Adi Sankaracharya

Adi Sankaracharya – Final Part

 

Sankara pointed out how worldly life is like the scenes on a screen. They come and go, but the screen remains. He declared: "Brahma Sathyam. Jagath mithya" (The Self is real. The world is illusory). Shankara also declared: "Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath" (The Universe is permeated by God). When scholars pointed out the contradiction between the two statements, Shankara said: "Worldly life is illusory because it is continually coming and going." At the same time, this worldly life is lived like the moving scenes on a permanent screen. In this process the world and the Divine become one as it were like the oneness of the screen and the pictures on it. This is the basis for the statement: "Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath." Hence, the Upanishadic declaration that the whole cosmos is dwelt in by God. This was the non-dualism preached by Shankara. Consider the Divine as the fundamental basis and lead your worldly life recognising its impermanence. Without the Divine the cosmos has no existence. Hence man must recognise the one Divine Atmic Principle that is present in all beings. It may be called by different names. The Eternal Divine is birthless and nameless.

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One day, when he was in Benares, he was returning from the river through a narrow lane, and a person who was considered to be an untouchable was coming opposite to him. Sankara asked him to move away and keep at a distance so that he, a Brahmin, could move on unpolluted. Then that untouchable asked Sankara, “Are you asking the body to keep at a distance? If that is so, one body, which is jada or inert, is asking another inert body, and it has no authority to do so. If you are asking the soul to keep away at a distance, the soul that is in me is the same as the soul or Atma that is in you. Therefore, the same Atma cannot ask itself to move away from itself and be aloof.” Then Sankara thought, “This so called untouchable is one who knows what is real Atma and what is real anatma, what is kshetra and what is kshetrajna, and I must respect him.” So saying, he prostrated before the “untouchable”. The untouchable was none other than Lord Viswanatha Himself. He then appeared in His true Form to Sankara. Let one be a Brahmin or belong to any caste, if he knows well the Adwaitha Thathwa, then he has true spiritual enlightenment.

 

Different religions may look different and their paths may look different, but the goal is only one. The clothes that different people wear may be different, but the material with which the clothes are made is one. The ornaments may be different but the gold out of which they are made is only one. The colours of different cows may be different but the milk that they all give is only one. The darshanas or philosophies may be different, but the God about whom they speak is only one. The flowers may be different but the offering will be the same. People delude themselves into ignorance of the basic truth. They create for themselves an illusion of plurality, build up walls of difference among themselves and plunge into suffering and grief. One must try to get the source of knowledge and realise the basic unity of all creation. That will make our life sacred and meaningful.

We have a mistaken notion that some people belong to us and others do not. You first try to know yourself. The attempt to know yourself is called sankhya jnana. And tarka jnana is that by which we know what the “I” is and wherefrom this “I” has come. Living steadily in the state of “I”, if a person tries to know the truth, that state is called amanaska. So every individual should try to know and attain the state of complete amanaska.

 

If the Vaishnavites and Saivites do not like each other, it is only because of their ignorance of the underlying inner truth. The youth of today should try to know that unity. They should not give room for differences or distinctions. I shall give you an example for this oneness or unity. We think that the God Siva has got the damaruka or the drum in one hand and trisula in the other hand and we visualise His Form in that way. Similarly, in one hand of Vishnu, there is the chakra and in the other hand, there is the sankha or conch. Sankha represents sound. Chakra represents time. Vishnu has taken the symbols of sound and time in both his hands. In the case of Siva, damaruka, or the drum, represents sound, and trisula is “Tri-Kala the symbol of time: past, present, and future. What Vishnu has in his hands is sound and time. Similarly what Siva has in his hands is also sound and time. Where, then, is the difference between them? The difference is in Form and Name only, but the energy or power is the same. Even in the Quoran and in the Bible, just as in the Vedas, the principle of adwaitha alone has been taught. In our Upanishads, it has been stated that Easwara is everywhere and that the world is pervaded by God in every place and in every atom. You read something similar in the Bible, wherein it has been stated that, “All world is one, my dear son, be good to everyone.” It is only on account of our pride and ego, we create differences among ourselves and we make our lives miserable and unhappy. When we celebrate Sankara Jayanthi, we must know what Sankara taught us and try to put all he said into practice.

