The History of Sri Adi Sankara (how old is vadakkunathan temple)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

Any idea how old is vadakkunathan temple.Some people say that in

earlier period it was a jain temple and later converted to hindu

temple.same goes for many other famous temples in kerala.Are the

temples in kerala and their customs synthesis of buddhism,Jainism and

hinduism.

 

sreeram

 

-- In vediculture, "vrnparker" <vrnparker> wrote:

>

> Sri Adi Sankara

> Some events

> CLICK LINK BELOW TO SEE ART GALLERY

> http://www.kamakoti.org/miscl/adi.html

> Lord Shiva, also known as Dhakshinamurthy, who spreads the

Universal

> Truth not by words but by his silence and by his sign of his hand

> which is held in the form of "Chin Mudra".

> About 2500 years ago, when the spiritualisation of the people

> greatly reduced, all the Gods and the Rishis went to Kailash and

> pleaded with Lord Shiva to revive the world. Lord Shiva agreed with

> their request and informed that he will be born in this world. Lord

> Brahma, Indra and others also agreed to be born in this world to

> help Lord Shiva.

>

> In Kaladi, Kerala, a learned brahmin, by the name of Sivaguru,

and

> his wife, Aryambal, spent their life in pooja and in giving alms to

> poor and in other good deeds. This childless couple went to Trichur

> and performed puja for 48 days to Lord Vadakkunathan (Lord Shiva)

> and prayed for a son. Lord Shiva melted in their devotion and

> appeared before them and told them "I am extremely happy with your

> devotion and you will get what you want. But tell me whether you

> want a number of dull children or a son who is extremely

> intelligent, who will live for a short period only." The couple

> replied the decision could not be theirs as the Lord knows what is

> good for them.

> Lord Dakshinamurthy, pleased with the reply, was born to Aryambal

> under the star "Thiruvaithhirai". As the Lord had already promised

> that he will be born to do good to this world, the child was named

> Sankara. Sam means prosperity and Karathi means te giver. All the

> visitors stood in awe at the divinity of the child and said "This

is

> not an ordinary child".

> As Shankara grew up, he attraced everybody with his intelligence

> and kindness. At the age of three, he was given "Aksharabyas",

i.e.,

> the learning of writing and reading. At the age of four, he lost

his

> father. At the age of five, he was initiated in Brahmacharyam i.e.,

> the holy thread ceremony was conducted and he was sent to Gurukul

> for learning of scriptures. As per the practice the brahmachari has

> to go from house to house and take alms and submit this to his

guru.

> On a Dwadasi day Sankara happened to go to the house of a very poor

> lady jand asked for the alms. The lady did not have a single grain

> of rice in her house to give. However she had kept a single Amla

> fruit for herself as it was a Dwadasi day. She unhesitatingly gave

> this Amla fruit to Sankara as she could not send a Brahmachari

empty

> handed. Sankara was moved by her selflessness and the poverty of

the

> lady and prayed to Goddess Lakshmi in a beautiful sloka which is

> called "Kanaka Dhara Stotram". On completion of this stotram,

> Goddess Lakshmi appeared in person and showered a rain of golden

> coins on the poor lady's house.

> One day, the rishis came to him and reminded him of his duty to the

> land in spreading spiritualism. Sankara agreed it was time to

become

> a Sanyasi and go all over the country to kindle religious ferver.

> One day when Sankara was taking bath, a crocodile caught hold of

his

> leg. Sankara called out to his mother. Aryambal came running and to

> her horror she found her son in the grip of the crocodile and she

> cried that se did not know how to help her son.

>

> Sri Sankara informed his mother that his life was nearing to an

end,

> but if he became a Sanyasi, he could start a new life as a

sannyasi.

> Thus Sri Sankara obtained permission from his mother to become a

> sannyasi.

>

> Sri Sankara went in the search of a Guru to be formally initiated

> as a Sannyasi. At the banks of the river Narmada, he found the

river

> gushing forth into floods. By using his powers, he encapsulated the

> river in his Kamandal (a vessel sannyasi's carry) and released it

in

> the banks of the river. Sri Govinda Bagawathpathar, an ascetic who

> saw this, marvelled at Sri Sankara dn took him on as a Shishya.

> Sri Govinda Bagawathpadar taught various vedas to Sri Sankara. He

> also taught about Advaita, the principle that every one in this

> world is the manifestation of God and that God and Atman are one

and

> the same. He advises Sri Sankara to go out in the world and spread

> this truth throughout the country.

> Sri Sankara went to Kasi and by that time, he had a lot of

> disciples. One of them, Sanandhyaya, was drying the clothes of his

> Guru and suddenly Sri Sankara called him to the other bank of the

> river as he needed the clothes urgently. Sanandhyaya, little

> realising that he would drown, starts walking into the river.

