Memorial article about His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Shankaracharya, written by Kodakkal
Shivaprasad on eve of philospher's birthday published by Tirumala Tirupathi Devastanm's
Sapthagiri Monthly magazie which having publications in 5 languagues.
The advent of Adi Shankara 1200 ago was of tremendous significance to the religious,cultural and spiritual history of India. While he could be highly polemical for the world of scholars, he could come down to the level of the common man with ease and give him encapsulated wisdom in a prayer like"Bhaja Govindam" Thus it is appropriate that everyone should have an accurate knowledge of Adi Shankara's life as an inspiration for his/her life's work.
Shankara's capacity to invoke the divine is suggested by the Kanakadhara Stotra and the manner in which the river Poorna is brought close to his house. Swiftly,we pass through the episode which leads to shankara's sanyasa. He goes to the cave on the banks of the Narmada river and the guru asks "who are you" The unhesitating reply comes "I am not lthe earth,nor water,nor fire nor any of the tattvas. I am not which is beyond all this" Govinda Pada is pleased with this crystalline exposition of Advaita and initiates him in to Sanyasa.
We move with Adi Shankara on his pregrinations as he gains wisdom from lthe chandala.writes commentaries to Prasthana Traya in Badari,meets Vyasa,gathers his disciples,defeats Mandana Misra in a philosophical duel,overcomes the Kalamukhas,establishes four mutta in four parts of India and his followers gains tremendous peace, religious courage by Shankara's devotional mind powers. His birth place at Kaladi in Kerala State of India having a big & large memorial Stupas which having a colletion on his achievements towards religious endeavours. For his noble service with human kind Government of Karnataka declared his birthday as Philosophers day around the part and parcel of Karnataka in India. At an young age of 32 he withdraws from the physical when journeying in the Himalayas the great mount everest of India.
Adi Shankara's achievements,encouragements towards human kind can be available at this author's personnel website that contains some memorable articles in Kannada languages at www.kodakkalshivaprasad.wetpaint.com by clicking Memorial Article on Jagadugur Shankaracharya in leftside of the website's homepage.
© Copyright 2007 SHIVA (UN: kodakkal at Writing.Com). All rights reserved. SHIVA has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicat
Watched the movie
Adi Shankaracharya (
Amazon link) by
G. V. Iyer last night. It was a wonderful experience to watch a movie made in Sanskrit, the language, that was enriched by Sri Shankara, who was not just an exegete, philosopher and reformer, but also a great poet and enriched the beauty of the language with his memorable works.
Background: The film begins at the time when religion in general and Hindusim in particular was in the state of turmoil. Buddhism had started losing its forte and Hindusim was going in the wrong direction. The big battle Shankara had to fight, was not --as this author assumed to be-- with Buddhists, but with the blind practitioners of Vedic rites (mainly the followers of purva-mimamsa). For example, animal sacrifices were stopped, but sacrifices were made of animals made of dough. The Upanishadic realization of futility of
karma-kaanda was lost. No one was concerned about the fundamental aspects of reality and truth. The holy city Varanasi, the city where Annapurna and Vishveshwara reside, the city on the holy banks of the holy Ganges, was echoing with
Dukrum Karana [a grammar rule], rather than
Sivoham [I am Shiva], the chant of the unity of individual self with the supreme spirit.
Shankara and his companions/friendsShiva Guru, Shankara's father, asks him to treat
Mrithyu [death] as a friend. Mruthyu approaches Shankara as a boy and both become friends. At the time of Shankara's initiation, he meets another boy,
Pragyana [wisdom] and makes him his other friend. These two friends,
"Pragyana Sharma" and
"Mrithyu" grow with Shankara and stay with him (except for brief times). Whenever the friends are in action, they are associated with the shlokas
".... vishvam bhuta-bhavya-bhavat prabhum" [He who has inner vision is the Lord of the past, present, future] for Pragyana Sharama. Mrithyu is associated with
"akasas-patitam-toyam ..." [every drop of water from the sky merges with the sea]. The movements of the friends are very carefully orchestrated ones.
