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Sri Sankara was born in a small
town of Kaladi,
situated on the banks of River Poorna in the state of Kerala. He was born
in 788 AD, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight (Shukla paksha) of the
month of Vaishakha, to a Namboodiri brahmin couple, Sivaguru and Aryamba.
The couple had remained childless for a long time, and prayed for a child
at the Shiva (Vadakkunnathan) Temple in the
nearby town of Trichur.
Lord Siva is said to have appeared to the couple in a dream and promised
them a choice of either one son who would be short-lived but the most
brilliant philosopher of his day, or many sons who would at best be
mediocre. The couple opted for a brilliant, but short-lived son. He was
thus named Sankara by his parents.
Childhood
:
Sankara lost his father when
quite young, and his mother performed his upanayana ceremonies with the
help of her relatives. Sankara excelled in all branches of traditional
vedic learning. A few miracles are reported about the young Sankara. As a
brahmacharin, he went about collecting alms from families in the village. A
lady who was herself extremely poor, but did not want to send away the boy
empty-handed, gave him the last piece of Amla fruit she had at home.
Sankara, sensing the abject poverty of the lady, composed a hymn (Kanakadhara
Stavam) to Sri, the goddess of wealth, right at her doorstep. As a result,
a shower of golden Amlas rewarded the lady for her piety. On another
occasion, Sankara is said to have re-routed the course of the Poorna
River, so that his old mother would
not have to walk a long distance to the river for her daily ablutions.
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Sankara was born in a small
town of Kaladi,
situated on the banks of River Poorna in the state of Kerala. He was born
in 788 AD, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight (Shukla paksha) of the
month of Vaishakha, to a Namboodiri brahmin couple, Sivaguru and Aryamba.
The couple had remained childless for a long time, and prayed for a child
at the Shiva (Vadakkunnathan) Temple in the
nearby town of Trichur.
Lord Siva is said to have appeared to the couple in a dream and promised
them a choice of either one son who would be short-lived but the most
brilliant philosopher of his day, or many sons who would at best be
mediocre. The couple opted for a brilliant, but short-lived son. He was
thus named Sankara by his parents.
Sankara lost his father when
quite young, and his mother performed his upanayana ceremonies with the
help of her relatives. Sankara excelled in all branches of traditional
vedic learning. A few miracles are reported about the young Sankara. As a
brahmacharin, he went about collecting alms from families in the village. A
lady who was herself extremely poor, but did not want to send away the boy
empty-handed, gave him the last piece of Amla fruit she had at home.
Sankara, sensing the abject poverty of the lady, composed a hymn (Kanakadhara
Stavam) to Sri, the goddess of wealth, right at her doorstep. As a result,
a shower of golden Amlas rewarded the lady for her piety. On another
occasion, Sankara is said to have re-routed the course of the Poorna
River, so that his old mother would
not have to walk a long distance to the river for her daily ablutions.
At the feet of his
Teacher
:
Sankara was filled with
the spirit of renunciation early in his life. Getting married and settling
to the life of a householder was never part of his goal in life, though his
mother was anxious to see him as a gruhasta. Once when he was swimming in
the river, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Sankara sensed that he was
destined to die at that moment, and decided to directly enter the fourth
Ashrama of sanyas right then. This kind of renunciation is called Apata
sanyas. The crocodile released him when he thus mentally decided to
renounce the world, and Sankara decided to regularize his decision by going
to an accomplished guru. To comfort his anxious mother, he promised that he
would return at the moment of her death, to conduct her funeral rites,
notwithstanding the fact that he would be a sanyasi then.
Sankara then traveled far
and wide in search of a worthy guru who would initiate him and regularize
his vow of sanyas, till he came to the banks of the River Narmada in
central India.
Here was the Ashrama of Govinda-bhagavatpada, the disciple of Gaudapada,
the famous author of the Mandukya Karikas. Sankara was accepted as a
disciple by the great teacher, and later initiated him into the paramahamsa
order of sanyas, the highest kind of renunciation. Seeing the intellectual
acumen of his disciple, the Acharya commanded his disciple Sankara to
expound the philosophy of Vedanta through commentaries on the principal
Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita.
Exuding the fragrance of
Upanishads :
Sankara took leave of his
guru and traveled to various holy places in India, also composing his
commentaries in the meantime. In this period, Sankara wrote commentaries on
Badarayana's Brahma Sutras, the various Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
These commentaries, called Bhashyas, stand at the pinnacle of Indian
philosophical writing, and have triggered a long tradition of
sub-commentaries & spiritual literature. In addition to these, Sankara
wrote independent treatises called Prakarana Granthas, including the
Upadesha Sahasri, Atma-bodha, etc. In addition to writing his own
commentaries, Sankara sought out leaders of other schools, in order to
engage them in debate. As per the accepted philosophical tradition in India, such
debates helped to establish a new philosopher, and also to win disciples
and converts from other schools. It was also traditional for the loser in
the debate to become a disciple of the winner. Thus Sankara debated with
Buddhist philosophers, with followers of Sankya and with Purva Mimamsakas,
the followers of vedic ritualism, and proved more than capable in defeating
all his opponents in debate. Sankara then sought out Kumarila Bhatta, the
foremost proponent of the purva mimamsa in his age, but Bhatt was on his
deathbed and directed Sankara to Mandana Misra. Sankara went to his place
and won him over as one of his disciples.
The Last
Days :
In the course of his
travels, Sankara reached Kashmir. Here was
a temple dedicated to Sarada (sarasvati), the goddess of learning, which
housed the sarvajnapitha, the Throne of Omniscience. His discourses &
discussions won the hearts of all and was
unanimously honored by the pundits there by requesting him to ascend the
highly respected Throne of Omniscience. This was yet one more gesture of
the intelligentsia & society of that times to
show its respect, gratitude & indebtedness to that great embodiment of
knowledge.
Meanwhile, Sankara heard
that his mother was dying, and decided to visit her. Remembering his
promise to her, he performed her funeral rites. His orthodox relatives
would not permit him to do the rites himself, as he was a sanyasi, but
Sankara overrode their objections, and built a pyre himself and cremated
his mother in her own backyard. After this, he once again resumed his
travels and the noble mission.
Sankara was reaching the age of 32 now. He had
expounded the Vedanta philosophy through his writings; he had attracted many
intelligent disciples to him, who could carry on the Vedantic tradition; and
he had established monastic centers for them in the form of matha's. His had
been a short, but an extremely eventful life. He retired to the Himalayas
and disappeared inside a cave near Kedarnath, where a beautiful monument has
been built as a memorial to that great son of this great land.
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