[Fegasderty]

I've read abt Adi Sankara in the Bhagwat Gita by Swami Ranganathananda.....I got to know from there tat it was he who first brought out the Gita to light for the ppl. to know it, in the 8th century.

[MannoFr]

Balaji
i do not know abt this 32 mutts.maybe, that is why advaitha philosophy is more popular in north.

[Big A]

Viggop,

one year back, I had been to Kanchi mutt and found a picture showing around 32 mutts Sri Shankaracharya had established... Its spread across the country...

Probably while he was coming back from Himalayas and Kasi, he must have stayed in various places and must have established small small mutts..

Can you pl clarify

[S.T.D.]

Adhi Sankara promised to his mother that he'll return back when she is on her deathbed even though he took sanyas and should not have any contact with family.true to his word, he came to see her when she was in her deathbed.
she died soon after and he was supposed to perform the last rites.the namboodiri brahmins protested saying that he has taken sanyas and he should not perform last rites etc. and refused to help him.Adhi sankara was too weak to carry the dead body of his mother and so he cut the body into pieces and then took the pieces one by one to funeral ground and performed last rites.it seems he cursed the namboodiri brahmins and hence even today, among this particular caste, the dead body is cut into pieces before funeral.

[MannoFr]

Note to both Rohit and Pradeep: Please stop hijacking threads to carry on your arguments.

Kindly also refrain from personal insults keeping in mind the general decorum and decency that is maintained in the Hub.

I am removing all digressions from this thread, and hope it sticks to the topic of the life of Adi Sankara alone.

[HedgeYourBets]

Dear sbadri99,

Your note is fully acknowledged and I would standby with my sincere commitment to write when I have a valid point or view to express.

I have no problem with the removal or deletion of the digressive posts after Pradheep's post, but I do believe that my earlier posts were genuinely valid and very relevant and in context to the topic and earlier posts.

I would request you and other moderators not to remove or delete those posts that are valid and relevant and/or in context to the topic, simply because they are slightly off the desired taste.

As, I genuinely believe that the first two of my posts were very relevant and in the right context to the topic; I would request you to restore those two posts, if you can.

An act of moderation with dispassionate bearing would draw more appreciation than the one with passionate bearing.

Thank you

[LottiFurmann]

Adhi sankara has created a lot of slokas for us.

I personally like
(1)Bhaja Govindam(rendered beautifully by MS)
(2)Mahisasura Mardhini strotram(rendered by bombay sisters,sowmya)
(3)annapurna ashtakam
(4)krishna asktakam(present in Nada Anuboothi site rendered by MS)
(5)lingashtakam

[HedgeYourBets]

Kanakadara strotram story:-

Once Adi sankara went for begging for food as he was a sanyasi.He went to house of an old woman.The woman was very poor and had nothing to offer.She had only small quantity of rice for herself which she gave to adi sankara.Pleased with this, he sang the kanakadhara stotram(kanaka-gold.dhara-rain)
After hearing this, Goddess Lakshmi is supposed to have rained gold coins on the old woman.

The story is a little different!!! This happened even before Sankara took Sanyasa. He was still a boy whose upanayanam had taken place. As a student, he went asking for alms "Bhavati Bhiksham Dehi"

The woman in question was extremely poor and had nothing to offer but a dried, shrivelled gooseberry (amla, nelikkai) which she had kept aside for her Dwadasi vratham (the 12th day of the lunar cycle). She offered the same to him, with the intense feeling that she was unable to give him anything more.

Moved by her love and sacrifice, the boy Sankara sang the stotram which produced a dhara (rain) of kanaka (golden) gooseberries.

[brraverishhh]

Bhaja govindam story:-
======================

Once Adhi Sankara saw an old man repeating sanskrit grammar texts.So, he sang the Bhaja govindam song.The meaning of the song is that things like sanskrit grammar(and other materialistic things) will not give u moksha.Always think of Govinda who alone can provide moksha.Moksha is attained by enlightenment alone.

[NeroASERCH]

Subramanya bhujangam story
==========================

Once Adhi Sankara was in tiruthani.There he fell very sick due to stomach ailment.He was in pain for many days.He prayed to Lord Subramanya and in praise of Murugan sang the "Subramanya bhujangam". it seems by the end of this slokam, Adi Sankara's pain vanished completely.Certain portions of the slokam are said to be important as it is believed that Lord Murugan himself entered the body of Sankara and sang it.
This slokam is present in Nada Anuboothi site rendered by DKP.
Bhujangam is a metre in Sanskrit.It is supposed to be similar to movement of a snake.

