The Sturdy Lotus

[Guest guest]

Dear spiritual brothers and sisters,

I have always placed gurubhakthi on the

highest pedestal.Here is the story of Padmapada.

Sankara, the great Acharya (preceptor)

had four chief disciples viz. , Thotaka, Hasthamalaka, Sureshwara,

and Padmapada. Of these, Padmapada was intent only on service to his

Guru; he could not pay attention to the lessons. The others used to

sneer at him for his backwardness in studies. One day as usual he

washed the clothes of his Guru and dried them on a rock in the

middle of the river. But, even as he was folding them, the river

rose fast into a swirling flood and he had scarce a foothold on the

top of the rock. It was getting late and the Guru would need the

washed clothes soon. So Padmapada resolved to walk across the raging

waters. He knew that the blessings of his Guru would save him.

Wherever he placed his foot a sturdy lotus bloomed and bore him on

its petals. That is why he came to be called lotus-footed

(padmapada). The Grace of the Guru enabled him to master all

knowledge and shine as a brilliant exponent of ancient wisdom.

padmapAda is said to have once written a

complete commentary to Sankara's brahmasUtra bhAshya. However, his

original manuscript was lost in a fire orchestrated by a jealous

uncle of his. He had read out the portion of his work dealing with

the first five padas of the brahmasUtras once before to Sankara. On

learning of the loss of the original manuscript, Sankara dictated

this portion back to him from memory. Hence the work came to be

known as the pancapAdikA. This story is recounted in some of the

Sankaravijayam texts. In any case, the extant work titled

pancapAdikA ends abruptly after elaborating on Sankara's bhAshya

upto the fourth sUtra. padmapAda is said to have succeeded Sankara

at the eastern maTha at Puri. The pancapAdikA has a commentary named

vivaraNa, by prakASAtman, which forms the basis for the later

vivaraNa school of advaita vedAnta. Other works attributed to

padmapAda include vijnAna dIpikA, AtmAnAtmaviveka, and a commentary

on Sankara's Atmabodha, titled vedAntasAra. padmapAda is associated

with the pUrI maTha as the first guru after Sankara.

 

Even if we cannot be like Padmapada

there is no harm in aspiring to be like him.Who knows there might be

a padmapada in one of you all.

Yours yogically,

Dattu