The life and work of Sri Sankara Part 2

It is unfortunate that no biography of Sri Sankara was written by his contemporaries. For details about his life, we have to depend on Sankara Vijayas composed at different times long after he lived. They do not agree in all particulars about his life. The traditional date of Sri Sankara varies from that assigned to him by modern historians. While the latter fix him as having lived from 788 to 820 A.D., the tradition determined by the pontifical succession in the celebrated Pithas that he established take him to a time long before the Christian era. Be that as it may, we may glean from the different biographies extant today a generally accepted account of his life and work.

It is agreed on all hands that Sri Sankara belonged to a Nambudiri Brahmana family of Kerala in the hamlet of Kaladi situated on the banks of the Churna river. His father was a pious wealthy person called Sivaguru and his mother was Aryamba. Not blessed with a son for a long time, the devout pair went to worship Lord Siva in the nearby celebrated temple at Trichur. The story goes that, pleased by their devotion, God appeared before them in a dream and asked them to choose between a number of long-lived sons who would remain ignorant and stupid and one who would live for eight years only but would be possessed of phenomenal intellectual gifts. Sivaguru and his wife had no hesitation in choosing the latter. According to the legend, it was conveyed to them that Lord Siva Himself would condescend to be born to them.

In fullness of time, Aryamba bore a child carrying such divine marks on its person that those who beheld it proclaimed it an incarnation of Lord Siva Himself. It was given the significant name of Sankara, calculating by the season, the day and time of its birth and also as if to predict the great service the child was destined to render to the world. (Sam Karoti iti Sankarah: 'Sankara' is one who does good). As ill luck would have it, Sivaguru passed away before the child was five years old and it was then brought up with care and affection by his mother. With the assistance of her kinsmen, Aryamba got the upanayanam ceremony performed for her precocious boy who then mastered all the Vedas and Sastras which seemed to wait on his lips, eager to be uttered by him for their own sanctification.

The eight years of the boy's allotted life were drawing to a close. The fateful day dawned. On that day it happened that Aryamba and Sri Sankara went to the Churna river to bathe. The mother finished her ablutions and was resting on the bank of the river. Suddenly she heard a cry of distress from her son telling her that a terrific crocodile had got his leg in its mouth and was dragging him down. The agony of the mother was indescribable.

Then Sri Sankara told her that he could free himself from the grip of the monster if, then and there, he assumed the Sannyasa asrama bringing about thereby the 'death' of his former condition and the start of a new life. Else, the crocodile would devour him and that would be the end of his physical life. 'Choose' said he, 'this instant; for there is no time to lose. Shall I pass away devoured by the crocodile or shall I live to convert myself into a sannyasin?' Aryamba was in a dilemma, but her maternal instinct made her consent to Sri Sankara to live as a sannyasin if thereby she could keep him alive. Then and there, standing in the water, the boy Sankara uttered the incantation which automatically admitted him into the holy order of mendicant sannyasins. And, for a wonder, the crocodile loosened its grip and disappeared from water to appear again in the sky, so the story goes, as a celestial Gandharva released from his erstwhile curse by which he was condemned to be an aquatic monster. Thus Sri Sankara 'died' as a Brahmachari at the ordained age of eight and obtained a further lease of another eight years.

Upon Aryamba quite innocently bidding her son to accompany her home, Sri Sankara reminded her that he had become a sannyasin, that he had betaken to an itinerant life and must take leave of her. The mother was anguished at this, grieving as to who could take care of her son. She wailed in disappointment that it was not given to her to see her son grow up, marry and raise progeny for the continuation of his line. Sri Sankara consoled her by saying: 'Mother dear! Do not grieve. The whole world will be my home hereafter. All those who will initiate me into the sacred lore will be my fathers. All women who give me bhiksha (alms) will be my mothers. The peace that shall be mine by the realization of the Atman will be my consort. All my disciples will be my sons.' He however promised to be at her bedside in her last moments and speed her way to heaven by his presence. Aryamba then gave him unwilling leave to depart. Sri Sankara traveled on foot from Kaladi to the Narmada banks visiting many a sacred spot on the way. There, in a place called Omkar Mandhata on the bank of river Narmada which from then on is called Sankara Ganga, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada who formally admitted him into the sannyasin order according to the prescribed rituals and imparted the Brahma Vidya to him. After serving his guru, for some time, obeying his command. Sri Sankara went to Kasi (Varanasi) and engaged himself in writing commentaries on the tripod of Hindu philosophy, namely, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras. At this time an interesting incident happened in the life of Sri Sankara. One morning, he was returning to his monastery after a bath in the Ganga. Leading four dogs an outcaste, who should not approach him, came along.

He was bidden by Sri Sankara to go away from his path. Upon this, the outcaste queried him as to what he bade to go away; if it was the outcaste's body or his Atman. If it was the former, he said, it was compacted of the same five elements as Sri Sankara's own body and was not different. So it need not go away. If it was the Atman, then according to the Advaita that Sri Sankara taught, the Atman of all persons, brahmana or outcaste, was one only and, being identical and all-pervasive, it cannot move away. Sri Sankara immediately understood that his questioner was no ordinary outcaste, but a realized soul and broke forth into a pentad of verses acclaiming the outcaste's greatness. Sri Sankara said in the verse that he deemed a person of such spiritual realization to be his Guru, be he an outcaste or a brahmana. According to the legend, it was Lord Siva Himself who appeared as this outcast. The dogs were the four Vedas. The outcaste and his retinue vanished and Lord Siva appeared and blessed Sri Sankara exhorting him to finish writing his commentaries.

Another incident occurred sometime later. While Sri Sankara was instructing his disciples in his Vedantic commentaries, an aged brahmana appeared before him with a request that he would be pleased to resolve some of his doubts. A vigorous discussion followed between the Master and the brahmana who disputed for a number of days with elaborate arguments Sri Sankara's interpretation of one of the tersest of the Brahma Sutras. This went on for eight days, each side vindicating its stand and there was no prospect of its conclusion. At this time, one of Sri Sankara's disciples, Padmapada by name, wondered who the doughty debater was. In an intuitive flash, it struck him that he must be the great Bhagavan Vyasa, the author of the Brahma Sutras. He exclaimed: 'Sankara is Siva and Vyasa is Narayana Himself. When these gods themselves dispute, what can a mere mortal like me do?' Sri Sankara then realized who his disputant was. Prostrating before him he begged to be blessed. Sage Vyasa there upon lauded the fidelity of Sankara's commentaries and gave them the imprimatur of his approval. The extended eight years of Sri Sankara's life were about to be over. Adding another sixteen years to the span of his life, Vyasa bade him propagate the Advaita Sastra in the far reaches of India.