> However, the Grace of his Guru resulted in a lotus materialising

> wherever he was keeping his foot. When asked as to how did he cross

> the river, he says that when his Guru calls, he is not to worry

> about anything. Sri Sankara named him as Padma Padar (lotus feet).

> Once, in Kasi, when Sri Sankara was going to the Vishwanath Temple,

> his path was blocked by an "untouchable" who was accompanied by his

> wife and 4 dogs. The disciples of Sri Sankara shouted at him to

make

> way, and to keep a distance. The untouchable smiled and

> said, ""According to your principle of Advaita, which you practice,

> all the Jivatma are same as God. How do you ask me to go? How am I

> different from your Paramacharya? What you say is unreasonable. How

> can I go away from myself?"

> Sri Sankara realised that it was not an ordinary person and

> understood that it was Lord Shiva himself who had come along with

> His escort and the four Vedas. He prostrated before the Lord and

> sang five slokas called "Manisha Panchakam". Lord Shiva presented

> himself along with Visalakshi and blessed Sri Sankara.

>

> When Shri Sankara was 16, a very old Brahmin of ill health

started

> arguments with him about Brahmasutra bashyam which Shri Sankara had

> written. Shri Sankara was astounded by his intelligence and

> arguments but they continued their discussion. The arguments

> continued for days together and the more Shri Sankara argued, his

> ideas crystallised more and more and he understood that the old man

> was none other than Vyasa Rishi, who was the creator of

Brahmasutra.

> Sri Sankara said that he has done a great disrespect to the sage by

> entering into an argument. Vyasa Rishi said "I fully agree with

your

> bashyam and I wanted to establish that yours is correct. I bless

> that you should live another 16 years and you should spread this

> Advaita throughout the country."

> Sri Sankara learnt that there was a great learned person by the

name

> Mandana Mishra who lived in Mahishmati and who followed the Karma

> Mimaamsa method of devotion. Sri Sankara arrived at his house and

> found his house was closed and Mandala Mishra was carrying out some

> rituals inside his house. Sri Sankara entered the house by using

his

> powers and entered the house. Mandala Mishra became very angry and

> shouted at Sri Sankara. But Sri Sankara smiled and explained the

> uselessness of such rituals.

> However, Mandala Mishra admired the intelligence of Sri Sankara and

> started discussions with him after completing the rituals. Sri

> Sankara said that there should be a judge to decide the winner and

> suggested that Sarasawani, the wife of Mandala Mishra, to be the

> judge. Sarasawani, who was extremely intelligent and learned,

> realised that Sri Sankara was none other than Lord Shiva, did not

> want to declare her husband as the loser. She suggested that both

of

> them should wear a garland of flowers and whichever garland fades

> first, that person would be the loser. Naturally, Sri Sankara won.

>

> As per the original condition, Mandala Mishra became an ascetic

> and started to leave the house. Unable to bear the separation,

> Sarasawani stood transfixed and told Sri Sankara that according to

> our faith, the husband and wife, even though have two bodies, are

> spiritually one and she would be incomplete without her husband.

> Sri Sankara accepted this and started discussion with this lady.

> Saraswani showered questions like rain and Sri Sankara gave very

> beautiful answers and Sarasawani acknowledged him, and followed Sri

> Sankara and her husband's footsteps.

>

> In their travels, they reached Sringeri in Karnataka, which is on

> the banks of Tungabadra. While Sri Sankara and Mandala Mishra were

> walking, Sarasawani did not move and stood fixed in the sands of

> Tungabadra. Sri Sankara turned back and realised by his divine

> powers that Sarasawani did not want to proceed any further and

> created a seat for her for spreading the Advaita. This seat is

today

> called the Sharada Peetham or the Seat of Sharada. This was the

> first Mutt installed by Sri Sankara, with the direction that all

the

> heads of the Mutts will be called Sankaracharayas and they will

have

> a lineage of Shishyas or disciples.

> When Sri Sankara was in Sringeri, he divined by his superior

> powers that his mother was in her deathbed, and as per his promise

> while taking Sanyas that he would be by her side while she breathes

> her last, he reached Kaladi and paid his last respects to the old

> lady. Aryambal was happy that her son had come back. Sri Sankara

> prayed to Lord Venkateswara who appeared in person and blessed

> Aryambal. Sri Sankara did the last rites for his mother but the

> people of Kaladi said that a Sanyasi does not have the right to do

> the last rites, but he did not hear that and carried the body of

> Aryambal and put her in the pyre himself and lit it himself.

