Sage Sri, Sankara said :- Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Brahman or the soul, the innermost self.

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam are not separate attributes. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described, because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.

The objective world-the world of names and forms-has no independent existence. The Atman alone has real existence. The world is only phenomenal.

Sage Sri, Sankara was the exponent of the Kevala Advaita philosophy. His teachings can be summed up in the following words:-

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya, Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah

Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical with Brahman.

Sage Sri Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all their austerities do not cause desires to go .( “Altar Flowers" Page 205, v.2 P.207 v.4)

Sage Sri, Sankara always traveled and  he never lived in a monastery. He simply told others "Build one here" and then left because he was busy spreading his doctrines but none of them are Gnanis or have grasped the Gnana because they were  orthodox pundits.

The seeker of truth should  not worry about  where Sage Sri  Sankara died. The seeker has to have  thirsting for his teachings, that  is all that matters.

Sage Sri, Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

The story in Sage Sri, Sankara’s life of going to Benares and occupying the body of another man and then having sex intercourse with his wife, is a cock and bull story hiding the real fact. He had the scientific spirit and when told by Saraswathi the woman that he was talking emptily about sex, being a Sanyasi, he at once went to learn the truth by having actual intercourse himself and thus learning by experiment and observation.

Sage Sri, Sankara has used the phrase "the jungle of words." This is his acknowledgment of the need of  Semantics.

Sage Sri, Sankara during his lifetime decried and fought against Tantric practices. However, Tantric texts like Prapancha_sara, Lalitha_trisati_bashya and others are in circulation under his name. The other famous tantric work ascribed to Sage Sri, Sankara is Sandarya_lahari. The scholarly opinion is that it is not Sage Sankara’s work, though it is an excellent composition.

Among the minor dissertations (prakaranas):  Sarva-vedanta-siddanta-sara_sangraha; probodha-sudhakara; Advaitanu-bhuti;  Yoga-rathavali; Anatma-vigrahana prakarana etc.are definitely are not Sankara’s works.

A commentary on Vishnu_sahasra_nama is ascribed to him. It is decidedly a recent work. It is inconsistent too. It is not Sage Sri, Sankara’s commentary.

A number of hymns, of inconsistent quality, in praise of various deities are known as his compositions. (E.g. Stotras on Subrahmanya, Ganapathi, Shiva, Vishnu, Devi etc.)

Sundaralahari: is a sexual poem which has been attributed to Sage Sri, Sankara but judging by the style and contents it is not possible to  believe it is of Sage Sri, Sankara’s.

Sage Sri, Sankara stressed the great importance of freeing our use of words from all ambiguity.

 Sage Sri, Sankara's work has got two aspects: the vyavikarika and the paramarthika. He gave religious, ritual or dogmatic instruction to the populace but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage Sri, Sankara said :-  Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Brahman or the soul, the innermost self. If one gets knowledge of the rope, the illusion of the snake will vanish. Even so, if he gets knowledge of Brahman, the illusion of the body and the world will vanish.

The snake is only an idea: it disappears on inquiry but deeper self-search reveals the fact that,   the rope is also an idea and its reality will be exposed when wisdom dawns. There is neither snake nor the rope in reality because from ultimate standpoint the duality is mere mirage created out of consciousness.