Gaudapadacharya

Gaudapada, also known as Gaudapadacharya, was an early medieval Hindu philosopher and scholar of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Details of his biography are uncertain, but his ideas inspired others such as Adi Shankara, who called him a Paramaguru (highest teacher). Gaudapada was the author or compiler of the Mandukya Karika, also known as Gaudapada Karika or Agama Shastra. This text, consisting of four chapters, is an influential work in Vedanta, with the first three chapters being particularly significant in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. While the fourth chapter uses Buddhist terminology, Gaudapada's work is doctrinally Vedantic. His ideas on nonduality and the nature of reality have been seminal in the development of Hindu philosophy.