The Shankaracharya tradition is our immediate historical link to the Holy Tradition so it is important to understand something of the greatness of S'rî Adi Shankara. He choose his birth where religion was properly observed, in Kerala at Kaldi. He received his sacred thread ceremony (upanayana) at age 5 and moved to his Guru's ashram and commenced studying the Vedas with his Guru.

By age 8 he had mastered the Vedas and Shastras and thus returned home. During his absence his father had expired. Shankara thought, "we have not come here to live in a household. We have come to serve the world." Thus his mind was set on entering the life of a sanyas. However he needed his mother's blessings, and she was not of a mind to let her only child leave.

One day while Shankara was bathing in the river a crocodile grabbed hold of his leg. He thought "If I at least take mental sanyas now it is like taking another birth, then destiny may also change and spare my life. If not, I will achieve moksha."

Shankara then called out to his mother for her consent to become a sanyas. To save the life of her son she had to agree. As he vowed a life as a sanyas the crocodile changed into the form of a gandharva who was thus released from a curse placed on him. Shankara's life was spared and so, at the tender age of 8, went off to seek out his sanyas Guru.

He met Govindapada (disciple of Gaudapada) and accepted sanyas with the instruction to move to the holy city of Kashi (Varanasi) and write the commentary to the Brahma Sutras, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita. By age 16 he completed this task.

While Shankara was visiting the holy village of Uttarkashi in the Himalayas he was visited by Sage Veda Vyasa (author of the Vedas). Citing his completion of the commentary, Shankara asked to be allowed to be released from his body. However Vyasa said that Shankara still needed to teach the philosophy of advaita (nondulistic) vedanta and to travel the country.

For the next 16 years Shankara walked across India spreading the truth of advaita vedanta and re-establishing sanatana dharma (the eternal truth). His mission nearing an end, Shankaracharya set up four religious seats in the north, south, east and west of India to act as a lighthouse to guide religious seekers towards the truth for the millennia to come. At each seat he assigned a sanyas as its head. Additionally, Shankaracharya set up 10 monastic orders: 1) Tirtha, 2) Ashrama, 3) Vana, 4) Aranya, 5) Giri, 6) Parvata, 7) Sagara, 8) Saraswati, 9) Bharati, 10) Puri

Shankara had four main disciples who carried on his work:

• Padmapada: He received his name from an incident in which he was washing Shankara's clothes on one side of the river while Shankara was on the other side. Shankara called to him to come quickly. He instantly responded and walked across the water. As he did, lotus petals appeared below his feet and supported him crossing the river. So devoted to Shankara was he that his only thought was to obey his master and come attend to him.
• Hastamalaka: As a young boy he was brought to Shankara by his parents who said that he had never spoken a word. Shankara asked the boy who he was. Miraculously the boy answered, "I am not the earth, ether, woman or man, I am pure consciousness." Amazed, the parents brought the boy home only to find he became dumb again. Shankara suggested the boy stay with him thereafter. Because the boy was able to explain deep philosophical truths as clear as an amalaki fruit in one's hand, he was named Hastamalaka.
• Trotakacharya is the essence of pure devotion, devoid of intellectual capacities. He never could understand the deep intellectual discourses Shankara conducted with the other disciples. One day Shankara would not begin the discussion until Trotakacharya, who was washing his master's clothes in the river, was present. The other disciples could not understand why because Trotakacharya would not benefit from these talks anyway. Suddenly from the river bank they heard Trotakacharya chanting self-composed poetry about his love for Shankara, reflecting the wisdom shared by the intellectual disciples.
• Vartikakara was a great intellectual of the time but his ideas were not strictly in accord with sanatana dharma that Shankara was re-establishing. A great debate was held between these two men that lasted for many days. Finally Shankara won the debate and Vartikakara became his disciple.

Completing his mission, Shankara traveled to Kedara a holy land of S'iva and left his mortal body at the age of 32.