The Semantic Structure of Salvation in the Śaṅkaran Tradition

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify the semantic structure of salvation in the Śaṅkaran tradition of Śṛṅgeri, focusing on how the present Jagadguru of the Śṛṅgeri Maṭha, i.e., Bhāratītīrtha, discourses on the teachings in order to guide people to salvation. In this religious tradition, the relationship between the Jagadguru and his followers constitutes “the relationship between a teacher and his disciples” (guruśiṣya-sambandha), which consists of both the level of world-renunciation and that of ordinary faith. For the ordinary followers, the Jagadguru has the religious significance of a saint who possesses magico-religious powers. Moreover, the performance of their karman and bhakti has the soteriological implications of the “purification of mind” (citta-śuddhi). In this religious tradition, from the viewpoint of salvation, the same term bhakti contains multi-layered meanings according to the inner commitments of the followers.