ABSTRACT
The greatness of Shankaracharya is best expressed in the following sentences by Sister Nivedita of the Ramakrishna Vivekanand Order: Western people can hardly imagine a personality like that of Shankar Acharya. Shankar's philosophy is known as Adwaita-vad. Shankaracharya taught that there was one sole and Supreme God, distinct both from any member of the old Brahma Trinity and from the modern Hindu pantheon. Shiva-worship claims Shankaracharya as its apostle in a special sense. It represents the popular side of his teaching, and the piety of his followers has elevated Shankar into an incarnation of Shiva himself. The worship of Rudra and Shiva has continued from the time of the Vedic seers to be the cult of the Brahmans. It was adapted by Shankaracharya and his successors to popular worship. Shankaracharya's teaching gave an impulse to it throughout India, and in the hands of his followers and apostolic successors Shiva-worship became one of the two chief religions of India.
