Sri Shankara Vijayams

Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada [Shankara Vijayams]

Sri Shankara Vijayams

sadASiva samArambhAm. SankarAcArya madhyamAm.
AsmadAcArya paryantAm. vande guru paramparAm. ||

1. Sri Sankara's life and teachings have been written by various people under the title Sri Sankara
Vijayam. There are several versions, by Anandagiri, Madhva Vidyaranyar and others. There is
also one book in Malayalam called Keraliya Sankara Vijayam.

Sri P. Seshadri Iyer's Sri Sankara Charitram in Malayalam is the most authentic one. Sri Seshadri
Iyer was a direct disciple of Swami Brahmananda, the first disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Iyer
knew 27 languages and he learnt Bengali to read Sri Ramakrishna's life in Bengali original!

Sri P. Seshadri Iyer has gone through all Sankara Vijayams right from Anandagiri and Madhva
Vidyaranya and wrote his book.

Sri Iyer says that Sri Sankara had come with a school, broom stick, called discrimination and a
muram, a plate to collect and remove all the bogus philosophies of 72 religions that were in
vogue in India.

His famous saying is: Truth can only propagate you. You cannot propagate the Truth. Unless a
learned becomes a Brahma Jnani, a man living in Truth, he cannot find the inadequacies of other
philosophies and religions. With that Truth in the Heart, a Jnani can propagate to the world.

2. Aryambika and Siva Guru were Sri Sankara's parents. They were quite poor and great devotees
of both Vishnu and Siva. They had no issues. They wanted a child. They were on a pilgrimage to
the temple of Vadkkanathar in Kerala. Vadakkanathar is Siva.
The original Tamil Name is Idabak kunru Nathar. There was no Malayalam in those centuries.
Idabam is Rishabam. Kunru is Hill. Nathar is God. There was a hill in the shape of a bull and on
Siva's temple was on top. In the temple, Siva came in dream of both and asked: "Do you want a
child who would live for 100 years but absolute dunce or a child who would live only for 16 years,
but a great Brahma Jnani?" The parents opted for a Jnani.

Soon Siva Guru found one day in his meditation, that a light appared in his Heart and then
travelled to Aryambika's stomach. She became pregnant soon after, without union between the
two. It is Swarupa Karbham travelling to Udhara Karbham. Sri Sankara thus became an
immaculate conception. He is Siva reincarnated. Siva, the achalam, became an ever‐moving Siva
in Sri Sankara's avatar. Sri Sankara travelled from south to north, two times in his 32 years of life,
established four Maths and rose to the Sarvajna Peetam, the Seat of Absolute‐Knowledge in
Kanchipuram, which became his fitth Math. He wrote commentaries for all major Upanishads
and the eleventh Upanishad called Svetasvatara Upanishad. He wrote commentaries for Brahma
Sutram and Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam. He wrote original works like Vivekachoodamani and Sri
Dakshinamurthy Stotram and Atma Bodham. He composed a lot of devotional verses. He wrote
the all imporant Sri Soundarya Lahari, the pinnacle of mantra‐sastra.

It is noteworthy to see that Bhagavan Ramana's father is Sundaram Iyer, Siva is Sundaram and his
mother is Azhagamma, a pure Tamil word for Aryambika!

3. This great Jnani, after Buddha and Jesus Christ was born on a Baisaki month, Sukla Paksha,
Panchami, in Ardra star. The moon's place was Cancer, Karkataka and the Lagna, the
actual time of birth (Lagna) was in Mesha, Aries. Before delivering the child, Aryambika had
Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara.

vision of Siva with his retinue coming down to Kaladi and Narayana smiling with his disc and
conchshell.

Bhagavan Ramana was born on 30/31 December 1880, on a Purnima, full moon day, at around 1
am. The star was Punarvasu, with moon in Gemini, Mithuna and the actual time of birth was
in Tula (Lagnam) Libra. As soon as Bhagavan was born, the visually handicapped midwife saw a
bright light and she exclaimed: An avatar! An avatar! An avatar is born.

Both these great Brahma Jnanis were born out of prayer by millions who were incognito, and as a
divine blessing, not as a curse for humanity!

Siva Guru named his son as Sankara, the one who is the embodiment of human welfare.
Bhagavan was named as Venkataraman. Both were born with purna‐jnana, the full Wisdom, like
a tulsi plant which gives fragrance right from the day it appears on the field.

Siva Guru used to take the little child to the Siva temple nearby everyday. He used to offer milk
to Devi, and then take it as Prasad and give a portion to Sankara. This is the famous Katyayani
Temple, near Kaladi. Once when Sivaguru was away, Sankara who was at the time four years,
old, was asked to go and submit milk to Devi. That day, Devi took it and emptied the vessel. The
child started weeping and Devi gave him milk from her breasts. Years later Sankara mentions
this in Sri Soundarya Lahari. Saint Tiru Jnana Sambandha also had this experience in Seerkazhi.
He was given breast milk by Devi, when he cried near the temple tank in Seerkazhi.
No wonder, Kavyakanta Ganapati calls Bhagavan Ramana as an avatar of Skanda and Tiru Jnana
Sambandha.

Before Siva Guru could complete Upakarma (the Sacred Thread Ceremony for the Brahmin boys),
Siva Guru had to leave the world. This was before Sankara could complete four years of age. One
day, the father called his son and told him the concept of Brahman and Brahma Jnana. One day
Sankara asked his father: "Father, when the life leaves the body, the life is said to go to
Devayana, astral path of angels. Is it not the body, which is ofcouse burnt?" Siva Guru replied:
"Before the life leaves the body, it merges with Brahman and there is no Devayana for that, there
is only Moksha. Such merger of the soul with Brahman is called Atma Anubhuti."

Siva Guru said: There is no concept of time in Jnana. Time is insubstantial. A Jnani does not
believe in time, there is no past and future for him. He is always in the Now. Sankara listened to
this great upadesa.

(That is why, I think, Indians are not punctual habitually. They have no regard for time.)

4. For great bhaktas or Jnanis, it is the female principle which confers the Grace first, so that they
could merge with the male principle. In Hindu tradition, it is the mother, Devi or
Unnamulai who showers the Grace first for spiritual advancement.

For Sankara, it was Katyayani in Kaladi. For Bhagavan Ramana, it was first Mother Sahayavalli in
Tiruchuzhi, later Meenakshi in Madurai.

Soon, Siva Guru passed away peacefully. His Jiva merged with Sivam. There was a lot of weeping
and misery in the family. Soon, the relatives of Aryambika conducted the Upakarma for
Sankara. He went to the Vedapatasala nearby. His genius baffled the pandits. He knew
everything already. It was only a repetition for him. Bhagavan when He heard
Vivekachoodamani and Adhyatma Ramayana, He found His experience matching with the truth

of thesse books. Sankara completed all the Vedic studies in six months.

One day, Sankara went for alms, bhiksha. He requested for bhiksha from a poor brahmin lady,
utterly poor. She had nothing at home due to abject poverty. Her husband was away. She gave
Sankara, in great shame, an old, over ripe amla fruit. Sankara became tearful
and started praying to Mahalakshmi. This is the famous Kanakadara Stvam. It starts as ‐ Angam
hare pulaga bhooshana....
In this, he calls Devi, as the consort of Naryana on the vehicle of Garuda, the Vulture, she is also
the consort of Siva, Sakambari, the goddess in all plant kingdom, and wife of one with crescent
moon on his head; she is also Sarasvati.

In fact, Sankara saw every goddess and god as One Principle. He was a learned man, a Sarasvati‐
vallabha, he was in practice a Vaishnava, in meditation a Sakta, Devi worshipper, and in form
was Saiva, a Siva devotee. He was in short, a Brahman.
The gold coins started raining in that poor lady's house. Even today, that heritage house is called
Suvarnathu Illam, a Gold House in Kaladi.

The king Rajasekar knew this miracle and immediately rushed to Sankara with bags of gold, silver
and grains as offering and prostrated before the little child and asked him to take them as
his humble offerings. Sankara said: What use is this for me?
I am a brahmin who cannot keep even more than a day's requirement of food, at home
overnight. Please take them and give them to the poor people. The king withdrew hesitatingly.

5. One day, a short stout Sadhu came to Sankara's house. Aryambika gave him food. He found the
little child and identified him immediately. He asked him: Who is a Jnani? Who is a Guru?
Sankara replied: The one who is an authority in Sastras, Sotrium and also a realized soul, Brahma
Nishtam, is a true Jnani. The stout short Sadhu was immediately pleased. He said: You
cannot stay here. You have to go to your Guru, who is a Sotrium, Brahma Nishtam. He is waiting
for you on the banks of Narmada river. The sadhu disappeared. He is Agasthya.

Sankara knew his mission. But how to leave mother and go? He told his class‐mate, one Vishnu,
to take care of his mother, as he had to leave soon.

Aryambika became weak and tired, more due to miseries and worries. She could not even go to
Poorna river and bathe, which was a little far off. Sankara told his mother: Do not worry. He
composed a song praying to Poorna river to change its course and come near the house. The
river changed its course and started flowing near the house! Aryambika became very happy but
at the same time, knew that his son is extraordinary and is going to leave her soon.

Then, the great drama took place. One day, a crocodile caught the legs of Sankara and
Aryambika was crying in anguish. Sankara then told his mother: You permit me to take up
Sannyasa. Ascetism is a new birth for a brahmin. Then, the crocodile might leave me.
The reluctant mother agreed. Soon the crocodile left the boy. Sankara at that time composed
the famous: Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha Karavalamba Stotram.... Srimad bayo nidhi nikedana
chakrapane...

One might get delighted if one reads this Sloka. Sankara does not merely ask for the release
from crocodile, to save his life. Nrisimha is one who comes at any place and at any time, quickly,
to help his devotees. Here too, he came and saved Sankara. But what did Sankara really ask
from him? He wanted release from the ocean of Samsara, the worldly life, which is a thick
animal‐populated jungle, which is deep well with crocodile, which a home on fire...

That great god with shining sharp nails will pierce open that forest, that crocodile, that house on
fire and save the devotee.

Sankara soon left the home and proceeded to Narmada Valley area, the present Madhya
Pradesh. He travelled through the present Karnataka. When he reached Srunga giri, a jungle
area, he was fed by a sadhu. He found the place immensely peaceful, where the serpents and
peacocks stay near each other without enmity, where the deer and the tiger take water from the
same stream, without killing instincts. He asked the sadhu about that place. The sadhu replied:
This is where the Sage Risya Srunga had his penance. Sankara, though a Jnani without any
sankalpa, determination, thought of a Math here in future. This is the famous Sringeri Math,
which was headed by Hasthamalaka. Soon, Sankara reached the Narmada river.

6. One information missed: Before Sankara left for Naramada, he prayed to Krishna in his temple
near the Poorna river, to be a eternal support for his mother. This is the famous Sri Krishna
Ashtakam. Achuyam, kesavam... This famous temple of Krishna is there even today in Kaladi.

Sankara advised his mother like this: "Do not depend on the people and the world. Depend on
God. Dasarata was a great emperor. But when he died, none of his sons were near him.
When Ravana died in the battle, none of his brothers and sons were with him. Kamsa even
imprisoned his father Ukrasena. I may not be with you. Do not depend on me. Depend on God.
Nevertheless, I shall be here, whenever you want me..."

Sankara went to the cave where Govinda Bhagavatpada was meditating. This is near
Omkareswarar Temple, on the banks of Narmada. He was in a state of savikalpa samadhi. He is
said to have been in Manonmani Mudra, a state in which mind becomes a ruby and stay with the
Heart. Bhagavan Ramana was in that state in Patala Lingam temple.

Sankara went near him. The guru looked at Sankara and asked: Who are you? This is the famous
question of Bhagavan Ramana on Self enquiry. What Sankara replied in verse is nothing but
versification of the booklet Who am I?

This is the famous Nirvana Shatkam (or Nirvana Sadhakam.)

I am neither the mind, intelligence, ego nor citta;
Neither the ears not the tongue, nor the senses of smell and sight;
Neither ether nor air, nor fire, nor water, nor earth;
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Siva, I am Siva!
*******
I am neither the prana, nor the five vital breaths,
Neither the seven elements of the body, nor its five sheaths,
Nor hands, nor feet nor tongue, nor other organs of action,
********
Neither greed nor delusion, loathing, nor liking, have I;
Nothing of pride or ego, of dharma or liberation;
Neither desire of the mind, nor objects for its desiring;
********

Nothing of pleasure and pain, of virtue and vice do I know.
Of mantras or sacred place, of Vedas or sacrifice;
Neither am I the eater, the food nor the act of acting.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness. I am Siva, I am Siva!
********
Death or fear I have non, nor any distinction of caste,
Neither father, nor mother, nor even a birth, have I.
Neither friend nor comrade, neither disciple, nor guru.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness, I am Siva, I am Siva!
********

I have no form, or fancy, the All pervading am I.
Everywhere I exist, and yet am beyond the senses.
Neither salvation am I, nor anything to be known.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness, I am Siva, I am Siva!
********
Govinda Bhagavatpada became pleased and embraced him.

This is the meeting of a perfect Jnani and a perfect disciple. To get a Brahma Jnani as Guru is not
an easy thing, even those days. The Guru was also happy to have a perfect disciple,
who is already well‐anchored in advaita.

Here some diversion about Govinda Bhagavatpada and his Guru Gaudapada and also about
Narmada river.

7. The evil in this world does not permit easily a disciple to get a perfect Jnani as a Guru. They will
make scientific enquiries! Scientific enquiries cannot help Jnana. We are all going behind
science. Today, science has started seeing Jnana as a guide. In the famous laboratory to find
God's particle through a Large Hadron Collider, in Swiss‐French border, the scientists are
praying in the morning to the huge Nataraja icon, in the frontal portico. After daily prayer to
Nataraja, they start their work. The project is said to cost Rs 1, 00,000 crores of rupees in the
conservative estimate.

There is a story. There were ten child Satans and one adult Satan. The children were nervous
one day and told the adult Satan: "Sir, there is a Jnani in South India. Already ten disciples are
sitting around him. Soon they will all get Jnana and they will further spread Jnana. Then all of us
will have no job. The adult Satan said: Do not worry, boys. Those ten fellows are our men. They
will miss‐understand the Jnani and spread mis‐understood Truths. Then, our job will go
uninterrupted! We are having such satans as disciples and Jnanis have become rarer....

Sankara and Govinda Bhagavatpada were a perfect match. Narmada added to the atmosphere.

Narmada is a river, which runs from east to west. It is as famous as Ganga. It is called Ganga's
daughter. Pilgrims can circumambulate this river, which cannot be done with any other rivers
of India. One can start from Amarkant and go round the river and come back to Amarkant. This
is supposed to take about one year by foot. There are small towns everywhere on the bank and
one can get roti and curry and tea. Donors liberally give clothes to wear and woolen blankets to
sleep. Narmada is where one gets small Sivalinga stones which are sacred for Puja. It is said to
be more effective than Salagrama of Gandaki river. Narmada is deep but clear water and one
can see the bottom like a glass panel. Narmada flows in quick whirlpools, like a young daughter
hopping and walking! The trees on both sides have more herbals than Himalayas. The climate is

temparate and not icy like Himalayas.

Govinda taught all the Upanishads, Brahma Sutram and Siva agamas, and also taught the
Mahavakyas and their purport to Sankara. He also explained to him, the famous Gaudapada
Karika of his Guru Gaudapada for Maandukya Upanishad, which is the summum bonum
of Advaita Siddhanta. He also taught him Sakti Upasana technics to Sankara. Sankara spent
three years with Gaudapada that is between his 8th and 11th year. Then, he initiated Sankara to
krama sannyasa. He then bid him good bye and returned to Chidambaram.

Before Sankara left his Guru for Kasi, there was a miracle. There were huge floods in Narmada.
The villagers and townsmen cried in fear and rushed to Govinda's cave, which was on a higher
level.
There was no food. The flood was unabating. The Guru is in deep meditation. Sankara then
placed his water‐bowl on the bank of river and prayed. The floods receded into his water‐bowl!

Now a little further diversion about Govinda and Gaudapada’s early lives.

8. The Cosmic dance of Nataraja was going on. It was in the Cosmos, called Perambalam, the Big
Hall of Siva. The final phase is going on. Patanjali and Vyakrapada are devotedly seeing the dance
and listening to the sounds of the hand‐drum. Patanjali is a serpent, and hence, he can listen the
sounds very astutely. He found a pattern in the sound of the hand‐drum of Nataraja. "Om... a, e,
u, uN, rluk, aye, oh, ohm, i, ouch, hayavarrat.., laN, gna,ma, jna, Nam, japagn, ka,ta,tha, sh,
ga,ba,ja,da, dhav, ka,pa,y, cha, sha, sa,r, hl...." Patanjali felt that he could make a language,
which is nothing but the devas' language. He called this sounds as Maheswara Sutra
and started Sanskrit language! Vyakarapada, the tiger, also called Panini, made the grammar for
Sanskrit. It is called Ashtadyayi!

Patanjali then mediated for a long time and then decided to impart the Vedas, which are from
the language that he had found, to his disciples. He called 1000 Brahmins and made a
congregation in the Thousand Pillared Hall, of Chidambaram, and since he was a
serpent, he placed a screen between him and the thousand disciples. He said: Please listen to my
Vedic teaching. Do not go away in the middle. Do not try to find out who is your teacher!

With this preliminary, he sung the Maheswara Sutra and started telling the Vedas and its purport
to the disciples. One of the boys had an urgent nature's call. He slipped out. The remaining 999
were staying and listening. Towards the end, out of curiosity as
to who this great teacher was, they opened the screen and they found the 1000 hooded
serpent. Patanjali became angry and with his eyes, he burnt them all. Then he regretted of his
folly and wondered as to how to gather another 1000 students. Meantime, the boy who slipped
away for nature's call came back, in all humility. Patanjali told him: I shall tell you all that you
have missed. But having gone out in the middle, you shall become a ghost and chant
this Vedic teaching till you get one, who could answer your queries! Then, your ghost‐form will
end and you will become an angel.

The student heard the Vedic Teaching. But became a ghost and was hanging on a tree on the
main road to Kasi. He used to ask the learned pandits some query. But they will not be able to
answer. He killed them. It went off like that. One day a Brahmin boy was coming all alone. The
ghost asked the query. The boy answered correctly and the ghost was pleased and soon became
an angel. The angel then completed the teaching and disappeared to Heavens.

The student is Chandra Sharma, who became the famous Gaudapada later! He was living in Kasi

and meditating constantly on Siva. He asked Siva to give him liberation, but Siva said: Please
wait for your disciple. Gaudapada then thought that it should be better for sometime to write
one commentary for Maandukya Upanishad, which he considered as the best among the 108
Upanishads. He completed his famous Gaudapada Karika, in verses, which is the epitome of
Advaita. Soon, he found a boy from Narmada country and was pleased with his humility and
determination. He initiated him on the Vedic teaching and then receded in Pure Space. The
disciple is Govinda Bhagavatpada. After praying to Viswanatha and Visalkashi in Kasi, he
returned to his Cave on the banks of Narmada river and again waited for his disciple.

Sankara met Govinda Bhagavatpada at this Cave.

9. Sankara then prostrated to Govinda Bhagavadpada and sought his blessings for his onward
journey to Kasi. Govinda blessed him and gave him the Gaudapada Karika of his guru and said:
One day should write a commentary on this.

Sankara is now in Kasi. He is 11 years old. He comes near the Ganga and looks at it. He turns
back and looks at Viswanatha Temple. "How to understand Kasi?" Is Kasi a mere city, with
Ganga and Viswanatha? Is it merely by death, that one attains liberation? This is something like
Bhagavan Ramana seeing Arunachala on 1.9.1896. What is Arunachalam? What is Kasi?
What is Ganga?

Bhagavan Ramana says in Arunachala Ashtakam, Verse 2:

Kandavan evan ena karuthin uL naada,
Kandavan inrida ninrathu kanden,
Kandanan enrida karuthu ezha villai,
Kandilan enrida karuthu ezhu maren?
Vindu ithu viLakidu uruven yar?
Vindilai pandu nee viLaikinai enral,
Vinditathu un nilai viLakkida enre,
Vin thalam achalam viLangida ninari!

'Who is the seer?' When I sought within, I watched the disappearance of the seer and what
survived him. No thought of 'I saw' arose; how then could the thought 'I did not see' arise? Who
has the power to convey this in word when even Thou appearing as Dakshinamurti, couldst do so
in ancient days by Silence only? Only to convey by silence, Thy transcendent state Thou standest
as a Hill, shining from heaven to earth." ‐ Tr. Arthur Osborne.

Sankara also saw Kasi and remained as Swarupa. He also saw Ganga and remained as Swarupa.
He also saw Viswanatha and remained as Swarupa.

He bathed in Manikarnika ghat. What is this Manikarnika ghat? It is the bliss and he bathed in
bliss. It is the bliss of Siva, Sivananda.

The vision of the mystics is not a learned man's vision. It is not a scientist's vision. It is the vision
of the Heart. Sri Ramakrishna when he went to Kasi, on the banks of Ganga, he saw Siva,
whispering Rama taraka mantra of the seekers who were dying and saw they were being
liberated as a column of light speeding up to the Space!

Sankara says: What is the story of Ganga falling on the matted locks of Siva? It is Ananda
pouring down to the devotee and spreading to his body completely. This is the flood of bliss.
And our efforts are all the efforts of Bhagirata.

Bhagavan Ramana said: Being born in Consciousness is what is told as to be born in Tiruavrur.
Living in Consciousness is what is told as staying in Chidambaram. Dying in Consciousness is
what is told as dying in Kasi. Perpetually contemplating on Consciousness is contemplating on
Arunachalam. Smaranam Arunachalam....

10. There are several interpretations for Sankara‐Outcaste meeting on the banks of Ganga. Sankara
was always in Swarupam, the Self and he had none others in the world excepting Swarupam.
Why then this whole drama? The fact remains that in objective world, some differences are

bound to be there and even a Jnani cannot escape it and he has to stage a drama sometimes on
this issue. Even though Bhagavan Ramana had no caste distinctions, in the Asramam those days,
they had separate sittings/batches for Brahmins and non‐brahmins and Bhagavan Ramana used
to sit on the mid point facing both the sittings separated by a wooden screen! The culture of the
times has to be obeyed.

Janaka, the king one day welcomed a group of Brahmins to his palace. The Brahmins brought
with them, four cows, some Brahmin students and two harlots. King Janaka sent the Brahmin
boys to the Veda school inside the palace, the cows to the cowshed and the harlots to his
harem. The Brahmins asked him: You are an advaita. How come, you are differentiating? The
king did not reply. Soon the lunch time came. King Janaka offered some grass to the Brahmins
but not food. The Brahmins grew red in their faces. The king asked them politely: In pure
advaita, the cows and the Brahmins are one and the same, why not you eat grass?

Today, in Indian context, we see new classes being formed with old caste system given a go by.
So, differentiation is bound to be there. It took more than 400 years to have an Afro‐American as
President of the United States!

The ancient Sages therefore did not bother about the differences in the objective world. Instead,
they looked within and found out the profound oneness in Heart.

A Jnani can be anywhere. Yoga Vasishtam says: If you do not find a Jnani in the Brahmin street,
go and look for him in a outcaste's street! Each one should search for a Jnani to be his Guru and
he should show such a mighty hurry as if his head is on fire. The Tamil classic, Periya Puranam
shows only this. Many of the 63 devotees were outcastes and non Brahmins. A few were only
kings. Still fewer were Brahmins.

A Brahmin got drowned in the river. He is in a hurry to save his life. Would he wait for a Brahmin
to come and save him? Even if a Christian comes, he will show his raised hands and cry to
save him. But on land, Brahmin and Christian are different.

In Karma each one has got a different path. But in Jnana there is only one path, and that is the
royal path.

11. Sankara spent some more time in Kasi and he used his spare time to write commentaries for ten
major Upanishads and Svetasvatara Upanishad. He also wrote commentary for Vyasa's Brama
Sutra. He remembered to keep up the word to his guru Govinda Bhagavad‐pada and he wrote
commentary for Gaudapada's famous Karika on Maandukya Upanishad. He also made a
beautiful commentary for Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

One day, a Brahmin came from Sri Rangam. He was well read and his name was Sanantana. He
came all the way to Kasi to find a guru for his fear of worldly life. He met Sankara, prostrated to
him and said: Sir, I am terrified by this worldly life. I am in constant fear. As an ocean of grace,
you should teach me the way out of misery! Sankara took him in his arms and said with
abundant grace: Do not worry; I shall make you stay permanently in the Self, where there is
nothing other than that. Where is the question of fear? Fear implies duality. I shall remove the
dual perception!

He took him as his first disciple. This gentleman came to be called Padmapada, due to some
incident that had taken place later. Sanantana was a Nrisimha Upasana.


One day, Sankara went to a Vedapatasala. He was pleased to see young boys chanting Vedas.
He met there an old man almost in his 90s, who was trying to memorize Panini's grammar for
Sanskrit. He was wondering at this man's love for worldly learning. What use is this for him at
such an old age? Should he not keep up immensely Silence and ponder over the Brahman?
What avail is this for him?

He immediately composed the famous Bhaja Govindam song. It is also called Moha
mruthukaram.

1. Sunrise and sunset, daylight and darkness, Winter and spring time, come and go,
Even the course of time is playful; Life itself soon ebbs away; But man's vain hope, alas! Goes
onward, tirelessly onward evermore. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda,
foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing, once the hour of death draws nigh.

12. 2. Seeking for warmth, the penniless beggar Closely crouches before his fire, Or, sits with only
the sun to warm him; Nightly he lays him down to slumber, Curling up to keep out the cold.
Hungrily eats his beggar's portion Out of the bowl his hands provide him; Takes up his dwelling
under a tree: Still is his heart a helpless prisoner Bound with the chains of empty of hope.
Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Worship Govinda, foolish one? Rules of grammar profit
nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

3. while a man supports his family, see what loving care they show! But when his ageing body
falters, nearing the time of dissolution, none, not even his nearing kin, Will think to ask him
how he fares, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of
grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

4. Many are those locks are matted, Many whose heads are closed shaved, Many who pluck
out all their hair; Some of them wearing robes of ochre, Some of them clad in other colors ‐‐ All
these things for their stomach's sake! Seeing the Truth revealed before them, still the deluded
see It not. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of
grammar profit nothing, once the hours of death draw nigh.

5. Let a man but read from the Gita, Drink of the Ganga but a drop, Worship but once the Lord
Almighty, And he will set at rest for ever. All this fear of the king of death. Worship Govinda,
Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing once the
hour of death draws nigh.

6. Feeble has grown the man's body; Toothless his gums and bald his head; But there he goes,
upon his crutches, Cringing firmly to fruitless hope! Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Rules
of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

7. Lost in play in the carefree stripling, Lost in sweetheart's charms of youth; the old man
broods upon his sorrows; none there is, alas! Who’s Spirit Yearns to be lost in Paramatman.
Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit
nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

8. Birth unceasing! Death unceasing! Ever to pass through a mother's womb; Hard to cross is
the world's wide ocean; Lord, redeem me through Thy mercy! Worship Govinda, Worship
Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing, once the hour of
death draws nigh.


13. 9. Day follows day, night follows night, New moon, full moon, ever returning;
Summer and winter see the planet Ever inclining on its axis; Year follows year unfailingly.
But, through a changeless law of recurrence Grips the world in relentless sway. Still there is
none who dare abandon Expectation’s empty promise. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda,
Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws
nigh.

