When this man was attacked by a crocodile, he asked his mother to let him become a sannyasin, after which the crocodile let him go.
This man is credited with laying out the fivefold system of worship used in Smartism. When this man was attacked by a crocodile, he asked his mother to let him become a sannyasin, after which the crocodile let him go. In one tale, this man's anger at a scholar offering grammar lessons for money led him to compose the devotional hymn Bhaja Govindam. This traveling man, who ended his life by attaining the state of samadhi in a Himalayan cave at age 32, was called Eka-Sruti-Dara as a child because he could remember any text after reading it once. This man's work Upadesasahasri asserts that everything is an illusion except the nirguna, or "attributeless," (*) Brahman. This author of the earliest surviving commentary on the Brahma Sutra is said to have founded four monasteries at the edges of India.  For 10 points, name this 9th-century Hindu theologian who systematized the monist Advaita Vedanta philosophy.
This man is credited with laying out the fivefold system of worship used in Smartism.
Adi Shankaracharya [or Sankara; accept Eka-Sruti-Dara until mention]