Why is Advaita called Mayavada and Shri Adi Shankara a pracchanna buddha?

 

Māyāvāda (मायावाद) refers to “doctrine of illusion.

Actually, it is a phrase coined by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to show that Advaita in bad light. The actual concept of Advaita - ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या - can be summarised in the following Shloka.

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः । अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः ॥

Brahman is real, the universe is mithya (it cannot be categorized as either real or unreal). The jiva is Brahman itself and not different. This should be understood as the correct Sastra. This is proclaimed by Vedanta.

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The inner meaning of the Advaita - ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या - is only the BRAHMAN or the ENERGY that governs the world, is REAL and permanent and the World that appear before us, including all other living and non-living things, is unreal.

It does not mean that the World does not exist. It only means that the World is having transient in nature and nothing is permanent. And, the ENERGY that lies in the BRAHMAN also lies in every living and non-living things.

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The Vaishnavism or Gaudiya Vaishnavism follows Dwaita - duality concept. Dwaita indicates that the humans and the Vishnu or Krishna are different. And, the humans after undergoing Bhakti, surrender finally reaches the abode of Vishnu or Krishna and lives there.

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As there is difference of understanding the God, between Advaita and Vaishnavism or Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the latter coined Māyāvāda (मायावाद),“doctrine of illusion.

The funniest part is that they got it incorporated in the Padma Purana the following shloka, which shows Shri Sankara in bad light.

We have to remember that Padma Purana is a Vaishnava Text and has a major recension in Bengal.

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This shloka was attributed to Shiva, in order to gain authenticity for their Dwaita concept.

māyāvādamasacchāstraṃ pracchannaṃ buddha ucyate |
mayaiva kathitaṃ devi kalau brāhmaṇarūpiṇā || 7 ||

The doctrine of Māya (illusion) is a wicked doctrine and said to be pseudo-Buddhist. I myself, of the form of a brāhmaṇa, proclaimed it in Kali (age).

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That is how Shri Sankara had become a pracchannaṃ buddha or pseudo-Buddhist.