Adi Sankaracharya- the Voice of Vedanta

by Sridevi Rao

  The total number of literary works attributed to Sankara include twenty-three Bhashya Granthas (commentaries), fifty-four Prakarana and Upadesha Granthas (philosophical treatises), and seventy-six Stotra Stuti Granthas (hymns and verses). Of these, those recognised as the authentic works of Sankara are: the commentaries on the Brahmasutra, Bhagvad Gita and the ten Upanishads; the philosophical treatises Upadesa Sahasri, Vivekachudamani, Aparoksha Anubhuti and Atmabodha; the stotras Anandalahiri, Govinda Ahtaka, Dakshinamurti Stotra, Dasa Sloki, Dvadasa Panjarika, Bhaja Govindam Stotra, Vishnu Shatpadi, Harimide Stotra, Kaupina Pancbaka, Manisbapanchaka and Nirvana Shtaka.

  By the time he was sixteen, Sankara was thus a deeply enlightened sage and unmatched scholar. Yet some vestiges of his Brahmin upbringing remained, and would now be challenged in one of the most dramatic and moving episodes to be recorded about his life.

  It is an encounter that has acquired mythical dimensions in the hands of Sankara's hagiographers — quite unnecessarily so, for shorn of the myths, what we see is a man of great courage, who dared to repudiate the staunch orthodoxy of his upbringing and social milieu in the face of truth.

  One day, Sankara was walking down to the Ganga with his disciples when he saw a chandala, a social outcaste, walking up the path with his dogs. Instinctively, the sixteen-year-old called out to him to move aside and make way for him and his disciples.

  The chandala stood his ground and issued a challenge that would become a great learning experience in the young sage's life. The lines ascribed to him are rather long, but the gist of his questions to Sankara went like this:

  "You preach that the Vedas teach the non-dual Brahman to be the only reality and that it is immutable and never polluted. If this is so, how has this sense of difference overtaken you?

  "You asked me to move aside and make way for you. To whom were your words addressed, O Learned Sir? To the body, which comes from the same source and performs the same functions in the case of both a Brahmin and a social outcaste? Or to the Atman, the witnessing Consciousness, which is the same in all, unaffected by the body?

  "How do differences such as, This is a Brahmin, this is a social outcaste' arise in non-dual experience?

  "Forgetting... one's own true nature as the Spirit — beyond thought and words, unmanifest, beginning-less, endless and pure — how have you come to identify yourself with your body?

  "If you say that your conduct is meant only for the guidance of the world, even then how can you explain such conduct in the light of non-dualistic experience?"

  Instantly, Sankara awoke to the truth underlying the words and, freed from the last vestiges of dualistic thinking, sang a moving verse — the Manishapanchakam — in praise of Siva as the Self. Mythology narrates that the chandala revealed himself to be Lord Siva, and the dogs – the four Vedas. Philosophically interpreted, the encounter ended with Sankara expressing the deep Realisation that the chandala, like all beings, could not be anything other than Siva.

  The Spatika Linga

  Sometime after he turned sixteen, it is believed, Sankara intuited that his mother was dying. This is another powerful episode that presents us Sankara the man, full of love and compassion, breaking the shackles of an orthodox tradition.

  By most accounts, Sankara reached his mother's side before she died. He is said to have composed the Tattva-bodha and Krsnastaka as a final spiritual instruction for his dying mother. After her death, he wanted to fulfill the promise made to her when he left home, and perform the last rites himself. It was unheard of for a sanyasin to do so, and the orthodox Nambudiris of the village refused to go along with it. But Sankara paid no heed. Unable to carry the body by himself, he cut it up into pieces, which he then carried to a pyre that he had built in the corner of the garden, and consigned them to flames.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Teacher and Reformer

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  There is a legend about Sankara that relates that he was destined to live a short life, but was twice granted extensions of his lifespan by rishis.

