sankara's

Updated: January 16, 2026

From the time of Śankara onwards nearly all Hindu theologians of the first rank expounded their views by writing a commentary on the Brahma Sûtras, an authoritative but singularly enigmatic digest of the Upanishads. Śankara's doctrine may be summarized as absolute monism which holds that nothing really exists but Brahman and that Brahman is identical with the soul.

Sir Charles Eliot - Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 1