The Ancient Scriptures of the Hindu faith has been followed closely by the community as a way of life, even though it allowed questioning and analysis with reasoning. The Vedas gave the philosophy, the rituals and the Manthras to God in a Formless State through Knowledge. However, most people understood less and less of the teachings as years passed by, as these teachings were kept as "Sacred" and secret by few knowledgeable families. They were understood by a small fragment of the community who were the priests and others started to follow it blindly without studying them. Often they thought that mere recitation will give them Divine Powers. The Agamas established the rules for construction of Temples and worship of God in various forms of Deities. The Dharma Sasthras established the rules of conduct for daily living and for regular prayer rituals. The Dharsanas explained the Philosophy of the Vedas. The Ithihasas and Puranas told the stories of Divine Incarnations as examples of the Spiritual message. In the medieval period many leaders gave us these teachings as simple theories of Spiritual Discipline for daily practice.

The Vedantha Philosophy and Dharma Sasthra of Sage Vyasa and explanations by Acharyas are the basis of Our Faith and Practice. Sri Sankara gave us the Advaitha theory of "Unity of the Human and Divine Soul" and the Path of Knowledge [Jnana Yoga]. At the same time, he also gave us the rules of worship of God in six forms as in Agamas for daily practice. Sri Ramanuja gave us a theory that separates the Divine Soul to be reached by prayers through the Path of Devotion [Bhakthi Yoga]. Many other theories were given by other Acharyas. We also had a Path of pious living Meditation and concentration [Raja Yoga] with the standards for the Hindu ethics and the Spiritual Discipline. The Path of Action [Karma Yoga] was given as the first and early step of the Spiritual Discipline for the uninitiated. They taught us the rules of doing the duties without greed, lust or attachment to the fruits of our action. These four paths of spiritual disciplines and the rituals and prayers as in Vedas and Agamas were the basis of the practice of culture by the Hindu community as a way of life.

The highly educated religious Yogis and Gnaanis could follow the path of knowledge and observe the way of life as in the Scriptures with meditation and prayers to the Absolute -the One Supreme Reality- Formless God, in what is known as Nirguna-upasana. The common people could not comprehend all the teachings of the Vedic philosophy. They followed the rituals, recitations of Vedas and the path of Devotion. They performed the prayers and sang songs to the manifestations of God in various forms, called the Saguna-upasana, and followed the Agamas and Puranas with Vedic rituals to fire and water. In the later age, the concept of devotion developed with various levels of intense Bhakthi to God in many forms. Many rituals evolved over the years for daily activities and family events like birth, marriage and death. These changed from time to time with the arrival of alien cultures. Many changes occurred in the way of life in large section of the population with the pressure of material benefits, greed, lust and ignorance along with alien culture and education. Religious study got the least preference as it was least understood and least beneficial.

The first systematic exponent of Advaitham is Sri Gaudapaada, who is said to have lived in the 8th century A.D. His pupil Sri Govinda later became the teacher for Sri Sankara. [Some Hindu historians and scholars claim Sankara lived in the 6th century B.C.] The Adhvaitha system of Sri Sankara was developed as a commentary on Vyasa Maharishi's Brahma Suthra and the Vedhantha Philosophy. It has contributed to the vast majority of Smartha, Saiva and Saktha followers, closely following their traditions with some features of rituals, modifying the Poorva Mimamsa system. The Advaitha taught by Sankara is a rigorous, absolute one. Whatever is, is Brahmam. It is absolutely homogenous by Itself. "Brahmam, the Absolute, alone is real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or individual soul is non-different from Brahmam." The Atman is self evident. The atman is the basis of all knowledge. Brahmam is not an object, as It is Adrishya, beyond the reach of our vision. Sankara's Supreme Brahmam is Nirguna, formless, without attributes, without special characteristics, immutable and eternal. It is impersonal. It becomes a personal God or Saguna Brahmam only through Its association with Maya. They are not two opposite entities.

In Advaitha philosophy, the same Nirguna Brahmam appears as Saguna Brahmam for the pious worship of the devotees. It is the same Truth from two different points of views. The former is transcendental and the latter is relative. The Jiva or the individual soul is relatively real. Its individuality lasts until it is bound by the unreal Upathis or limiting conditions due to Avidhyas. The Jiva identifies itself with the body, mind and the senses when it is deluded by the Avidhya or ignorance. Jiva merges one with the Brahmam when it gets knowledge through annihilation of Avidhya. To Sankara, the world also is only relatively real. If you get knowledge, the Maya will vanish and the illusion of body and world will disappear. The unchanging Brahmam appears like changing world through the mysterious Maya. The superimposition of the world on Brahmam is due to Avidhya or ignorance as a result of the mysterious effects of Maya. In Vivartha-Vaada, the cause produces the effect without undergoing any change in itself. When Avidhya or the veil of ignorance is destroyed through knowledge of the Eternal, when Mithya-Jnana is removed by true knowledge, we shine in the Divine splendor and glory with the true vision of the Absolute.

Sri Sankara's Adhvaitha theory was a good reply to the theories of blind rituals of Poorva Mimamsa and to Buddhist teachings which were gaining acceptance in some areas. He wrote commentaries to Srimad Baghvad Geetha to show Sri Krishna's opposition to blind ritualistic practices as in Mimamsa. He also opposed the passive cause and effect theories of Sankhya and Buddhist theories against Vedic Gods. In addition to the Adhvaitha philosophy and teachings on Jnana marga, Sri Sankara also established his system of devotional worship of six forms of Saguna Brahmam for daily prayers to Ishta-Devatha or a personal Deity in the form of a Vigraha at homes or in Temples. He also gave us the religious practice following the Vedas and Smrithis. This was for the common people who can not reach the high level of Jnana marga. He established four of his ashramams in the four corners of India to propagate his system of philosophy.