Pastimes of Sripad Shankaracharya

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At Gurukula

 

At the age of five Shankara's Upanayana was performed.

By that time his father Shivaguru was dead. Only the

mother had to bear the responsibility of bringing up

the child pupil. Shankara was sent to the nearby

Gurukula on the banks of river Poornaa. Under the

guidance of Guru he studied the Vedas and its branches

and also all other subjects. His brilliance brought

credit to the entire Gurukula. From an incident that

happened during his stay at the Gurukula one can

understand his deep concern for the poor and

distressed persons.

 

There is a convention that the pupils in a Gurukula

should get their food by begging. Accordingly the boy

Shankara went round to beg. He stood at the door of a

house and shouted, "Mother, please give aims." He

repeated the appeal twice. There was no reply. He

repeated it several times. Then a woman came out and

stood with a sad face. There was nothing in the house

to offer to this boy. Hence that piteous look. Tears

welled up in her eyes.

 

Shankara understood the situation. "Mother, I shall be

content with whatever you give me. Thereby may there

be no scarcity in your house," he said. But how to

give anything when there was nothing? What is there to

give? At last she remembered the gooseberries grown in

the backyard. She brought some gooseberries and gave

them to Shankara. Shankara then prayed to Shreedevi,

the Goddess of Wealth, to show her mercy on this

humble and virtuous woman. Then, as written in the

books, there was a shower of golden gooseberries in

the house. This means that as a result of Shankara's

prayer to the Goddess, that family became rich and

prosperous.

 

For The Sake Of Mother

 

After completing his education in the Gurukula, it was

the time when Shankara was at home rendering service

to his mother and also teaching some pupils. Aryamba

had fallen ill, But still she insisted on having her

daily bath in the river Poornad. Though the river-bed

was in front of her house, it had dried up because of

summer, and the slender flow of water was far away.

Aryamba had to cross the vast sand-bed to reach the

water. One day she managed to finish her bath and was

returning home. While crossing that sand-bed, not

being able to withstand the sun and strain, she

fainted and fell down on the way. Shankara got the

news and rushed to the spot. He attended to her. When

she recovered a little, he brought her home.

 

The summer might be unbearable and the water might be

flowing at a distance across a broad bed of sand. But

Aryamba would never agree to change her routine. So

the next day, would she not go again to the river for

bath? This worried Shankara. He folded his hands in

salutation to the river goddess, Poornaa Devi. He

prayed to her to flow in full, extending her waters up

to their house, in order to facilitate his mother's

ritualistic bath. Maybe in answer to his prayer, or

maybe by a seasonal phenomenon or due to both, there

was a continuous downpour of rain throughout the

night. The next morning river Poornaa was found

flowing fully over the breadth of her sands in all her

grace and majesty. This is as good a miracle as having

brought the distant river very near.

 

 

 

 

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