as ‘Paravidya (Higher Knowledge) and ‘Aparavidya (inferior
knowledge) Sankara says that only by knowing the inferior, one can aspire
for the higher knowledge.
Sankara was a great and systematic coordinator. He coordinated
the thoughts that were scattered otherwise in loose formats. Sri Sankara’s
glory lies in the systematic work done by him on Upanishad thought. He was
able to relate his philosophy to those of seers of the past, present and future
including Buddhist philosophy. Shri Sankara’s approach to all systems of
thought is very systematic befitting a leader. He tries to accommodate all
seers in all possible ways. He counters in them only those aspects that are
not conducive to the welfare of man. This illustrated his concern for
mankind. There is scope in his philosophy for Brahman, self, Jnana, Maya ,
Karma, Bhakthi , Yoga, rituals, worship Tantra, mantra, mythology &
legend ,even physical sciences, and technologies . He was himself a Jnani says
Swami Mukhyananda in his work “Acharya Sankara”
The leader in Sankara gives a very important place for reason and logic.
He gives scriptures/srutis primary importance. Sankara, as a nation builder,
gave support to the different religious sects whether they worshipped Vishnu,
Shiva, Sakthi, Ganapathi etc. He is known as “Shanmata Sthapana”-

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Acharya (Leader who established six religion sects) ,through, his philosophy
he gave a broad basis to all thinking.
It was Sankara’s concept of Unity in Diversity which is inherent in
Indian culture and thought that put away religious conflicts in Indian culture
pre Muslim period. It was his genius thinking that brought the country
together. “There were so many ascetics in the country. He organized all of
them into Dashanami Sampraday under the designations Puri, Giri Bharati ,
Saraswati Tirtha , Vana, Parvata , Sagara, Aranya, Ashrama, and inspire
them with the Mission of uplifting the country” says Swami Mukhyananda.
These people were trained by him to work in cities, forests, sea wafts, -
places of pilgrimage to cultivate philosophical knowledge. The whole country
was rejuvenated to the Vedic Dharma by his constant appeal and leadership
qualities and his teams’ untiring work.
One can say, looking at the team he has created within 32 years of his
life that he brought about a revolution in the social, religious, spiritual and
philosophical life and thought of the country. He had such a brilliant mind,
scientific view point and rational approach that he appeals to the modern
man, he appears as modern in many respects as if he were living today for
he was concerned with eternal universal thoughts. The solutions that he
suggested in those times to some problems are even applicable now.
Sankara had immense faith in the Vedanta sutras –the Upanishads!
The Law of Karma from the Vedanta sutras states that every sorrow or
happiness in man’s life is the predetermined actions committed by him
sometime, either in the present life or one of his numerous past lives. The
Bhagavad Gita upholds this view of Karma strongly. This means that one’s
birth is a bondage to one. This is the reason life becomes weary, absurd and
awesome.

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Verses from the Bhagavad Gita talk about the Law of Karma in
abundance and the need for action. The Bhagavad Gita focuses on thoughts
and actions and not on outcomes. It calls for actions rather than reactions.
According to the Gita, greed is bad. This is what exactly Sankara followed.
Enlightened leaders are compassionate, selfless and they treat everyone as
their equals. This is possible only if the élan vital is awakened. As Y
Kesavamenon says, in his book “The Mind of Adi Sankara” ( pg 121, Jay co
Publishing house,2006), the Acharya was a ‘Master’ –who shines in the
Indian Philosophy as a luminary of the first magnitude. He was something
more than a clever intellectual”
Conclusion
Advaita philosophy as the unifying spirit enriching the process of seeing
oneness in everyone and Sankara as the role model of leadership are the two
possibilities in 21st
century management philosophy. Philanthropy was
considered as an obligation by the business world till recently. But now, it is
considered as an edge of winning the battle of existence in the business
world. Once upon a time, leaders thought ‘greed is good’. But now
‘compassion’ is the leading word in the business world. The seemingly
ethereal world view of Indian Philosophy has suddenly become the charming
concept for the business world. Stephen Covey the great management guru
says, Character without competence is as insufficient as competence without
character. This, he says is the important lesson of leadership. We may recall
how leadership in business world was considered in the past as competency
only to win and make profit. Character had never played a role in
leadership of the past. It is here the personality traits of Adi Sankara get
noticed. Even while being a saint, he was compassionate, he was worldly

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wise with the strength of integrity of character. The Gita upholds leaders as
enlightened when they have strength of character, viewing the problems of
life in a larger context with a compassionate outlook.Gita say leaders lead by
being a model! Stephen Covey also says that leadership calls for High Trust
believing in human potential”, in his ‘Principle Centered leadership’.
According to Warren Bennis in his “Becoming a leader of leaders”, ‘the
major challenge for leaders in the 21st
century will be how to release the
brain power of their organization’. He calls for deploying the creativity of the
organization. This is what exactly Adi Sankara did almost two thousand
years ago. Adisankara’s personality traits and his philosophy can be the
model for leadership lessons for a world of tomorrow.
Books of reference
Sankara Digvijaya -‘The traditional life of Sri Sankaracharya” by
Madhava-Vidyaranya-Sri Ramakrishna Math, Published by The
President, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore
Swami Mukyananda (1987) “Acharya Sankara-An interpretation”-
published by the President Sri Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama,
Kalady ,Ernakulam
SG Mud gal (Advaita of Sankara- A re appraisal by Motilal
Banarsidass)
Madhava Vidyaranya (1986) Sankara Digvijaya The traditional life of
Sankaracharya by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras’

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Swami Nikilananda ( ) Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada’s
Karika and Sankara’s commentary by Sri Ramakrishna Ashram,
Mysore
T M P Mahadevan (1938) “The Philosophy of Advaita published by
Luzac & company, London
M Hiriyanna (1949) “The Essentials of Indian Philosophy” by George
Allen & Unwin Ltd, London”
Satishchandra Chatterjee & Dhirendramodhan Datta (An
introduction to Indian philosophy)
Dr S Radhakrishnan (1923) Indian Philosophy Volume II Oxford
University Press
P Sankaranarayanan (1999) “What is Advaita” by Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan
Y Krishna Menon (1976) “The mind of Adi Shankaracharya
“ published by Jaico publishing house, Mumbai
Sinari “ The structure of Indian thought”
I.S Madugula, “The Acharya” Sankara of Kaladi (2006), Motilal
Banarasidass publishers
Dr R S Naulaka, “ Brahmavada of Shankara”,Kithab Ghar, Kanpur
P George Victor, “ Life and Teachings of Adi Sankaracharya”by D K
Printworld , New Delhi