Two teaching of Shankaradeva
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Sankaradeva: His Spiritual Teachings
The fundamental teachings and tenets of Assam Vaisnavism of Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva are in complete harmony with the Bhāgavata and the Gitā.
Assam Vaisnavism is based upon absolute devotion to God with a spirit of self-abnegation so as to realise in the end that we live, move and have our being in and for God alone. Total surrender to God, absolute dedication to the service of God and His creatures, to feel the presence of God everywhere as the in-dwelling spirit, to see God in everything and everything in God, and to listen to and chant the names and qualities of God with absolute devotion are some of the basic tenets of Assam Vaisnavism.
Sankaradeva narrated in beautiful verses the purānic stories to establish the power of absolute devotion to God in his masterly work, Kirttana Ghosā, and Madhavadeva expounded in beautiful verse-forms his spiritual experiences and the philosophical basis of bhakti in his great work, the Nām Ghosā.
Assam Vaisnavism is a religion for the common man of this age. The object of worship and devotion is Krishna who is pure knowledge and consciousness, absolute truth and perfection. The qualities and names of Krishna, the quality-less and formless, are beyond the three gunas of māyā or prakriti, all the rest being subject to māyā. This being so, Assam Vaisnavism solely relies on nāma dharma and absolute surrender to and service of God and His created beings.
Sankaradeva's Neo-Vaisnavism, like the Upanishads and the Gitā, emphasises on detachment (niskāma bhakti) as the key to individual and social welfare, healthy social relationships and attainment of the final goal (paramārtha).