Shankara's friend Pragyana Sharma: Pragyana moves away from Shankara when he says to the chandala in Kashi, just like others,
anmayada [move away]. When Shankara realizes the truth, Pragyana comes back to him again. The encounter of Pragyana with Mandana Mishra's parrot, is enlightening. So is his deserting of Shankara's disciples when they become envious of Sureshwara.
Shankara's friend Mrithyu: Shankara first meets Mrithyu at the time of death of his father Siva Guru. Mruthyu was already there when Shankara reaches home from Sringeri to meet his mother. Many times, Mrithyu is angry at Shankara, as he (Shankara) laughs at Mrithyu. When Shankara is ill, Shankara laughs again, observing the paradox of Mrithyu taking care of his body, when actually he (Mrithyu) should be destroying it.
Final embrace of Shankara and his friends: In the Himalayas, Shankara has a debate with his friend Wisdom. When they embrace, Wisdom merges into Shankara. Death who was angry because, Shankara always laughs at him is also asked by Shankara to embrace him. He does after Shankara's persuation "in spite of the fact that I laugh at you, you still have been with me. So you are my friend. So embrace me." He embraces Shankara and that is the last when we see of (mortal) Shankara.
Disciples of ShankaraOther than the friends of Shankara, Shankara is always accompanied by his disciples.
Vishnu, the boy who accompanies Shankara at Narmada, and is assumed to be dead by him, meets him again at Kashi and is taken as a disciple. Vishnu is named
Padmapada by Shankara.
Thotaka, becomes the disciple in Kashi. He is so named because he composed a beautiful verse on Shankara in the
thotaka metre ending with the lines
shankara desika me saranam.
Shankara observes a boy, who is thought to be a lunatic by his parents. It is clear that Shankara knows the truth about the boy being an
atma-gyani. Shankara asks the questions to the boy "Who are you? Where are you coming from?". The boy gives replies "All pervading, yet unpolluted I am Atman," and is taken as disciple by Shankara and named as
Hastamalaka [He can perceive the eternal truth of Self, without effort.]. (The boy is clearly an
avatara of
avadhuta.)
Shankara is redirected by Kumarila to Mandana Mishra, a great scholar in
purva-mimamsa, which puts emphasis on vedic-karmic-rites, rather than renunciation as a form of liberation. Shankara defeats Mandana Mishra, takes him as disciple, and names him
Sureshwara.
Ubhaya Bharathi is the wife of Mandana Mishra and accompanies them wherever they go. Shankara sees in her, his mother and even Sarada devi herself. When Shankara assigns the disciples places to go to establish schools, and assigns to himself
bhuvana trayam (the three worlds), he asks her to be with him always.
A (brief) Transcript of the movie [Copyright holders of this film, please see note at end of post.]Pranava. Gayathri. Titles. The sacred words of other faiths of India: Shaivites, Jains, Buddhists. Father Shiva Guru chanting Gayathri. Aryamba, Shankara's mother watering Tulsi plant. Shiva Guru, Shankara's father completing oblations.
Initial Learning: Shiva Guru knows that his time has come. Takes it with poise. Remembers the words from Bhagavad Geetha (meditate on Me at the time of death). Calls baala Shankara near him. Tells him "
idam sariram asasvatam aham gamischyami sasvata-padam" (This body is mortal. I am leaving to eternity.). Asks him to treat Mrithyu as a friend. Asks Shankara to recite the shloka he taught him. Shankara recites:
akasas-patitam-toyam yadha-gachati-sagaram
sarva-deva-namaskarah Keshavam-prati-gachathi.
