Sankara Bhagavadpada was instrumental in reviving our culture more than 1200 years back. Unfortunately, sankaracarya has become synonymous with terse, logical and complex philosophy of Advaita; or with Brahmanism a word coined by western philosophers, and a notion that he is relevant only to a particular caste; or with the ascetic way of life that promotes escapism. This book tries  to  present  ¸ Acaryasankara  as  a  prodigy discovering his mission; as a person who learnt from many persons and situations, after coming in direct contact with the masses and classes of the society; as a prophet who had the foresight to select the eligible persons for his mission; as a forerunner who included all persons at every stage of growth in his teachings; as a synthesiser of hand, heart and head, and most of all, as an inspiration for scaling that peak which lies within each one of us.

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Foreword —Pgs. 7

Preface —Pgs. 13

Śankara (Prologue) —Pgs. 15

Volition —Pgs. (Hands) —Pgs. 17

Footsteps in Quest (Map) —Pgs. 18

Trying Times —Pgs. 19

Stirrings of the Master —Pgs. 28

At the Feet of the Preceptor —Pgs. 38

Blossoming of the Master —Pgs. 48

Spreading Fragrance —Pgs. 59

Ordeal by Fire —Pgs. 71

Emotion (Heart) —Pgs. 83

Footsteps of the Heart (Map) —Pgs. 84

The World of Emotions —Pgs. 85

Harnessing Emotions  —Pgs. 95

Towards Devotion —Pgs. 107

Hues of Devotion —Pgs. 117

All in One, One in All —Pgs. 128

The Pilgrimage  —Pgs. 138

Intellect and Intuition (Head) —Pgs. 149

Campaign of No-Other (Map) —Pgs. 150

Viveka and Vairāgya —Pgs. 151

Antarmukhatā—The Inner Gaze —Pgs. 164

Śravaṇa and Nididhyāsana —Pgs. 176

The Bridge of Knowing  —Pgs. 189

Basking in Self —Pgs. 202

No Other —Pgs. 212

Śankara—No-Other (Epilogue) —Pgs. 227

Index —Pgs. 234

Born in Sirsi, North Karnataka  in  1949, Raghunandan Trikannad completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from Regional Engineering College Warangal, Andhra Pradesh. He was introduced to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda in his teens. During his professional studies, he came in contact with Swami Ranganatha-nanda, the President Ramakrishna Math at Secunderabad (and later the thirteenth President of Ramakrishna Order, Belur, West Bengal), who inspired him to take to life spiritual. He joined Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari in 1976, and shouldered the responsibilities as its Zonal Organiser, Organising Secretary and Joint General Secretary. Since 1989 he is Secretary of Ramarpan Educational Society.