10. Youth being fled, what good is passion? Water gone, what use is the lake? Where to be
found our friends and kinsmen once the money is all exhausted? Where is the world, when
Truth is known? Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of
grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

11. Lust at the sight of a woman's body Springs from ignorance, springs from error; inwardly
reason, over and over, Bodies are flesh and blood and fat. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda,
Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws
nigh.

12. Who am I? And who are you? What is the place from which I come? Who is my mother?
Who my sire? Pondering thus, perceive them all as fancies only, without substance; Give up
the world as an idle dream. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one,
Rules of grammar profit nothing Once the hour of death draws nigh.

13. Everyday recite from Gita; Chant the thousand names of Vishnu, Cherishing Him within
your heart, Take delight to be with the body. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship
Govinda, foolish one, Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

14. while man's soul remains in his body, fondly his family wishes him well, but when the life‐
breath leaves its dwelling, Even his wife will flee in fear and disgust. Worship Govinda, Worship
Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of
death draws nigh.

15. He who yields lust for pleasure, Leaves his frame a prey to disease; yet, though death is the
final ending, none forswears his sinfulness. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship
Govinda, foolish one! Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

16. Rags cast off along the highway Serve as a garment for the monk; Freed from vice and freed
from virtue, Onward he wanders; in his sight nor I nor you nor the world exists. Why, then, so
give way to sorrow? Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one!
Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

14. 17. Though for the sake of his salvation, Man may go a pilgrimage to Ganga‐sagara,
Keeps his vows, and give to the poor, Failing the knowledge of the Highest,
Nothing of this assures him freedom, Even in the span of a hundred lives.
Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, foolish one!
Rules of grammar profit nothing once the hour of death draws nigh.

(Courtesy: English translation of Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math.)

The phrase Moha mruthukaram, means breaking the mountain of delusion with a iron log.
Sankara advised the old Brahmin to go for prayers and meditation, instead of reading grammar
and memorizing the sutras at such an age. The death is always coming behind us. The urgency is

to under God or the Self.

When Rama left for jungle, Bharata followed him and wept and asked him to return. Rama said
that only death is following us for ever. One cannot follow life's pleasures to attain salvation.
When some one asked Bhagavan Ramana: How to remove attachment? Bhagavan Ramana said:
Understand that the Self is ever attached. Then all the attachments will automatically go.

Nothing is permanent. Health fades away. Senility comes in. Death stares at us. One forgets
everything in life, how to wear a trouser or comb the hair in senile age. Frederick Nietzshe was
having some brain dysfunction. He was lying in bed. One friend came to his bedside and thought
that if he could read Nietzsche’s own works, perhaps he would recollect and recoup his memory.
He read Thus Spake Zarathustra ( a classic by Nietzshe written when he was hardly 35!). Nietzshe
heard for some time and asked his friend: Who has written all these? If that be the case, how
can the old man memorize Panini's grammar at that senile age?

Soon Sankara left Kasi and went further towards Himalayas. Sanantana went with him. He came
to Badrikasramam via Rishikesh and Hardwar. In Rishikesh he found the image of Yagnanatha.
He knew immediately that it was not the original image. He sits for meditation and found that
the original image had been thrown away by some miscreants into Ganga. He identified that
place and recovered and installed it. He then came to the Lakshmajula where Vidhura had done
penance. He then mentally remembered Vidhura's noble life and meditated there for a few
days.

Sankara then came to Devaprayag, where Mandakini joins Ganga and Bhagirathi and becomes
one confluence. Beyond Devaprayag, it is called Deva bhoomi, the place of gods.

15. When Sankara was staying in Vyasa Guha, Sanantana's understanding of the Upanishads and
Brahma Sutram and his Bhashyas, commentaries, surprised Sankara. One day, when Sankara was
on the other side of the river, he called Sanatana for some teachings. Sanantana, took to his
orders immediately and he simply walked over the river and reached Sankara! The other
disciples were dumbstruck to see that as Sananatana walked on the river, there appeared a lotus
under each of his step! Sankara became quite happy and started calling him Padmapada. The
One with lotus on his foot. We shall also call Sanantana as Padmapada hereafter. Sankara
treated Padmapada as his first disciple. In his presence, Sankara composed Upadesa Sahasri,
Proudanubhuti and the great Vivekachoodamani. We can take that the disciple mentioned in
Vivekachoodamani is Padmapada.

In Vyasa Guha, Sankara had the experience of the touch of the Great Sound, Maha‐dvani. This
touch of the great sound makes any Jnani to write his teachings in verse and prose.

Sankara also composed here Sri Dakshinamuthy Stotram, the quintessence of Advaita.
Padmapada was the first one to listen to this great work. Sri Dakshinamuthy Stotram has been
rendered in Tamil by Bhagavan Ramana as verses. Devotees in the Hall used to recite it every
day. Bhagavan, in fact, wanted to write a great commentary on Sri Dakshinamuthy Stotram.
However, He did not pursue this. Many young Vedapatasala boys used to chant the Tamil
version of Bhagavan's SDS every day in the Hall.

Bhagavan Ramana says that this song is only for the Uttama adikaris, the high level spiritual
aspirants. It is noteworthy that Bhagavan Ramana says that the same Sankara who composed
the poem abides in Him!


I am giving below the translation of Arthur Osborne:

Bhagavan's Invocation:

That Sankara who appeared as Dakshinamuthy to grant peace to the great ascetics (Sanaka,
Sananda, Sanatkumara and Sanatsujata), who revealed his real state of silence, and who has
expressed the nature of the Self in this hymn, abides in me.

The Hymn:

1. He who teaches through silence the nature of the Supreme Brahman, who is a youth, who is
the most eminent Guru surrounded by the most competent disciples that remain steadfast in
Brahman, who has the hand‐pose indicating illumination, who is of the nature of bliss, who
revels in himself, who has a benign countenance ‐‐ that Father who has a south‐facing form, we
adore.

2.To him who by maya as by dream, sees within himself the universe which is inside him, like a
city that appears in a mirror (but) which is manifested as if externally to him who apprehends
at the time of awakening, his own single Self, to him, the primal Guru Dakshinamuthy, may this
obeisance be!

3. To him who like a magician or even like great yogi displays, by his own power, this universe
which at the beginning is undifferentiated, like the sprout in the seed, but which is made
differentiated under the varied conditions of space, time and karma and posted by maya to
him, the Guru Dakshinamuthy, may this obeisance be!

16. 4. To him whose luminosity alone, which is of the nature of existence, shines forth entering the
objective world which is like the non‐ existent; to him who instructs those who resort to him
through the text, 'That thou art'; to him by realizing whom there will be no more falling into
the ocean of birth; to him who is the refuge of the ascetics, the Guru Dakshinamuthy, may this
obeisance be!

5. To him who is luminous like the light of a lamp set in a pot with many holes; to him whose
knowledge moves outward through the eye and other sense organs, to him who is effulgent as
'I‐know', and the entire universe shines after him; to him, the unmoving Guru Dakshinamuthy,
may this obeisance be!

6. They who know the 'I' as body, breath, senses, intellect, or the void, are deluded like women
and children, and the blind and the stupid, and talk much. To him who destroys the great
delusion produced by ignorance, to him who removes the obstacles to knowledge, the
Guru Dakshinamuthy, may this obeisance be!

7. To him, who sleeps when the manifested mind gets resolved, on account of the veiling by
maya, like the sun or the moon in eclipse, and on waking recognizes self‐existence in the form,
'I have slept till now'; to him the Guru of all that moves and moves not, Dakshinamuthy, may
this obeisance be!

8.To him who, by means of the hand pose indicating illumination manifests in his devotees like
his own Self that forever shines within as 'I', constantly, in all the inconstant states such as
infancy, etc., and walking, etc., ‐‐ to him whose eye is of the form of fire of knowledge, the
Guru Dakshinamuthy, may this obeisance be!

9. To the self, who, deluded by maya, sees, in dreaming and waking, the universe in its
distinctions such as cause and effect, master and servant, disciple and teacher, and father and
son, to him, the Guru of the world, Dakshinamuthy, may this obeisance be!

10. To him whose eightfold form in all this moving and unmoving universe, appearing as earth,
water, fire, air, ether, the sun, the moon and the soul, beyond whom, supreme and all
pervading, there exists naught else for those who enquire ‐‐ to him the gracious Guru
Dakshinamuthy, may this obeisance be!

11.Palasruti: (Benedictory Verse)
Since, in this hymn, the all‐self‐hood has thus been explained, by listening to it, by reflecting on
its meaning, by meditating on it, and by reciting it, there will come about lordship, together
with the supreme splendor consisting in all‐self‐hood; thence will be achieved, again, the
unimpeded supernormal power presenting itself in eight forms.

****************
It may be seen from the song, that there is no formal worship of Siva, with crescent moon,
serpents, tiger skin dress and skull garlands and Ganga. He is only the Guru with hand pose and
nothing else. This is in fact the formless Sivam Consciousness or Brahman. There is no form
worship at all.

The song gives room for many interpretations. Suresvara, about whom we are going to read
later, has written a beautiful commentary called Manasa Ullasa, the Bliss of Mind, on Sri
Dakshinamuthy Stotram. Padmapada was the first disciple who heard this great song as recited
by Sankara in Vyasa Guha.

17. In Vyasa Guha, Sankara also revived the concept of Siva‐ Panchayutana Puja, the worship of siva
along with Vishnu, Devi, Ganapati and the Sun. Each one is a stone, obtained from various rivers
and Siva is in the form of Linga from Nardmada river. Sankara recommended this for all sects of
Hinduism and they can keep the stone of their Ishta Devata in the centre of the five pieces. For
example, Vaishnavites can keep the stone for Vishnu in the middle and the rest four on all
quarters on a silver, or copper or wooden plate and do puja. While this has been accepted
by all subsects in Sankara's time, Sri Vaishnavites later disregarded this system.

After covering Rudraprayag, Vyasa Guha and Kedarnath, Sankara came to Uttarakasi. He was by
now 16 years old and he wanted to leave his body, as per the destiny. He was in total silence and
in Samadhi, waiting ready for the call of the divine.

At this time, one very old Brahmin came to see Sankara. Sankara did namaskaram to him. He sat
before the old man. The old man asked him: Can you explain me the Brahma Sutra commentary
written by you? I would like to debate on that. Sankara readily agreed and the explanations
lasted for a whole week. Sankara said: "Brahman is without form. Only Jnana path can lead one
to the realization of Brahman within. All the other paths like bhakti and karma are only sublanes
to go to the royal path of Jnana. The other paths can give higher birth after the death,
and perhaps Heavens but not definitely the deliverance. For a Jivan mukta there is no need to
leave the body, he has realized the Self even while alive. The leaving of the body can take place
when the Prarabdha is completed."

The old man was quite pleased. Padmapada who was nearby was trying to guess who the old
man was. He understood through meditation that he was none other than Vyasa. He sang

melodiously:

Sankara sakshat Sankara; Vyaso Narayana swarupam....

Vyasa smiled at him. He then told Sankara: You are given another 16 years of life, because there
are many more work you have to undertake. First you go to Kasi and meet Kumarila Bhatta and
Mandanamisrar. Sankara then prostrated before him and sang his Maneesha Panchakam once
more.

Sankara then walked down to Kasi. He found on the way many many people rushing to Kasi on
the banks of Ganga and Prayag. They told him: Kumarila Bhatta is sitting on a burning heap of
husk to leave his life. We are all going to see him. Sankara also literally ran to Kasi and met
Kumarila Bhatta. He asked Kumarila Bhatta to come out. Kumarila Bhatta refused and
narrated his story to Sankara.

Kumarila Bhatta is one who followed Karma‐marga, stating that the Vedic sacrifices, pujas and
chanting god's name would confer liberation. He wanted to win over Buddhists there. He
went to their Math and debated with them. Since Kumarila had only Vedas as reference point,
and since Vedic reference was not acceptable to Buddhists, he could not win over them. He then
wanted to embrace Buddhism, only to find out their philosophy and then again debate with them
for proving his point. He was taken to their Math and he learnt Buddhism thoroughly, and found
that Hinduism and Buddhism are telling the same Truth in different fashions. What Buddhists
call Sunya is Bliss for Hinduism; as other wise, there was no difference between the two
approaches. He was ready to commence the debate. The Buddhist monks knew his
trick and pushed him down a hill. As he fell down, he was telling: If Vedas are true, let me saved.
He was saved but for injury in and loss of one eye. He was wondering. Then, he understood that
he had said, "If Vedas are true"; he did not say "Vedas are true." The word, 'If' is a word of
suspicion and he got his punishment. After falling down the hill, he regretted his foul play and
decided to kill himself on a fire over a heap of husk. The fire was slowly burning the husk and he
was being killed slowly suffering every inch of pain and misery.

Sankara looked at Kumarila Bhatta. The latter was quite happy and he found in Sankara the
sublimity of Jnana. In one second, he understood that it is Jnana that would confer liberation.
And Jnana is common to all religions. In total Jnana there is no difference between Buddhism
and Hinduism. All fights are due to karma marga. Did not Gaudapada say in his Karika:
"We have no other religions against us. We have only friends. This is the final Truth."

Civilization comes with relationship. Relationship is not through reading and discoveries.
Relationship is due to priyam, love, feeling only love and not differences. This priyam or love
is the grace of Brahman or Sivam. Only a Jnani could shower unbiased love on others.

Kumarila Bhatta then said to Sankara: "I have no life left to listen to your bhashyam,
commentaries. Please tell me briefly." Sankara then sang five verses briefly explaining the
Pranava. A, U, m and the soundless conclusion. A is Waking, U is sleep, m is deep sleep and the
soundless conclusion is tuirya. This is the famous Pranava dhyana panchakam. (This is not
readily available.) We can take it that it is explanation of Arunachalam, for the present.

Kumarila Bhatta then left his body. Sankara said to his disciples: This is how non‐attachment and
sacrifice burns as Jnanagni.


18. Kumarila Bhatta is said to be the avatar of Skanda. The name Kumara also denotes Skanda, as per
Amarakosam. Tiru Jnana Sambandha the great Tamil saint‐poet is also considered as
an avatar of Skanda. Sage Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni says in Sri Ramana Gita, Chapter 18, that
Bhagavan Ramana is the third avatar of Skanda. Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Chandrasekhara
Saraswathi has also said the same thing about Bhagavan Ramana.

Kumarila Bhatta came to establish Karma path. He is the author of Tantra Vartika. Tiru Jnana
Sambandha came to establish path of devotion. His Tevaram, about 4000 verses in Tamil, is all
about devotion. Bhagavan Ramana came to establish Jnana path. Tiru Jnana Sambandha was fed
by Uma near the temple tank of Seerkazhi. Bhagavan Ramana was given the milk after
abhishekam to Unnamulai in Patala Lingam and at Iluppai Tree in Tiruvannamalai temple. Both
called Siva as their father.

Sri Ramana Gita says in Chapter 18:

Verse 16: He is a reincarnation of Kumarila Bhatta, praised by assemblies of scholars, the
author of Tantra Vartika, elixir of Vedas, briliant with various ingenious ideas. In this birth,
however, He elucidates the teachings of Vedanta alone.*

Verse 19: Again this boundless advent of the master‐poet, the twice‐born Tamil child, who
drinking the breast milk of the Mother of the Universe, sang in dancing tunes the praises
of Siva.

Verse 20: This is the third appearance here on earth of the God who pierced the Krouncha
Hill. And now he has come to quell the darkness of mere logic by providing a living example of
abidance in Brahman, the pure being.

(Eng.Tr. Prof. K. Swaminathan)

(* See also Sri Arunachala Akshara Manamalai, Verse 99: O Arunachala, grant me the essence
of the Vedas, which shine in the Vedanta without difference, the one without a second!)

Sankara then came to Mahishmathi, the town where Mandanamisrar was living. Padmapada
was with him. He came to the Brahmins' street and listened to the Vedic chanting by young boys
from every house. He found the brilliance of sacrificial fire from every portal. Sankara then asked
one of the young boys playing on the street, "Where is the house of Mandana Misrar?" The boy
said: "Don’t you know even this? There is a house, where parrots will be telling, Vedam
Pramanam. Veda is the Reference and Truth. That is the house!"

Sankara was smiling and went to that house. There were smoke from the sacrificial fires and
mantras were heard. He entered. Mandana Misrar asked him: What do you want? Sankara:
I want Bhiksha! Please wait. Let the ceremonies be over, you can eat! Sankara pursued: I have
come for Vadha Bhiksha. The food of debate! Mandana misrar looked at the great saint
and grew a little nervous. He said: Fine, please eat first. Let the ceremonies be over.

(There is a story that Mandana misrar asked Sankara: Where from this tonsured head comes?
Sankara said: The tonsured head comes from the neck! This is not there in Sri Sankara Vijayam,
of Madhva Vidyaranya.)

There was dinner. Then Mandana Misrar said: Who can we appoint as Judge? My colleagues
and disciples are all steeped in karma path. You may not like them to be Judge. Who can

we select as Judge? Sankara said: Anyone you like. Mandana Misrar thought for a while and
said: Let my wife Ubhaya Bharati (or Sarasavani) be the Judge, if you have no objection!
Sankarar looked at Ubhaya Bharati as Mother. She is Ubhaya Bharati, an exponent in two
margas, both Karma and Jnana. Only for her husband's sake she has adopted Karma marga.. She
is thorough both in Poorva Mimasa (Karma Kanda) and Uttara Mimamsa (Jnana Kanda).

Ubhaya Bharati brought two garlands and asked them to wear. The debate started. The debate
continued for 18 days! Sankara was generously fed by Ubhaya Bharati after each session.

19. Sankara looked upon Ubhaya Bharati, as Mother and Saraswati Swarupa. She is Uma, she is
Lakshmi, she is Saraswati. Everyday she was feeding Sankara delicious food, as Annapurna.

Ya devi sarva bhuteshu, Matru‐rupene samstitha, Namasthasyai Namasthasyai Namasthasyai
Namo Namaha:

She stays as the divine, Mother in every individual. There can be only good Mothers, never bad.
Sons can be bad or good. This Matrutvam, mother‐hood should be there in every male
too. When a man develops matrutvam, he becomes graceful and full of mercy to other living
beings. Jnanis have exhibited this quality. Bhagavan Ramana waited for a cracked egg, to
hatch and He carefully took care of the baby squirrel, by feeding that little creature with milk,
squeezed out of a milk‐drenched cotton bud for one month!

Sankara went into raptures and sang the famous Annapurna Ashtakam.

1. O benign Mother, who pours out upon us Everlasting Bliss!
You, the Ocean of Beauty! Bestower of boons and fearlessness!
O Supreme Purifier, who washes away all the sins!
You, the visible Ruler of the world, the sanctifier of King Himalaya's line!
O You, the Queen Empress of holy Kasi! Divine Annapurna!
Be gracious unto me and give me alms!

2. You whose apparel sparkles, sewn with innumerable gems!
Who wears a golden sari to heighten your unsurpassed loveliness!
You whose comely bosom reposes a necklace of many pearls!
Who breathes forth a fragrance, being anointed with saffron and sandal paste!
O benign Mother! You whose form is soothing to the eyes!
O You, the Queen Empress of Kasi! Divine Annapurna!

3. Bestower of yoga's bliss! Destroyer of the foe!
Fulfiller of wealth and righteousness!
You who appear like waves of light, or the radiance of sun and moon and fire!
Protectress of the three worlds! Giver of wealth and of all things wished for!

4. O Gouri! O Uma! O Sankari! O Kaumari!
You who has your dwelling in the cave of sacred Mount Kailas!
You who reveal the meaning of the holy Vedas!
Who are the very embodiments of mystic syllable Om!
Who opens the gates of Liberation!

Be gracious unto me and grant me alms!

5. You who bear the manifold world of the visible and the invisible;
Who holds the universe in Your womb!
You who sever the thread of the play we play upon this earth!
Who lights the lamp of wisdom, who brings joy to the heart of Siva, your Lord!
Be gracious unto me and grant me alms.

6. O Bhagavati! You are the Sovereign of the world!
O Mother, Annapurna! O Supreme Deity! Ocean of mercy!
You, whose long tresses, falling to your knees, Ripple restlessly like a river's current and
sparkle like a blue gem!
Mother, ever eager to give us food and bless and all good fortune!
Be gracious unto me and grant me alms.

20. 7. You who reveals all the letters, from the first to the last!
Mother of the cosmos, gross and subtle, and of its Lord as well!
Ruler of earth and heaven and the nether world, Who embodies in Yourself the waves of
creation, sustenance and dissolution!
Eternal, uncaused Cause, who are the thick darkness of the cosmic dissolution!
You who brings desire in the heart of man, who bestows on him the well bring of the world!

8. You who hold in Your right hand a ladle of gold studded with jewels,
And in Your left hand hold a pot of delicious food!
You Giver of good fortune, who fulfills the wishes of your worshippers!
And brings about their welfare with a mere wink of your eyes!
You, the Queen Empress of holy Kasi! Divine Annapurna!

9. You whose radiance burns a million times more bright than sun and moon and fire;
For whom the light of the moon is but the shadow of Your lips!
Whose ear‐rings sparkle like the sun and the moon and fire; who shines like the sun and moon!
You, the Supreme Empress, who in your four hands hold rosary and book and goad and dice!

10. Protectress of the ksatriya line! Giver of utter fearlessness! Benign Mother of all! Ocean
of infinite mercy!
You, the Bestower of instantaneous Liberation, the Giver of eternal good!
Provider of Siva's welfare! Destroyer of every bodily ill!

11. O Annapurna! You who never lacks for anything, who holds Sankara's heart in thrall!
O Parvati! Grant me alms; I supplicate you for the boon of wisdom and renunciation above all.


12. My Mother is the Goddess Parvati; my Father is Siva, the Lord whose power none can
withstand. Their worshippers I own as my kith and the three worlds are my native land.

This Annapurna‐Ashtakam has actually got twelve stanzas. So, it is also called Annapurna
Stavam.

21. The debate between Sankara and Mandanamisrar continued for eighteen days.

Mandanamisrar had a good grounding on Karma marga. So he said: "Karma is the most
important requisite for liberation. The Maha‐vakyas, like Aham Brahmasmi and Tattvam‐asi are
all anartha‐vada that is logical fallacy used in arguments. He quoted from Jaimini's Poorva
Mimasa sutras and argued.

Sankara said: "All karmas so long as they are good and are helping the world, they may confer
you heavens. Bad karmas will push you into hell. But they never confer liberation. Liberation is
only possible with Jnana. The good karmas and devotional practices are only auxiliary aids for
purification of mind. Jnana works on destruction of the mind itself. Atma Sakshatkaram or
realization is possible only through Atma Vichara. Peace is the only requirement for that.

Padmapada, after a few days, offered to Sankara that he would debate in lieu of him, since
Mandanamisrar is quite adamant, and he needs some tougher treatment! Sankara said: Do not
worry. I have already stirred up the fire; the ambers will start shining soon!

Mandanamisrar gave room for some anger and sulkiness. Sankara was quite cool. In result, the
garland of Mandanamisrar started drying up. Sankara's garland was fresh and fragrant as if it
was new.

Sankara continued: All karmas are founded on the twin pillars of doer and the receiver of
karmic‐benefits. In Jnana, there is no doership at all. Even in nishkamya karma, there are
deficiencies of body. As one gets old, the nishkamya karmas cannot be continued. Jnanam does
not care about desire ship and doership. The only desire for Jnana is mumukshutvam, desire for
Self Realization. There is no desire for body‐maintenance and there is no mind to worry about
the body at all!
Mandanamisrar gave up eventually, on the 18th day. He said: O Poorna bala! (The child of
fullness), I prostrate to you. Sankara said: O the elderly father, you are my disciple, if you like
to be one. I shall call you as Sureswarar. Sureswarar in Sanskrit means the Chief of gods. Since
Mandanamisrar has completed his karmas in full, the gods were pleased and so he was called
chief of gods.

Ubhaya Bharati wanted to have a little drama enacted. She is Saraswati, she is also Kameswari,
Unnamulai who snared Siva with her lustful look and made him to give up half his body!

Ubhaya Bharati said: I am half of my husband. I am Mandanamisrar's wife. I shall have to be
defeated in debate if you want to be a real winner. Sankara also knew the script
of the whole play. He agreed.

Ubhaya Bharati asked him about erotica!
This is the most controversial part of Sri Sankara Vijayam. All readings of Sankara Vijayam, from
Madva Vidyaranya, down to Sri Seshadri Iyer, mentions about this story without omission.
Bhagavan Ramana should also have been agreed to this portion of drama, since He has
translated in Tamil verses, the famous Guru Stuti, related to this controversial portion of the

biography.

There are two lines of argument:

1. A Brahma Jnani having realized the Self, knows every art of this worldly life, including
erotica, since there is nothing unknown to the Self. Bhagavan Ramana also says, in ULLadu
Narpadu ‐ Anubandham, Sad Darsanam, Supplement, and Verse 27.
(This is a translation from Yoga Vasishtam).

Seeming to have enthusiasm, and delight, seeming to have excitement and aversion, seeming
to exercise initiative and perseverance, and yet without attachment, play, O hero, in the
world. Released from all bonds of attachment and with equanimity of mind, acting outwardly
in all situations in accordance with the part you have assumed, play as you please, O hero, in
the world!

2. If one has to take the world‐standards viz., a Sannyasi does not know anything about erotica
and if he knows, he is not a true ascetic, more particularly if he had embraced ascetism directly
from brahmacharyam, youth without marriage. So Sankara had to play as per the world
standards.

Sankara requested Ubhaya Bharati to give him thirty days' time, to contemplate on the question
and come back. It was agreed to by Ubhaya Bharati.

22. The story goes that Sankara, after shedding his body in a cave under the custody of his disciples,
entered into the dead body of King Amaruka and sported among the hundred queens in the
guise of their husband. When the disciples found that the period specified by Sankara had
already expired, they grew anxious. So, some of them went to him in the disguise of minstrels
and sang the famous Guru Stuti to remind him about the urgency.

Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman says that is kukkuda‐nyaya, the logic of the hen. What is this
logic of the hen? Logicians say to prove the cause and effect theory, that the hen could
be half egg and half hen! The egg will be the cause and it will give effect to the effect the hen
and ad infinitum.... Gaudapada in his famous Gaudapada Karika digs at this logic. This is not
the way to prove the theory of causation. There is only a Primal Cause, the Cause which starts
the chain of effect and cause. This Primal Cause is Brahman or the Self. He need not have come
from any pre‐existing effect!

So this Sankara's story of getting into King Amaruka's body has to be taken as it is, without any
logic. Logic is a product of learning, and learning is intellectual. The Self is experiential. So,
without any further discussion into the rightness of this act of Sankara, let us see further....

The disciple sings the Guru Stuti. Bhagavan Ramana has made it in Tamil verses. Prof. K.
Swami Nathan, an improvement over Arthur Osborne's original translation, has translated this.

1. That is the Truth which the wise realize as the Self, the residuum left over on withdrawing
from external objects with or without form, (ether, air, fire, water and earth), by a careful
application of the scriptural text: Not and not this. That thou art!

2. That is the Truth which, after generating the fundamentals, (ether, air, fire, water and
earth), and entering the world, lies hidden beneath the five sheaths, and which has been
threshed

out by the wise with the pestle of discrimination just as the grain is recovered by threshing and
winnowing the chaff. That thou art!

3. Just as wild horses are broken in by whipping and stabling them, so also the unruly senses,
straying among objects. Are lashed by the whip of discrimination, showing that objects
are unreal, and are tethered by the rope of pure intellect to the Self by the wise. Such is the
Truth. That thou art!

4. the Truth has been ascertained by the wise to be the aberration which is different from the
waking, dream, and deep sleep states, its own expanded modes, which indeed are held
together by it like the flowers strung together on a garland. That thou art!