Shankara meets Mrithyu, the boy who asks himself to be treated as a friend. Shiva Guru leaves for eternity. Initiation of Shankara. Shankara meets Pragyana and makes him his friend. Sees two birds, (a dove and crow) from Mandukya Upanishad (representing the doer and the observer). Introduces his friends to his teacher. Asks alms from Amalaka lady. Recites
suvarna-dhara-stotram beginning with
angam-hare pulaka-bhushana-masraya. Lady explains her husband does not hoard, even a morsel. So all she can give is amalakas. Shankara sees that the neighbour of the lady is hoarding. Refuses alms from him. Neighbour repents and asks his people to distribute all his wealth.
Learns from his teacher that sannyaasa is the way to equanimity. Teacher explains to him the greatness of sannyaasa, brahmacharya and the greatness of Govinda Bhagavadpaada. Shankara wants to renunciate. Mother disagrees.
Shankara observes a brahmin who he knows, punish a coconut-thief by giving him something to eat and gifting him some coconuts. The brahmin also makes the thief promise never to steal. When asked, the Brahmin explains to Shankara
dehasya-dandanam kshanika. mano dandanam-chirasthayi. (Physical punishment is temporary. A teaching would go a long way in correcting a person.) The proof of the words is in Upanishads. But the Brahmin feels the message is being lost.
Teacher explains that renunciation is the key to understanding truth. Is attracted to the saffron cloth. Swims far to get the white cloth. Pragyana gets mother to the river and she agrees for him to be a sanyasi. Watches the play of Nachiketa-Death done in Kathakali style. Takes the permission of mother and leaves home. Promises to come back for her last rites.
Search for Guru: Sees how powerful death is and how people are not understanding it the right way. Sees caste prejudice. Faints. Is taken care of by tribals. Reaches Gokarna at Northern Karnataka, and meets his friend Vishnu. Vishnu follows him. They travel through Madhya Pradesh. Explains to Vishnu, who asks if Shankara is breaking the four-fold steps of life suggested by Vedas, that anyone can choose to become a sannyasin after Brahmacharya. Reaches Narmada banks. Narmada takes away Vishnu. Prays and quells the power of Narmada. Reaches the school of Govindapada.
At the school of Govindapada:Meets Govindapada. Pleases Govindapada with the first shloka from
Viveka Chudamani:
sarva-vedanta-siddanta gocharam-tama-gocharam
govindam-paramanandam sad-gurum-pranatosmyaham and his understanding of knowledge of Self. When Govindapada asks "With this mortal body, how can you cross the ocean of existence?" Shankara replies "body is subject to birth and death; but not Atman [Dasa Shloki]. The unreal has no existence; the real never ceases to be" [Bhagavad Gita]. Govindapada blesses Shankara:
"Paramahamso Bhavishasi" (may you become a paramahamsa) and takes Shankara as disciple. Shankara sees that Badarayana-Vyasa's vedanta-granthas are getting decayed. Shankara asks to write commentary on them. Using the story of Satyakama-Jabali, convinces other disciples that
Sarvam Brahman (from Chandogya) is the only truth. Other disciples fall on his feet.
Kashi: Sees that people are reciting and analyzing Dukrumkarana rules on the banks of the holy Ganges. Takes Vishnu as disciple and names him as Padmapada. People respect Shankara in Kashi. Takes Thotaka as disciple. Recites Bhaja Govinda shloka to the scholar who was reciting grammar rules. The words
Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Govindam Bhaja Mudhamate reverberate Kashi. Is paid respects by the King of Kashi. Meets his friends Pragyna and Mruthyu again at Kashi. Chandala incident. Shloka 2 of
maneesha panchakam which goes as
brahmaivaga-midam jagachha-sakalam chinmatra-vistaritam
sarva-chaitada-vidyayam trigunaya-sesham mayaa-kalpitam
yityam- yasya- drudha mati-stukhare nitye-parae-nirmale
chaandaleshu-sa-tu dvijostu gururityesha maneesha-mamaPraises Kashi that dispelled his ignorance.
