A Recall of the greatness of Adi Shankara on his Jayanti day

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

Today it is Shankara Jayanti Here I pull out a few

thoughts from my earlier writings, in this connection.

 

Shankara, more properly known as Adi ShankaracArya, is one

of the earliest mystic Masters of India. Coming almost

first (509-477 B.C., though scholars who go by their

western predecessors place him in 788-820 A.D.) in a line

of great Acharyas of the advaita philosophy, Shankara was

an immaculate sage who was div ine and yet human, whose

saving grace was univ ersal in its sweep and whose concern

was for all – even for the lowliest. His interpretations

of Vedânta have so dominated the intellectual life of the

country and has become so well-known in the rest of the

world that his work has almost become synonymous with

Vedânta inspite of the fact that other interpretations

exist and are followed widely. One measure of Shankara's

influence is that it is very difficult for any one either

Hindu or non-Hindu to read Indian religious texts without

unconsciously seeing them through the general

interpretation given by Shankara.

 

The great temples and holy places of India where he lived,

preached and prayed have made his name legendary and have

left an indelible image in the Hindu mind.His greatness is

not only in the context of Hinduism and Indian philosophy.

His exposition of Advaita has a relevance to the cultural

history of the entire world philosophy. This is because

Advaita does not need for its validity the symbolism or the

prop of the religion and mythology of Hinduism.

 

The one fact that comes to the mind of a non-Indian the

moment the country of India is mentioned is its

contribution to the spiritual evolution of the human

species over the centuries, particularly through its Vedic

and Upanishadic thought processes. But if any single

individual Master is to be associated with this

contribution one of the earliest such is Shankara.

 

Shankara was not only a great philosopher who professed a

sophisticated philosophy with precision and clarity but he

was a great reformer also. In his short span of 32 years he

achieved what no one ever before or after him achieved. At

the age of three he had mastered the language of Sanskrit.

At the age of six he had already learnt whatever formal

learning there was to learn. At the age of eight he was

ready to renounce the mundane world along with its glamour

and he did. Before the age of twelve he had already found

his formal Guru at whose feet he reached the shores of all

existing knowledge at that time. By the age of sixteen he

had already written his famous commentaries (bhashyas) on

the Upanishads, the Gita, the Brahma-sUtras, the Vishnu

sahasra-nAmaM and sanatsujAtIyaM. These commentaries have

stood the test of time for more than a millenium and will

so stand for several more millenia to come.

 

Before the end of his life he had toured by foot the entire

subcontinent three times and more, established several

religious organizations called mutts. Each head of these

mutts is called a Shankaracharya. That is why the prefix

‘Adi’ is given to Shankara, the prefix meaning, ‘the

prime’, ‘the first’, ‘the original’. He carried on verbal

debates with almost 76 other schools of religious thought

and by sheer power of intellect and moral energy brought

them all under his banner of Advaita, left behind him

scores of devotional poems, at least one for each deity or

temple then known in India, wrote five unique expository

works: viveka cUDAmaNi, aparoksha anubhUti, Atma-bodha,

upadeSa sAhasri and praSnottara-ratna-mAlikA, each one of

which constitutes, in its own way, a concise, encyclopaedia

of advaita vedanta and, finally, reorganized and

streamlined the daily worship of the individual Hindu in

such a way that it has survived him for centuries till now.

 

 

His immediate disciples whom he later nominated to lead the

mutts he established were: SureSvarAchArya (former name

maNDana-miSra), hastAmalakAchArya (former name

Prithvidhara), padmapAdAchArya (former name Sanandana) and

toTakAchArya (former name giri). He founded five mutts (at

Sringagiri in Karnataka,, at Puri in Orissa, at Badrinath

in Uttar Pradesh, at Dwaraka in Gujarat and at Kanchi in

Tamilnadu) to carry forward the torch of enlightenment and

service which continue even today to promote this cause.

The unbroken lines of Shankaracharyas in these mutts has

brought his teachings from generation to generation right

to the presen t. A life-size statue of Shankara may be seen

within the Kamakshi temple at Kanchipuram, where he is said

to have shed his mortal coil.

 

Shankara was also an acclaimed poet. His compositions both

in prose and poetry excel even some of the greatest

literary poets India has known. He was not only one of the

deepest thinkers of the world but he also had the unique

distinction of being very lucid in his expositions (both

written and oral) of his thoughts. He was a profound and

well-read scholar but was in addition a blessed saint who

had the grace of God in all its fullness.

 

He exhibited, even in his childhood, marvellous powers of

spirituality and scholarship. He was already known for his

genial disposition and kind heart. On one of these days

when he was studying in his Gurukula, (the abode of the

teacher where his disciples become resident students), he

went to a poor brahmin’s house, as was usual with all

celibate students, to receive his bhikShA, the daily food

offered as a service. The poverty stricken housewife was

unable to give him anything substantial. She brought and

gave him an Amalaka (a fruit of the embylic myrobalan) as a

humble token of her contribution to the bhikSA. Shankara’s

heart was moved at the sight of her poverty on one side and

her readiness, on the other side, to give away even the

very little she had. He prayed to Lakshmi, the Goddess of

Wealth by composing his famous kanaka-dhArA stotra. Lo! And

behold, her house was immediately filled with a heavenly

downpour of gold in the form of golden amalaka fruits. Thus

was born one of the most popular hymns of ancient India,

which, even today is repeated very often by young and old

for the obvious purpose of pleasing Goddess LakSmi for Her

grace to descend and bestow wealth and prosperity. The poem

containing 27 verses not only offers this prayer but it

also describes the three deities sarasvati, lakSmi and

durgA as manifestations of the one Mother Goddess.

 

Shankara was further a great mystic and Yogi who had a

direct perception of the Infinite Consciousness and at the

same time he was also a practical, socio-cum-religious

reformer. To cap this all, his knowledge and felicity in

law, logic, rules of grammar and etymology were as supreme

as his devotion. Thus Shankara synthesized in his one

personality the superlatives of a philosopher, writer,

thinker, poet, scholar, blessed devotee, mystic, reformer,

humanist, lawyer and logician, and the beloved of the Lord.

This unique combination of so many excellent achievements

of his in his short life has not perhaps been paralleled by

any one in the history of the world either before or after

his time.

 

PraNAms to all advaitins on this list.

PraNAms to Adi Shankaracharya.

profvk