Tradition of Teachers: Sankara and Jagadgurus Today

The uniqueness of the Indian guru rests upon the uniqueness of the Indian

teaching tradition. An understanding of a religious figure in India can be

achieved only within the framework of the teaching tradition from which

that individual has come.

The study selects one way of understanding the guru in classical Hindu life

in the belief that this articulation offers something normative for an

understanding of guru in the wider Indian development and history. The

first part of this book is drawn from the texts that trace the role of guru

and the guru-sisya relationship in the writings of Sanskara. The second

part of the book is an investigation of the five major acaryas of the

Sankara tradition reigning during the last half of the twentieth century.

Thus, the articulation of the guru in the writings of Sankara, in part one,

is tested from the historical context among the Sankaracaryas of the recent

past.

Review(s)

"Cenkner has produced a helpful work on an important facet of the tradition

of Sankara: the succession of acaryas of Sankara order, their contemporary

teaching, and methods." DANIEL P. SHERIDAN

"A fascinating book, of meticulous sch