Adi Shankara, also called Adi Shankaracharya or Adi Shankara Acharya, was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher (acharya) of Advaita Vedanta, lived in the 8th c. CE.
Reliable information about Shankara's real life is scarce, and his true impact lies in his iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture, despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta (a Hindu tradition of textual exegesis and philosophy and a Hindu sadhana, a path of spiritual discipline and experience). He is seen as he who restored Hindu dharma against attacks by Buddhists and in the process helped drive Buddhism out of India, with the introduction of the Pañcayatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities: Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, maintaining that all the deities were nothing other than different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.
Charles Johnston (1867-1931), an Irish writer, journalist, theosophist, linguist, and Sanskrit scholar, translated and published in January 1925 in the journal Theosophical Quarterly a work attributed to Adi Shankara, entitled Atma Bodha (The Awakening to the Spirit). We propose it to our readers today.