[Advaita-l] A request for clarifications

[Sundar Rajan]

Namaste, Excellent response from Nithin Sridhar-ji.

Another I would like to suggest you s. Your 18  year old son is probably more at ease with AI than our age group. Here is a response from Claude;

This is a rich and important question from Santosh — one that comes up often in contemporary Vedantic circles. Here’s a clarifying framework you could offer, drawing on multiple levels of interpretation:

What Shankara actually wrote vs. what is attributed to him
It’s worth distinguishing Shankara’s bhāṣyas (commentaries) from later smārta social conventions attributed to his authority. His Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya (1.3.34–38) does address the adhikāra (eligibility) question, but the primary target is the Mīmāṃsaka position — not a blanket prohibition on spiritual realization. The social restrictions largely reflect the dharmaśāstra framework he inherited, not novel injunctions he originated.
The adhikāra distinction is crucial
Shankara distinguishes between:
	•	Adhikāra for Vedic ritual (karma-kāṇḍa) — historically restricted
	•	Adhikāra for Brahma-jijñāsā (inquiry into Brahman) — which he grounds in viveka, vairāgya, mumukṣutva, and the six-fold sādhana
Nowhere in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi or Upadeśasāhasrī does he condition Self-knowledge on gender or birth. Brahman is nirguṇa — it cannot recognize varna or gender.
The deeper spiritual reading
One honest response to Santosh’s son: Shankara’s social framework and his metaphysical teaching can be held separately. The Upaniṣads themselves — Gārgī, Maitreyī, Sulabhā — include women as brahma-vādinīs. Shankara comments on these passages without stripping them of authority.
The contemporary Advaitic consensus
Modern ācāryas in the Shankara lineage — including Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Dayananda, and the current Śṛṅgerī Pīṭha — have largely held that jñāna-mārga is open to all. The restrictions are treated as deśa-kāla-pātra (context-bound) rather than eternally normative.


Sent from my iPhone 17 Pro Max

> On Apr 24, 2026, at 9:56 AM, Nithin Sridhar via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> Namaste,
> 
> You might find it useful to go through my book 'Chatuh Shloki Manusmriti:
> An English Commentary' which discusses the question of Adhyayana, different
> methods, the question of Adhikara and prohibition, etc.
> 
> Shankaracharya's views on these issues are based on Smritis and other
> Dharmashastras.
> 
> Link to book- https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/8119670914/
> 
> Regards,
> Nithin S
> 
>> On Fri, 24 Apr, 2026, 10:20 pm santosh mahapatra via Advaita-l, <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Esteemed Members,
>> Please accept my humble Pranams. For past several months I am going
>> through an internal turmoil due to my inability to answer some questions
>> raised by my 18 year old son regarding Adi Shankar's remarks prohibiting
>> studies of Vedas and Vedanta by Women and Shudras.Can there be any
>> spiritual interpretation to Adi Shankaracharya's such injunctions? I shall
>> appreciate the responses from the learned members in this group. They will
>> be very helpful to clarify his doubts.
>> Pranams,
>> Santosh
>> "Ego rules the world. People are helpless victims of their egos."-- Amma
>> (Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, The Hugging Saint)
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