5. That is the Truth which the scriptures show to be the primal cause of all, elucidating the
point clearly by such texts as, "Purusha is all this", "like gold in ornaments of gold", etc., That
thou art!

6. The Truth has been forcefully proclaimed by the scriptures in such texts as "He alone is in
the Sun, is in man", "He who shines in the sun, shines in the right eye," etc., that thou art!

7. What pure Brahmins seek so eagerly by repetition of the Vedas, by religious gifts, by earnest
application of their hard‐earned knowledge and by renunciation, is the Truth. That thou art!

8. that is the Truth which the valiant have got by seeking with controlled mind, with
abstinence, penance, etc., and by diving into the Self by the self. Realizing it, they are
considered to be
heroes with their highest purpose accomplished. That is the transcendental Sat Chit Ananda,
(Being‐Consciousness‐Bliss) after gaining which there is nothing more to worry about since
perfect peace reigns. That thou art!

Ubhaya Bharati gave up the debate without any further delay; Arwhen Sankara returned and
answered all the replies to her questions. Both Mandanamisrar and Ubhaya Bharati became
the disciples of Sankara. They were called Sureswarar and Sarasavani. (We are reminded here,
of Kavyakanta Ganapti Muni and his illustrious wife Smt. Visalkashi, who queried Bhagavan
Ramana, which is a part of Sri Ramana Gita.)

23. Sankara returned from Mahishmathi. This time, apart from Padmapada, Sureswarar and
Sarasavani also accompanied him. Back to Kasi, back to Ganga. Kasi and Ganga are eternally
fascinating, ever new, and ever fresh, like Annamalai and Unnamulai. He composed the famous
Gangashtakam here.

1. Heaven‐born river! Bhagavati Ganga!
Goddess, Redeemer of all the world!
In ripples, Your waters playfully are flowing; You wander in Siva's matted locks,
Grant that my mind, O You who is stainless!
Ever may dwell at the lotus of your feet!

2. Bhagirati! Mother! Giver of gladness! The scriptures celebrate the glory of Your stream;
But, I, alas! Know nothing of your glories. Foolish as I am, do You redeem me,
You, the embodiment of merciful love!

3. Rippling, You flow from the feet of Hari, Whiter than frost or diamonds or the moon,

O Mother Ganga! Take away the burden Of wicked deeds that weigh upon me;
Bear me across the ocean of the world.

4. He who has drunk Your refreshing waters Verily has tasted of the Highest;
He, Your worshipper, O Mother Ganga!
Never will be seized by the King of Death.

5. Ganga! Jahnavi! Saviour of the sinners!
Murmuring, You flow on Your broken stones, Mother of Bhisma! Daughter of Jahnu!
You, the almighty conqueror of evil!
Truly You are blessed in all the worlds.

6. Like the celestial tree of wishes, you grant the boons of men's desiring. He who salutes you
will not grieve again. You sport, O Ganga, with the limitless ocean. Wondering, the damsels of
heaven regard You, Watching with restless, sidelong glances!

7. If, by Your grace, one battles in Your waters Never again need one enter a mother's womb;
The sins of a lifetime for all annulling. The claims of destiny at death dispelling. Jahnavi!
Ganga! The worlds accord You Honour and renown for the glory that is yours.

8. Brightly, O Jahnavi, Your waters sparkle, You look on Your worshippers with loving glance,
Indra himself, the ruler of gods, Bows to Your feet with his jeweled crown. Giver of happiness!
Bringer of good fortune! Help of Your bond slaves, hail in you!

24. 9. Banish, O Bhagirathi! all my illness; Take away my troubles, my sins and my grief.
Utterly crush my wanton cravings. Goddess, supreme in all the world!
You, Mother Earth's most precious necklace!
You are my refuge here in this world!

10. Giver of delight to the gods in heaven!
Essence of Bliss, adored by the afflicted!
On me shower your compassionate love; He who has made Your bank his dwelling Verily
abides in Vishnu's realm.

11. Rather a fish or a turtle in your waters, A tiny lizard on Your bank, would I be, Or even a
shunned and hated outcaste, Living but a mile from Your sacred stream, Than the proudest
emperor afar from You.

12. You, the auspicious Ruler of creation!
Daughter of a Sage and Mother benign!
Flowing Deity! Veritable Goddess!
He who repeats this hymn to Ganga surely will succeed in everything.

13. He who cherishes his Mother Ganga Wins salvation with the greatest of ease. This, Her
hymn felicitous in rhythm, Pleasant in the ear, to the tongue, like nectar. Never surpassed , the
wish‐fulfiller, Noble and exalted in mood, was written In the mind‐bewitching Pajjhatika
meter*
By Sankara, servant of Sankara Himself, Foolish mortal, given to enjoyment, Read it daily for
your lasting good.

The hymn, though titled as Ashtakam, runs to 13 stanzas. There are some internal evidences,

while Sankara speaks about his illness. His illness is somewhat due to his tiredness. He also
speaks of sins, which may refer to his entering into King Amaruka's body, to learn about erotica
to win the debate with Ubhaya Bharati.

* Pajjhatika meter is a Sanskrit poetic structure suggestive of the rippling waters of a river or a
stream.

25. From Mahishmati, Sankara returned to Ganga and Kasi, with Padmapada, Sureswara and
Sarasavani.

In Kasi, Sankara met one gentleman under a tree. As he came near him, he was glad to find that
he is none other than his boy‐hood friend of Kaladi, Vishnu. Vishnu was in tears and he
held Sankara's feet tightly and prostrated and wept inconsolably. Vishnu then told that he is not
happy with all his Vedic learning and he has come to Kasi hoping to meet Sankara. Sankara was
happy to meet him and gave him Atma Jnana Upadesa, and also initiated him to sannyasa. He
gave him the diksha name of Sukacharya. Sukacharya is not one of the four disciples of
Sankara, but he is held in high esteem as equivalent to any of them.

Sankara then came to south of Vindhyas and reached Sri Sailam. He had a darshan of
Mallikarjuna Siva. He went into raptures and had a darshan of Mallikarjuna Siva, as Siva‐Sakti
tattva, the union of matter and energy. This vision is called Hara‐Gowri Sampargam. In Sri
Sailam, he sang his famous Sri Sivanananda Lahari.

Sri Sivanananda Lahari is a composition on bhakti, in excellent poetry. Unlike Sri Soundarya
Lahari, there are no mantras here, pure melting devotion only. Here he speaks about Saint
Kannappa and other devotees of Siva.

The composition starts with prayer to both Siva and Sakti. They are concorporate.

Prostrations to the concorporate, who have all sixteen digits of Brahman! To that divine father
and mother, who have got crescent moon on their heads, to that couple who are the result of
taps of one upon the another! To them, who are giving immediate results to the devotees'
intense devotion. To them who vigilantly take care of the welfare of the three worlds, To them
who give bliss when meditated on Heart, To them, who are ever new and fresh, to them who
always in the ocean of bliss, to that Siva‐ Sakti, I prostrate for ever! (Verse 1)

The song starts with the letter 'ka' which indicates the Sakti tattva. See, Kakarupa kalyani kalyana
guna salini... Sri Lalita Trisati. Sakti is denoted with the letter 'ka'; she is kakara‐rupa.

They are the result of mutual tapas. Sakti is the result of Siva's tapas and Siva the result of Sakti's
tapas. They are like the word and its meaning, as observed by poet Kalidasa. The crescent moon
and the ornaments and the bull‐vehicle are common to both.

26. Bhagavan Ramana has selected 10 verses from Sri Sivananda Lahari for devotees' daily chanting.
Devotees like Mouni Sadhu had read Sri Sivananda Lahari even before they had come to
Bhagavan Ramana and He has recommended the composition to be continued to be read by
them for their sadhana.

Bhagavan Ramana has selected the following 10 verses for daily chanting.

1. Sloka 61 2. Sloka 76 3. Sloka 83 4. Sloka 6 5. Sloka 65 6. Sloka 10 7. Sloka 12 8.

Sloka 10 9. Sloka 11 10.Sloka 91.

I have translated them in English some months back under the topic Sri Sivananda Lahari and the
members are requested to go through them, in case they want English meanings.

It is better to read the verses in Sanskrit and read the meanings in their mother tongue.

Sri Sailam had a lot of Sakta‐upasakas. Sankara taught them the Upasana of Brahman which is
nothing but Siva‐Sakti as one principle and brought them to the Atma Jnana Upasana of
experiencing the Self within.

Sankara travelled from Sri Sailam and came to the northern Karnataka. Here, there were a lot of
Kapalikas, the violent worshippers of Kala Bairava and this sub‐sect was called Maha Bairava
Marga. Sudhanva was the local chieftain here and he was under the grips of one Grahasa, who
was the head of Kapalika monks here. They were following the vamachara‐marga, the left
handed worship of treating women as Sakti and copulating with them, as the worship of Siva.
The chief Grahasa was a renowned Ugra‐bairava known for his anger and ferociousness. He was
100 years old! The sect was addicted to drinking liquor heavily and eating meat. Grahasa
wanted to kill Sankara.

27. Ugra Bairava came to Sankara and started debate with him regarding sublimity of his Maha
Bairva Marga. Sankara advised him that only Atma Dyanam, meditating on the formless Self
is a sure way to liberation and praying to Bairava and others would take one only to their
respective worlds where there would again only be worship in form and no liberation. Even
though Ugra Bairava had been convinced personally, he did not want to show it up to Sankara.
He stayed with Sankara for some days and one day he said to him: I shall take your head and
offer it to Maha Bairava and go to Siva‐loka. I am not restful here. Sankara smiled at him and
said: Alright, you tell me a day, when I have to offer my head in sacrifice. I shall be ready under a
tree that night and you can cut my head with sword. Ugra Bairava was pleased with this turn of
events and fixed the next new moon day for the sacrifice.

On that night, when everyone was sleeping, Sankara went out of his place and stayed under a
peepul tree. At midnight, the Kapalikas came and took Sankara with them. They went to a
forsaken hill and the pujas to Bairava started in all noise. They garlanded Sankara and placed him
on the sacrificial stone. They sang high sounding songs in praise of Mahabairava and Ugra
Bairava was about to swish his sword. Padmapada, who was sleeping in the residence, suddenly
became ferocious and rushed out to the hill to see this orgy taking place. He moved swiftly to
Ugra Bairava and killed him with his own sword. Padmapada could not be calmed.

Sankara saw him as Nrisimha Himself. He immediately sung his Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha aravalamba
Stotram, asking Nrisimha to give His hand to help the poor Padmapada. This song starts as
‐ Srimad bayonidhi nihedhana chakra pane!

Soon Sankara asked Padmapada to write commentary on Sri Nrisimha poorvadha and uttaradha
Upanishads. These are later Upanishads coming under the 108 Upanishads, which are mostly
forms of worship. After this, Padmapada had also been calmed down. Sankara then composed
the famous Kala‐bairava‐ Ashtakam on Siva Kalabairava. This starts as‐‐ Devaraja sevyamana‐
paavananghri pankajam..... Ugra Bairava also got deliverance with this song.

Sankara came then to Harihar in northern Karnataka, where Siva is in the form of Sankara
Narayana. In Harihar, Sankara met Sri Neelkanta Dishitar (not the one who is related to the

famous Appayya Deekshitar) and went through Neelakanta's commentary on Brahma Sutram on
the basis of Saiva Siddhantam. He advised Neelakanta how his commentary is deficient and
wanted him to adopt advaita approach to understand Brahma Sutram.

From here, Sankara came to Gokarnam and then to Kollur, where there is famous Mookambika
temple.

28. In Kollur, Mookambika temple, Sankara worshipped to the goddess and then stayed for some
days there.

He advised the worshippers of gods: "The path of devotion or Upasana is quite noble. But
Upasana alone will not confer liberation. Upasana should be the stepping stone for Atma
Vichara, self‐ enquiry. Upasana is helpful to the extent of giving purification of mind, chitta‐
suddhi. But chitta‐suddhi should be taken to the logical end of self enquiry and self realization. I
have no quarrel if you call Devi as Brahman or Siva as Brahman. In fact, Siva is called Satyo‐
jathan, one who confers the Truth in a trice. But one has to go past Upasana to end up in Self
realization. However much, one knows how to play a drum, will not confer him the title that he is
a good veena‐player. The drumming practice helps to learn veena since the under‐lying rhythm
is same. But the first will not automatically confer the second."

Upasana is manifold. This multiplicity gives rise to in fights, saying that Devi Upasana is better
than Vishnu Upasana etc., Brahman‐Upasana is sublime. It has not fight with anybody, because
everything is a form of Brahman.

From Kollur, Sankara came again to Gokarnam and meditated in the temple for sometime.

Different Sankara biographies say differently about Sankara's ascension to the Sarvajna Peetam,
the Seat of All Knowledge. There are three versions: That Sankara ascended the Seat in Kollur,
Mookambika Temple. That Sankara ascended the Seat in Sri Nagar, Kashmir in Sharada Temple.
That Sankara ascended the Seat in Kamakshi Temple, Kanchipuram.

But the majority view is that he ascended the Seat in Sri Nagar, Kashmir, at Sharada Temple.

29. Sankara said that the Upanishads and Brahma Sutram are not seeking a reference to worship of
any personal god or Saguna Upasana. Saguna Upasana came when the man could not grapple
with the formless Brahman. First he resorted to worship of five elements and found the Space to
be formless and identified the Pure Space as Brahman. That way, Saguna Upasana gives room
to go beyond. Saguna Upasana is seeking reference only to Puranas and the two epics.

In Mookambika temple, the pandits wanted him to ascend to the Sarvajna Peeta. Before that
they said that they should be convinced about Sankara's way of treating Brahman also as
of Devi's form. They told him to throw a golden ring into a Sri Chakra which is placed a little far
off. If Sankara could correctly throw the golden ring around Sri Chakra, they would agree that
Devi also agrees to Nirguna Brahman meditation!

Padmapada laughed at this circus business! But Sankara agreed to the experiment and
succeeded in winning too! Then the pandits garlanded him and called him to Sarvajna Peeta
ascension.

In Kollur, one miracle took place. There were a couple whose son had died. Sankara went to
their house and raised the child from death. Brahma Jnanis do such miracles very very rarely

in most deserving cases. They are not normally for such miracles. In Bible we find only one
Lazarus being raised from death. Bhagavan Ramana never agreed to do this. He would rather
speed up the liberation of children in case they were deserving. It happened in case of two
children of Mahalakshmi Amma, G.V. Subbaramaiah's daughter Indra. Only on one occasion,
Bhagavan Ramana made a near‐dead child bitten by a snake back to life.

From Kollur, Sankara went to Srivali village. It is a village of 1000 Brahmins who were doing agni‐
hotra, fire sacrifices. There was one such Brahmin by name Prabhakara. He had a child, who was
not speaking and appearing as a dunce right from his early childhood. The boy had always a
vacant look, never talking to anyone, never doing any work, including basic work of eating etc.,
Several retributory sacrifices were made by Prabhakara to have the son cured. But nothing
happened. He was finding his life quite miserable.

When the local population came to know about Sankara's miracle in Kollur, they invited him and
Sankara came to the village to see the child.

When Sankara came and looked at the boy, the boy who had hitherto never did a direct look at
anyone in life, looked at Sankara intently and Sankara also looked at him intently. The boy then
looked at Padmapada and exchanged the look with him. Padmapada immediately knew the
problem. But he wanted to witness the entire drama once again, silently.

Sankara slowly asked the boy: Who are you? Whose son are you? Who is your father? Where is
your house? From where are you coming? What is your lakshya, goal?

The child replied in melodious verses!

30. Sankara asked the mute child:

"Who are you? Whose child are you? Whither are you bound?
What is your name? Whence have you come? Oh child! I should like to hear your reply to these
questions. Thus spake Sankara to the boy, and Hasthamalaka (the name given later) replied as
follows."

1. I am neither man, god, yaksha, Brahmin, ksatriya, Vaisya, Sudra, brahmachari, householder,
forest‐dweller, nor sannyasi, but I am pure Awareness alone.

2. Just as the sun causes all worldly movements, so do I. ‐ the ever present conscious Self ‐‐
cause the mind to be active and senses to function. Again, just as the ether, is all‐pervading,
yet devoid of any specific qualities, so am I, free from all qualities.

3. I am the conscious Self, ever present and associated with everything in the same manner as
heat is always associated with fire. I am that eternal, undifferentiated, unbroken
Consciousness,
on account of which the insentient mind and senses function, each in its own manner.

4. I am that Conscious Self of whom the ego is not independent, as the images in a mirror is not
independent of the object reflected.

5. I am the unqualified conscious Self, existing even after the extinction of buddhi just as the
object remains ever the same even after the removal of the reflecting mirror.


6. I am eternal Consciousness, dissociated from the mind and senses. I am the mind of the
mind, the eye of the eye, ear of the ear and so on. I am not cognizable by the mind and senses.

7. I am the eternal, single Conscious Self, illuminating all intellect, just as the sun
simultaneously illumines all eyes, so that they perceive objects.

8. I am the single eternal conscious Self, reflected in various intellects, just as the sun is
reflected on the surface of various sheets of water.

9. Only those eyes that are helped by the sun are capable of seeing objects, not others. The
Source from which the sun derives its power is myself.

10. Just as the reflection of the sun on agitated waters seems to break up, but remains perfect
on a calm surface, so also am I, the conscious Self, unrecognizable in the agitated intellects
though I clearly shine in those which are calm.

11. Just as a fool thinks that the sun is entirely lost when it is hidden by dense clouds, so do
people think that the ever‐free Self is bound.

12. Just as ether, is all pervading and unaffected by contact, so also does the ever‐conscious
Self pervade everything without being affected in any way. I am that Self.

13. Just as a transparent crystal takes on the lines of its background, but is in no way changed
thereby, and just as the unchanging moon on being reflected on undulating surfaces appears
agitated, so is it with you, the all pervading God.

‐English translation by Arthur Osborne.

The verses have been rendered by Bhagavan Ramana in Tamil verses and this is available in His
Complete Works.

The conversation between Sankara and the boy is over with this. Sankara was pleased. He called
him, Hasthamalaka, the amla fruit on the palm, since he knew the Self so clearly.

The father of the boy became speechless with wonder at these words. Sankara told him: "He
has become your son because of his incomplete austerities. This is your good fortune. He will
not be of any use to you in this world. Let him stay with me." Sankara thus bade him to go back,
and taking the boy with him.

The other disciples asked Sankara: How did this boy attain this state of Brahman without
sravana, (hearing) etc. Sankara replied: His mother left her two year old child in the care of a
great and highly accomplished yogi who was practicing austerities on the bank of Yamuna while
she went to bathe in the river with some women. The child toddled towards the water and was
drowned. The yogi, out of compassion for the disconsolate mother forsook his body and entered
that of the child. That is why this boy had attained this high state.

Hastmalaka thus became the third disciple of Sankara and the youngest.

31. Sankara proceeded from Srivali village to Srungagiri. The king Aditya Varma welcomed him, with
all gifts and presentations. He continued his teaching of Upanishads, Brahmasutram etc., and
Hastmalaka heard these teachings for the first time. In Srungagiri, Padmapada developed a small

sankalpa, determination, to build a Math in the name of his Guru Sankara. Sankara kept silent
without saying yes and no. He told Padmapada: A snake will always live in the holes dug out by
frogs and rats and will not have its own house. We, Sannyasis, should also be like that.
We should not become a Matathipathi, chief of Maths.

(Here, Brahmasri Nochur told a nice story. There was a dog howling on the forest, near a
mediating sannyasi. Sannyasi became annoyed and threw a stone at that dog. The dog died.
Both sannyasi and the dog went to hell. Yama, the king of death asked the dog: What
punishment should I give to the sannyasi? You tell me, because you are the aggrieved. The dog
said: 'Sir, you make him a Matathipathi. a chief of Maths.' Yama was puzzled and asked: Why?
Why?. The dog said: "Sir, I was also a Matathipathi and then became dog, in the next birth. As
Matathipathi, I became greedy. I wanted to expand the Math, construct hospitals, schools. I
wanted to run TV channel. I became more and more greedy. I started asking for money, more
and more money. I did a lot of misdeeds to achieve my goal and thus became a dog! So, if this
Sannyasi is made to become a Matathipathi, he will also end up like me, as a dog!"

This is how most of the Maths are functioning today. Take the cases of today's Maths. They run
all sorts of auxiliary activities. Why all these? Is not their only job to teach Vedanta and self
enquiry? And feed the devotees who come to them, for teaching? Sri Ramanasramam is a
glorious exception. They do not take up running hospitals, schools, tailoring classes for women,
cookery classes for housewives etc., all these are unwanted, sin‐causing derivatives.)

Sankara here composed the famous Siva‐Aparadhamana Stotram and Kaupina Panchakam.
Hymn to Siva, for fivegiveness for transgressions, and five verses on the glory of codpiece.

32. Siva‐aparada‐kshamapana‐stotram:

1.Even before I saw the light of this world, my sins from previous births, Through which I
passed because of desire for the fruits of my deeds; Punished me as I lay in my mother's
womb. There I was boiled in the midst of unclean things. Who can describe the pain that
afflicts the child in his mother's womb? Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive
me, I pray for my transgressions.

*********

2.In childhood my suffering never came to an end; My body was covered with filth and I craved
for my mother's breasts. Over my body and limbs, I had no control; I was pursued by
troublesome flies and mosquitoes; Day and night I cried with the pain of many an ailment,
forgetting Thee, O Sankara! Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray
for my transgressions.
*********

3. In youth the venomous snakes of sound and sight, of taste and touch and smell, Fastened up
my vitals and slew my discrimination; I was engrossed in the pleasure of wealth, and sons and
a youthful wife; Alas! My heart bereft of the thought of Siva, Swelled with arrogance and
pride. Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray for my transgressions.

*********
4.Now, in old age, my senses have lost the power of proper judging and acting; My body,
though still not wholly bereft of life, Is weak and senile from many afflictions, from sins and
illnesses, and bereavements; But even now my mind, instead of meditating on Siva, Runs after

vain desires and hollow delusions. Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I
pray for my transgressions.

*********
5. The duties laid down in the Smrti ‐ perilous and abstruse ‐‐ are now beyond me; how can I
speak of the Vedic injunctions, for Brahmins as means for attaining Brahman? Never yet have
I rightly grasped, through discrimination, the meaning of hearing the scriptures from the guru
and reasoning on his instructions; How, then, speak of reflecting on Truth without
interruption? Therefore, O Siva, O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray, for my
transgressions.

*********
6.Not even once have I finished my bath before sunrise and brought from the Ganga Water to
bathe Thy holy image; Never, from the deep woods, have I brought the sacred bilwa leaves
for Thy worship; Nor have I gathered full‐blown lotuses from the lakes, Nor ever arranged the
lights and the incenses for worshipping Thee. Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu!
Forgive me, I pray, for my transgressions.

*********

7.I have not bathed Thine image with milk and honey, with butter and other obalations; I have
not decked it with fragrant sandal‐paste; I have not worshipped Thee with golden flowers, with
incense, with camphor flame and savory offerings. Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O
Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray, for my transgressions.

*********
8.I have not made rich gifts to the Brahmins, cherishing in my heart, O Mahadeva! Thy
hollowed form. I have not made, in the sacred fire, million obalations of butter, repeating the
holy mantra given me, by the guru. Never have I done penance along the Ganga with japa and
study of the Vedas. Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray, for my
transgressions.

33. 9. I have not sat in the lotus‐posture, nor have I ever controlled the Prana along the sushumna,
repeating the syllable Aum; Never have I suppressed the turbulent waves of my mind, nor
merged the self‐effulgent Aum, In the ever‐shining Witness‐Consciousness, whose nature is
that of the highest Brahman; Nor have I, in Samadhi, meditated on Sankara, dwelling in every
form as the Inner Guide; Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sankara! Forgive me, I pray, for
my transgressions.

*********

10.Never, O Siva! Have I seen Thee, the Pure the Unattached, the Naked One? Beyond the
three gunas, free from delusion and darkness, absorbed in meditation. And ever aware of the
true nature of the world; Nor, with a longing heart, have I meditated on Thine auspicious and
sin‐destroying form. Therefore, O Siva! O Mahadeva! O Sambhu! Forgive me, I pray, for my
transgressions.

*********

11. O Mind, to gain Liberation, concentrate wholly on Siva, Thy sole Reality underlying the
worlds, the Giver of good; Whose head is illumined by he crescent moon and in whose

hair the Ganga is hidden. Whose fire‐darting eyes consumed the god of earthly love; whose
throat and ears are decked with snakes; Whose upper garment is a comely elephant's skin,
Of what avail are all these rituals?

*********

12.O Mind, of what avail are wealth or horses, elephants or a kingdom? Of what avail is a son,
the wife, a friend, cattle the body and the home? Know all these to be transitory, and quickly
shun them; Worship Siva, as your guru instructs you, for the attaining of Self‐Knowledge.

*********

13. Day by day, a man comes near to death; His youth wears away; the day that is gone never
returns; Time, the almighty, swallows up everything; Transient as the ripples on a stream is the
goddess of fortune; Fickle as the lightning as life itself. O Siva! O Giver of shelter to those that
come to Thee for refuge! Protect me, who has taken refuge at Thy feet.

*********

14. I salute the self effulgent Guru of the gods, the Lord of Uma. I salute the Cause of the
universe; I salute the Lord of beasts, adorned with snakes; I salute Siva, whose three eyes shine
like the sun, the moon and fire. I salute the Beloved of Krishna; I salute Sankara, He who
bestows boons on His devotees and gives them shelter; I salute the auspicious Siva.

********

15. O Siva! White is Thy body, covered with ashes; white gleam They teeth when Thou smiles!
White is the skull Thou holdest in Thy hand; white is Thy trident which threatens the wicked!
White are the rings that hang from Thine ears; white is the bull on which Thou ridest! White
appear Thy matted locks, flecked with the foam of the Ganga! White shines the moon on Thy
forehead! May He, who is all white, all pure, bestow on me the treasures of forgiveness for my
transgressions!

********

16. O Siva! Forgive all the sins that I have committed, With hands or feet, with ears, or eyes,
with words or body, with mind or heart; Forgive my sins, those past and those that are yet to
come. Victory unto Siva, the Ocean of Compassions, the Great God, the Abode of Blessedness!
Concluded.

********* . By Swami Nikhilananda, Sri, Sri Ramakrishna Math.

Sankara also composed Kaupina Panchakam, Five Verses on Codpiece in Shrungagiri, at this
time.

34. Kaupina Panchakam.
1. Roaming ever in the grove of Vedanta Ever pleased with his beggar's morsel, wandering
onward, his heart free from sorrow, Blest indeed is the wearer of the loin‐cloth.

*******


2. Sitting at the foot of a tree for shelter. Eating from his hands his meager portion,
Spurning wealth like a patched up garment, Blest indeed is the wearer of the loin‐cloth.

*******

3.Satisfied fully by the Bliss within him, Curbing wholly the cravings of his senses,
Delighting day and night in the bliss of Brahman, Blest indeed is the wearer of the loin‐cloth.

********

4. Chanting Brahman, the Word of redemption, Meditating only on " I am Brahman".
Living on alms and wandering freely, Blest indeed is the wearer of the loin‐cloth.

********

‐ Translation by Swami Nikhilananda,Sri, Sri Ramakrishna Math.