  Even before his birth, say the legends, Sankara's parents had been told that their son would have a short life. He was, in fact, destined to live only up to the age of eight. Just before he turned eight, however, a group of sages is said to have visited their home, and pleased with Aryamba's devotion and Sankara's knowledge, had blessed him by doubling his lifespan.

  When he was sixteen, and had just completed writing his major commentaries, the great rishi Vyasa is said to have visited him and engaged him in a lengthy debate over the scriptures. Pleased with the depth of understanding Sankara displayed during the debate, the rishi, too, blessed him by further doubling his lifespan.

  Scholars and historians present a more rational basis for this probable sectioning of Sankara's life in the three distinct phases that he went through. The first phase, till age eight, was the childhood period. The second phase, from eight to sixteen was a period of inner work, during which he gained his spiritual insights under the tutelage of Govindapada and then went on to develop his philosophical system through his writings. The third phase, from age sixteen to his death at thirty-two, was that of Sankara as the wandering mendicant and missionary.

  In this last phase, we see a picture of Sankara quite different from the brooding young man of intellectual intensity of the earlier phases. Now we see a Sankara of indefatigable action, travelling and teaching tirelessly through the length and breadth of the subcontinent not once, but thrice. He travelled by foot, with a small band of devotees, probably wearing just his saffron robe and wooden sandals, with his only possessions, the kamandali (begging bowl) and danda (walking stick) of the sanyasin, and living on whatever alms they received each day.

  During this period, scores of disciples came to him, some of them accompanying him wherever he went. Among them, four were destined to become the torchbearers of Sankara's great teachings. When each of them first met him is not known, but how they came to be his disciples is described dramatically in the legends. One day, while Sankara was in Kasi, a young Brahmin called Visnusarma sought him as a teacher. Visnusarma hailed from the Chola Kingdom in South India and had searched far and wide for a teacher. Attracted to the boy-sage, he begged to be accepted as disciple. Sankara initiated him into sanyasa and gave him the name Sanandana.

  Others followed, and soon Sankara was surrounded by disciples wherever he went.

  The disciples, say the legends, revered their master, but Sanandana was the most devoted of them all. He easily outshone the others, but not understanding why this was so, the disciples began to feel that the acharya himself was playing favourites, giving special attention to Sanandana. Intuiting the mood, Sankara decided to show them the simplicity and incandescent purity of Sanandana's devotion that set him apart from the rest.

  One day, while Sankara was bathing in the Ganga with his disciples, he noticed Sanandana on the opposite bank. He called out to Sanandana to come. Instantly, Sanandana turned in the direction of his master's voice and started walking. Unaware of where he was placing his feet, his mind and heart fixed single-pointedly on his master, he took the shortest path to the beloved figure — across the waters of the Ganga. A lotus flower bloomed under every footfall, supporting him across the river.

  From then on, Sanandana came to be known as Padmapada, the lotus-footed one.

  Sankara's meeting with Mandana Mishra is generally given great importance, possibly because it is in this instance that the acharya seems to have revealed best his incredible intellectual prowess and debating skills. Sankara had not actually set out to meet him — he had, in fact, sought Mandana's teacher, the renowned Purva Mimamsa scholar and philosopher Kumarila Bhatta, to engage him in debate.

  Purva Mimamsa was the most prevalent religious sect of the time. The dualistic Purva Mimamsa school believed that the way to salvation lay in the strict observance of all the rituals prescribed in the Vedas. The foremost proponent of this school was Kumarila, who had won renown by-defeating the Buddhists in
philosophical debate. Sankara knew that he needed to either win over Kumarila or defeat him in debate if the Advaita teachings were to be accepted by the masses and survive his lifetime.

  By the time Sankara reached Prayaga (present-day Allahabad), where Kumarila lived, the latter had already accepted the truths of Advaita. In fact, Sankara arrived to find Kumarila in the act of immolating himself in excruciatingly slow degree by immersing himself in a pit of slow-burning paddy husk. He was doing this to expiate two sins he considered himself to have committed. One was that of his studying Buddhism under the false identity of a Buddhist monk so that he could learn their doctrines and decimate them later in debate. The second sin was that of his spurning of Isvara to put his faith in Purva Mimamsa.

