Shankaracharya

8th-century founder of Advaita Vedanta; author of the earliest surviving commentary on the Gita.

Overview

Shankaracharya is the earliest Gita commentator whose work survives. He himself notes that older commentaries existed before his, but none have come down to us. He writes the Gita within the framework of advaita-vedanta — non-dual Vedanta.

On studying the Gita. Shankara’s commentary opens with the observation that Krishna chose Arjuna as the recipient because a fit student ensures the teaching will have wide dissemination — Krishna is speaking to all of us through Arjuna.

Where he begins commenting. Shankara starts his commentary at verse 2.10 — he does not comment on chapter 1 or on the first ten verses of chapter 2, on the ground that Vedanta proper begins only there. (Swami Sarvapriyananda, by contrast, begins teaching from 2.1.)

Related concepts and entities

• Founder of advaita-vedanta
• Other major Gita commentators: ramanuja, madhvacharya
• Mentioned reading of the bhagavad-gita

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [10:24]: Shankara’s commentary is the earliest we have — he himself mentions older lost commentaries.
• Ep. 1 [27:29]: He calls his own “a brief commentary” on a profound book.
• Ep. 1 [28:02]: Shankara reads the Gita in the framework of Advaita Vedanta.
• Ep. 1 [45:48]: Shankara begins his commentary at 2.10, skipping chapter 1 and the first ten verses of chapter 2.