Padmapada still had a lingering sankalpa for building a Math. Thus Sringeri Math was formed.
Sankara advised him: Please do Upasana with a Sri Chakra yantra. Build small cottages for
Sannyasins. Start the teaching of Upasana Marga. For Atma‐ Vichara, no formal Math is
required. However, this will help who are eager in Upasana marga, devotion and worshipping.
Upasana should lead to self enquiry. Make the Upasana without any fanfare. You can do
adulations with water on a coconut shell. You can offer milk to Sri Chakra, with milk on a coconut
shell. You can bring bilwa from jungles. Even flowers, if not available, do not bother about them.
Flowers are mere adornments for Devi, who is ever‐adorned with all the beauties of this world.
Do not preach any fanciful pujas to devotees. What is Upasana? Upanishad is the Bow; Mind is
the arrow. Sharpen it in Atma within. And aim it towards the lakshya, goal, self realization."

Padmapada became the first chief of Sringeri Math.

Sankara then proceeded with other disciples. He was on the way to Sri Sailam, and was on the
bank of Tungabhadra. He had many new disciples. He was teaching Upanishads etc., on the bank
of Tungabhadra. One of them is Giri. He is a soft spoken man, not much of sastric‐learning or
Sanskrit scholarship. He had a pure heart and ardent devotion to Guru Sankara. These two
made up for all the deficiencies. Atma Jnana does not require any sastric learning unlimitedly, as
Bhagavan Ramana said in who am I? Utmost devotion to Guru with a pure heart will confer you
deliverance through continuous self enquiry. Bhagavan Ramana has sung in Atma Vidya
Keertanam: O this is quite easy, this Atma Vidya! It is true and it is only Truth.

35. Since Giri was not much learned, other disciples, particularly Padmapada and Sureswara had no
regard for him. However, Sankara understood his devotion to the Guru which is more important
than erudition and scholarship. One day, as Sankara began teaching Upanishads, Giri was not
present. He was still washing the clothes of Guru on the other bank of Tungabhadra. Sankara
waited for Giri. Padmapada said: Master, we can start. Sankara said: Let us wait for Giri.
Padmapada proudly smiled and told Sankara: Master, even if he comes in time, what good
is there for him in the Upanishads, since he hardly understands anything. Sankara said: Okay. I
shall call him and see. He called for Giri with a loud cry. Giri looked at his guru from the other
bank of the river and leaving the clothes, he simply walked over Tungabhadra river, as if it was a
sheet of timber! Sankara looked at Giri, with tearful eyes with overflowing Grace. His Presence
merged in Giri's heart. Giri became learned and a Jnani instantly. This is called Sakti Nipadam,
the descent of divine power, even if a devotee is not fully ripe. This descent makes all the

difference in the disciple. He gets anything, be it learning or self realization, anything.

Bhagavan Ramana had this Sakti Nipadam in Madurai Meenkashi Temple. There is one name in
His 108 holy names.

Om Dwadasanta Mahasthale* lapda vidyodayaya Namah:

Salutations to One who had the rise of Atma Vidya in Madurai!*

Giri came to Sankara like a calf to the cow and sang his famous Totakashtakam. It is an eulogy on
Guru in thotaka meter. Vidithakila.... bava sankara desika me saranam. This contains eight
verses. I shall give the translation in due course.

Giri had all the ramifications of the mind, killed. He shone like a bright sun. Both Sankara and
Giri went into bhava samadhi state. The other disciples, particularly Padmapada got thunder‐
struck. Giri then came to be called as Thotakacharya. He is the fourth disciple of Sankara.

How can one devotee get Atma Jnana, without learning anything? Bhagavan Ramana has clearly
said: There is no need to read scriptures endlessly. The realization comes through enquiry,
coupled with total faith in Guru and Guru's mighty grace in return.

Muruganar says about Bhagavan Ramana: He would bring about Samadhi, without any Sadhana
on the part of the devotee. Sadhanai inri, Samadhi Sadippaan! This is what happened to Giri
through Sankara's abundant grace.

36. From the banks of Tungabhadra, Sankara came with his disciples, including Thotakacharya, to
Shrungagiri again. From there, he further proceeded towards east to Sri Sailam. Here, he lived in
a cave, in constant contemplation, in brahma‐bhavana. He remained in that state for a long time,
when even his breathing became quite less. This is called Manonmani mudra. No thoughts, no
mind, only Peace. There is only ever shining Atma. Bhagavan Ramana has sung in Upadesa
Saram, the mind is the source for all thoughts. Thoughts are the mind. When one enquires this
source, one abides in the Self.

Verse 18:

Thoughts alone make up the mind, And of all thoughts the "I" thought is the root. What is
called mind is but the notion "I"

‐ Tr. by Prof. K. Swaminathan.

Sri Ramakrishna also had this state of immense peace, with ceasing of all thoughts and curling up
of the mind, in the gardens of Dakshineshwar

Sankara composed his Yoga‐dharavali in this cave of Sri Sailam.

Keeping the thoughts and the mind in the Heart is the real nyasam. Sannyasam is samayaka‐
nysam. In fact this is the only definition of Sannyasam in Upanishads, not merely staying away
from conjugal happiness, and begging alms. When the mind causing the thoughts and emotions
permanently stays in Heart, without any life, it is Brahma Jnana. When a Brahma Jnani is in that
state, he sheds of tears of bliss, which the birds will come to drink!


A Brahma Jnani does not want a crowd at all. He only wants a few sincere seekers to share his
experience. A Brahma Jnani, who attracts a hundred thousand devotees each day, is not a Jnani
at all. When Sri Vivekananda became famous after his Chicago address, hundreds came to see
him. They were all very mediocre people, who wants self realization in two hours. (In fact, I saw
one advt. in the Hindu of Wednesday that someone gives self realization in two hours and the
charges are only minimal!). So, Swami Vivekananda went to 1000 Island Park, where there
were only about 12 or 15 people, who wanted genuine guidance.

Sankara continued in the state of no‐mind Manonmani mudra for several days. He came to
Shrungagiri again in that same state.

37. Sankara continued his teachings of Upanishadic purport to his four disciples, in Shrungagiri. One
day, he found Sureswara had been shining more brilliantly than others. Sureswara had the
knowledge of Vedas (karma kanda) and had also been a householder. He told Sankara: Master, I
have no desires left in my life. If I have to do anything, please tell me. Sankara then told him:
Please write Vartikam, (further elucidation) for my Brahma sutra Bhashyam. Sureswara agreed.

Padmapada, who had the habit of doubting any one's capability, (due to his pride and prejudice),
told Sankara: Master! Sureswara is an exponent in karma kanda of Vedas. If he writes a
Vartikam, he would bring in karma kanda aspects in the Brahma Sutram which would water
down your Bhashyam. Sankara knew Padmapda's mind. He smiled and asked: Are you
concluding like that? Padmapada: Yes, master. He then called Sureswara and told him:
You don't write Vartikam. Let this be postponed. Do something of your own.

Sureswara agreed readily and wrote the famous Naishkarmya Siddhi, the state of no‐action. This
is the most appreciated work and considered equivalent to any of Sankara's own works. (I have
written about Naishkarmya Siddhi almost nine or ten months back.) Sankara then told
Padmapada to write Vartikam on Brahma Sutra Bhashyam. Padmapada wrote Vartikam for the
first four lines or sutras only. This is called Brahma Dandigam. Sankara found it more pedantic
which not a characteristic of a Vartikam. Padmapada became silent and did not proceed with it.

Padmapada then asked Sankara's permission to go to Rameswaram and also Sri Rangam, his
birth place. Sankara told Padmapada: You have got bad time now. Please stay back with me.
Padmapada did not agree. He proceeded to south.

Guru's words of advice should be totally adhered to, if one wants to ward off prarabdha
miseries. Bhagavan Ramana once told one of His devotees, (who had heard about his bad time,
from a astrologer of his village) to stay within Asramam for six months. And this devotee agreed
and stayed put inside the Asramam, and escaped the wrath of prarabdha.

38. Padmapada proceeded to Rameswaram from Shrungagiri. On his way, he halted at Sri Rangam,
his birth‐place. His uncle was there. He stayed with him for a few days. The uncle was listening
to Padmapda’s Advaita way and his experiences with Sankara, his Guru. He also read out his
Brahma Dandigam. The uncle grew jealous of Padmapada. Further Sankara's sutram, Satyam
Sivam Sundaram Anantham Brahmam, did not please him. He was a devotee of Sri Ranganatha,
Narayana in Sri Rangam. There was, of course, no qualifed non dualism of Sri Ramanuja those
days. (Sri Ramanuja came 600 years later.), but somehow he preferred the form worship
of Narayana and could not comprehend formless Brahman and therefore Sivam.

Padmapada took leave of his uncle and went to Rameswaram. He was somehow restless in
Rameswaram and so returned to Sri Rangam, in a few days. There, he found that the house

where his uncle was staying had been burnt due to some fire accident. His uncle escaped the
disaster but Padmapda’s books were all burnt. This fire accident was contrived by the jealous
uncle. He came from the next street and cried before Padmapada, for the loss. Padmapada told
him not to cry since he could remember in his writings and he could repeat the Brahma
Dandigam again. This made the uncle to grow further jealous about the nephew. Padmapada
was asked to stay for some more days and he agreed.

During this time, the uncle mixed unmatha leaves' juice in the food. Padmapada became mad. He
cried, danced, showed anger, became silent for some time etc., He regretted for having not
heard Sankara's Guru's words, forbidding him from going out of Shrungagiri. He prayed to
Sankara for his welfare.

Padmapada told his uncle that he would leave for Shrungagiri soon. The happy uncle packed him
fast to Shrungagiri, laughing within himself.

Padmapada came to Shrungagiri prostrated before Sankara. He wept miserably. Sankara said:
"Do not worry. Atma Anubhava, once attained, shall never a person. Even madness due to brain
dysfunction will not affect the state of self realization. Be with me. Do not leave me." He
touched him on his head and blessed him. Soon Padmapada became better, but he could not
recollect the Brahma Dandigam. Sankara said: "Perhaps it is destined that none of you should
write Vartikam on my Brahma sutra bhashyam. Anyway, you take down slowly. I shall tell you
the Brahma Dandigam, and also further Vartikam." He dictated the famous Panchapadiga, a
layman's elucidation on his own Brahma Sutra Bhashyam.

In a few days' time, Sankara knew through his mediation that his mother was in death bed in
Kaladi. He remembered his words to his mother. He rushed to Kaladi, skyward.

39. In Kaladi, mother Aryamba was lying in bed like a pulled out creeper withering in sun. No doubt,
her family friends were taking care of her food and shelter, but the old age had emaciated. She
had been living a life absolute renunciation, attending to minimum worldly work and praying to
Siva and Uma in Vadkkanathar Temple and Sri Krishna near the Poorna river.

Sankara came to his mother for her Matrutvam, for her Motherhood, not merely she was a
bilogical mother. A woman gets motherhood, not by getting a child, but when she becomes full
of mercy and grace to all living beings. Saints like Karaikal Amma and the queen Mangayarkarasi,
displayed this great divine motherhood, even when they were not having a child. In
motherhood, a woman becomes complete.

Motherhood is praised in Vedas. When a housewife or a girl is giving blessings by elders, they
say: Please get 10 children and let your husband become your 11th son! In course of time, a
wife also treats her husband as his son, when he becomes old and sick.

This motherhood, the abundance of grace in a man should also come in due course of his life. A
man is an incomplete woman, even as per the chromosome theories. He has got one
chromosome less in the double‐helix structure, and such an incomplete guy becomes a woman
only when he develops love and grace in his life towards all living beings. Saint Tayumanavar
says: I become withered, whenever I see a plant withering away in sun without water! Vadiya
Payirai kandopothellam vaadinen.....

Even Brahman or Siva should get his motherhood. That is why Maya is always associated with
Siva or Brahman. The story of Unnamulai getting half the body of Annamalai is only symbolic

of this Siva getting motherhood. Otherwise, Brahman is dry and lack luster, without Unnamulai,
the grace aspect not being with him!

Many Tamil poets have sung the glory of this concorporate aspect. Manikkavachagar says in
Tiruvachakam, Ammaiye Appa Oppila maniye... O my Mother‐Father, the incomparable
gemstone! Uma is green in color and Siva is white or red. The Ardhanariswara or the
concorporate Uma‐Siva is like the twin stone of ruby and emerald. Or garnet and lapiz lazuli!

Devaraja Mudaliar used to call Bhagavan Ramana as Ammai‐Appa.

Manikkavachagar also says that he cannot attain liberation without the grace of Uma.
Tiruvachakam starts as ‐ Namasivya.... Siva. It ends with the verse: "Who can get that great gift
as given to me by my mother, Oh! Oh! Ammai enakku aruLiayavar Aar peruvar achove....

40. Saint Manikkvachagar sings: "O, like the mother, who remembers to breast‐feed the baby,
without baby reminding her about it, you showed grace upon me, melted my bones and infused
the Light within, and then poured the nectar of Bliss into me, O Siva of Tiruperundurai, let me
chase you and get hold you firm, where can you escape?" Here the Light is Siva and Necarane
Bliss is Uma, her grace.

Saint Ramalingam says in his song: "If a father beats his erring son, the mother will rush to him
to hug him for consolation, if a mother beats her erring son, the father will rush to him to hug
him for consolation, you are here as my Mother‐Father, O the god with holy ashes all over the
body, please do not beat me any more, please embrace me, I cannot bear any further....."

Saint Tiru Jnana Sambandhar starts his first son, as Thodu udaiya sevian... O the One with ear‐
stud.. This ear stud is a woman's oranament. The saint subtly denotes the female aspect of Siva,
in his first song, without which there is no deliverence.

Sri Lalita Sahasranamam starts: O Mother, O Sri Mata.... and it ends with Siva, Siva‐aikya
rupini.... O Siva, in the form of Siva and Sakti, (Matter and Energy, Brahman and Grace....)
Sri Lalitambika..... Who is this Uma, Lalita?

Saint Poet Abhirami Bhattar says in his Abhirami Andati...

ThavaLe Siva Sankaranar manai mangalamam....

"O the green‐hued lady, you are the wife and welfare of Sankara. You are also his Mother, O
primordial goddess!....."

Sankara came to his mother and sat. He told her: "Mataha Sankaram agadham nija
sudham......" O Mother, Sankara has come. He is Your son....

The old mother looked at him, the great Jnani, as only her son. She became extremely happy. By
completing her motherhood, being a mother of a Brahma Jnani, she has in fact, become an
ascetic. Brahma Jnana comes out of its own accord. Motherhood is door to Divinity. Aryamba
wanted nothing more. Sankara says: Would like to have Siva‐darsanam? Vision of Siva? The
mother says: Yes. Sankara gave her the vision of Siva with Uma in Kailas. She could see the
same Divine Couple of Tiru VeLLai Man ThuLLi, a temple near Kaladi, where Siva and Uma are
together as described in Tiruvannamalai, Ardha Nari... She could see the white Kailas, the bull,
the Ganga, the crescent moon and the serpents, Siva and Uma with Ganapati and Skanda.

Sankara then asked her: O Mother, do you want Vishnu Darsanam too? The mother said: Yes.
Then he conferred her Vishnu Darsanam, as Lakshmi‐Narayana, on the milky ocean on the bed of
the great serpent.

41. Aryamba then told Sankara: My son! I do not want to go to any of these worlds like Kailas and
Vaikunta. I want to get released from all these and get merger with the Principle, which
is formless and nameless. Sankara then conferred her merger with Brahman, without any own
identity of hers.

As regards the ceremonies after liberation, there are several here say stories. None of the
biographies of Sankara give any detailed account. Sankara then composed his famous Matruka
Panchakam, the five verses on the Divine Mother.

The relatives in the village, refused fuel and fire to Sankara on the pretext that a sannyasi cannot
do cremation ceremonies for a dead parent. Sankara then picked up some plantain tree
trunks, created fire from his palm and cremated her in the backyard of the house! This news
spread like wildfire and the villagers and boys from Vedapatasala came to the house in large
numbers. Sankara said: O Mother, you wept on the other day that I was embracing ascetism.
Today the Vedapatasala boys are weeping for your great motherhood!

The fact that Sankara was not permitted to cremate his mother had happened 1400 years back,
when such rotten theories were there in Hindu society. By Ramana's time, these have been
weeded out. Bhagavan Ramana not only treated her Mother Azhagamma as an ascetic but also
arranged for Samadhi in the foot hills in 1922.

On that night, when Mother Azhagamma passed away at around 8.00 pm., Bhagavan had been
placing his palms on her chest and head for about 3 hours. Her vasanas and possible future
births came one by one like dreams and then vanished. She merged in the formless Brahman by
that night. Bhagavan Ramana told the devotees: Adakkam, Adangi vittathu....Subsidence, it has
subsided! He ate with others the supper and then asked them to sing Tiruvachakam. The songs
were sung till day break. Kunju Swami was asked to bring the body to the foothills. Kavyakanta
Ganapati Muni composed Aryambika Ashtakam, Eight Verses on Mother Azhagamma that
morning.

There are astounding parallels between Sankara and Bhagavan Ramana. Both conferred
deliverance to their mothers. A Brahma Jnani, by his life alone, confers mukti for three
generations before him and after him, says scriptures. But to be a mother of a Brahma Jnani is
the greatest gift for a lady. Such is the greatness of motherhood. Motherhood is door to
divinity.
Sankara was 26 at that time. I shall try to get the Sanskrit original of Matruka Panchakam, and
post the translation in due course. It starts with Astham tapatiyam....

King Rajasekar came to see Sankara on hearing the news. He brought elephant‐loads of gold and
grains. He prostrated to Sankara and held his feet, in total devotion.

42. King Rajasekar was with Sankara for a few days. Sankara asked him, about the three puranic
plays which he had written and shown to Sankara, when he was six years old. The king said that
the plays had been lost in a fire accident in the palace. Sankara said: Do not worry. They are
good puranic plays and I shall repeat them. You can take down! The king was astounded. The
boy who had heard the plays read out to him, when he was six years old, said that he would
repeat them for taking down. This is the power of memory of a Brahma Jnani. Such a Jnani

displays tremendous power of memory because they always stay in Brahman, the knowledge of
everything. We also know how Bhagavan Ramana used to tell Vivekachoodamani verses, even
though He had heard them only once before. In fact, He wrote Vivekachoodamani Tamil prose
and Atma Bodham Tamil verses, only with one reading of those works.

Sankara left Kaladi as a person of immense peace, for having completed the last job, he owed to
his mother. He travelled via Tamil Nadu and first came to Rameswaram. He prayed to
Ramalinga Swami, Siva, who was worshipped by Rama. He composed the famous Siva
Panchakshara Stotram there. It starts as Nagendra haaraaya, tri lochanaya....

Sankara then came to Tiruchendur, one of the six barracks of Skanda. From here only, Skanda
fought Surapadma and his two brothers and released all devas from prison. Here, he is
having a temple with his two consorts. This is on the eastern sea shore, almost at the tip of India.

Tiruchendur temple is almost on the sea shore. This town has witnessed a miracle in recent
times. During 2004 Tsunami, when Sri Lanka and even other coastal towns of Bay of Bengal, like
Nagapattinam witnessed catastrophic calamities, Tiruchendur, which is in between Sri Lanka and
Nagapattinam, remained totally unaffected! The sea is said to have withdrawn itself by a few
kilometers without touching the sea‐shore temple and the town! It is a geophysical marvel for
scientists.

Tiruchendur is famous for Muruga's power in curing diseases. In the temple, which is managed
by Kerala Brahmins, who are called Pothis and who are very strict about their body purity,
taking bath three times a day and doing pujas with a wet dhoti, Vibhuti, the holy ashes, is given
on a leaf of Javanthi tree. This is called leaf‐Vibhuti and is quite potent in curing diseases. Saint
Nakkirar has sung about this temple, in his Tiru Murgatru Padai, which is dated 3rd Century AD.
Many Tamil poets like Arunagiri Natha, Pagazhi Pulavar, and Kumaragurupara Swami have sung
on this ancient temple of Muruga.

43. In Tiruchendur, while having darsan of Subahmanya, Sankara composed the famous
Subrahmanya Bhujangam. Bhujangam means serpent. This work is in a meter, which when
chanted, comes under the rhythm, which is like the serpent moving about. This work is also
appreciated for its power to cure the diseases. The work contains 33 verses. The first verse is
prayer to Ganapati.

1. Ever young, but capable of breaking the mountains, though with an elephant face, is always
adored by Siva, the Lion, the god whom Indra, Brahma and devas prostrate, indescribable in
beauty and who confers all welfare, I pray to that Ganapati!

2. I do not know the sound of the language, nor its meaning, nor capable of writing even prose,
why then talk about poetry? But I am having the effulgence of Jnana in my Heart, which is
Subrahmanya and this makes me give out sounds which are poetry. This is a wonder!

3. One who rides the peacock, the One who is the purport of all Vedanta, the One with mind
stopping beauty, the One who stays in the Heart of Jnanis,the One who is prayed to by the
Brahmins and the One who protects the world from the wicked, to that One, I ever pray!

12. I pray to the One who punished Brahma, for not knowing the purport of Pranava, the One
who created the worlds in place of Brahma, as a play, the One who has got shoulders like the
trunks of elephant and which are virtually Yama to the enemies, the One who saved devas by

battle with asuras, I pray to You with such shoulders!

18. Siva extended his hands and asked: O Child, please come! When such a call was made, you
rushed from Mother Uma's lap, to your father and you were hugged. I pray to that Skanda
who is ever as Soma Skanda, in the midst of Uma and Siva. (Soma Skanda means not one
wearing crescent moon, but Sa +Uma+ Skanda, one with Uma and Skanda.).

(Kavyakanta uses this pageant while describing Bhagavan Ramana, in Sri Ramana Gita. He says,
when Arunachala called you, you rushed from Mother Meenkashi's lap and rushed to
Arunachala Siva.)

20.* O the One with great compassion! I am without any way out, I am the one whose five
senses have become useless and am without any memory and remain motionless. My mouth
spits out
phlegm, I am ever afraid and nervous. When I leave this body, please rush to me and save me
by showing your merciful form!

25. O Subrahmanya! The One who vanquished Tarakasura! All diseases, like epilepsy, leprosy,
tuberculosis, piles, fever, urinary problems, delusive madness, colic pain and such other great
diseases, will be cured by the Vibhuti given from your feet on a Javanthi leaf!**

31. O Skanda, Prostrations to your vehicle, the Peacock! Prostrations to your Spear!
Prostrations to the Goat which is also your vehicle! Prostrations to your Rooster flag! O the
great ocean of Tiruchendur, prostrations to you! O Skanda, prostrations to You for ever!

The Palasruti says that those who read this work with great devotion will have a disease free
happy life with spouse and children with all worldly wealth, and with a long life and at the end
will reach the Abode of Skanda!

(* Due to this verse, it is also said in some Sankara Vijayam biographies that this song was sung
by Sankara, when Ukra Bairava came to behead him earlier. ** This practice of giving holy ashes
on the Javanti leaf is there even today.)

44. Sankara then came to Sri Rangam, between the banks of Kaveri and KoLLadam rivers. He had a
darsan of Sri Ranganatha and sang the famous Sri Ranganatha Ashtakam. It starts as: Ananda
rupe...

In Sri Rangam, Sankara met two sub‐groups of Vaishnavites under Vyasadasa and Brahma Gupta.
The first group followed Saranagati path and Karma anushtana path. Saranagati path merely
said, you surrender to Narayana and he will take care of everything. There is no need even to do
Gayathri japa and go to temples and do Vedic sacrifices. The Karma Anushtana path said that
you do all karmas, wear tulsi garland and Urthva Pundarikam (the red and white marks on the
forehead) and pray to Narayana's idol at home or temple. There is no need to surrender to a
Guru or even to Narayana. The karmas themselves will show the path to liberation.

Sankara explained to them how both the subgroups are following incorrect paths without any
investigation. The ability to Saranagati will come only after following all the karmas that are
applicable to you, starting from Gayathri, Vibhuti or Urthva Pundarikam etc., Surrender fore‐
states the purity of mind. Surrender is possible only by sacrificing the ego and this becomes
possible only when the mind becomes pure first. An impure mind, can never give way to

surrender. Again, on the same count, mere performance of karmas will not confer Jnana.
Karmas again gives you Chitta‐suddhi and with that purity of mind, one should explore the way
to liberation. Both when done together and properly too, will help you to enquire with Brahman
within.

Both the groups were satisfied with Sankara's explanation and they agreed to combine karmas
and bhakti, and mature into surrender which will only pave way for Jnana.

Sankara said that the Guru's words should be totally adhered to. One should never criticize the
Guru even such a guru is not beyond doubt and suspicion. In case if one is not satisfied with
a Guru, one should take that guru's permission and seek another Guru. Sankara concluded that
even a formless Guru is better, since you can meditate on him, within, without any wavering
thoughts of suspicion and doubt.

{In this connection, Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman said that people find only such aspects of
Guru as interesting, when their ego seeks such aspects. One gentleman from south went all the
way to Lucknow to have darsan of Nisargadutta Maharaja and he came back only to say:
Maharaj is smoking beedies! Sankara emphatically says that one should never criticize a Guru
even such a guru is not beyond your doubt and suspicion.}

From Sri Rangam, Sankara came to Tiruvidai Maruthur. This is the temple of Mahalinga Swami ‐
Siva. This is about 6 kms from Kumbakonam. The temple is quite big. Siva is called Madhyarjuna
because he is under a jasmine creeper. This is also called Idai Maruthur, because this temple is in
between Sri Sailam and Tirupudai Maruthur in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu.
All the three temples have got jasmine plants under which Siva is seated.

45. Tiruvidai Maruthur is also a town of reknon, where Sridhara Ayyaval,lived in 18th century. He
was compatriot of Appayya Dishitar. Sridhara was a great Siva devotee, but following the path of
Advaita. One one Deepavail day, he made the well in the backyard of his house, swell with Ganga
water! Sridhdara merged in Sivam in Mahalinga Swami Temple. This is about 1200 laters later
than Sankara.

Sankara came to Tiruvidai Maruthur and prayed to Mahalinga Swami. There is also one version
of biography which says that Sivananda Lahari was composed here and not in Sri Sailam.

Here Sankara met many Saivites and Vaishnavites. They also listened to his Satsangh but
maintained that Siva/Narayana is the primordial god and the godhead should be in form and not
formless for effective prayer and meditation. Sankara said that he was not opposing Siva or
Narayana, but Advaita maintains that one should go beyond the form and have the formless
Brahman within the Heart. For a true non dualist form‐worship is not prohibited. The form‐
woship helps one to concentrate and meditate. Karmas and bhakti cannot be given a go by, just
because you are an Advaiti.

The Saivites found reason in Sankara's line of debate but said:
Unless Mahalinga in the Temple agrees to the propostion of Advaita, they would not agree. As
Padmapada said earlier, one more circus game was getting ready. Sankara smiled and said: I am
agreeable to this but let us wait till Full Moon day, upto which I shall meditate
in the Temple. The debators agreed. Sankara went into the Temple of Mahalinga and sat in
meditation and soon got into Manonmani
Mudra. He was silent as a waveless ocean, deep within the Heart and having a vision of Meda
Dakshinamoorthy, the Dakshinamoorthy with a Veena on hand.

On the evening of Full Moon day, when the moon had risen on the horizon, the temple
authorities invited both Sankara and the Saivites into the temple. Sankara stood before
Mahalinga and chanted Sri Sivananda Lahari. Soon, an extended hand was seen sprouting from
the Linga, with a chin‐mudra and declaring: Advaitam Paramam Satyam, Advaitam Paramam
Satyam, Advaitam Paramam Satyam. The crowd went into raptures. Some of the ardent Siva
devotees had a darsan of Meda Dakshinamurthy and the direct teaching of Mahavakyam:
Tatvam Asi.