  Quite the strategist. Sankara quickly requested him to write a vrattika on his Brahmasutrabhashya. Kumarila, however, directed him to his student Mandana Mishra, whose scholastic abilities equalled that of his teacher.

  Sankara hastened to Mandana, and defeated him in a series of fiery debates held over a few days. The legends give a dramatic and colourful account of the happenings of those days.

  When Sankara arrived at the home of Mandana, the legends relate, it was closed from inside as Mandana was busy performing a shraddha ceremony. Sankara, however, used his yogic powers and entered the house. Mandana was furious when he saw Sankara, because it was believed to be inauspicious for a sanyasin who has renounced all rituals to be present during such ceremonies.

  A verbal duel is said to have followed, at the end of which Mandana agreed to debate with Sankara. He also agreed to embrace Advaita and take up sanyasa if Sankara was able to defeat him in the debate. Mandana's wife Ubhaya Bharati, no mean scholar herself, was asked to be the referee. Busy with household duties, Ubhaya Bharati doubted that she would have the time to sit through the debates. So before they commenced, she placed a garland around their necks — the wearer of the garland that faded first, she declared, would be the loser.

  The debate raged on for days. At every mid-day, Ubhaya Bharati would interrupt — to invite the grihastha Mandana for lunch and sanyasin Sankara for bhiksha (alms). Then one day she invited both of them for bhiksha—signifying that Mandana had lost the debate. Simultaneously, the garland around his neck began to fade and wither while Sankara's remained fresh.

  Sankara initiated Mandana into sanyasa and gave him the name Sureshvara. One of Sankara's most ardent disciples, Sureshvara would, after Sankara's death, head the Sankara mutt at Sringeri.

  When Sankara was visiting a town referred to as Sri Bali, in South India, he was approached by a man named Prabhakara, who had a son who behaved strangely — not quite retarded, but not very sanely either. Prabhakara wanted to know if the acharya could help him in any way. The boy seemed to be lost to the world, but when Sankara gently asked him why he behaved like an inert being, he burst into a song. The twelve-verse discourse on the nature of Atman ended with the refrain: 'I am the Self that is of the nature of eternal consciousness.' Sankara accepted him as a disciple, initiated him into sanyasa and gave him the name Hasthamalaka.

  While Sankara was at Sringeri, Kalanatha, a young man of no learning, begged to be his personal attendant. He would wait on the acharya hand and foot, and when he gave his discourses to his pupils, would stand a little away from the group, drinking in every word his master uttered. One day, it is said, the disciples ridiculed Kalanatha as a dull-witted person. Suddenly, Kalanatha sang a hymn, composed in the difficult totaka metre, in praise of Sankara. From then on, he was accepted as one of the disciples and was known as Totakacharya.

  Sankara, though very young, clearly had a paternalistic relationship with his disciples. He openly displayed his deep affection, concern and care for them. The disciples revered him but felt confident enough to question him and even confront him. There is an incident between the acharya and Padmapada that reflects the close and loving bond between master and disciple.

  A view of Sringeri

  Sankara stayed for a while in Sringeri (in present-day Karnataka) with his disciples. While there, he commissioned Padmapada and Sureshvara to write commentaries on his works. It is said that after completing the task, Padmapada wanted to go on a pilgrimage on his own. Sankara at first said no. The proximity of the guru, he said, is the real place of pilgrimage, and the ablutions of the guru's feet the real tirtha( holy water). Travel would only cause distraction, he tried telling Padmapada; he would spend all his time worrying about food and shelter rather than perceiving the Atman, which is best done through the instructions of the guru.