Takes Karatalamalaka as disciple. Meets an old scholar (said to be Badarayana-Vyasa himself) and they both discuss Brahmasutras (
sadhana-adhyaya and
chandogya-upanishad). Meets Kumarila who is immolating himself. Kumarila cannot comment of Shankara's work, as his time is up. Story of how Kumarila defeats Buddhists and why he has to perform immolation. Kumarila however, sees the work of Shankara and approves it and asks Shankara go to Mahishmati (on the banks of Narmada) and meet Kumarila's disciple Mandana Mishra. Shankara recites the Shivoham stotra [
Nirvana Shatakam].
Mahishmati, on the banks of Narmada: Reaches Mandana Mishra's place. Begs for a debate. Debate begins. Pragyana observes that the parrot of Mandana Mishra is bound in a cage and eats only pepper. Offers sweet grapes to the parrot and frees it. Shankara defeats Mandana Mishra and takes him for disciple. Wife asks for a debate with him. Sees his mother in her, refuses the offer of debate and says "experience is more important that knowledge". Camps at Sringeri with disciples.
Sringeri: When Sureshwara questions about the futility of ritual Vedic rites, Shankara sees he is mature and assigns him the task of writing commentary on his work on Brahmasutras. Other disciples get envious and Wisdom walks away from them. The others feel that the task should be given to either Padmapada the senior most or, Hastamalaka the brightest one. Shankara laments, if he cannot keep unity among his devotees, how can he do the same over Bharatavarsha? Shankara explains that he made the decision based on "experience is better than seniority or scholarliness". Disciples donot accept. Bharathi devi laments. Sureshwara gives back the Bhasha Granthas. Shankara asks Padmapada to write commentary and Padmapada realises his mistake and asks Shankara to make Sureshwara do it. Shankara says Padmapada should do it. Shankara and his disciples recite Annapurna Astakam.
Nityanandakai VaraBhayakari Soundarya Ratnakari
Nirdhutakhila Ghora Paavana Kari pratyaksha maheshwari
praneyachala vamsa paavana kari kaashi puradhishwari
Bhiksham-dehi kripa-avalabana kari Maata Annapurneshwari.
Shankara wants his four disciples to start schools at Dwaraka, Badri, Puri and Sringeri. He assigns himself
Bhuvana Trayam.
Back to home: Wisdom wants to see mother. Shankara immediately leaves. Mrithyu was already there. Aryamba dies. Shankara asks to do final rites. Brahmins around object to that and expel him. He realizes that the illusory nature of everything. Sees he still has his friends with him. Remembers the brahmin-who-punished-the-thief and Govindapada who were lamenting on the lack of Dharma in the
Veda Bhumi.
Conquest: Reaches Kanyakumari. Prays to Goddess Kanyakumari. Everywhere is the echo that
Renunciation alone leads to Knowledge. Reaches Kanchipuram. Makes more disciples. Raivka of the Upanishadic fame. Feels how great each of his four disciples are. Ugra Bhairava comes and asks Shankara to become a sacrifice to Kali for the purpose of nirvana of kaapalika. Shankara follows. A Lion (the
vahana of the devi) kills Kaapalika. Shankara prays to Goddess. Reaches Somnath, Marble rocks of Narmada river, Prayag, Benares, Devaprayag (Himalayas). Has conqured India.
Himalayas: Disciples observe that Shankara is ill. Prays to Himalayas Shiva and Ganges.
lalatam-lavanya-dyuti-vimala-maa-bhati Prays to Ganges. Shankara encourages them. All walk towards Himalayas.
[The Supreme Truth is one, which is the all-pervading Self, True knowledges of Self leads to liberation.
He who know the Self controls the gross, living, mental, rational and supra-rational being.
Shankara is the Sun of the spiritual sky
Before the rays of knowledge, the ordinary Sun is pale as moon
I bow to the sun of knowledge, in thought, word and deed.]
As Shankara is walking to the top of a mountain top, the other faiths --represented by Jainas, Buddhists, (possibly) Shaivites, (possibly) Kaapalikas-- fall behind.