Sankara said that Siva appeared before them as a Guru and gave that great teaching. They can
adopt Advaitam as way for attaining the Self, but this had not quarrel with Siva or Narayana
worship. In due course, such worships will also drop away and one would do only Self enquiry
and attain Brahman which is Sat, the Substance, and also Chit, Knowledge, and Anandam, Bliss.

46. After the "miracle", Sankara spoke to the great crowd in front of Mahalinga Swami temple in
Tiruvidai Maruthur. He said:
1. To attain Jnana and merge in the Self, the mind is the only instrument. It is only with the mind,
that the enquiry should be conducted and the Self merged with. The devotion, good karmas etc.,
will not lead one to Jnana by themselves.

2. Mind should be rubbed with the mind, that is within Brahman and the Brahman would reveal
itself, when the time is ripe.

3. Do not be deluded by the gods in forms. Brahman is formless and nameless but it is Bliss,
Ananadam. This Anandam should be experienced in nondual state. Seeing Brahman is only
Experiencing Brahman. Brahman is not seeing God outside.

4. The one who is intent on attaining Jnana and the Self realization should start looking at the
body as a corpse. You observe Death, do not fear Death.

Sankara's above teachings are reiterated by Bhagavan Ramana in His Who am I? and other
works. In fact, only after the experience, that Bhagavan Ramana, while reading books in
Tiruvannamalai, found that Sankara's experience and His experience were the same!

Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman said: The Jnanis are opposite to physicians. The physicians
experiment with dead bodies and find out medicines for cure. Jnanis, experiment with their own
body as dead one, and find out Jnana, the way to Self realization.

Brahman cannot be searched with one's logic. Brahman is beyond tarka‐sastra, the art of logic.
Brahman is experience.

All that one sees outside is not real, is not our real bond. What one sees within is the real bond,
the Self is ever attached to one. It is not detatchable, like the world, your body, your kith
and kin, gold and riches. When one experiences Sivam, then he will start seeing everything as
Sivam.

Yama offered many things to Nachiketa. He said: "I shall give you gold, horses, ever‐full stocks of
food and drink and dancing girls!" Nachiketa said: "Keep your dancing girls with you. They will
also become old one day and die. The horses and cows will become senile and die. The food
stocks and drinks will dry up one day. The gold will dwindle one day. I will also become old and
die one day. Give me that which is ever with me, eternal, non‐dying, ever fresh, ever pure,

untainted, even beyond the lives of gods and goddesses, give me Amrutham, Deathlessness".
(Kathopanishad.)

Do not ever say that Karmas will not affect me! Karmas will affect you in some way or other.
Even a good scientific discovery ended up in atom bomb. Do karmas which are not only pure
but which will be ever pure and which will give me purity of mind, first. Do karmas for the
benefit of the world. In that process, your mind gets purified.

The Self realized Jnani does such karmas, which are beneficial for the whole world, even though
he does not go out and give teachings in many places. His Jnana and his karma, sitting even in a
Cave, shall transmit the waves of goodness and welfare to the world at large.

From Tiruvidai Maruthur, Sankara came to Swamimalai, the town of Swaminathan, Murugan, on
the other side of the present Kumbakonam Town, about 14 kms from Tiruvidai Maruthur.

47. Swamimalai, is a small town near Kumbakonam, on the banks of a tributary of Kaveri. This is said
to be the place, where Skanda gave the Pranavamantra Upadesa (the purport of Aum) to Siva
himself. Unlike other temples, here, Skanda, Muruga is without his two consorts, in a guise of a
young ascetic, wearing codpiece and having only a stick and not the Spear. He has got only one
faces and two shoulders in the image, unlike the six faced Skanda, whom we see in other
temples.

This is an old temple, a man‐made hill with just 60 steps. Its antiquity can be known from the
fact that Saint Nakkirar sang about this temple in his Tiru Murugatrupadai, which is dated
3rd century AD. It is considered as one of the six holy places for Muruga.

Traditionally, Brahmins were in large numbers chanting Vedas here. This fact is again mentioned
in Nakkirar's work. Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni in his Sri Ramana Gita, says, Skanda is not in
Swamimalai or Tiruttani or in Tirupati, but is in Arunachala. He says this while praising Bhagavan
Ramana who is an avatara of Skanda.

Sankara composed only two verses on this place. One is called Skanda Dyana Sloka, for
meditating on Skanda with this verse. Another is praising his Spear, which is not carried by
Skanda in this temple!

Skanda Dyana Sloka:

Kalpa drumam pranamatham kamaalarunapam,
Skandam bhuja tvayam anaamay eke vatram,
Katyaayani priya sudhar katipatha vamam,
Koupina danda dhara dakshina hasthameede.

I pray to Skanda, who will confer boons like a Karpaga tree, to those who prostrate him, the One
with hue of red lotus, who has got two shoulders, the one who will cure the diseases
of the devotees, the one with one face, the darling son of Uma, Katyayani, the one who keeps his
left hand on his waist, wearing codpiece, and one who keeps a stick on his right hand!

This form is exactly like that of Bhagavan Ramana.

The prayer to Spear, Vel:

Sakthe bhaje tvam jagato janitrim,
Sukasya datrim pranatharthi hanthrim,
Namo namasthe guha hastha bhushe,
Bhooyo namasthe hrudhi sannithatsva.

O the Spear, the form of Sakti, the Power! You are the Mother, giving happines to the world,
who cures the mental diseases of the devotees, I pray to you. O the divine armament on the
hand of Skanda, I pray to again and again. I pray to you once again. Please stay in my Heart.

Sankara is said to have composed the following poems also on Skanda.

1. Sri Swaminatha karavalamba Stotram.
2. Sri Guha Pancharatnam.
3. Sri Swaminatha Stotram.

But the biographies of Sankara do not mention about these songs having been composed at any
particular temple of Skanda.

48. Sankara then came to Kumbakonam, a bigger town, where there are many temples for Siva and
Vishnu. Siva here is called Sri Kumbeswara, the Linga in the form of Kumba, pot. Kumbakonam
is famous for its Mahamakam tank, where Ganga is said to well on the day of Maka asterism, in
the month of Kumba, once in twelve years when the Jupiter comes to the zodiac of Kumba,
Aquarius. Vishnu is here called Chakrapani, the one with disc as his armour.

Sankara composed the famous Kumbeswara Stotram here. It starts as Namo, nama karana
kaaranaaya....

I pray to the Primal Cause, the cause of all causes, the One in the form of a pot, with nectar, the
One who confers all welfare, and is in the form of Welfare itself. To that Kumbeswara, I pray.

I pray to the one who gives fear to his enemies, the one who cures the fears of diseases, the one
who is ever conferring bliss, the one who is wearing serpents as his ornaments, the one who
is ever peaceful and is Peace itself. You wear matted locks and enchant the devotees, with your
form. You wear holy ashes, and Holy Ashes itself. I pray to that Parameswara, Kumbalinga
Swarupa.
I pray to the one whose attire is Vedas, who has got moon, sun and fire as the three eyes. I pray
to the One who is the deity of all sacrifices, Yagneswara, the god of Mahavishnu. I pray to
that Kumbalinga, Mahalingeswara.

I pray to the one who is concorporate with Katyayani, Uma. I pray to the consort of Durga devi,
the one who is the purport of all Agamas, the one who is the Time and the god of sun, who
was prayed by Sun himself, I pray to that Kumbeswara, Mahalinga.

I pray to the One who confers all wealth to the world, who has got many forms, who causes the
great dissolution with the power of his Maya, who is in the form of world also, who has got the
fire as his third eye, to that Kumbeswara, Mahalinga, I pray.

I pray to the One who is in the form of all water‐bodies (like tanks, rivers, streams and oceans),
the One who confers benefits for one who bathes in the tank here, the consort of
Mangalambika*, to that Kumbeswara, Mahalinga, I pray.

There are some more verses. The last verse indicates the bathing in the town's tank, where
Ganga is said to swell on a particular day once in twelve years. * is the name of the goddess,
Uma.

Sankara left Kumbakonam and proceeded to south again, to Madurai. He visits the temple of
Sundareswara‐Meenkashi

49. Madurai is a place, where the history has witnessed many a eventful happenings. In 3rd century
AD, it is here that Saint Nakkirar found fault even with a Tamil song composed by Siva
himself to the poor uneducated Brahmin priest of the temple, and got into an debate with Siva
himself. Siva cursed him to suffer in burns of fire and then Saint Nakkirar sought his forgiveness.
The saint went to a nearby jungle and did his penance and was blessed by Skanda. There, he
wrote the famous Tiru Murugatrupadai on Skanda. It was in 3rd century AD. In fourth century
AD, Saint Manikkavachagar was the minister in Pandya Kingdom. He went to Tiruperundurai and
spent all the king's money (given by the king) in building a temple for Siva. He got into many
punishments from the king and Siva came to help him out and he embraced ascetism
and went around Tamil Nadu, singing the glory of Siva, in Tiruvachakam. In 6th century AD, Tiru
Jnana Sambandhar, who is an avatara of Skanda, defeated the Jains in many types of
competitions, cured the king, who was a hunch back and also suffering from colic pains. The king
and the subjects then moved back to Saivism. In 7th century AD, Sankara came to Madurai.
Later in the year 1896, Bhagavan Ramana attained Self realization, in this same city, whereafter
he went to Siva in the temple, and prayed to him for giving a life like the Saiva saints of yore.

Sankara was by this time 26 years old. He had a darsan of Meenkashi and Sundareswara. He
composed his Meenkashi Pancharatnam here.

1. I prostrate to Meenakshi, the queen of Pandya kingdom, who shines brighter than 1000 suns,
who has got red lips like 'kovai' fruits, who has got white pearl‐like teeth, clothed in bright golden
yellow robes, who is ever prostrated to, by Brahma, Vishnu and Indra, who has got feet which is
the swarupa of all tattvas, philosophies, who is the ocean of ever‐full mercy.

2. I prostrate to Meenakshi, the one with pearl‐studded headgear, who has got a full‐moon‐like
pleasant face, whose anklets make all the music of the world, while walking. I prostrate to her
who is shining like a red lotus, which gives all welfare to the devotees, who is the daughter of
Himavan, the king of Himalayas, who is ever prostrated to, by Lakshmi and Saraswati, and who is
the ocean of ever‐full mercy.

3. I prostrate to Meenakshi, who is the form of Sri Vidya, i.e.
all mantras, who is the consort of Siva, who shines with the sound of Hrimkara mantra, who stays
in the centre of Sri Chakra, (the metal inscription of Sri Vidya mantra). I prostrate to her, the
mother of Ganapati and six faced Shanmuga and who is the ocean of ever‐full mercy.

4. I prostrate to Meenkashi, who is the consort of Sundareswara, Siva. I prostrate to her, the one
who removes all the (worldly) fears and confers Jnana to devotees, who is emerald‐green in
colour, sister of Narayana, the divine player of Veena and who is the ocean of ever‐full mercy.

5. I prostrate to Meenakshi, who dwells in the Heart of yogis and Jnanis, who confers all super‐
normal powers, (Siddhis), who is fond of fragrant white flowers, jasmine. I pray to that sister of
Narayana who is prayed to, by Narayana. I pray to her who is the Brahman, of form of sound in
Space, who is above all the worldly beings, who is the purport of Mahavakyas of Upanishads,

and who is the ocean of ever‐full mercy.

50. From Madurai, Sankara came to Tula‐bhavani, where Kaveri river moves east from the Western
Ghats. This is in today's Salem district of Tamil Nadu. There is a small dam on Kaveri called
Bhavani Sagar. Jnani gets all Upasnas from his state of self. Sankara did Mahalakshmi Puja here.
From here, Sankara came to Tiruvananthapuram, the present day's capital of Kerala. There
he continued to worship Mahalakshmi and Narayana in the yoga‐nidra. Tiru Ananthan, in Tamil.
Narayana sleeping on the bed of Adisesha. In Tiruvananthapuram, there were some Upasakas
who were meditating on Mahalakshmi for the benefits of worldly wealth and to destroy the
wealth of others. This is again, a left handed practice, which Sankara condemned. He said that
all that Upasanas for destroying someone else's wealth will create more and more negative
vasanas in the meditator. These ill‐ cultivated dhur‐mathas, bad religions, will create more harm
for your family too. Please pray to God for your welfare and the welfare of the society as well.
Do not wish anything bad for others.

Sankara then came to Karnataka, to a place called Subrahmanya. Here Skanda is worshipped as a
serpent in a mole‐hill. There, Sankara attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi for a few days. He then
met a Brahmin there. He said: I am not able to do Atma‐Vichara.
My mind runs helter‐skelter. Give me some Upasana that is the best for me. Sankara said:
"What is Param‐Jyoti? The sublime effulgence? Is it the sun, or the moon, or the light at
your home, or fire at your home. This Paramjyoti is the Effulgence, in your Heart. From your
attitude, I understand that you are interested in Upasana. Then, do Jyoti Upasana, the Light
outside in your home‐altar. This Upasana will help you to see the Light within. You are that
Light, Paramjyoti!"

From Subrahmanya, Sankara came again towards east and had darsan of Ekambara Natha Siva in
Kanchipuram and the goddess, Kamakshi. Kanchipuram is the place for a variety of religions.
Buddhists even had a Vihara there. There are Siva Kanchi and Vishnu Kanchi, where
Ekambaranatha and Varadaraja are there. Sankara witnessed bitter infights between Saivites
and Vaishanavites. He told the King to renovate both the temples and also told the subsects to
pray to their Ishta Devata, their pet god but not have fight with other sects and ill‐speak about
someone's else's faith. Siva will definitely not allow an ill‐ speaking Saiva into Kailash and Vishnu
will definitely not allow an ill‐speaking Vaishnavite into Vaikunta. If you do Atma Vichara,
then, you will understand that both reside in your Heart, as nameless and formless, as One
Principle!
Sankara composed Maya Panchakam in Kanchipuram.

Sankara then left for Karnataka, and reached a place called Dakshina Ujjaini. Biographers feel
that this should be the present temple of Mookambika in Kollur, near Mangalore.
There were innumerable Tantriks here praying to Kabali, the Ugra‐bhaivarar. These Tantriks
were practicing ill‐conceived left handed methods, taking liquor, making ablations with
liquor to Siva and sacrificing humans to please Siva!

The king was Sudhanva. He is a humble person. He told Sankara: You can go to Mookambika
temple. I shall send my army for your protection. But do not debate with the Tantriks there.
They are dangerous guys. I have myself no control over them.

Sankara smiled and then left with a small army, as given by the King.

51. Sankara proceeded to the Dakshina Ujjaini Temple, singing Govindashtakam. (I am not able to
readily get this composition.)

Sankara prayed to Mookambika and then came out of the temple. The kabalikas were waiting for
him with thunderous laughter. The leader asked Sankara: "Why all this ochre robe and Vibhuti?
Why all this rudraksha mala and stick in your hand? Why not wear skull garlands and drink liquor
to your satisfaction and dance around Siva? Ugrabairava then said: I shall now chant
Bairava mantra and you shall die with blood vomiting!" He started chanting the mantra.

Sankara smiled and kept silent. He sang the famous Kalabairava Ashtakam, Devaraja
sevyamana.... He meditated on Ugra bairava within the Heart.

Mahakaleswara appeared before the two. He said: O kabalika! Your mantras have been wasted.
Please do prostrations to Sankara, who is none else than Me. The kabalika became
dumbfounded. He prostrated to Sankara and as retribution, quickly made a fire and jumped and
sacrificed his own life. The rest of the Kabalika clan was given proper Upadesa by Padmapada
and Sureswara and they were brought to the Real religion.

Sankara in Kollur wrote the Prapancha Saram, the way to non dual realization.

From Kollur, Sankara went across the Vindhyas and reached Puri, the famous Jagannath Temple.
In Puri, Sankara went into the temple and found that there was no idol there. The idol has
been lost due to some local war. Sankara found through his meditation, that Jagannath idle is
lying under a peepul tree nearby, packed in an emerald marked bag. He went to the tree and re‐
discovered the idol and installed the same inside the Temple, with all necessary pujas.

Sankara composed here, Sri Hari Saranashtakam and Sri Govinda Ashtakam and Sri Jagannatha
Ashtakam.

Sankara from Puri came to Kasi again praying to Maha Kaleswara in Ujjaini and Omkareswarar in
Avanti.

In Kasi, he stayed in Viswanatha Temple, for some days. In Kasi, he composed the famous
Viswanatha Ashtakam, Siva Manasa Puja and Dwadasi Linga Stotram. I shall try to
give translations of one or two of these.

52. Sri Dwadasa Linga Stotram: Praising Twelve Siva icons in India.

1. I pray to Somanatha of Saurashtra (Gujarat), who is red as Effulgence, pure, beautiful and who
showers mercy to devotees, to promote their devotion again, the Lord with crescent moon on
his matted locks.

2. I pray to Mallikarjuna of Sri Sailam (Andhra Pradesh), whose hill is equal to Himalayas, who is
ever swarmed by the honeybees as circumambulations, the One who is the dam for the ocean of
the worldly life for ever.

3. I pray to Mahakaleeswara of Avanthika, (the present Malwa region in Rajasthan) who confers
readily liberation to to devas and ascetics, the One who is deathless and liberates devotees to
deathlessness.

4. I pray to Omkareswara of (the present Kandwa region in Madhya Pradesh) at the confulence of
Kaveri and Narmada, the One with out second.

5. I pray to Vaidyanatha in south‐eastern region, who is ever with Parvati and the One who is

prayed to, by all householders south of Vindyas. (It is said to be near Hyderabad, near
Samipatpani Railway Junction.)

6. I pray to Sri Nageswara near Gomti river (near Dwaraka in Gujarat), who is with all riches and
confers the highest riches called Liberation.

7. I pray to Sri Kedaswara in the valleys of Himalayas, in Kedarnath, who is non dual and is prayed
to, by Yakshas, Nagas, devas and demons in solitude. (This is about 200 kms from Hardwar.)

8. I pray to Sri Tryambakeswara, in Panchavati (Nasik, Maharashtra, on the hill of Sahyadri,
where devotees get their sin annulled. (This is on the bank of Gautami river.)

9. I pray to Sri Ramanatha, on the confluence of Tambravarni with the ocean, where Sri Rama
prayed for completing the bridge to Lanka.

10. I pray to Bheemeswara Linga, who ever loves his devotees, even if they are demons, in the
regions of Takini and Kakini. (This is said to be between Pune and Mumbai, on the bank of
Bheema river. The hill is also called Takini.)

11. I pray to Viswanatha of Kasi, who is in the form of Bliss and who wipes out all the sins of
devotees, who dwell and die.

12. I pray to Krishneswara, ever merciful, the embodiment of grace and kindliness.

I pray to the twelve Sivas in this work and let the devotees get the grace of Siva, either by darsan
or reading this work.

53. Regarding Siva Manasa Puja, I have already given a translation in recent times. Sankara also
composed Bhavani Ashtakam, in Kasi. It is also said that he composed Bhavani Ashtakam,
in Tula Bhavani, near Salem.

Bhavani Ashtakam ‐ Eight Verses on Bhavani:

1. No father have I, no mother, no comrade, No son, no daughter, no wife and no grandchild,
No servant or master, no wisdom, no calling, In You is my only haven of refuge.
In You, my help and my strength, O Bhavani!

2. Immersed as I am in the limitless ocean Of worldly existence, I tremble to suffer
Alas! I am lustful and foolish and greedy, And ever enchained by the fetters of evil,
In You is my only haven of refuge. In You is my help and my strength, O Bhavani!

3. To giving of alms and to meditation, To scriptures and hymns and mantras, a stranger!
I know not of worship, possess no dispassion. In You is my only haven of refuge,

4. O mother! of pilgrimage and merit, Of mental control or the soul's liberation,
Of rigors vows or devotion, I know not; In You is my only haven of refuge.

5. I know neither Brahma nor Vishnu nor Siva Nor Indra, sun, moon, or similar being ‐‐
Not one of the numberless gods, O Redeemer! In You is my only haven of refuge.


6. In strife or in sadness, abroad or in danger, In water, in fire, in the winds, on the mountains,
Surrounded by foes, my Saviour! Protect me. In You is my only haven of refuge,
In You, my help and strength, O Bhavani!

7. Defenceless am I ‐ ill, again and helpless, Enfeebled, exhausted, and dumbly despairing,
Afflicted with sorrow, and utterly ruined. In you is my only haven of refuge, In You, my help and
strength, O Bhavani!

Bhavani in Sanskrit means the Divine Mother.

54. From Kasi, Sankara went to Dwaraka and then to Mathura. In the Yamuna river, Sankara bathed
meditating on Krishna's form. As he came out of the river, he found that his hands were having
sandal paste and turmeric powder and his head had a Parijata flower and a long hair‐line of a
lady! It is said that Sankara upon meditation on Krishna, had the same sandal paste and turmeric
powder, the Parijata flower and a long hairline of Radha, as Krishna took bath with Gopikas in
Yamuna River!

This incident is mentioned in all Sankara Vijayam biographies. How to react to this miracle?

a. Sankara was a Brahma Jnani and he had transcended the Time and Space, which were unreal
to him. So, what happened to Krishna and Radha, when they were bathing, had happened to
Sankara too, because of his meditation, with bhava‐bhakti, devotion with conviction.

Bhagavan Ramana has once, said, in reply to some question, as to whether Indra loka and
Chandraoka were true?:

Yes, they are very much true. Even there, twenty persons like you would be sitting before me
and I shall be talking to them as you are talking now!

For Ramana and Sankara, time and space has no meaning at all.

Time past and time future, Are present in Time present! Hurry up please, it is time, Hurry up
please, it is time!

‐ T.S. Eliot

b. These miracles should be taken as they are, with a huge doze of faith in our hearts. If you try
to understand them with your intellect, you can never understand them.

Muruganar said that instead of staying with Faith, that is my housewife in my Heart, I was
running behind the harlot of intellect!

Faith does not require any logic and ratiocination. Faith had played an important role in the lives
of all Saints and prophets of all religions. The dumb could speak, the blind could see and
the lame could walk, the schizophrenic could come back to normal mind, when they had faith in
Jesus' words. Those who wanted to understand his command intellectually miserably failed in
their lives. When Jesus was going on a boat with some disciples, there was a storm and Jesus just
walked out of the boat on water, and asking the disciples to come with him. No one came with
him. He turned back and shouted: "O Ye of little faith, how many times can I teach you, how

many times can I teach you?"

Miracles go hand in hand with teachings of the great Jnanis or avataras. There is no Sermon on
the Mount, without the bread and fish miracle on the slopes of Mount Sinai. There is no Ten
Commandments, without his resurrection or raising Lazrus from death. One can never
understand Jesus, or Sankara, or Bhagavan Ramana without reposing complete faith on their
words and deeds.

c. A few can say, that Krishna and Radha lived around 3000 B.C, as per Kavyakanta Ganapati
Muni's kala‐nirnay, time calculations. Sankara lived around 700 AD. There are 3700 years in
between. How can the sandal paste and turmeric and long black hairline remain in that river?

This doubt is again from our buddhi. The intellect is ever bound in Time and Faith transcends
Time. Brahma Jnanis are ever in NOW, and past and future are not in their reckoning.

There is an interesting anecdote by Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman about this "time business."
55. Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman said:

Gajendra, the elephant, was caught by a crocodile, when the former went to pluck a lotus for
Narayana. It is said in Srimad Bhagavatam, that the elephant fought with crocodile for 1000
years. How can there be a fight between Gajendra, who was trying to release his captured
leg and crocodile which was holding it tight in its jaws? Really speaking, the elephant had only
about a hour of fight. But the suffering and determination took such a long time, in its mind,
that he felt he is fighting for 1000 years! Even this one hour's misery was there, because, the
crocodile thought that it can break away from the clutches of crocodile with its intellect! When
the intellect failed, the faith rose in its heart. Narayana was waiting,
when this animal would forsake its faith and then take refuge in me, and at that time, I shall go
and save the animal! When the suffering is there, time appears to be elongated, when there is
happiness and joy, time seems to run faster. Actually, there is no time at all!

Time and Space are mental imaginations. In deep sleep, where is time, where is space?
Therefore time and space are impermanent too.

Sankara on seeing the turmeric paste, sandal paste, Parijata flowers and long black hair line, had
no aversion at all. Why should he have? After all, Jnani does not have any thing second to him.
He was in
bhava‐samadhi, full of bliss.

Once there was a devotee who took seriously ill inside the Asramam. Anytime, he could die.
Others wanted Bhagavan Ramana to come and see him in the room. Bhagavan Ramana first
said: Am I a doctor? What is the use of my seeing him? Anyway, he agreed to see him,
because the patient had exhausted his intellect that the doctors would save him and a great faith
had risen in his heart. Bhagavan Ramana went inside the room, saw the patient, gave His hands
to raise him up from the bed. The patient became quite blissful and cried in tearful
eyes: Bhagavan! I am saved. I am saved. He spat phlegm and saliva on Bhagavan's chest.
Bhagavan Ramana gazed at him with all compassion. He then came back to the Hall. The
attendants offered Him soap and towel to wash the phlegm and saliva. Bhagavan Ramana smiled
and said: No, no, there is no use. He wiped the dirt with His hands and went to the Hall. In the
evening, the patient passed away peacefully. Why should Bhagavan Ramana not wash the dirt?
Why did He refuse soap and towel? Because for Bhagavan Ramana, the patient is not different
from Him. He is one without a second. He had no aversion at all for the desert.

How can Sankara have aversion, when Radha's hairline or sandal paste fell on his body. Was he
different from Radha or Krishna?

Sankara sang the famous Yamunashtakam in Mathura.

Sankara from Mathura proceeded to Sri Nagar, the present Sri Nagar in Kashmir.

56. In Sri Nagar, hundreds of devotees gathered to see Sankara. From Sri Nagar, he gazed at
Himalayas. In that silvery mountain, which is housing Kailas, appeared to him, as the dance of
Mother Lalita Tripura Sundari, the Mother of all, the Mother of Siva too. She is ever with Siva, as
the concorporate Maha maya. Sankara there composed Sri Soundarya Lahari, an ecstatic
composition of 100 verses. {There is a story that Uma herself gave that work to Sankara and the
Bull snatched away the Palmyra leaves after the 42nd verse and Sankara completed the work
from 43rd verse to 100 verses. This story is not in any authentic Sankara Vijayam biographies.}
Sankara is in his poetic excellence in Sri Soundarya Lahari, every verse is a mantra, every verse is
an appreciation of Mother's indescribable beauty and grace.

Sankara says that the first vibration by which Brahman becomes aware of Itself is caused by
Mother, the Mahamaya. Thereafter vibrations start in waves, and they descend step by step as
24 or 36 tattvas and so on. This is the first verse.

Verse 1:

Siva‐saktya yukto yadhi bhavati sakta prabavidhum,
Na che devam devo na kalu kushala spandhitu mayi,
Athasthavam aradhyam hari hara virinchadhibi rapi,
Prananthum sthothum va kathamakrutha punya prabhavati.

This verse tells about the primordially of Parasakti. To pray to her, one needs merits from
previous births. This verse confers destruction of obstacles and actualization of wishes of the
devotee. This Sloka can also be chanted as mantra, for these benefits.

O Devi, unless Siva is in union with you, he can cause this universe. If he is not united with you,
he can have no power even to move! So, Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra are ever praying to you. If
that be so, how can an ordinary mortal, be fit enough even to pray without merits from his
previous births?

In fact, Brahman is not ascending or descending as 24 or 36 tattvas, and It is only unfolding and
folding. Brahman becoming outward, and unfolding itself into the universe and the living and
non living beings, is evolution.