  But Padmapada was determined. He put up an impressive argument, saying that conveniences are hardly conducive to spiritual attainment, and inconveniences, disease and death have to be faced. At this, Sankara exclaimed that he had only been testing his acolyte's determination and gave him permission to go. And then, by most accounts, he fussed over his favourite disciple, sending him off with words of caution and advice: "Do not stay too long in any place; take known and well-used paths; don't travel in the dark; don't trust strangers too much."

  If the first part of Sankara's mission was the refurbishing of the Vedas and the restoration of Vedanta to its rightful place, the second part seems to have been the reformation of the religious practices of the time and the popularisation of Vedanta.

  As a religious reformer, Sankara was a man of the people, a charismatic figure who won the hearts of those who came into contact with him. He spoke to people in the terms that they understood; he visited their temples and participated in their worship. He sang moving hymns and songs soaked in the flavour of bhakti, while he gently tried to turn their mind towards the ideal of Advaita.

  He travelled to as many places as he could, however far-flung, in order to meet people of as many sects as possible. No historical record of his itinerary is available, but from the legends surrounding various temples, it can be surmised that he criss-crossed the country, from Puri in the east to Gokarna in the west; from Rameswaram in the south to Kashmir in the north. He visited Srisailam, Mookambika, Sri Bali, Sringeri, Kanchipuram, Vidarbha, Ujjain, Badrinath and Kedarnath, among others.

  Sri Chakra

  In all the temples he visited, Sankara introduced various reforms in the methods of worship. He rid Vedic rituals of their degenerate practices and excesses, and ushered a simplicity and purity of heartfelt worship in temples and in homes. He sang the praises of the deities in beautiful hymns, including Dakshinamurti stotram, Devyaparadhakshamapana stotram, Shivananandalahiri and others.

  There is some ambiguity about Sankara's stand on tantric practices. During Sankara's time, the deity of the Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram was that of the Devi in her fearsome aspect. It is believed that Sankara drew the Sri Chakra yantra and performed an elaborate ritual worship to invoke the goddess in her benign, peaceful aspect. He is also believed to have visited the Sarada temple in Kashmir and worshipped the deity there as a consort of the supreme god, again with the drawing of the Sri Chakra yantra. He is believed to have composed one of his best-known hymns, the beautiful Saundaryalahiri in praise of the Devi, here. These incidents seem to indicate that he actively supported the worship of Shakti.

  Goddess Sarada Devi

  The exquisite architectural beauty of Sri Vidyashankara Temple in Sringeri

  In his social ideas, however, Sankara was somewhat orthodox. He upheld the Vedic practice of dividing society into four classes or varnas based on profession, but his frequent bemoaning of the dismal state of society as it existed then seems to indicate that he was unhappy with the rigid jati system that had become prevalent. Even the distinctions of the varna system, he believed, were operative only as long as one remained ignorant of the Self. When the Self is Realised, all social identities, obligations and distinctions cease to exist. Self Realisation, he believed, could happen spontaneously to anyone, irrespective of jati — it would be possible for a Sudra to become a jnani or a Realised being. Jati did not also matter to the follower of jnana marga, who would,
in Sankara's system, necessarily have to be a renunciate, a sanyasin; but if one was not on the path of renunciation, the studying of the scriptures was important before he entered the last, meditative phase of his life, and such scriptural studies, Sankara did believe, was possible only for the Brahmin.

  An artistic Sculpture at Sri Vidyashankara Temple in Sringeri

  Sankaracharya temple in Sringeri

  Sankara also believed in the efficacy of the varnashramadharma — the four stages of life as delineated by the Vedas. First was the stage of childhood; then came youth or brahmacharya, a period of purity, celibacy and studying of scriptures; then grihasthya fulfilling family and social obligations as a householder; and finally, vanaprastha, the severing of worldly ties and turning the mind inward.

  The mix of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in Sankara's teachings had a far-reaching, reformist impact on the religious milieu. But coming as it did centuries after the radical, reformist social stands taken by Buddhism and Jainism, its impact on the social milieu was rather limited.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Architect of the Hindu Identity

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