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A historic debate

Sankaracharya, during his victorious philosophical pilgrimage through the length and breadth of India, had to engage himself in a debate with a scholarly intellectual by name Mandana Mishra on the subject of “medha sakthi” (intellectual prowess). Both of them agreed on Ubhaya Bharati, a high-souled scholar, pure-hearted and utterly selfless, as one most competent to decide who was the victor in the debate. Ubhaya Bharati was none other than the wife of Mandana Misra. The choice was unique in many respects. That Sankaracharya was willing to have as judge in the debate his opponent's wife was remarkable. It was the greatest testimony to his faith in the utter impartiality of Ubhaya Bharati. Ubhaya Bharati was not merely a distinguished scholar but also possessed divine qualities like a pure heart and buddhi enriched with sathyam, ritam, asakthi or sraddha, and stirathva (steadfastness, cosmic rhythm, zeal or faith, and firmness respectively.) Ubhaya Bharati was none other than wife of Mandana Mishra. Sankaracharya knew that the discriminating power of the Buddhi (intelligence) was superior to the intellectual ability of the Medhas.

 

It is not Buddhi as commonly understood—mere intellectual ability. It is intelligence in which Rita and Sathya are combined with Aasakthi (zeal) and Sthiratvam (steadfastness). Buddhi includes Yoga and Mahat-Tatwa also, which have a purifying influence on the Buddhi. Buddhi is, thus, not only the capacity to think. Nor is it only the power of deliberation or thediscriminating faculty. Beyond all these, it is the power of deep enquiry and judgement. This buddhi has not only the power of deliberation and discrimination but also the power of deep insight, enquiry and impartial judgement. Endowed with this capacity, Ubhaya Bharati decided in favour of Sankaracharya and against her husband. She declared that Sankaracharya had the better of the argument in the debate. This decision is based on Sathya and Ritam.

 

Example of Ubhaya Bharati

Sankaracharya was extremely pleased with Ubhaya Bharati's verdict. Ubhaya Bharati then declared that in accordance with the understanding between the two disputants before the debate started, Mandana Misra, as the vanquished, should take to Sanyasa and become a disciple of Sankaracharya.

At the same time, as the devoted wife of Mandana Misra, acting upto the ideals of Indian womanhood, according to which the wife should follow the husband in weal and woe, Ubhaya Bharati decided to become a Sanyasini herself. Although she was under no obligation to adopt a monastic life, she decided to do so to set an example to the world. After that, she established an ashram in which she wanted to show to the arrogant scholars, who relied on mere intellectual acumen, that it was inferior to the intelligence that was associated with Sathya and Rita. One day when she was going to the river for a bath with her women disciples, she saw an ascetic, who had renounced everything in life, sleeping on the wayside, resting his head on a hollow water jug, using it as a pillow and at the same time ensuring that nobody took it away. As long as you have attachment and ego, you can never understand the Atma or experience Atmic bliss. In order to convey a lesson to the ascetic, Ubhaya Bharati spoke within his hearing the following words to one of her disciples: "Look at that ascetic, who has ostensibly renounced every kind of attachment. But he has not given up his attachment to his water jug!" On hearing these words, the ascetic got enraged. He thought: "Is a mere woman entitled to teach me how I should behave?" While Ubhaya Bharati was returning from the river, the ascetic threw the jug at her feet and said: “Now, see what my renunciation is?" Ubhaya Bharati remarked: "Alas! You are not only filled with Abhimana (attachment) but you are also filled with Ahamkara (ego)." On hearing these words, the ascetic ran upto her, fell at her feet and pleaded for forgiveness of his faults. SSS Vol.23

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Adi Sankaracharya, prayed to Lord Shiva and received from him five Lingams. He installed them, one each in Badari (in Uttar Pradesh), in the Himalayas, Puri (in Orissa), Sringeri (in Karnataka), Dwaraka (in Gujarat) and Chidambaram (in Tamil Naidu)." (Sai Tapovanam)

 

Sankaracharya established Mutts (Missions) for the propagation of the Adwaitha (non-dual) doctrine in the four corners of India, Bhadrinath, Sringeri, Puri and Dwaraka. (SSS Vol.3)

 

Sai Ram

Done