The life and work of Sri Sankara Part 4

Sri Sankara then traveled to Badri on the Himalayas where His guru Govinda and His guru's guru Gaudapada were living in the enjoyment of nirvikalpa samadhi. He made them revert to world consciousness by singing the famous Dakshinamurti Stotra. He received their blessings and went to Kailas. According to the story he was affectionately received by his Great Original, Lord Paramesvara who blessed him with five Siva Sphatika Lingas, the oval emblems of Siva made of transparent crystals and a transcript of Soundaryalahari, a century of hymns in praise of the Divine Mother. As ill luck would have it, he lost the later fifty-nine of these verses which he subsequently replaced by his own composition. The five lingas given by Siva were known as Mokshalinga, Varalinga, Bhogalinga, Muktilinga and Yogalinga. Sri Sankara then returned to Kedara where he installed the Muktilinga and established one of his pontificates, in the nearby Badri, which is called the Jyotish Pitha. Proceeding thence to Nepal, he vanquished the Buddhists who denied the soul and God. He installed the Varalinga at Nilakanta Kshethra which is even now in worship at Nepal.

Wending his steps southward the Bhagavatpada went to Dwaraka in the Western corner of India, sacred to the memory of Sri Krishna. He established the Kalika Pitha there and also a pontificate. Crossing the country traveling eastward, he came to Puri where he founded the Vimala Pitha after worshipping Lord Jagannatha. Thence he went to Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh where he composed the famous hymn Sivanandalahari and installed a Srichakra in front of the shrine of the presiding goddess Sri Bhramarambika. It was at this time that Sri Sankara vanquished the Kapalikas and put down the homicidal practice to which they were addicted to in their religious worship.

It was at this time that Sri Sankara's supreme spirit of self-sacrifice and his boundless compassion towards even an enemy with murderous intent was evidenced. (The sage of Kanchi used to narrate the incident with his deep feeling of Guru Bhakthi). The chief of the Kapalikas wanted to do away with Sri Sankara. But he knew that such a divine person could not be done away with unless he himself gave his consent for that. The Kapalika, in addition, also knew the loving heart of Sri Sankara and his self-sacrificing nature. So he made bold to request Sri Sankara himself to give permission to behead him! He further said that he would offer the head to his god Kapali, the dreadful form of Siva, and by this offer of the head of a true monk he would reach the heaven of Kapali.

Without a moment's hesitation Sri Sankara gave his hearty approval for the atrocious request! He said, "Till now I had been thinking that the human body alone is incapable of being of service to fellow beings. The hide of the sheep serves as blanket, that of the cow for making musical instruments. The nerves of many animals find use as strings. So on and so forth. But the human body, once dead is just burnt or buried, without being of any use to anybody. I have been thinking so till now. But now, dear man, you say that my head would serve to confer Kalpali's heaven itself on you. I am glad to be utilised thus. If you are sure that I am a true monk do quickly chop off my head before my disciples turn up".

Unmoved by even such an exalted expression of love the Kapalika aimed his sword on Sri Sankara. But before it could touch the neck of Sri Sankara, the Kapalika himself fell dead due to the outburst of the wrath of the Almighty Vishnu in the Man-lion form of Narasimha.

Traversing thence to the Western Ghats, Sri Sankara worshipped Sri Mukambika. There he discovered the dumb prodigy who, on being cured of his defect, became his disciple and attained the name Hastamalaka. Another of the disciples was one Giri by name, generally considered to be backward by his fellow disciples. Receiving a special mark of grace from Sri Sankara, he broke forth into a soul-stirring hymn of eight verses in praise of his guru, celebrated as the Totakashtaka, himself getting the sannyasa name of Totakacharya.

Resuming his travel, Sri Sankara went to Karnataka and reached Sringagiri (Sringeri). Here he erected a shrine to Sri Sarada, established another pontificate known as the Sarada Pitha and installed there the Bhogalinga from among those that he had brought from Kailas.