[Drugmachine]

Adhi Sankara meeting with Kumarila bhatta.
============================================

Adhi Sankara first wanted to debate with Kumarila Bhatta who was also supposed to be an exponent of karma yoga.
Kumarila Bhatta is supposed to be an amsa of Lord Subramanya.
Kumarila wanted to defeat buddhists.So, he joined the buddist monks as a disciple and learned all the buddist scriptures from them.He did this only with the intention of destroying buddhism. i think after learning buddhists scriptures, he engaged buddists monks in debates and defeated them.But, he was filled with guilt that he joined Buddhists schools as a disciple though with a malicious intention.So, when Adhi Sankara came and asked him for a debate,he refused.He was at that moment preparing to immolate himself because of his guilt.It is he who pointed Adhi Sankara to Mandana Mishra as another exponent of karma yoga.After this, even though Sankara requested him not to immolate himself, he refused and committed suicide.

[9mm_fan]

Adi sankara then proceeded to debate with Mandana Mishra.It seems he was so famous that ppl used 2 say even parrots in his house trees used to sing vedas.
when sankara reached mandana mishra's house, mandana was performing thithi for his father.so, he has asked the house guards not to let anyone inside.
Sankara used his magic powers to get inside the house somehow and this angered Mandana Mishra a lot.

The conversation following this between sankara and mandana mishra is very acerbic and full of sarcasm,abuse etc.It was a play of words in Sanskrit but it was "your momma vs my momma" type of abuse!!!

Finally, mandana mishra agreed to a debate with Sankara.The judge was supposed to be bharathi(wife of mandana mishra) and supposed to be amsa of saraswathi.She asked both of them to wear a garland which will fade if the person loses in debate.this she did because she did not want to pronounce her husband as defeated from her mouth.I think the debate was going on for 3 days and mandana mishra's garland began to fade.

So, Bharathi said that she will not accept defeat of her husband as she too was part of her husband and Sankara has to debate and win her if he was to be declared winner.then, followed the debate between Bharathi and Sankara

[Paul Bunyan]

In this debate,Bharathi asked a lot of questions and sankara was able to answer them.Finally,she asked questions pertaining to Kama.as Sankara was just a boy at that time and took sanyas in his childhood days,he did not know the answer to questions on Kama.So, he asked some time from bharathi promising her that he'll return back and answer her questions.

He came to know that a king called Ajamuka was dead.So, sankara transferred his soul from his body to dead body of the king.He asked his disciples to carefully hide his body.The queens were mourning over the dead body of Ajamuka when suddenly life came to the dead body.

Sankara then spent some time learning the art of Kama through the queens.Some people says that he became so involved in this materialistic life that he forgot his true purpose! Then a disciple had to come to palace and remind him of it! The ministers of the King came to know that the life in the body of King Ajamuka was some sanyasins.So, they tried to find the body of the sanyasin and destroy it so that Sankara's soul stays within Ajamuka's body.In the nick of time, Sankara was able to go back to his own body.

He then went to Bharathi and answered all her questions on Kama.Some say that he wrote a book on kama called Ajamuka Kavya(like kamasutra) and just handed the book to Bharathi who found all her questions answered in it.Both mandana mishra and bharathi became his disciples now.

[tgs]

Once Adhi Sankara was challenged to a debate by a very old man.During the debate, Adhi sankara's concepts of his philosophy(Gnana marga) became increasingly clearer to him.The debate was making him realise more subtle points of his philosophy.The od man was none other than sage vyasa.
since, sankara was supposed to be an amsa of Shiva and Vyasa that of Vishnu, one of the disciples of sankara who was watching the debate is said to have commented that "who is lucky to see a debate between Vishnu and Shiva themselves!"

