Sankara institutionalised the celibate sanyasi culture through four amnaya maths, many subsidiary maths and the Dasanami parampara. He restructured the sanyasin orders, organising them into 10 traditional paths to reach godhead, and gave each of them a unique title as follows:
1 Aranya: Lives in a forest, detached from mundane affairs, having forsaken the material world and yet experiencing bliss of living in a mystical garden.
2 Ashrama: Monk in a hermitage, freed from wandering and bonds of kama, desire; krodha, anger; lobha, greed; moha, delusion; mada, pride and matsarya, jealousy and attained steadfastness and dispassionateness.
3 Bharati: Carrying the treasure trove of learning, he forsakes all worldly burdens. With absolute knowledge, he transcends worldly sorrows.
4 Giri: Steadfast like a mountain, he lives on lofty peaks in seclusion. Practising the Gita perennially, he cultivates firm, dignified and dispassionate intellect with lofty ideals.
5 Parvata: One who resides at the foothill of the mountains in samadhi state, with the power to perfectly discriminate between truth and falsehood. He has knowledge of the transient nature of the world.
6 Puri: He is full of the knowledge of Brahmn. One with sampoorna, perfect spiritual prowess. He is perpetually immersed in Absolute Bliss.
7 Sagara: He has dived into the depths of the ocean of knowledge and collected the gems of Truth.
8 Saraswati: He is greatly learned and adept in yoga, one with his knowledge of pranayama, has mastered vedic intonation and is proficient in the vedas.
9 Tirtha: He bathes at the confluence of the three rivers of knowledge and seeks realisation of the Truth through mahavakyas, such as ‘Tattvam Asi — Thou art That’, with the constant aim of unravelling the hidden meaning.
10 Vana: He has transcended the snare of desire, unshackled from worldly ties and lives quietly, in seclusion, in the interiors of deep forests.
Om Namah Shivay.
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