The Mother is the cause of Siva's evolution (into the universe and sentient and non sentient
beings. But there is the other side of the coin of what Sankara says at the very beginning of this
hymn, Siva‐Sakti. If Mother is the cause of the evolution of Siva into the individual souls, she
must also be the cause of the involution of these souls too, their becoming Siva again. For this,
we must pray constantly for her compassion. Siva and Sakti are concorporate. One cannot be
without the other. The evolution, sustenance, tirodana, or hiding the Real, anugraha, gracing
and involution are done by them together. This is the essence of Ardha Nari tattvam, Uma and
Siva union, in Tiruvannamalai.


How can we make an inaccessible entity accessible to us? It is through praying and seeking its
compassion. This compassion which is through devotion is the Grace, Mercy or Anugraha.
Mother is this Compassion.

57. Verse 2:

Taniyamsam pamsum tava charana‐pankeruha‐bhavam
Virinchih sanchinvan virachayati lokanavikalam
Vahatyenam saurih kathamapi sahasrena sirasam
Harah samkudyainam bhajati bhasitoddhulana vidhi.

If the three primal gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra carry out heir important functions of
creation, sustenance and dissolution,they owe it to be a trickle of Mother's compassion.

Brahma creates all these worlds out of a speck of dust from the feet f Lalita. Sauri, Krishna or
Vishnu who sleeps on the 1000 headed aisesha, who supports the worlds with one of its heads, is
himself s supported by Lalita, because he has to support the worlds for long time, kathamapi, for
a eons. Vishnu holds a speck of dust f Mother's feet on his head. Rudra destroys the worlds with
dust o Mother's feet and applies that to his body all over.

Mother's feet are red in colour. Due to red kumkum paste, applied n her feet, the dust is also red
in colour. This dust becomes white hen Siva applies it as Vibhuti on his body. Kumkum, red
powder i the prasad given to devotees in Mother's temple and the white ahes are given as Siva
prasad. Thus the dust which is red and which becomes white symbolises the Sakti‐Siva prasad
and also indicates the togetherness of Uma and Siva.

Thus a Lalita worshipper or a Siva worshipper automatically becomes the worshipper of the
other, since there is no separateness among the two.

Once when someone asked Bhagavan Ramana as to why He has not sung or written about
anything on Sakti, Bhagavan Ramana said: It is the Sakti from within me, is making all these
songs on Arunachala Siva.

It is Sakti who conferred Him self realization, in her town of Madurai, which is actually a Sakti‐
Sthal and she sent him to Arunachala, to be with Siva. Since Bhagavan Ramana is an avatara of
Skanda, it is but natural for Him, to be sent by the Mother to the Father. Bhagavan
Ramana mentions this Siva‐Sakti Aikyam, when He says in Sri Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai:
"Let us be united, without any separation as Azhagu and Sundaram. Azhagu here means Mother
Azhagamma and also Soundarya, Lalita. Sundaram means Father Sundaram Iyer and also Siva,
Sundareswara, the Siva of Madurai Temple.

58. Avidyanam‐antas‐timira‐mihira‐dvipanagari
Jadanam chaitanya stabaka makaranda srutijhari
Daridranam chintamaniguannika janmajaladhau
Nimagnanam damstra muraripu‐varahasya bhavati.

Avidya here means ajnana or nescience. It is a fearful kind of darkness, and is called 'timira' in
the verse. This darkness only conceals the Atma within. For such ignorant, the dust of Mother's
feet sheds the light of Atmajnana, which is like a shining city situtated where the Sun rises in full
glory.


Why the saint says the Sun shining in a city? The city here means the body of the ignorant. Apart
from clearing the darkness in the Heart with Atma Jnana, by removing the dust of ego, mind,
intellect and chittam, the shining light also cleans up the body of the person. His illnesses vanish,
his body‐deficiencies disappear. His body will shine like a doll of burnished gold. His worldly
miseries are also vanquished. He gets enough food, cloth and shelter.

Jadanam chaitanya stabaka makaranda srutijahri...

Jadanam means dull witted. The dust from Mother's feet, creates a fountain of honey that
splashes inside them and makes it green and fertile, with flowers of true knowledge, that is,
Atma Jnana.

Daridranam chintamani gunanika. Chinamani is a divine stone
that fulfills our good desires and creates whatever we rightfully
desire in this world. It is just not a single chintamani stone. It
is a garland of chintamani gunanika. Gunanika means garland.

Do Atma‐vichara margis need only this? So, what else does the dust do? He wants to be freed
from nescience and worldy existence. Janmajaladhau nimagnanam damstra Murari‐varahasya
bhavati. Magnam means "immersed" or inert. The persons who want liberation want to come
out of this janmajaladhau nimagnam,the ocean of births and deaths. For them, the dust acts as a
Muraripu‐varahasya, acts as the tusk of the boar (in Vishnu's Varaha Avatara), and pulls out of
this ocean of birth.
Sankara uses the words Souri and Murari in verses 2 and 3 which are both Vishnu's. Sankara
specifically uses Vishnu symbolism since Lalita or Siva's wife is only Vishnu, in female form.

59. Tvadanyah panibhaym abhaya varado daivataganah
Tvameka naivasi prakatita‐varabhityabhinaya
Bhayat‐tratum datum phalamapi cha vanchasamadhikam
Saranye lokanam tava hi charanaveva nipunau.

Unlike other gods, which shows two of their four hands, as protection and boon‐giving hands, Sri
Lalita does not show her hands like that. We have seen Krishna having disc and conchshell in two
hands and the other two hands display abhaya and vara mudras. Sri Sarada in Sringeri also holds
japa‐mala and a book on two hands and shows the other two as abhaya mudra and varamudra.
But Sri Kamakshi or Sri Lalita Tripurasundari is unique. You can see this in Kanchipuram. She has
got a whip and short‐arrow on her two hands and sugarcane bow and flower arrow on the
other two hands. She does not show abhaya and vara mudra.

Sankara says that Kamakshi or Sri Lalita has no need to show abhaya and vara mudras. Her feet
themselves would do this work! Why this uniqueness? The hands should move for abhaya and
vara actions. Her feet need not move. Without moving themselves, they shall confer protection
and boons! 'Tava hi charanau eva nipunau..' Your feet themselves are highly capable (nipunau)
of conferring abhaya and vara, i.e. granting boons and freeing us from fears. Not only that, if you
ask for one, say, freeing from fears, she will give the other too, i.e. granting boons. That is why
they are highly capable!

Bhagavan Ramana never gave his hands for abhahya and vara. His feet alone are adquate. He
will gaze at you. He will consider you. He will allow (and that too very rarely) touch his feet.
Guru‐charanam are not for mediocre and wicked. The feet would be permitted to be touched
only by chosen few. Kavyakanata Ganapti Muni touched His feet in the Hill, after a lot of mantra

sadhana and getting only a confused mind due to that. His touching of Bhagavan's feet, gave
him, a fountain of Peace. Annamalai Swami used to touch His feet; everday after the work
was over. He not only touched His feet, but also held them on his laps, sometimes kissed them
too. Muruganar used to touch His feet and became a Manikkavachaga for Ramana‐Siva. He
could write Padamalai, Garland on Guru's Feet. Bhagavan Ramana rarely touched anyone with
His hand. Very few had this opportunity.

Bhagavan Ramana Himself says in Sri Arunachala Aksharamana Malai, how Arunachala, gazed at
Him, considered Him and touched His body too.

Nokkiye karudhi mei thakkiye pakkuvam Akki nee andu aruL Arunachala. (Verse 63)

60. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 5, speaks about desires and annihilation of desires, kama, being used
as a general Sanskrit term.

Haristvamaradhya pranata jana saubhagya jananim,
Pura nari bhutva purarimpumapa kshobhamanayat
Smaro'pi tvam natva ratinayana lehyena vapusha
Muninampyantah prabhavati hi mohaya mahatam.

Sankara says that it was by performing puja to Mother, that Vishnu was able to assume the
divinely alluring from of Mohini, that stirred so firm a mind as that of Siva, and created in him
love for that form.

In the context of the arousal of the desire in the Brahman to conduct the affairs of the world,
that the Brahman and the Brahma‐Sakti were spoken of in erotic terms as the Kameswara and
Kameswari pair? Thus Kameswari is another name of Sri Kamakshi or Lalita.

In the second part of the verse, it says: By prostrating himself before you, and obtaining your
grace Manmatha acquired the form that Rati lapped up with her eyes, a form that is visible only
to her.

Why should Mother show compassion to create desires, not merely desire for woman but also
other worldly desires. The world is full of low, mediocre and high level of people. The lowly
people will prefer only worldly desires, some money, a girl to marry and to build a flat etc., The
mediocre will ask Mother to give him devotion, pilgrimages, enough money to do donation and
other dharma’s. Sri Kamakshi herself is said to have done 32 dharmas, like poor feeding, giving
medicines to sick and needy, clothes and homes to the needy. Then finally, there are highly
evolved souls seek from Mother nothing but liberation, no worldly desires. Here liberation is
also due to desire for self‐enquiry for the Self! So all these desires have to be fulfilled by Mother,
by her compassion.

Kunti requested Krishna to give only sufferings, so that she would think of Him constantly. How
can suffering come to a person? Unless there are desires and angers? In one way, Kama and
krodha are all blessings from Mother!

These descriptions indicate that without the help and her grace and compassion, anyone
whoever he be, will stumble and fall. We should not think that we can achieve things on our own
and we must remain humble always, seeking her grace.

Bhagavan Ramana was self realized in Madurai house. He had to spend about 6 weeks

thereafter, before reaching Arunachala. These six weeks were like three years for Him. He knew
that He was not for worldly life, education, job etc., but what can He do? He used to go to
Madurai Meenkashi Temple and cry before the images of 63 Saiva Saints. He told before them:
O Siva, why not you give me a life like one of these people? Sakti, Meenkashi in whose city, He
got self realization, had to help Him to find a way too. The Saktinipatam, the descent of divine
power, which had happened to cause Self Realization in His Heart, did show the way and also the
means to come His Father's city, Arunachala.

61. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 6, speaks about Manmatha, the god of love and desires. The dualistic
world emerging from non‐dualism as a result of 'Kama' or desire and then the same dualistic
world being made non‐dualistic through the compassion of Mother has a central place in her
sport. Manmatha or Kama who is the personification of desire, (in effect, the mind), has great
importance here. Mother herself has got names like Kameswari and Kamakshi.

Manmatha or Kama is without any form. Mind is without any form. Again Manmatha has got
armory of only flower‐arrows and flowers as bow. This is again mind, which is very slender and
formless, but capable of innumerable mischievous! Sri Lalita Sahasranamam says:

Mano‐rupeshu kodanda, pancha tan matra sayaka...
Mother's bow is mind and the five senses are arrows!
She is the mind‐principle, Maya. It is the mind, which makes or mars things.

Antarmuka samaradhya, bahir muka sudhurlabha....

If the mind turns inwards, it gives Her teaching of self realization. If the mind goes outwards, she
is not graspable!

Dhanur pauspam maurvi madhukaramayi panchavisikhah,
Vasantah samanto malayamarudayodhana‐rathah,
Tathapyekah sarvam himagirisute kamapi‐krpam,
Apangatte labdhva jagdidmanango‐vijayate.

With weapons by no means strong, Manmatha triumphs over the entire world. What is it that
gives him such power? It is Mother's sidelong glance. This is the import of the verse.
How strange! One who has no body triumphs over the entire world with instruments ridiculously
weak. There is no need for a strong armory. Only the person's motive is important. During
Vietnam War, American soldiers had guns and sabre jets and chocolates in their knapsacks as
their food in the jungle. Vietnamese guerillas had cold rice as food and had sharpened bamboo
sticks as their weapons. Vietnamese won the battles and war.

This mind is such an instrument. It is formless but very powerful. To conquer the mind, one has
to pray to Mother, who only is mind‐principle. Only our love and devotion for her would help us
in winning the mind.

Sankara says that Manmatha is the child of Uma, Sakti. For that matter, Indra, Vishnu, Kubera,
Ganapati, Shanmuga are all her children. Her Matrutvam, the Divine Motherhood is the highest.
She sends her child Manmatha to do mischief with the devotee, and if the devotee holds her
feet, she tells her child to keep away from mischief.

What is mind? It does not matter!


62. Virichih panchatvam vrajati harirapnoti virtatim,
Vinasam kinaso bhavati dhandho yati nidhanam,
Vitandri mahendri vitatirapi sammilita‐drsa,
Mahasamhare'smin viharati sati tvatpatir‐asau.

Sankara gives a huge canvas of pageant here. Here he refers to maha‐samhara, the great
dissolution. At the time, while Siva remains sporting with Mother, all other deities, celestials,
perish. Sankara names them one by one.

Brahma perishes in the great deluge. He says, 'Virinchith panchatvam vrajati'. Vishnu comes to
an end. 'Harirapnoti viratim.' He who destroys all, Yama himself is destroyed. 'Vinasam kinaso
bhajati.' Kinaso is the name of Yama. Not one Indra, but army of Indra’s closes their eyes. They
are in sleep from which they can never wake up. Even during that great this great deluge, your
husband sports with you. 'Mahasamhare asmin viharati Sati tvatpatih asau.'

What does this great sport indicate to us. We trust in Bhagavan Ramana's teachings that there is
no creation, no sustenance and no dissolution. We are with Gaudapada, who says: Where is the
creation? When you open your eyes, you are creating. When you close your eyes, you are
destroying. It is all the mind.
Mother is mind‐principle, manas‐tattva. If mind is killed, if Uma is killed, (can Uma be killed?),
note here that she is given the name Sati, the dutiful and faithful wife, who is ever sumangali,
never becomes a widow, then there is only the Self. Then what happened to Uma, or mind‐
principle? Is she gone for ever? No. She remains with Siva, and Siva is sporting with her! The Self
and the mind are sporting!

Is it confusing? Bhagavan Ramana says after realization, the mind remains as burnt‐rope. It has
no capacity to work, but retains only the form. This Brahma Sakti, the Power of the Self,
with which after self realization, a Brahma Jnani, Self realized soul, does all the worldly work till
he leaves the body. He does everything, and more perfectly than an average mortal who is not
self realized and who is worldly. Bhagavan Ramana, cut vegetables, cooked rice and idles, made
all conversations, composed great poems, helped to build Skandasramam, talked about all herbal
medicines, learnt Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam in no time, all these due to Brahma Sakti. This
is the sport of Uma with Siva, after great dissolution, i.e. the conquest of mind or destruction of
mind!

63. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 28 speaks about the glory of Mother's "thatanga", the ear
ornaments. In the olden days, housewives in India used to wear a fairly large golden disc on their
ears. This is 'thatanga'. This is a symbol of a married woman. She wears is, it is said, to give a
long healthy life to the husband. This verse speaks about that thatanga being worn my Sri Lalita.

Sudhamapyasvadya prati‐bhaya‐jaramritya‐harinim,
Vipadyante visve vidhi‐satamakhadya divisadah,
Karaalam yat ksvelam kavlitvatah kalakalana,
Na sambhosanmulam tava janani thatanga mahima.

O Mother, though they have taken the nectar from the milky ocean, that is said to cure illness
and avoid death, Brahma and Indra and all gods die at the time of great dissolution. But your
husband Siva, has no death and it is due to your thatanga's glory!

The pun is that gods wanted nectar to live a disease free deathless life but they died, all including

Brahma and Indra. When the poisonous hala‐hala came, your husband Siva, took it but he
remains for ever deathless!

Sankara has left out Vishnu here, because Vishnu did not take the nectar but only distributed it.
Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Chandrashekhara Saraswati says that the poet left out Vishnu, because he is
Uma's sister and how many times he can say that Vishnu had perished!

Why should Sankara, speak about the thatanga, which is the ear‐ ornament? This ear‐ornament
subtly says about the ears. The ears are called Srothram, from which the word Sruti, Vedas and
Upanishads came. In the olden days, there were no written scriptures on paper. The Sruti is
heard from Guru by the disciples. Hence ears are more important for them than even eyes!
Mother herself heard the scriptures like Guru Gita etc., from Siva. Hence thatanga is mentioned
here.

Further the ear‐studs were considered to add beauty to a woman in those days, This and long
black hair and red kumukum on the foreheads were characteristics of a woman's beauty and
Honour. (We can not appreciate these when women do not wear either kumukum or an ear
ornament today.) A woman, who had lost her husband, loses all the three. But Mother is nitya‐
sumangali, ever with her deathless husband and hence this is eulogized in this verse. She is also
called Sarvamangala, conferring all‐round welfare, and hence thatanga finds a place in the verse.

64. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 34 then describes Siva and Uma, having the same life‐body.

Mother Uma, who has the whole universe as her life‐body, and this larger life infuses into all of
us. When we recognize this truth, we also recognize that everything that happens in this world is
caused by it, by that larger life. When we are convinced about the truth behind this idea our
resolve to dedicate ourselves utterly and to offer ourselves to it, the greater life that is Mother,
will be strengthened.

Sariram tvam Sambhoh sasi‐mihira vaksoruha yugam,
Tavatmanam manye Bhagavati navatmanamanagham,
Atah sesah sesiyayamubhaya sadharanataya,
Sthitah sambandho vam samarasa paranandaparayah

You are Parameswara's body. Though Siva has nine varied forms, you are those forms. Your
breasts are the sun and the moon. I am seeing this unified form in my vision. This mutual
ownership and owned property aspect indicates the mutuality of your relationship. I see you as
Ananda Bairva and Ananda Bairavi. I see you both as mutual substance and the remnant to each
other.

This mutuality is seen in many aspects of the form worship of Uma and Siva. Both have got
three eyes. Both have crescent moon on their locks. Both are red in colour. Both are
worshipped in Sri Chakra puja. Both occupy half of the portion of the body in Arunachala, as
Ardhanari and Ardhanariswara.

While Siva is nirguna Brahman, Brahman with no form and no characteristics, Uma is Saguna
Brahman, Brahman with form and characteristics. This is the same as Matter and Energy dyad.
The energy activates the matter from within. This is how the creation starts, individual jivas are
born, they are sustained and then they are dissolved back into the Matter. The worlds are
created; they go on orbits for a long period of time, then crumble and withdraw in to the
nameless and formless Space. This is called Prakrti and Purusha principle in Sankhya philosophy

too.

Sankara then explains in Verse 35, as to why this dualism, what is the purpose of it in Vedanta.

65. What Sankara means by this apparent dualism, is only the mind‐body complex. This mind is
nothing but condensed body. Hence by speaking about mind, Sankara covers both waking and
dream states of the persons. This mind is nothing but Jiva.

Verse 35 of Sri Soundarya Lahari:

Manastvam vyoma tvam marudasi marutsarathirasi,
Tvamapastvam bhumih tvayi parinatayam na hi param,
Tvameva svaatmaanam parinamayitum visva vapusa,
Chidandakaram Sivayuvatibhavena vibhrse.

Mother! You exist as the mind. This mind which is the cause of so much that is false and of so
much trouble, is also you. Mother! Who are You? Where does such a question spring from? Is it
not my mind? That is also you! You must evolve yourself into the cosmic form. It is for this
reason, that, as Siva's wife, you have taken the form of chidananda.

Mother is also called Sivaa. Siva and Sivaa are concorporate. Total realization is sat‐chit‐ananda.
Siva does not remain as Sat or the Reality, alone. He is also chit that is consciousness, or having
awareness and ananda, i.e. experiencing bliss. Mother's function is this, experiencing this Siva.
Thus it is the mind, which should experience the Bliss, Chidananda, after realizing Brahman, the
Reality or Sivam.

Brahman becoming aware of itself and experiencing bliss and remaining by itself is not the end of
everything. It acquires Chit and Ananda (Bliss) to evolve into the cosmos that is different from
itself. What is stated here is entirely a Sakta concept and has nothing to do with Advaita. About
creation, Advaita (see Gaudapada's Karika) says that it somehow happens because of Maya.
How, why, for what purpose, there is no answer to such questions. One has to accept that it is all
work of Maya. When Maya is mentioned, Advaita catches hold of Maya and says: Maya is mind!
It is the mind which projects the world, the jiva and Isvara. This is Drishti Srishti theory. As you
see, the world appears. The world does not appear and then you see it.

Bhagavan Ramana also used to say that Drishti Srishti theory of Gaudapada and Sankara is
correct. When Sankara speaks about the creation of world and cosmos, he brings us to the
theory of mind and its projection of the cosmos. Everything is mind's play.

Thoughts occur in the mind. But the mind is Mother. Sankara begins this verse as: Manastvam.
The mind is the source of all desirable and undesirable thoughts, but if one accustom oneself
to the idea that it is Mother who is creating all these thoughts, then our thoughts through
practice of self enquiry, will get reduced and eventually there will no thought but only a Pure
Mind, which remains with the Self, as Siva and Sakti, a double gem of garnet‐lapiz lazuli. This is
Siva Sakti Aikyam, as Sri Lalita Sahasranamam, says at the end: "O Siva, Siva‐Sakti‐Aikya rupinee,
Sri Lalitambika!"

Sankara also gives the same concept in Sri Siva Manasa Puja.
"Atma Tvam Girija madhi, sahachara praanam sariram gruham,..."


66. From Verses 41 to 100 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, Sankara describes the Mother's form from her
crown to feet. Hereafter, there are no mantras but he pours out his ideas born of his unique
imagination, ideas that touch the heights of poetry.

Gatair manikyatvam gaganamanibhih sandraghatitam,
Kiritam te harimam Himagirisute kirtayati yah,
Sa nideyacchayacchurana sabalam chandra sakalam,
Dhanuh saunasiram kimiti na nibadhanati dhisanam.

O the daugher of Himavan! The twelve Adityas have taken the form of ruby stones and they
adorn your golden crown studded with rubies. If one tries to describe this crown, he
will only find the crescent moon on your head to be shining with several colors like Indra's
rainbow!

Mother Lalita is having a golden crown studded with rubies which have been the incarnations of
the twelve Adityas. These rubies due to their blood red color transform the color of white
crescent moon on the forehead, into a seven colored rainbow, which is Indra's bow!

The Hindu theology says that there are twelve suns and these are Adityas. These twelve suns
become rubies on the crown. Even though moon is smaller in size as compared to the sun,
here the twelve suns are not a match to the moon. At best, they can only change the white or
golden color of the moon into vibgyor of a rainbow. The rain bow is called Indra's bow
in the Hindu theology. Mother is the personification of the universe; hence her crown has rubies
of the suns and the moon. This crescent moon is common to both Siva and Uma. Siva is called
Chandramouliswara. She is called Chandramouliswari.

67. Verse 43 of Sri Soundarya Lahari describes the black tresses of Mother Lalita. This black hair
removes the darkness of the mind!

Dhunotu dhvantam nastulita‐dalitendrivara vanam,
Ghnasnigdha slakasnam chikura nikurmabam taa Sive,
Yadiyam saurabhyam sahajam upalabdhum sumanoso,
Vasantyasamita maniye valamathana‐vaati‐vitapinam.

O the consort of Paramasiva! Your densely grown black tresses of hair are like the flowers of
Indivara forests. This is soft and silky and has natural fragrance. I consider that the flowers
of gardens of Indra must be living there in disguise, to have the fragrance of your hair! Let your
tresses remove the darkness in the minds of your devotees!

The celestial flowers which have got fragrance that far excel the earthly flowers of jasmine and
manoranjitam, dwell in Mother's trsses to obtain its natural fragrance. They do not make it
fragrant. They are in the hair for their own benefit, to acquire the natural fragrance of Mother's
tresses.

Hindu gods are described white, red or black depending upon their nature. Siva is white,
Narayana is green or black, Lakshmi is red etc., But Sankara says here about the black
tresses of Mother. Such descriptions are only adhered to, when they describe tresses of
goddesses, since tresses are natural women.

Do not keep asking about how dark hair can dispel the darkness of our minds. You will get an
answer to your question if you meditate on Mother's long densely grown tresses.

68. The Verse 50 of Sri Soundarya Lahari is a beauty. Here Sankara describes the eyes of Mother
Lalita. Readers may be aware, that as per Hindu theology, Siva and Uma and Ganapati and
Skanda has got three eyes. In fact, Arunagiri Natha says that Skanda has got 18 eyes for his six
faces!

Kavinam sandarbha‐stabaka makandaika‐rasikam,
Kataaksha vyaaksepa bhramarakalabhau karanayugalam,
Amunchantau drshtravaa tava navarasavaada‐taralau,
Asuyaa‐samsargaadikanavanam kinchidarunam.

The third eye on the forehead is red due to jealousy. Jealous of what or of whom? The jealousy
of the third eye is towards the other two eyes! Here, Sankara gives a novel interpretation. The
third eye is eye of Jnana. How can there be jealousy in the eye of Jnana?

The other two eyes of Mother are karna yugalam. They are long and are stretched towards the
two ears. They send their side glances towards the two ears, to partake of the nectar of poetry
of the poets who sing of Siva's glory!

The women's eyes are always compared to black bees,ocean, dark rain clouds etc., They are
brahmara‐kalabhau, the little black bees! In Sri Sailam, Siva is in the form of a jasmine creeper
and Mother is like bee to take the nectar of the jasmine flowers. Siva is called Mallikarjuna and
Mother is called Bhramaramba.

The third eye of Mother is vertically on the forehead. This third eye cannot stretch upto the ears
to partake of the nectarine poetry of poets that has filled the ears.

Mother takes delight in the hymns of praise of Siva. In another verse of the same work, when
Saraswati sings the glory of Siva and Mother's ears take delight in that poetry and in approval
her ear‐ornaments move back and forth!

How Sankara who is a Brahma Jnani always could engaged in dry (?) Vedanta, write such poetry.
We should read Bhagavan Ramana's Arunachala Akshara Mana Malai to confirm this. Bhagavan
Ramana says that a Brahma Jnani is all‐knowing, what is there in this universe, that is not known
to such a Jnani? Bhagavan Ramana says this in Sad Darsanam, Supplement, Verse 23.

69. In Sri Soundarya Lahari, Sankara describes the eyes of Mother in eleven verses, Verse 48 to 58.
These verses share more than 10% of the total composition. Eyes of god or goddess or a Jnani
are the most important aspect of his or her form. Many devotees have praised the eyes and gaze
of Bhagavan Ramana. Muruganar has written a song called Tiru Kannokkam, in Sri Ramana
Sannidhi Murai, the gaze of Bhagavan Ramana. Eyes are the windows through which the grace of
a god or a Jnani is emitted.

Verse 51:‐

Sive srngaraardra tad‐itara‐jane kutsna‐paraa,
Sarosa Gangayaam Girisa‐charite vismayavati,
Haraahibhyo bhita sarasi‐ruha‐soubagya‐janani,
Sakhisu smera te mayi janani drshti sakaruna.

O Mother! The expression of your gaze at Siva is full of sentiments of love. At others with that of

dislike. Towards your co‐wife Ganga, you show anger. On hearing the great deeds of Siva, your
eyes express wonder. Towards the great serpents which are ornaments of Siva, you express
dread. At the sight of your friends, you show lighthearted sympathy, characterized by a
patronizing smile. And towards me, a devotee, you have a compassionate look. And besides,
your eyes have the red‐tinged loveliness of a lotus flower, indicating heroism.

The verse speaks about 9 sentiments or rasas that are expressed while dancing. Here Mother,
expresses all the nine rasas, together, which is no possible by a human face. The rasas are
love, disgust, anger, wonder, terror, heroism, mirth, compassion and composure. The last one is
not stated, since composure or Santa is not a sentiment as per kavya‐kartas., authorities of
poetics.

