The History of Sri Adi Sankara

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Sri Adi Sankara

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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.