> After the death of his mother, he went all over the country and

> converted the people of other faith to Advaita. He revived a number

> of temples and using his powers, he established a number of Yentras

> in these temples to spread the blessings of Parasakthi. During his

> travels, he arrived at Mukambi, a religious place in Karnataka. A

> poor brahmin came to Sri Sankara with his deaf and dumb son and

> prostrated before Sri Sankara. Sri Sankara asked the boy, "who are

> you?". The dumb and deaf child, for the first time, opened his

mouth

> and explained, "The body is not me, it is the Paramatma who is my

> body." Sri Sankara was pleased with his answer and he gave an amla

> fruit and named this boy as Hastaaamalakan. (Hastaa means hand and

> Amalakan means amala). Hastaamalaka became one of the principle

> disciples of Sri Sankara.

> Sri Sankara, with his three principle disciples, namely,

> Padmapadar, Sureshwarar (Mandala Mishra) and Hastaamalaka, went

from

> place to place, and preached Advaita. Sri Sankara gave intense

> training to his disciples. One of the other disciples, Giri, while

> listening to the discourses, would not ask any doubts, would not

> open his mouth, and would be silent all the time. Some of the other

> disciples thought that this Giri was a dumb idiot and did not know

> anything. One day, all the disciples were ready to listen to Sri

> Sankara's discourses. Sri Sankara waited for Giri to arrive.

> Ultimately, Giri turned up but instead of keeping silent on that

> day, burst forth into eight slokas which had never been heard by

the

> disciples earlier. These were the creation of Giri. On hearing

this,

> all the disciples felt ashamed and praised Giri. These slokas are

> called "Thotaka ashtakam". Giri was named as Thotakar by Sri

> Sankara.

> Sri Sankara visited Thiruvidaimarudur in Tanjore district of

> Tamilnadu, which is a great religious place, and the ruling deity

in

> the temple was Lord Shiva. The learned Saivites of the temple

> informed Sri Sankara that Lord Shiva is the creator and that they

> are all merely lowly life created by Lord Shiva, and if that was

so,

> how does Sri Sankara say that they were one with the Lord ? They

did

> not agree with the Advaita principle. Sri Sankara asked them to

> enter the temple. As they reached the Sanctum Santorum of the

> temple, their was a thunderous statement "Satyam is Advaita". This

> was repeated thrice and it was also followed by a hand which came

> out of the Linga which conformed the truth. All the learned persons

> acknowledged the principle of Advaita and accepted Sri Sankara as

> their Guru. Even today, there is a Sankara Mutt at Thiruvaimarudur

> and there is a linga with a hand materialising out of it.

> Sri Sankara visited Thiruvanaikar, near Trichy in Tamilnadu. In

> this temple, the Goddess Akhilandeswari was having a feirce power

> and people who went to have her darshan could not stand the

> fierceness of this Goddess. Sri Sankara created two sets of

earrings

> which are called Tatankam and he presented these to the Goddess.

The

> fierceness of the deity reduced. This tatankam, the earrings, has

> been maintained over time by the Acharyas of the Kanchi Mutt.

> Sri Sankara visited Tirupathi and recited the Sloka "Vishnu

pathathi

> keshanta stotra" which describes the Lord from his foot to the

head.

> He wanted the people to visit the Lord in great numbers and get his

> blessings, he established an yantra. From that day the number of

> followers of the temple increased and is increasing day by day.

> Arjuna tree is the tree of "Marutha" and the place where Lord

> Shiva appears as a Linga under this "Martha" tree is called Arjuna

> Kshetra. The Thiruvadaimaruthur which Sri Sankara visited earlier

is

> called Madhyaarjunam. Srisaila, in Andhra, is called Mallikarjunam

> as Lord Shiva resides under a Marutha Tree which has also got

> Jasmine creepers on this tree. Sri Sankara visited this tree and

> became ecstastic on seeing the linga at the foot of this tree. His

> happiness flowed like the waves of a flood and became a sloka

called

> Sivanandalahiri.

> Near Srisailam, there is a forest called Hatakeshwaram, that no man

> enters. Sri Sankara entered this place and did penance for many

> days. During this time, a Kabalika, by name Kirakashan appeared

> before him. Kapalikas are a set of people who live in the burial

> grounds and pray to God by giving human and animal sacrifice. They

> were against Advaita which preaches love and affection and shuns

> violence. He asked Sri Sankara that he should give his body as a

> human sacrifice to Lord Shiva. Sri Sankara was happy to hear this

> request and agreed. Kirakashan was about to cut off Sri Sankara's

> head when Lord Narasimha appeared in the form of a lion and killed

> Kirakashan.

> Sri Sankara completed his travels and went to Badrinath. Lord

> Vishnu appeared before him and told that his sculpture in Alaknanda

> river should be taken out and a temple should be built for it. This

> temple is called Badrinarayan temple and is one of the important

> religious places for Hindus.