[Lt_Apple]

When Shri Sankara was 16, a very old Brahmin of ill health started arguments with him about Brahmasutra bashyam which Shri Sankara had written. Shri Sankara was astounded by his intelligence and arguments but they continued their discussion. The arguments continued for days together and the more Shri Sankara argued, his ideas crystallised more and more and he understood that the old man was none other than Vyasa Rishi, who was the creator of Brahmasutra. Sri Sankara said that he has done a great disrespect to the sage by entering into an argument. Vyasa Rishi said "I fully agree with your bashyam and I wanted to establish that yours is correct. I bless that you should live another 16 years and you should spread this Advaita throughout the country."

This is how sankara got another lease of life till 32

[Peptobismol]

Sri Sankara went to Kasi and by that time, he had a lot of disciples. One of them, Sanandhyaya, was drying the clothes of his Guru and suddenly Sri Sankara called him to the other bank of the river as he needed the clothes urgently. Sanandhyaya, little realising that he would drown, starts walking into the river. However, the Grace of his Guru resulted in a lotus materialising wherever he was keeping his foot. When asked as to how did he cross the river, he says that when his Guru calls, he is not to worry about anything. Sri Sankara named him as Padma Padar (lotus feet).

[softy54534]

Sivajayan
Interesting story indeed!

To continue on Adhi Sankara,

Sri Sankara visited Thiruvanaikar, near Trichy in Tamilnadu. In this temple, the Goddess Akhilandeswari was having a feirce power and people who went to have her darshan could not stand the fierceness of this Goddess. Sri Sankara created two sets of earrings which are called Tatankam and he presented these to the Goddess. The fierceness of the deity reduced. This tatankam, the earrings, has been maintained over time by the Acharyas of the Kanchi Mutt.

[MannoFr]

A doubt to muscially oriented friends.

Was this the same temple at which Dikshitar composed "Akhilandeshwari rakshamam"

[brraverishhh]

reproducing from swami.chinmayananda's book on Sankara Vs. Mandana Mishra debate
================================================== =


Sankara starts the debate by declaring his stand.

Sankara: Brahman is the one Reality, the ever-Pure, the ever-Conscious. It is that Brahman alone that appears as the universe while clouded by nescience, like the silver in a mother-of -pearl shining in the light of the sun. Liberation, namely, freedom from birth and death, is possible only when the knowledge of Brahman and the disappearance of the universe in that Brahman are secured. Such is the teaching of Upanishads.

Mandana attacks each one of these propositions and starts with the last.

Mandana: The Vedas are of authority only when they teach us something which we do not or cannot know by any other means of knowledge. If they only reiterate the existence of an existent thing, they cannot be of any authority. If Brahman then is an eternally existent thing. how can the Upanishads, which according to you simply proclaim its existence, be of any authority? Again, the Vedas are authority to us only because they contain statements commanding or prohibiting certain actions, supplemented by other passages encouraging or discouraging such actions. No statement can therefore be of any authority if it cannot directly or indirectly be made accessory to a command or a prohibition. According to you, Brahman is an established thing and cannot be the object of an action. How then can the Upanishads be of any authority? If you want to get over these difficult questions without impairing the authority of the Vedas, the safest course for you will be to accept the position that the Upanishads are but mere mantric sounds, the chanting of which at the end of sacrifices produces spiritual merit.

[MannoFr]

Sankara: Your last suggestion is untenable, for mere mantric efficacy can be postulated only in the case of sounds like 'Hum, Phat' , etc. , which cannot convey any meaning at all. Now taking your other objections and granting the correctness of your first position that the Vedas must teach us something which we do not know already, the Upanishads are certainly of authority as they us the existence of God. God may be an existent Being but we do not know HIM to be existent: and, to teach us that, the Upanishads are necessary. Even if we know by any other means of knowledge that God exists, the Upanishads are of authority when they teach us a new fact that God and Self are identical, example 'Thou art That' in the teachings of Uddalaka to Svetaketu.

Mandana: They do not teach us any such identity. Why not understand the sentence as mere praise? The Self is said to be God, only as a piece of glorification of the individual Self, the performer of sacrifices.

Sankara: The difficutly is that the sacrifices find no mention in the context and we will be confusing two altogether distinct contexts if we give any such interpretation to the sentence.

Mandana: We may interpret the sentence as importing a command to contemplate on the individual Self as Brahman, just as in other places the sun, air, food etc are so directed to be contemplated upon as Brahman. If this interpretation is accepted, the other ingredient that I mentioned as necessary to clothe any statement with authority, namely, relatability to some action, is also secured.