Final Debate: Shankara alone reaches the top of the mountain. Wisdom asks him if there is anything more to be acheived. Shankara and Pragyana debate on how can the humans torn by sorrow and ignorance be liberated. Wisdom feels that the theory that Shankara proposes is subtle and complicated. Wisdom feels that
ishwara anugraha mixed with devotion alone leads to Advaita in humans and asks him to not lament about the realization of humans. Shankara says that he is not lamenting and is sure everyone will be liberated. In the meanwhile, Mrithyu comes and says time is up. Shankara declares to death that he is Brahman. Death gets angry and leaves him. Shankara explains to Pragyana the oneness of reality. Pragyana accepts the reasoning. After the debate, Shankara embraces Pragyana. Pragyana merges into Shankara. After some persuation by Shankara, Mrithyu also embraces Shankara. Disciples lament and then console themselves that Shankara Acharya will always be in their intellect.
Praise be unto Him who conqured other philosophies: Sankhya, Yoga, Nyayeyika, Vaiseshika, Purva Mimamsa and became the master of Uttara-Mimamsa. He is the King of Spiritual world.
Voice of Shankara: I accept every faith. he who has no attachments is verily the Self, the Universal Self.
I bow down to the Self which is pure knowledge.
Who with pure intellect and fortitude controls this sensual body.
And shuns sensation like will be free from attachment
He whose mind is unattached, subdued in thought, desire-free,
and free from action, through renunciation, attains perfection
Ego-free, free of false conviction of Bravery, free of thoughts of anger and lust
humble and pure, then he is worthy of becoming Brahman.
Madhuram, Manoraharam, Anandam. [Charming, Pleasant, Blissful]
Come along all of you.
Akasas-patitam toyam sagaram-prathi-gachathi.
purnamadah purna-midam purnat Purnam udacyate
purnasya purnam adaya purnam evasisyate
Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi
I bow down to Shankara, the master of Advaita!
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Memorable moments: The identification shlokas of the friends of Shankara are played everytime they are in action.
The Nachiketa play done in Kathakali, the traditional dance form of Kerala.
"Punishment" of the thief by the Brahmin.
Kumarila: Story of Kumarila, a great scholar of Kashi, who wanted to learn the secrets of Buddhists so that he can defeat them. He acheived his objective of defeating Buddhists. Kumarila laments to Shankara that when the Buddhists pushed him off an abyss, he should have said "Let the eternal Vedas save me" instead of saying, as he said, "If Vedas are eternal, let me be saved". This resulted in him being saved, but he got blinded in an eye. By the time Shankara meets him, Kumarila had defeated his Buddhist master and is immolating himself because he broke the Buddhist tradition of not respecting the master.
The release of Mandana Mishra's parrot: In Maahismathi, Shankara meets Mandana Mishra of the purva-mimamsa frame. Mandana Mishra has a parrot that recites that Vedic rites are the final authority. The parrot, of course is a symbolism for Mandana Mishra himself. While Shankara and Mandana Mishra are debating, Pragyana find out that the parrot eats only pepper and chooses to remain in a cage. While Shankara and Mandana Mishra are debating, Pragyana offers the parrot sweet grapes. The parrot says that it likes the sweet grapes. At the same time, Shankara is gives the winning argument. Pragyana offers the parrot why he wants to remain in a cage, rather than being free. Pragyana says that ants will take many life times to climb a mountain, while a parrot with wings can fly over to the top immediately. Shankara at the same time, asks Mandana Mishra why he chooses to take the slow path of Karma, when renunciation will make him free immediately. Pragyana frees the parrot and at the same time, Mandana Mishra accepts defeat. Shankara takes Mandana Mishra as disciple and names him Sureshwara.
Shankara and his disciples reciting annapoorna ashtakam is very moving.
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Explicit References from the Upanishads: The movie is upanishadic and every dialogue questions the fundamental aspectss of reality. Explicitly, it shows the following references from Upanishads: Two birds from Mundaka, Nachiketa from Katha, Satyakama-Jabali and Rivaka. Many references to Isha Upanishad and of course, the Gita.
