The Socio Spiritual Conditions of 8th Century AD

In 8^th century A.D Buddhism was on the decline in India after flourishing for nearly a thousand years. In the midst of the prevailing degenerate religious and social conditions, Śaṅkara was filled with the zeal of re-establishing the supremacy of the Vedic religion and brahmanical philosophy in all its pristine purity and grandeur. He wanted to clear society of all accretions and excesses by assimilating the good points in Buddhism that were in harmony with the Vedic teachings. Śaṅkara saw the conflict between the Vedic Sanātana Dharma and situations that were prevailing in the country. He saw that the great religion of the Buddha had degenerated into various sectarian practices owing to the mass inflex in to the Buddhist hold of all sorts of unregenerate ideas. Buddha’s teachings were misunderstood and on the basis of nihilistic dialectics and destructive reasoning the life giving principles taught by the Vedas and the Buddha were discarded by the priests and monks and there was a lot of confusion in the society. The Buddha in his own time had set aside vain philosophical speculations and heaven seeking ritualism, involving often sacrifices of animals. He initiated a reformatory movement, with emphasis on a practical ethical life of building up of character and attaining true wisdom and feeling sympathy and concern for the sufferings of other beings. He wanted the people, instead of getting enmeshed in wordy wranglings, to do something good and to live an intelligent and moral life which would enlighten them and enable them to understand whatever truth there was and there by get rid of ignorance and suffering.

However the silence of Buddha in matters of God, soul and worship caused great confusion among the followers. In the early stages, man needs a supreme being to satisfy the psychological urge and pay homage, worship and love. He wants to know about himself and seeks permance. He wants to find out, wants to satisfy himself through reason, about the fundamental that govern this universe, before he can devote himself to super sensual religions with conviction. Since that was not available, Buddha’s followers, in course of time, took it upon themselves to build up philosophies on the basis of pure reason presenting negatively the teachings of the Buddha, often interpreting his silence on certain metaphysical matters in their own way. These were taught to one and all irrespective of their power of understanding or capacity to practise. Further, the masses deified the Buddha himself into the highest God, since they needed one.

The Religious-Spiritual Condition of Hinduism in the 8^th Century A.D

The history of Hinduism is often divided into periods of development, with the first period being that of the historical Vedic religion updated from about 1900 BC to 1400 BC. The subsequent period between 800 BC and 200 BC, is a turning point between Vedic religion and Hindu religions and the formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and early Puranic period from C.200 BC to 500 BC, saw the classical golden age of Hinduism (C. 320-650) which concludes with the Gupta empire. In that period the six branches of Hindu philosophy involved, namely Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṃsa and Vedanta. Monotheistic sects like Saivism and Vaiṣnavism developed during this period through the Bhakti movement. This period is throughly 650-1100 CE from the late classical period or early middle ages. Then the classical Puranic Hinduism is established, with Adi Śaṅkara’s Advaita Vedanta marking a shift towards idealistic thought.