70. Verses 52 and 53 of Sri Soundarya Lahari further describe the eyes of Mother Lalita. There are
beautiful poetic imaginations in these two verses of Sankara.

Verse 52:

Gate karnabhyarnam garuta iva pakshamaani dadhati,
Puram behttus citta‐prasama‐rasa‐vidravanaphale;
Ime netre gotra‐dhara‐pati‐kulottamsa kalike
Tav aakranakrsta smara‐sara vilasam kalayatah.

O Mother! You are the flower bud placed on the crest of the Mountain King's dynasty! Your long
eyes which extend up to the ears, with eyelashes resembling the feathery wings attached
to the arrows and which are engaged in disturbing the placidity of the mind of Siva, look like the
arrows of Manmatha aimed and drawn up to the ears!

Manmatha is holding the bow with his left hand and is aiming flowery arrows to bring about love
in persons. His cupped hand is holding the middle of the bow. The two sides of the bow are
thus two arcs like structure. These represent the two eyes of Mother, who brings about
disturbance in the mind of Siva!

Verse 53:

Vibhakta‐traivarnyam vyaktirita‐lilaanjanatyaya,
Vibhaati tvan‐netra tritayam idam Isaana dayite,
Punah srastum devan Druhina‐Hari‐Rudran uparathin,
Rajah sattvam bibhrat tama iti gunanam tryam iva.

O Consort of Siva! Your three eyes look tri‐colored when the black of the beautifying collyrium
shines by the side of their natural white and reddish tinges, each keeping its distinctiveness. It
looks as if these three colors represent the three gunas of Rajas, Sattva and Tama’s, which
you assume with a view to revive Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra after their dissolution in the Pralaya
and start them once again on the creative activity.

The natural color of the eyes is white, but in cases of beautiful women, there is also a reddish
tinge and this with the collieries which is usually used to beautify the eyes, adds a black color
also. Sankara fancies that these three colors represent three gunas of Brahma, Hari and Rudra.

In Sakta philosophy Sakti is the primordial god. She makes and unmakes Brahma, Vishnu and

Rudra. Or, alternatively, Rudra can be taken as one of the trimuvarite and Siva or SadASiva is the
primordial God above these three. Saiva Siddhanta also holds the same view.

71. Sri Soundarya Lahari continues....

Verse 54:‐

Pavitrikartum nah pasupati‐paradhine hrdaye,
Day‐mitrair netrair aruna‐dhavala symaba ruchibhi,
Nadah sona ganga tapana tanayeti dhruvam amum
Trayaanaam tirthaanaam upanayasi sambhedam anagham.

O Mother, who is ever devoted to Siva! It seems certain that with your kindly eyes having the
three colors of red, white, and black, you present to us the confluence of the holy rivers
of Sona, Ganga and Yamuna, to sanctify ourselves by getting immersed in them.

The confluence of white waters of Ganga and blue waters of Yamuna at Prayag is well known for
its sanctifying effect. The river Sona whose water is red does not join the mainstreams
at Prayag, Allahabad. But the saint poet takes the Nature as a unified whole of Sakti, and in that
sense speaks of three steams as in confluence in Her eyes with their three colors.

Mantra sastra says that meditating on Uma's eyes, with chanting of this verse within, can bring
about the same results as of bathing in these rivers. This verse is also chanted for overcoming
the eye defects of children, like squint eye, conjunctivitis etc.,

72. The Verse 55 of Sri Soundarya Lahari further describes the eyes of Mother.

Nimesonmesaabhyaam pralayam udayam yaati jagat,
Tavetry aahuh santa Dharani‐dhara‐raajanya taanye,
Tvad‐unmeshaaj jaatam jagad idam aasesam pralayatah,
Pari traatum sanke parihrta‐nimesaas tava drsah.

O Daughter of the king of Mountains! Great men say that closing and opening of your eye‐lids
mark the dissolution and creation of this universe. Therefore, in order to prevent this universe
that has sprung at the opening of Your eyes, from going into dissolution that You do not wink but
keep Your eyes always open.

Siva and Uma do not close their eyes. If they close their eyes, the worlds are dissolved. Sri Lalita
Sahasranamam says: Unmesha nimishotpanna vipanna bhuvanavali. (Name 281). By your
opening and closing your eyes, the worlds are created and dissolved.

The Ajata Vada Advaita, (Sankara's and Bhagavan Ramana's) does not accept the creation and
dissolution theories. They are created and destroyed, as you see them in waking state and
dream state and in deep sleep states. Here Sankara gives the description as fit in mantra sastra,
which is dual and accepts the theories of creation and dissolution.

Mantra Sastras prescribe this verse to be chanted as meditating, to ensure protection from evil
forces.

73. Sri Sankara Vijayam, Sri Soundarya Lahari:


Verse 56:‐

Tavaaparne karne‐japa‐nayana‐paisunya‐cakitaa,
Niliyante toye niyatam animesaah sapharikaah;
Iyam cha srir badhhac‐chada‐puta‐kavatam kuvalayam
Jahaati pratyushe nishi cha vighatayya pravisati.

O Aparna!* the female fish hide themselves in water in fear, afraid of the tell‐tale activities of
your eyes against them, their rivals. Sri ‐ the goddess of beauty abandons the closed
petals of the blue lily during the day, in order to reside in Your lotus‐like eyes, and return again at
night to the blossoming blue lily, when your eyes are closed in sleep.

The saint poet fancies the following from Nature:

1. The fish are habituated to live under deep waters. But it is fancied that they are afraid
because of Mother's long eyes extending upto her ears, which is again fancied that they are
engaged in tell‐tales about the fish.

2. The blue lily blooms at night and closes the day. The blue lily is compared to Sri, Lakshmi.
They get their loveliness from Devi's eyes at night, when Devi sleeps.

Sankara further says in Verse 57:

O Consort of Siva! Grace my miserable self too, in spite of being my being far removed from you,
for lack of devotion, with the long‐ranging and compassionate look of your eyes, which defeat
the slightly blooming blue water lily in beauty. By this my humble self shall feel blessed, while to
you, it involves no loss. The rays of the moon fall alike, indeed, on a mansion and a wilderness.

74. Verse 59 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, is a beauty. Sankara's fancy touches new high and his poetic
talents reach new shores.

Verse 59:‐

Sphurad‐gandaa bhoga pratiphalita‐taatanka yugalam,
Chatus‐chakram manye tava mukham idam manmatha‐ratham;
yam‐aaruhya druhyaty avani‐ratham arkendu‐charanam,
Mahaaviro maarah pramatha‐pataye sajjitavate.

Your face, having two ear ornaments {Taatankam} and their reflection in Your glistening cheeks,
is verily the four‐wheeled chariot of Manmatha, the god of love. (He can stir the mind of
people to its depths). It is seated in this chariot of Your face, that Manmatha became valiant
enough to inflict pangs on Siva, who is mighty enough to destroy the Tripuras.( when he
mounted on his earth chariot having sun and moon for the two wheels.

Taatankam or the ear ornaments of Devi is a powerful force. These ear ornaments reflect in the
glistening cheeks and appear totally four in numbers. These four are the four wheels of the
chariot of love of god!

See also Sri Lalita Sahasranamam:

Verse 22: Om tatanka yugali bhuta tapanodupa mandalai Namah:

Salutations to Her who has the orbs of the sun and the moon and as Her pair of ear ornaments.
(pendants).

Verse 23:

Om padma raga siladarsa paribhavi kapola bhuve Namah:

Salutations to Her whose cheeks are far fairer than mirrors of ruby ‐ padmaraga.

75. Sri Soundarya Lahari Verse 64:

The Mother's tongue is praised in this verse.

Avisraantam patyur guna‐gana‐katha mredana‐japa
Japaa‐pushpak‐chaaya tava janani jihvaa jayati saa;
Yad‐agraasinayaah sphatika‐drashad‐acchachavi mayi
Saraswatyaa matrih pariamati maanikya‐vapusaa.

Glory to Your tongue, which excels the hibiscus flowers in its redness and is constantly engaged
in the chanting of the holy names of your consort, Siva. The reddish color of that tongue
is quite intense, that the goddess of speech, Saraswati, who dwells on that tip of that tongue,
gets her white complexion changed into the color of a ruby!

Sri Lalita Sahasranamam has got many names which describe the connection between Mother
and Saraswati or speech or knowledge.

Verse 123: Om sharadaaraadhyaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is adored by Sarada, here meaning Sraswati, consort of Brahma.

Verse 350: Om Vag vaadinyai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is the power that prompts holy men to speak write words of wisdom.

Verse 368: Om pashyantai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is the speech in the inaudbile stage.

Verse 370: Om madhyamaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Madhyama, or speech in the middle stage of its external expressions.

Verse 371: Om vaikahari roopayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Vaikhari, the uttered audible speech.

76. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 65 describes betel leaves chewed by Mother.

Rane jitvaadaityaan apahrta‐sirastraih kavachibir
Nivratais Chandamsa‐Tirupurahara‐nirmalya‐vimukhaih;

Visakhendra upendraih sasi visada karpuara‐sakalaa
Viliyante maatras tava vadana‐tambula‐kabalah.

Rejecting the Nirmalyam, (the left overs of God or Guru) of Siva as the share of the devotee
Chandikeswara, celestials like Kumara, (Subrahmanya), Indra, Vishnu (Upendra), after their
victory over the demons, come to You, with their head‐gear removed and only the swords on, to
receive Your gracious prasada (gift), the betel leaves used by You and chewed them until they
along with white pieces of camphor, contained in them dissolve!

The left overs of God or Guru are called Nirmalyam or Ucchistam. These include betel leaves
chewed and spat also! Do not use your intellect here, to understand the implications. The Guru‐
bakti or Deva‐bakti is so great among the devotees and disciples, that they take it as prasad, the
left overs of the Guru or God.

We are all aware about Bhagavan Ramana's ucchishtam, which Bhagavan Ramana Himself,
forbade after He had come to know about it. Muruganar has sung a song about this. Annamlai
Swami used to take the water falling on the floor, which Bhagavan Ramana had used for washing
His limbs, after return from Hill. The great poetess Avadaiakka, from Tirunelveli, (she was an
illiterate) took the thrown away neem‐stick used by Swami Sivananada, for his tooth‐brushing
and chewed them.

Panduranga, Krishna himself took the left overs of food for his eating from Bhakta Vijayam saints.

Nirmalyam of Siva is exclusively for Chandikeswara, the famous Saiva Saint, whose stone image
one can see in Siva temples outside the inner sanctorum. Siva's used white dhotis, food, betel
leaves, flowers and fruits are exclusively the property of Chandikeswara. So, the other devotees
of Mother, like Subrahmanya, Indra, and Vishnu come to Mother for her chewed betel leaves.
Here the devotees of Mother do not mind body purity. They come after war, without even
leaving their swords, but only the head gear, to take Mother's chewed betel leaves! Such is the
grace of Mother, who does not mind formality.

77. The Verse 66 of Sri Soundarya Lahari describes the Mother's sweet voice.

Vipanchya gaayanti vividham apadaanam Puraripos
tvya'aarabdhe vaktum chalita‐sirasaa saadhuvachane;
Tadiyair maadhuryair apalapita‐tantri kala‐ravaam
Nijaam veenam vaani nichulayati cholena nibhrtam.

When on hearing the songs of greatness and achievements of Siva tuned on the Veena by
Saraswati, the goddess of learning and fine arts, you begin to speak nodding your head in
appreciation, the sweetness of your voice seems to cast ridicule on the soft melody of that
musical instrument, and Saraswati therefore secretly puts it in its case.

Verse 71:

Here, Sankara describes the hands of Mother.

Nakhaanaam uddyotair nava‐nalina‐raagam vihasataam
Karaanaam te kaantim kathaya kathayaamah katham Ume;
Kayaachid vaa saamyam bhajatau kalayaa hanta kamalam
Yadi kridal lakshmi charana tala lakshaa rasam chanam.

O Uma! Pray, tell us how we can describe the splendour of your hands, which, being lit up with
the radiance of your nails, surpasses the brightness of the morning lotus blooms. Perhaps
these flowers can attain similarity with your nails when their redness is enhanced by contact with
lac‐dye of the feet of goddess Lakshmi who sports in them!

Saraswati and Lakshmi are the same as Uma in the Jnana marga. They are considered as three
different goddesses, consort of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, only in mantra sastra and bhakti marga,
path of devotion.

78. The verse 79 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, describes the necklace on Mother's breasts:

Vahaty amba stamberama danuja kumbha prak‐rtibihih
Samaarbdhaam muktaa‐manibhir amalaam hara‐latikam
Kuchaabhogo bimbaadhara ruchibhir antah sabalitaam
Prattapa vyaamisaaram Pura‐damayituh sabalitaam.

O Mother! In the rergion of your breasts is a flawless necklace made of pearls got from the
frontal globe of Gajasura (the elephant demon). It rests their with white brilliance variegated
from within by the reflection of the ruddy tinge of your bimba‐like lips, as it where the
confulence of white from and the red valour of Your Consort, Siva, the destroyer of Tripuras.

In classical Indian literature, it is believed that the pearls contain pearls. The pearls are said to
form from the oceans, the frontal globe of elephants and the bamboos. Siva killed the demon
Gajasura, with elephant face. Sankara says that Mother wears the pearls from that elephant.
The pearls are white in colour and it mixes with the red tinge of Mother's lips, which resemble
Bimba fruits. Siva is white in colour and his valour speaks of his valour which is always associated
with red colour. So, the white‐red mixture is the symbol of Siva's form and Siva's valour.

Sri Lalita Sahasranamam says the following:

Name 476: Om aarakta varnaayai namah:

Salutations to Her who is of a rosy complexion like the Patali flower.

Name 529: Om sarva varna upasobhitayi namah:

Salutations to Her who is shines with all colours.

79. Verse No. 75 of Sri Soundarya Lahari is interpreted in different ways by various commentators.
This Verse describes the Mother's breast milk.

Tvam stanyam manye Dharani dhara kanye hrdayatah
Payah paaraavaararah parivhati saarasvataam iva;
Dayaavatya dattam dramila‐sisur aasvaadya tava yat
Kavinaam praudhaanaam ajani kamaniyah kavayita.

O daughter of the Mountain King! I fancy that your breast milk is the milk‐ocean emerging as
poetic inspiration from your heart. For, it was by drinking it, so graciously given by you, that the
child of the Dramila country became a noted poet of Siva among great composers!


The identity of this Dramila sisu, the child south of Vindyas that is Dravida has given rise to many
interpretations. That child is Sankara himself, maintain the two commentators Lakshmidara and
Kaivalyasrama. This is based on the story that Sankara was given breast milk by Mother
Katyayani in the temple near Kaladi, when Sankara was about 5 or 6 years old. But the question
remains that Sankara however gifted might he have been, with Katyayani's milk, would call him a
great poet. He was the embodiment of humility. Added to this, none of the Sankara Vijayam
biographies give this account.

Brahmasri Nochur Venkataraman and Kanchi Sri Chandrashekhara Saraswati, the earlier Chief
Pontiff of Kanchi Math, who passed away in 1990s say that this reference is to Saint Tiru Jnana
Sambandhar, the great poet of Seerkazhi. Jnana Sambandhar when he was three years old, was
given breast milk by Uma, when he was crying on the banks of the temple tank. He started
singing melodious Tamil poems on Siva immediately. This story is also available in Periya
Puranam, the story of 63 Siva Saints by Poet Sekkizhar. We can therefore take that the
reference is to Tiru Jnana Sambandhar, who lived about 100 years before Sankara. He is also
considered as an avatara of Skanda.

In Sri Ramana Gita, where Kavyakanta Ganapati Sastri says that Bhagavan Ramana is an avatara
of Skanda, has stated that He is the third avatara of Skanda, after Tiru Jnana Sambandha,
Kumarila Bhatta.

Dramila which means Dravida country refers to all lands south of Vindya. It might refer to
Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, all of which are south of Vindhyas. Hence reference
to Tiru Jnana Sambandha and also to Sankara holds water. Dravida is not a race. This is the
creation of British writers to divide Indians into Aryans and Dravidans. Arya merely means one
who is pure. Dravida means who lives in south of Vindhyas.

Incidentally, Bhagavan Ramana was given the abhishekam milk of Mother Unnamulai,
Apeetakuchamba, when He was staying inside the Arunachaleswarar Temple, during His first two
years in Tiruvannamalai. Once Bhagavan Ramana, while reading Tiru Jnana Sambandhar's
Tevaram, has shed tears stating, "Is he not Siva's son?"

80. Verses 84 to 90, seven verses describe the feet of Mother. The feet are the Padam and Paadam,
the Source and the Feet of Grace. Great saint poets have sung the glories of God or Guru's feet.
Saint Manikkavachagar sings Siva's feet in almost all verses of Tiruvembavai, which he had sung
in Tiruvannamalai. Muruganar glories the grace of Bhagavan Ramana's feet in Padmalai in more
than 1000 verses.

Verse 84:

Srutinaam muradhano dadhati tava yau sekharatya
Mamaapyetanu Maatah sirasi davyaya dhehi charanau;
Yayoh paadyam paatah Pasupati‐jataa‐juta‐tatini
Yayor laaksha lakshmir aruna Hari chudaamani ruchih.

O Mother! The crest of the Veda, i.e. Vedanta bears your feet as its head ornament. May You
condescend to place these feet on my head too, the feet of the water‐offerings on which form
the Ganga in the matted locks of Siva, and the bright red dye of which gives further brilliance to
the jewels on the diadem of Vishnu.


The idea is that both Siva and Vishnu prostrate at the feet of Mother and place Her feet on their
heads. In the process, the water offerings that are making at the feet of the Mother go to form
Ganga in the matted locks of the prostrating Siva. So too, it is the brightness of the lac dye
applied at the feet of Mother, that gives bright brilliance to the diadem of the prostrating Vishnu.

Kanchi Chandra Sekhara Saraswati Swami says that Siva does not prostrate to Mother in the
open but in the bedroom, during love quarrels! Vishnu, Indra and Skanda, being her sons
prostrate to their Mother. We have seen in one earlier verse that all these are Devi's sons.

81. Verse 85 of Sri Soundarya Lahari further eulogizes Mother's feet.

Namo vaakam brumo nayana ramaniyaaya padayos
Tavaasmi dvandvaaya sphuta ruchi raaslakatkavate;
Asuyaty atyanatam yad abhi‐hanaanaaya sphrayate
Pasaunaam isaanah pramada vana kankeli tarvave.

O praise by way of namaskarams to your feet, a delight to the eyes because of their brilliance
from the liquid lac dye applied to them! Your consort Pasupati, desiring to be touched with
those feet, is extremely jealous of the Asoka tree of your garden, as that tree too is a rival
aspirant of such touches!

It is fancied by Sanskrit and Tamil poets that barren Asoka tree wants to be touched by a woman
of auspicious qualities, for flowering. The Mother touches those Asoka trees, in the garden,
while walking there. But Siva is not touched like that excepting in bed room, during love quarrels
and therefore he is jealous of Asoka trees!

82. Verse 87, again praises the feet of Mother.

Himaani hantavyam hima‐giri nivaasaika chaturau
Nisaayam nidraanam nisi charama‐bhaage cha visadau
varam lakshmi‐paatram sriyam ati srajantau samayinaam
sarojam tvad paadau janani jayantas chitram iha kim.

O Mother of the Universe! The lotus of your feet, which flourishes always on the snow mountain
of Himalayas, blooming night and day and bestowing undeceiving wealth (Lakshmi) on the circle
of devotees, is undoubtedly superior to the common lotus flower, which perishes in snow, closes
at night and forms the favorite resort of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Her blessings on
devotees are very temporary.

The reader should not think that this comparison between Lalita and Lakshmi are all imaginary.
Yes, they are all imaginary but from saint‐poet's point of view, these are poetic imageries, though
in Advaita all are only one. In Sri Ramavataram, we see that Sri Rama and Parasurama are
fighting with each other. Does it mean both are different and if so, how can two avataras take
place simultaneously, and that too, one vanquishing another. These are all poetic expressions
and this is not be taken as something against Advaitam.

83. Verse 88 of Sri Soundarya Lahari further praises the feet of Mother.

Padam te kritinaam prapadam apadam Devi vipadaani
Katham nitram sadbhih karthina kamathi karpara tulaam
Katham vaa baahubhyaam upayamana kaate purabhidaa

Yad aadaaya drsadi daya manena manasaa.

The upper part of your feet is the seat of excellence worthy of praise and they are the panacea
for all dangers, to devotees. How then do great poets equate them with the hard shell of the
tortoise? And how did your consort, the destroyer of three cities, Tripura, in spite of all His
tenderness towards You, have the heart to place them on a hard granite grinding stone at Your
marriage rite?

The poets in Indian languages compare the well formed forepart of the feet of beautiful women
to the shell of the tortoise. This is more for its shape and not for hardness. The saint poet here
uses that imagery to refer to the hardness, and says that it is incorrect to compare Mother's fore‐
foot to that shell of tortoise! Further, in Hindu marriages, the bridegroom keeps the forefoot
of the bride on the grinding stone, as one of the rites and says some mantras. The saint poet
refers to that rite here. The symbolism of that placing the forefoot of the bride on the
grinding stone is to denote that the wife should accompany her husband in times of distress too.

84. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 89 describes the feet of Mother:

Nakhair naaka strinaam kara‐kamala samkocha saasibhis
Taraanaam divyanaam hasata iva te chandi charanau
Phalaani svah‐sthebhyah kisalaya karaagrena dadataam
Daridrebhyo bhadadraam sriyam anisam ahnaaya dadatau.

O Chandi! Your feet of the moon‐like nails, which make the lotus‐bud like palms of adoring
heavenly damsels close, do shower abundant wealth quickly on humble and poor devotees,
and thus mock at the wish‐yielding Kalpaga trees of heavens whose arms of tender branches
bestow desired gifts only do gods who live in heavenly affluence.

At the moon‐rise, lotus flowers close. The poet compares the toenails of Mother to the moon
and the hands of celestial women adoring her to lotus flowers. While thus adoring, the celestial
women close their lotus like palms in salutation, and the saint‐poet fancies this is due to the
proximity of the moon like nails of Mother, as the lotus flowers do at moon rise. Her feet with
moon like nails are pictured also casting ridicule on the Kalpaga tree for its bestowing facilities on
people who are already well‐placed and have plenty of enjoyments, while her feet bestow
blessings on humble and poor devotees.

The pearl like nails are moon. The folded hands of the celestial women are lotuses. Mother's
feet are Kalpaga trees.

85. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 90, describes the saint‐poet Sankara's expression of his aspiration to
dwell at the Mother's feet for all time.

Daddaane dinebhuyah sriyam anisam asaanusadrishim
Amandam soundarya‐ya‐prakara‐makarandam vikirati;
Tavaasmin mandaara‐stabaka‐subhage yaatu charane
Nimaijjan majjivah karana‐charanah sat‐charanataam.

O Mother! Your feet form a veritable bunch of Mandaara flowers dripping the honey of beauty
and are a liberal supplies of wealth to your poor devotees. May my spirit with its six organs of
knowledge (including the mind) become a six footed honey‐sucking bee at those feet for ever
more.

The Saint‐poet sees a comparison between his individual which has six organs of knowledge
(including the mind) and a honey‐sucking been which too has six organs in the form of six legs.
He also expresses his aspirations to get fully absorbed in the contemplation of the Mother's feet
as the honey bee is sucking the honey.

This expression reminds me of Muruganar's Padamalai, the Garland for the Feet. The Padamalai
is a part (of about 1700+ verses) that forms the book Sri Ramana Jnanabodham. Muruganar says
Bhagavan's Padam, (Paadam ‐feet; Padam ‐ Source) is both the place for Saranagati (total
surrender) and Jnana. He says in one of his verses: "I come to you with a lot of questions that
arise from my ajnana, ignorance. But when I come to Your Feet, there is no ajnana, ignorance.
So, no questions arise whenever I am with you. Sankara also says that his aspiration is only to
dwell at Mother's feet like the honey‐bee that stays in mandara flowers!

Sri Sankara has also written a six‐verse poem called Shadpadi Stotram, where he describes
himself as a honey bee.

86. Verse 91 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, describes the Mother's graceful walk.

Pada‐nyaasa‐kridaa‐parichayam ivaabdhu manasah
Skhalamantas te khelam bhavana‐kala‐hamsaa na jahati;
Atas tesaam sikshaam subhaga‐mani‐manjira‐ranitacha
Chalaad aachaksaanam charana‐kamalam charu‐charite.

O Goddess of Holy Fame! Your royal Swans inhabiting Your residence are abandoning their
pursuit of You, in their effort to observe You walk for correcting their own defective walking
styles! And Your lotus feet are, it seems, giving instructions to them in the guise of the tinkling
sounds made by the anklets on them, studded with precious gems!

The women's walk in classical literature is always compared to that of a swan, a peacock or even
a female‐elephant. Sakuntalam of Kalidasa compares Sakuntala's walk with that of swan. Saint
Tirunavukkarasar describes Uma's walk to that of a female elephant. Arunagiri Natha describes
VaLLi's walk with that of the peacock which is the vehicle of Muruga. Here Sri Sankara says that
on seeing Mother's gracious walk, the swans are following her in the garden to learn the correct
way of walking and the instructions are given by the sounding anklets of her feet!

There is one name in the 108 Holy Names of Bhagavan Ramana.

Om Dandapaniye Namah:

Salutations to the One who is having a staff on his hand.

Bhagavan Ramana has always been identified with Skanda, the son of Siva, particularly in his
form in Pazhani and Swamimalai, where Skanda is in the guise of an ascetic, with staff and
without his two consorts, VaLLi and Daivayani. Muruganar sings in ecstasy:

I did not know before that the Supreme Brahman is He. When I see him today as Brahman and
become ecstatic. He is here like an alms‐seeker or an ascetic, with staff and walking slowly,
gazing at the devotees with his lotus eyes!

The dhanda or the staff is symbolism to drive out the ignorance from the devotees' mind.

Lakshmidara says that this verse when chanted regularly with faith would confer lands and
houses for the devotees who are in need for them.

87. Verse 92 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, describes the supremacy of Mother over other gods. It is usual
for the scriptures when they narrate a god's glory to state that that god is supreme and all
other gods are subservient. Sage Vyasa and Saint Arunagiri Natha says that Skanda is the most
supreme and all gods excepting Siva, Uma and Ganapati are subservient to Skanda. Srimad
Bhagavatam and Srimad Narayaneeyam similarly place Narayana as the most supreme god. Sri
Lalita Sahasranamam and Sri Soundarya Lahari speak in similar vein about Mother Uma.

Gataas te machatvam Druhina‐Hari‐Rudre'vatara bhrtah
Siva svacchac‐chaya‐ghatita‐kapala‐pracchada‐patah;
Tvadiyaanaam bhaasaam prati‐phalana‐rarg'aarunatayaa
Sariri srngaaro rasa iva drsham dogdhi kutukam.

O Mother! Your servitors Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Ishvara have taken the shape of Your cot,
(i.e. the four legs of the cot) in order to serve You very closely, while SadASiva has formed
himself into Your bed sheet, reflecting Your crimson glory in his assumed whiteness, thereby
causing amazement to You by presenting himself as the very embodiment of erotic sentiment.

Here, one should know that in Saiva and Sakta religions, Siva has got five forms. They are Rudra,
Ishvara, Aghora, Vamadeva and SadASiva. While SadASiva is the most supreme form of Siva, the
others are gods equivalent to other gods. Siva is called Panchamukha in Sri Sivananda Lahari.
These are thus said to be five faces or forms of Siva.

