Swami Chinmayananda on Shankara, "Shankara is not an individual. He is an institution. No single person could ever have achieved what he had achieved in his short span of life. No Masters or Prophet had achieved so much, for so many, in so short a time. Very often this tempts us to consider that Shankara was an Avatara".

"Shankara's work represents the total turnover of a highly competent person, working intensively every hour of the day, under conditions of the highest mental and intellectual efficiency. Yogi's invoke this total capacity, lying dormant in everyone".