Siva's white form, representing Sattvic quality is called 'assumed' because as the Impersonal
Brahman, he is without any characteristics. Whiteness, representing sattva‐guna, is only
something assumed for creative purposes. But in the creative cycle, Sakti or Maya overpowers
his whiteness by her crimson radiance by representing Rajas‐characteristic, the aggression.
Thus the dominance of Sakti in her creation cycle is again asserted. The five deities viz., Brahma,
Rudra, Vishnu and Siva form the four legs of her cot and the bed sheet, thus attending on her.
They are called the Pancha pretas or five dead corpuses. Sri Ramakrishna Math also portrays
Mother (Kali) piercing her spear on Mahishasura, keeping her leg on Siva and she is with a
protruded tongue and angry look.

Sri Lalita Sahasranamam says in one of the 1008 names:

Om Sri Pancha preta manchadi saayini.

Salutations to One who is sleeping on the five corpses.

88. Sri Sankara then describes in Verse 93, the total description of Mother's form.

Araalaa kesesu prakriti‐saralaa manda‐hastie
Sirisaabhaa chitte drsad upala‐sobhaa kucha tate;
Bhrsam tanvi madhye prthur urasij'aaroha vishaye
Jagat traatum sambhor jayati karunaa kaacid arunaa.

Thus for the welfare of the worlds abides in all her glory. Aruna, Kameswari, the Sakti of Sambhu
‐‐ the very embodiment of graciousness ‐‐ with her locks all curly, her smile naturally benign, her

heart soft like Sirisa flower, her breasts as tight and hard like grinding stone, her waist extremely
slender, and her hips and breasts generous in size.

Sankara gives her the typical description of a beautiful woman. Mother is Soundarya Lahari, the
flood of beauty. How else can he describe Sri Lalita. She is called Kameswari and Siva is called
Kameswara in Sakta scriptures. She is having locks as dark and curly like rainclouds. Her heart is
soft like a sirisa flower, or cotton of the ilavam tree. She ever smiles benignly. Her breasts tight
and hard like grinding stone. Her waist extremely tender. Sankara wonders in another verse as
to how her slender waist could bear the heavy breasts! Her breasts and hips are liberal in size.
For hips, Sankara says in another verse, Himavan, her father has given all the rocks of Himalayas
to be her form her nidhambam, the hips.
No doubt someone has said: Sankara is advaitic in outlook. In his heart, he is a Sakta, in his
appearance he is a Saiva and in his poetry, he is a Vaishnava.

89. In Verse 94, Sri Sankara describes the moon, as the cosmetic box for Mother!

Kalankah kasturi rajani‐kara‐bimbam jalamayam
Kalabhih karpurair marakata karandam nibiditam;
Atas tvad‐bhogena prati‐dinam idam rikta‐kuharam
Vidhir bhuyo bhuyo nibidayati nunam tava krte.

The moon is the cosmetic box for Mother. The mark on the moon is musk. And her watery disc,
a box of emerald for keeping the pieces of camphor in the form of the digits of the moon.
(Camphor is used as an added substance for chewing betel leaves and also as a cosmetic.) As and
when the contents are exhausted by your using them, Brahma fills it up day by day for You with
the digits of the waxing moon!

The phenomenon of the waxing and waning moon is poetically utilized by Sankara to indulge in a
fancy that the purpose of this natural phenomenon is to provide Mother with a fragrant
substance for her beautification! Thus Nature is made to sub serve a divine purpose. The moon
is the watery box, and the digits of the moon waxing and waning in the course of two fortnights,
are identified as pieces of white camphor contained in the box. It is fancied that the waning of
the moon is caused by Mother making use of the camphor pieces of moon digits for her daily
use. And when they are exhausted, Brahma fills them with camphor as the waxing moon!

90. Verse 95:

Pur'aaraater anatah puram asi tatas tvacharanayoh
Saparyaa‐maryaadaa tarala‐karanaanam asulabhaa
Tatha hy'ete nitaah satamakha‐mukhaah siddhim atulaam
Tava dvaar'opaanta sthithibhir anim aadyaabhir amaraah.

Mother! You are the Consort of the destroyer of the Cities (Tripura) residing in His inner
apartment, to which votaries with unregenerate mind find no entry and are therefore denied
the privilege of the immediate worship of Your feet. It is therefore that all the deities headed by
Indra have by their unparallel austerities been able to attain to Anima and other psychic
powers (Siddhis) which are but your gate keepers, being only peripheral to you and far removed
from your innermost attributes. Just as only very close relatives have access to the inner
apartments occupied by women, only devotees of the highest order can worship the Mother
directly in the Sahasrara. The deities like Indra with great powers are considered exalted beings
by ordinary people. But they are in fact, not. They have access only to the gate of Mother's

residence, as they are but manifestations of the Siddhic powers, which are only peripheral
to the Devi's divine majestic’s.

They are far inferior to the real devotees in this world, who alone can be close to her. The real
devotees in this world, who do not care for psychic powers, are superior even to Indra. Such real
devotees, who worship Devi, without asking anything in return, are closer to the godhead.

91. Kalatram vaidhatram kati kati bhajante na kavayah
Sriyo devyaah ko vaa na bhavati patih kairapi dhanaih;
Mahadevam hitvaa tava sati satinanam ahcarame
Kuchaabhyam aasangah kuravaka‐taror apy asulabah.

This verse glorifies the chastity of Mother.

O Chastity embodied! How numerous are the poets who have courted and attained Saraswati,
the consort of Brahma and the deity of learning and fine arts! So also who with some wealth
becomes the Lord of Sri, (Sripati), the consort of Vishnu and the goddess of wealth! O the
favorites of Chaste Ones! None besides Siva the great God ‐‐ not even the tree called Kuravaka,
has ever had the embrace of your breasts.

It is a common usage that one who attains great learning is called Saraswati Vallabha and the
men of great wealth are called Lakshmipati or Sripati. Thus they attain the status of the owner of
Saraswati and Lakshmi. But none can be called the owner of Mother Uma. Only Siva is Umapati.
It is a poetic fancy that Sri Sankara tells that even the kuravaka tree cannot get the embrace of
Devi. The kuravaka tree is an inanimate object and the tree is said to become pregnant with
flowers and fruits with the embrace of women. But Uma's embrace will not happen even to that
kuravaka tree!

Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Chandrashekhara Saraswati says: It is not to belittle Saraswati and Lakshmi,
Sankara says this. It is only to point out the supreme chastity of Uma. In Ramayana, just
because it is said the Rama fought with Parasurama, does it mean Rama is greater than
Parasurama. Are they are not the two avatars of the same Maha Vishnu? In fact Durga puja
celebrations are observed only to highlight the sameness of the three powers of Devi, viz., Durga,
Lakshmi and Saraswati.

92. Sri Soundarya Lahari, Verse 97 describes the all‐comprehensive uniqueness of Sri Lalita Tripura
Sundari is here further asserted.

Giraam aahur devim Druhina‐grhnim agamavido
Hareh patnim padmaam Hara‐sahacharim adri‐tanyaam
Turiya kaapi tvam duradhigama‐nihsima‐mahima
Maha‐maayaa visvam bhramayasi parabrahmam mahisi.

O Consort of Para Brahman! The scholars who know the real meaning of the agamas (scriptures),
describe you as Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning and the consort of Brahma. Further they
describe you as the lotus‐born Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, as also the daughter of Mountain
(Parvati) and the Consort of Hara (Siva). But You are however the Fourth (the unique Power that
is the source of three deities mentioned) of inconceivable and limitless majesties ‐‐ the
indeterminable Mahaa‐Maaya, who revolves the wheel of this world.

By describing the Mother as the Fourth (Tuirya) and the Consort of Para Brahman (the Para

Brahma mahishi), it is indicated that the Mother invoked is the uninvolved and unaffected
Power and Substance that has actually become manifested as conscious and unconscious
principles, including the deities like Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati.

How can She at the same time be involved and unaffected and yet actually become all these
manifestations is a mystery impossible for the human mind to conceive. So She is described
as Mahaa‐Maaya (the great and mysterious Power and duradhi‐gamana‐nissima‐mahima (one of
the unfathomable and limitless greatness).

In fact, this verse is the essence of Navaratri celebration. The same uninvolved Power manifests
as three deities and people celebrate festivals for Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati for nine days.
Sri Devi Mahaatmyam says there are nine forms of Durga and eight forms of Lakshmi. She is also
called Vaishnavi, the consort of Vishnu, Kaumari, the female form of Kumara, Skanda etc., Then
there is dasa‐maha‐vidya principle, the ten forms of Devi, like Tara etc.,

93. Verse 98, of Sri Soundarya Lahari is a prayer of Sri Sankara to the Mother to generate poetic
genius in him.

Kadaa kaale maatah kathaya kalit'aalaktaka‐rasam
Pibeyam vidyaarthi tava charana‐nirnejana‐jalam;
Prakrtyaa mukaanaam api cha kavitaa‐kavitaa kaaranatyaa
Kadaa datte vaani‐mukha‐kamala‐tambula‐rasatam.

O Mother! Tell me when I, seeker after wisdom shall have the privilege of imbibing the red‐
tinged water with which Your lac‐painted feet have been washed ‐‐ water that can generate
even in a naturally dumb person. When shall I expect it (that red‐tinged water) to flow our of my
mouth as great poetry, which forms the chewed betel juice of Sarasvati (Vani), the goddess
of learning and poetry?

Traditions say that in the temple of Meenakshi in Madurai, the famous saint‐poet Kumara
Gurbubhara, who was a dumb child, was turned into a eloquent poet, by drinking of the water
with which Devi's feet laved. Poet Kalidasa had the chewed betel leaves and areca nut mixture
from Kali of Ujjain and became a great poet. Again in the Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram, the
saint poet Muka Kavi, a born dumb, tasted the betel juice from Devi's mouth and became a saint‐
poet and composed the famous Muka Pancha Sati, a work of 50 verses on Kanchi Kamakshi.

Muruganar poured forth ecstatic poems from out of the grace of Bhagavan Ramana. So also
Lakshmana Sarma, (WHO) composed a different Sanskrit version of Sad Darsanam.

Once Mahavidvan Swaminatha Iyer, a famous poet who had great love for Tamil, asked Bhagavan
Ramana: "Bhagavan! Should I leave my love for Tamil (Tamil Patru) for self realization?"
Bhagavan Ramana said smilingly: "Who asked you to leave love for Tamil? Is Tamil different
from Siva? Love for Siva pours forth as love for Tamil. What is there?"

94. Verse 99 of Sri Soundarya Lahari describes how the true ardent devotee of Devi is blessed with all
the good things of life and also attains the supreme bliss of liberation while living i.e the state
of a Jivan Mukta.

Saraswatyaa Lakshmyaa Vidhi‐Hari‐sapatno viharate
Rateh paatrivrtyam sithilayati ramyena vapusaa;
Ciram jivann eva ksapita‐pasu‐paasa‐vyatikarah

Paraanandaabhikyam rasayati rasam ivad bhajanavaan.

O Mother! A devotee of yours sports with Saraswati (learning) and Lakshmi (Wealth), and thus
courts the jealousy of their consorts Brahma and Vishnu. By the charm of his body, he attracts
the attention of Rati, the wife of Kaama Deva, the god of love, and thus violates her chastity.
And with the beginning less ignorance‐born bondage of Jivahood broken, he is immersed in
the supreme bliss of Brahman even in this long‐lived embodied state.

The Verse symbolizes poetically that the devotee of Devi apart from riches, learning, beauty also
attains the bliss of liberation while being in the body.

In Verse 13 of Sri Soundarya Lahari, Sri Sankara says that the devotee with his beauty attracts
young girls. Here he says, that he also gets the prize of liberation while in body, apart
from such trivial pleasures like wealth, learning and beauty.

95. Let us see the Verse 100 of Sri Soundarya Lahari and then move on to the remaining biography of
Sri Sankara. The 100th verse in conclusion says about the grand idea of the all‐inclusiveness
of the Divine, Sri Lalita Tripura Sundari.

Pradipa jvaalabhir divasa kara niraajana vidhih
Sudhaa‐sutes chandro pala jala lavair arghya rachanaa;
Svakiyair ambhobhih salila nidhi suhitya karanam
Tvadiyabhir vagbhis tava janani vaachaam stutir iyam.

Just as doing Nirajana, the light waving ceremony or Arti to the Sun is only the offering of his own
light to him. Just as making an offering of Arghya, water abdications to the moon from out of the
moon‐stone that emits water in contact with the moonlight, and just as making water offering,
Tarpana, to the ocean is to return what belongs to it ‐‐ so is, O Source of all learning, this hymn
addressed to You composed of words that are already Yours.

Mother is called in various names from 366 to 373 of Sri Lalita Sahasranamam.

366: Om Paraayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is the Para or the Transcendent Word (above the other known stages of
speech known as Pasyanti, Madhyama and Vaikahari.)

367: Om Pratyak citi rupaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is in the form of consciousness turned inward (when the Reality is
unmanifest in dissolution).

368: Om Pasyantyai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Pasyanti or speech in the inaudible stage.

369: Om Para‐devataayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Paradevata the object of supreme devotion.

370: Om Madhyamaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Madhyama, or speech in the middle stage of its external expressions.

371: Om Vaikhari rupaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is Vaikhari the uttered audible speech.

372: Om Bhakta‐maanasa‐hamsikaayai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is the swan sporting in the maanasa lake, the lake of devotees' minds.

373: Om Kameswara praana naadyai Namah:

Salutations to Her who is the very life of Her Consort Kameswara.

96. We left Sri Sankara at the Sharada Temple in Sri Nagar. And then we saw a good number of
verses in Sri Soundarya Lahari. Sri Sankara also composed the famous Govindashtakam in Sri
Nagar.

In Sharada Temple, Sri Nagar, Sankara wanted to ascend the Sarvajna Peetam, the Seat of the all‐
knowing. The four disciples of Sankara held him by their hands and did their prostrations.
Sankara then left his sandals and ascended. The sandals were taken by the disciples for puja.
Sitting at the Seat of all‐knowing, Sankara answered the questions of all pandits. He explained
the inadequacies of all philosophies and schools like Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya, Paatanjala, Jaina,
Bouddha and Poorva Mimamsa of Vedic religions namely the karma marga. He defeated them
all.

Then Mother Sharada, who is the embodiment of all knowledge, asked some questions to
Sankara. Sankara answered all her questions satisfactorily. Sri Narasimha Bharati of Sringeri
Math had written a Stotram on this. Mother Sharada became happy and conferred her blessings
with a title of Sarvajna.

Sankara came down from the Seat. He proceeded with his disciples. The disciples were
speechless about the silvery mountain. Sankara said: Go inwards! Look at the Atma within, the
incomparable beauty of It.

Sankara came down to the Gangetic plains and visited Ayodhya. Sankara composed the famous
Sri Rama Bhujangam here. He then proceeded to Bengal and from there to Kamakya (the
present Assam). This place was full of Saktas, the Sakti Upasakas. He crossed over to
Brahmaputra river and reached the place of Saktas.

In Kamakya, the Saktas were awaiting Sankara for debate. One Abhinava Gupta was their
leader. He was quite proficient in Vamachara, the left handed methods involving black magic’s.

Sankara got afflicted by terrific piles problem, with bleeding of the anus without break. Sankara
smiled at the disciples and told: "Do not worry. This is prarabdha. That which has come will go!
(Ramana‐like answer). The disease is for the body and not for the Atma."

Padmapada, as you all know, was a Narasimha Upasaka. Narasimha is a powerful god and
Narasimha will get angry quickly. His anger can be abated only by Siva. (See Tiruvidai Maruthur
Story). Padmapada prayed to Narasimha and found that this is abhichara, black magic of

Abhinava Gupta. He chanted Aswini Deva Mantra from Rig Veda. Aswini Deva is a twin and he
represents divine physician.

Padmapada then asked Sankara: "Can I perform pradhi‐abhicharam? Can I perform counter for
black magic?"

97. Sri Sankara smiled at Padmapada and then said: "Why are you talking like this? Is it all that I had
taught you?" Padmapada then replied: "Guru, if you suffer like this and leave the body,
what shall the people say? They will all say in future, that the great Sankara had succumbed to a
petty black magician.

Padmapada then proceeded with counter‐abhichara. He meditated on Narasimha and then the
illness of Sri Sankara left and Abhinava Gupta contracted the incurable illness. He came and
prostrated before Sri Sankara and asked his forgiveness. Sri Sankara told him: "I have never kept
cudgels against you. Don't you know that evil begets evil in life?"

Sri Sankara, Padmapada and others then left for Himalayas. They had the darsan of Siva in
Himalayas. Sri Sankara then prayed to Siva and said that it is time that Siva got him back,
into the pure space of Brahman. He also met Gaudapada there. Gaudapada is the guru of
Sankara's guru Govinda Bhagavatpada, thus became Sri Sankara's parama‐guru. He prostrated
before Gaudapada. Gaudapada told him to spend a few days in making a commentary for his
Karika on Maandukya Upanishad. Sri Sankara agreed to this and proceeded with this
composition.

Gaudapada’s Maandukya Karika is the quintessence of Advaita Vedanta. This itself is a
commentary on Maandukya Upanishad, which is the summum bonum of Advaita Vedanta. This
contains only 12 Slokas and each Sloka is a ruby. The Karika contains about 200 verses,
explaining the Advaita Vedanta as per the Upanishad. A few months back, I had written a series
of posts on these. Members can go through these to have an idea.

Sri Sankara then bid good bye to his four disciples and asked them to go back to their respective
places for running the Maths. The four months are Sringeri, Puri, Dwaraka and Kedarnath.
Sri Sankara then merged in pure space and became the one without a second.

*************
The Sankara Vijayam biographies end with this. But Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Math has got some
historical records that Sri Sankara came down to Kanchipuram and ascended the
Sarvajna Peetam, the Seat of All‐Knowledge. Here he composed the famous Dasa Sloki, the last
will and testament of Sri Sankara and then merged in Pure Space. Sri Kanchi Math is called
Moolamnya Math, the source Math, where Sankara after establishment of this Math stayed for a
few days. The lineage was handed over to one of the realized souls there in Kanchipuram to
commence the guru lineage.

I shall cover Dasa Sloki, the poem of Ten Verses in a few posts and complete this biography.

98. Dasa Sloki or the Ten Verses on the Atman, is like Bhagavan Ramana's Who am I? It is
quintessence of Ajata Vada, or Advaita Vedanta of no creation, no dissolution. The readers
would say that Viveka Choodamani is the detailed work on Advaita. Atma Bodham is a
abridgement of the same thought. One can take Dasa Sloki is the irreducible essence of the same
thought further.


Shanti Patam:

Om. That transcendent Brahman is infinite. So also is this, that is, Brahman immanent in the
perceptible universe. The immanent is based on the transcendent. In spite of its immanence in
the finite universe, the transcendental Brahman remains always infinite. It does not in any way
alter Its infinitude. May peace ‐ physical, mental and spiritual – be on us for ever.

1. The referent of the world 'Aham' which is 'I' is the one Atman without a second ‐ the attribute
less Truth, indestructible even when the whole creation is dissolved and of the nature of
supreme bliss and purity. It cannot be referred to as the subtle elements like earth, water, fire,
air or ether. Nor can it be called a combination or modification of these ‐ the gross body and the
senses. The Atman is experienced as the persisting consciousness even in deep sleep when the
gross body and the senses are not
recognized.

2. Distinction due to color, caste, and stations in life (asramas), the feeling of 'I' and 'mine', which
pertains to the body ‐‐which is not the ATman ‐‐ do not dwell in Me who am in reality the one
Atman without a second, the attribute less Truth, indestructible even when the whole creation is
dissolved and of the nature of supreme bliss and purity. Nor do I stand in need of the various
processes of Yoga like dharana and dhyana, enjoined on ordinary seekers as I have realized My At
manhood, on the cessation of the feeling of 'I' and 'mine' associated with the non‐Atman.

99. 3. The accidental and physical relations of father and mother, the worlds including their lordship
to be achieved through Vedic rites, the study of scriptures, the performance of Vedic sacrifices,
bathing in holy waters like the Ganga, have no relevance to Me who am in reality, the One Atman
without a second ‐‐ the attribute less Truth, indestructible even when the whole creation is
dissolved and of the nature of supreme bliss and purity. I have realized My At manhood on the
cessation of these differentiations as during deep sleep.

4. The different methods of knowledge and approaches to the Ultimate like Sankhya, Saiva,
Pancharatra, Jaina or Mimamsa are not evolved for Me who am in reality the One Atman without
a second, the attribute less Truth, indestructible even when the whole creation is dissolved, and
of the nature of supreme bliss and purity. I have realized My At manhood, realizable by the
special prejudices cease and the feeling of oneness and aloofness arises.

5. There is nothing above or below, outside or inside, middle or across, east or west for Me, who
am in reality the One Atman without a second ‐‐ the attribute less Truth, indestructible even
when the whole creation is dissolved and of the nature of supreme bliss and purity. I have
realized My At manhood which in the wholeness and oneness may be compared to the Akasa,
Pure Space, which is indivisible and all‐pervading.

100.Dasa Sloki of Sri Sankara, his last will and testament continues....

Verse 6:

Colors like white, black, red or yellow, structural appellations like shortness, fatness, or height
cannot be associated with Me. I am in reality the One Atman without a second ‐‐ the attribute
less Truth, indestructible even when the whole universe is dissolved, and of the nature of
supreme bliss and purity. I have realized my At manhood which is without a form and is
of the nature of supreme Effulgence.


(Muruganar has got a verse, where he says that even though the peacock's egg is white, it gives
rise to a bird with a thousand hues. The colorless egg, gives rise to all colors and structural
appellations in living beings.)

Verse 7:

The Scripture, the teacher of scriptures, the mode of teaching, and the taught are not applicable
to Me. Nor may the worldly usage of words like 'I', 'You', or 'It' be predicated to Me who am in
reality the One Atman without a second ‐‐ the attribute less Truth, indestructible even when the
whole creation is dissolved, and of the nature of supreme bliss and purity. I have realized My At
manhood which is of the nature of supreme knowledge bereft of all superimpositions.

(All superimpositions are false. This is what Hasthamalaka, told Sri Sankara, when this young boy
met Sri Sankara first at Srivali village, in the West Coast. Bhagavan Ramana has translated in
Tamil verse this Hasthamalaka.)

101.Dasa Sloki, Verse 8:

Neither the states of waking, dream and deep sleep nor their identifiers with Visva, Taijasa, and
Prajna are I. I am in reality the One Atman without a second ‐‐ the attribute less Truth,
indestructible even when the whole creation is dissolved and of the nature of supreme bliss and
purity. I have realized my at manhood which is the Fourth (Tuirya) State, which is distinct
and different from the states and their identifiers referred to above and which are essentially
ignorance (Avidya).

Sri Sankara's philosophy is mainly based analyzing the three states of human life, the waking,
dream and deep sleep. Bhagavan Ramana also mentioned these three states (without
reading Sri Sankara before hand, as His own understanding) and the underlying eternal "I". This
is called Avasta Traya, the three changes and Gaudapada describes it in his Karika.
The names Visva, Taijasa and Prajna need not be investigated too much. In the waking state, one
sees the world, with his mind and body. The World here is important. So it is called Visva, the
World. In the dream state, the body is inactive, but the mind is still active, and it sees colorful
lighted dreams, in spite of sleeping in a dark room. Hence it is called Taijasa, which is Light,
Tejas. The deep sleep state is there when the mind and body are inactive and there is only
awareness, with vasanas underneath. Thus it is called Prajna, the awareness. Usually in Sanskrit
literature, they give names to "happenings" so that the students could remember them easily.
For example, the five types of breathings, in breathing, out breathing etc., are given names.

Dasa Sloki, Verse 9:

In short, Atman is all pervading. It is the only good and is self‐revealed. Nor does it stand on any
support. The universe of names and forms is insignificant and it is separate from me. I am in
reality the One Atman without a second ‐‐ the attribute less Truth, indestructible and of the
nature of supreme bliss and purity.

Bhagavan Ramana used to say in many conversations that Brahma‐charya is Brahman‐chariyam,
the keeping of only Brahman as the support. It is not any stage in life. He has also said on many
occasions, go behind names and forms.
Verse 10:

This Atman, I tell you, is the essence and conclusion of the Vedanta. This Truth which is called

Advaita in the Upanishads is the One without a second. It defies all empirical dealings and
descriptions. It is neither one nor many ‐‐ for there is none other. It is neither with attributes,
nor attribute less. It is neither aught nor naught.

Advaitam really means not‐two. It does not mean one. If some one says there is one, and then
someone else can question is which the second is. Non dual means only no two, and
consequently nor many. This is not Ekam.

102.Sri Sankara's Nirvana Shatkam, the Six Verses on Nirvana or Freedom is another famous poem.
This was actually sung by Sri Sankara when he was 8 years old, at the banks of Narmada
river, when he met Govinda Bhagavatpada, his Guru. When Govinda Bhagavatpada asked the
little boy: Who are you? Sri Sankara replied in verses.

Verse 1:

The true base of the term 'I' is not the mind, intellect, ego or perception. Nor is It the sense of
hearing, taste, smell, or sight. Nor is It the sky, earth, fire or air. It is 'I' that is of the form of Siva,
the essence of knowledge and beatitude.

Verse 2:

It is not what is called the Prana, nor is it the five vital forces. It is not the seven elements of the
body, neither is it the five sheaths forming the body. It is not the organ of speech, hand, foot,
the organ of procreation or excretion. It is "I" that is of the form of Siva, the essence of
knowledge and beatitude.

The above two verses are the same as the Who am I? Of Bhagavan Ramana. Bhagavan Ramana
did not read Sri Sankara when He said this who am I? To Sivaprakasam Pillai! All Brahma Jnanis
say the same thing, as if they had copied from each other's note book as children do in school!!

103.Nirvana Shatkam, Verse 3:

The true 'I' is not endowed with hatred or affection, nor has It greed or infatuation. It is bereft of
pride and the feeling of rivalry. Neither is it the goal of ordinary man ‐‐ duty, money, or sense
life. Nor is it even Heavens, coveted by people of great merits. It is 'I' that is of the form of Siva,

(This idea is again reflected in Who am I? of Bhagavan Ramana. He says: Both love and hate
must be eschewed.)

Verse 4:

The true 'I' does not gain anything by meritorious deeds nor does It lose anything by evil deeds.
It has neither happiness nor sorrow. It is not attained by holy chants of mystic power or by
pilgrimage. Nor is It gained by the study of Vedas or the performance of Vedic sacrifices. It is not
the act of taking food, the articles of food or the agent who eats. It is the 'I' in the form of Siva,

(All the above acts are prelude to Jnana. These confer chitta suddhi and deha suddhi.)


Verse 5:

The true 'I' has no death or doubt. Nor has It any differences in species. It has no father or
mother, for It is unborn. It has no friend or relative. It is neither Guru nor disciple. It is 'I' that is
of the form of Siva, the essence of knowledge and beatitude.

Verse 6:

The true 'I' is without any modification and It is formless. Being all‐pervading, it exists
everywhere. Being not attached to any sense objects; It has no release to be achieved. It is not
an object of knowledge. It is 'I' that is of the form of Siva, the essence of knowledge and
beatitude.

(The idea is reflected in Bhagavan Ramana's Upadesa Saram.)

With this, I close the serial posts on Sri Sankara Vijayam.

I bow to the Temple of Vedas, Scriptures, and Puranas. I bow to the Temple of Compassion,
I bow to Bhagavadpadam, (the feet of Brahman) I bow to Sankara, who does good and welfare to
the world.

Sri Shankara Vijayams

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