Possible anachrony: The teacher of Shankara and is making them recite vagartha-viva-sampruthou shloka, which is the first shloka from Raguvamsham, written by Kalidasa. I thought that Kalidasa was preceeded by Shankara, not otherwise.
Postscript correction (Not an anachrony): A couple of searches reveals that Kalidasa is a 5th-6thcentury poet. Since Shankara is generally ascribed to the time 7-8th century, the use of the shloka may not be an anachrony.
General comments about the movie:
Miracles: Traditionally Shankara's story is associated with many miracles, like the experience with the Amla devi, Padmapada's lotus, the fading of garlands when he is debating with Sureshwara, he taking another form to argue kaamashastra with the wife of Mandana mishra etc. The movie does not have any of these. Maybe G.V.Iyer felt that the dramatization that comes with showing miracles may alter the way the teachings of Shankara are shown.
Acting: Sarvadaman Banerjee was very good as Shankara. He also acted later, as Sri Krishna in the T.V. serial by Ramanand Sagar and also as Sri Krishna in G.V.Iyer's Bhagavad Geetha. Bharat Bhushan as his father and the friends Pragyana and Mrithyu, the four disciples and Sarada devi act well. G.V.Iyer himself acts as Veda Vyasa.
Music: The direction of music for the movie was by Manganampalli Balamurali himself, who even sang some songs with his melodious unearthly voice. There are names of other doyens, like Nookala chinna Satyanaraya among others in the initial credits list. The first raaga of the movie, of course, had to be Sankara Bharanam [Adornment of Sankara]. Shankara and his disciples singing Annapoorna astakam was memorable. The background score is by B.V.Karanth, who does a good job.
Awards: This film was made in 1983. and won the national awards for "Best Feature Film", "Best Screenplay", "Best Cinematography" and "Best Audiography". The script, screen play, production and direction of the movie was by G.V.Iyer himself (the producer of the film was by G.V.Iyer himself, rather than Subbarami Reddy, as advertised on the DVD. Subbarami Reddy, to his credit, did produce G.V.Iyer's later movies.). The awards were enrinched by the movie, thanks to the committee.
DVD details:There are some minor errors in continuity. The movie is around 2:40 hours, rather than 2:00 hours as written on the cover of the DVD. The dialogue is available in Sanskrit as well as Hindi (which I did not opt for). The subtitles are in English (as well as French, which I did not opt for) which is good, with minor errors. The great part of the subtitles is that they go into narrative mode when mantras are recited, instead of transcribing mode, which could be thought of as disrespecting the tradition.
Later works by G.V.Iyer: Ganapathi Venkaramana Iyer (born 1917), from Karnataka. It seems in 1992, G.V.Iyer made a film on "Bhagavad Geetha", that was again appreciated by critics. To watch that movie. Also, a brief look at the
filmography of G.V. Iyer reveals that G.V. Iyer's 1983 move was no flash in the pan. He followed it with films like: Madhavacharya (1986), Ramanujacharya (1989), Bhagwat Geeta (1993), and Vivekananda (1994).
To watch them.
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Sarvam Sankara Arpanamastu
Sarvam Keshava Arpanamastu
Para Brahma Arpananamastu
Sri Chakra Pura nivasini Raja Rajeswari Lalitha Parameshwari devi Arpanamastu.
Sri Rama Arpanamastu, Sri Krishna Para Brahma Arpanamastu
Six Pada on Nirvana I am not mind, wisdom, pride, and heart. Neither I am ear and tongue nor I am nose and eyes. Neither I am sky or earth nor I am power or wind. I am the eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||1|| I am not the state of being alive or the five type of Vayu. Neither I am the seven elements constituting the body (Dhatu) nor I am the five sheaths which invest the soul. Neither I am voice, hand, or leg nor I am the portion at the bottom of waist (anus or Linga). I am the eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||2|| I am not the state of envy and passion or the emotions of greed and attachment. Neither I am intoxication nor I am the emotion of jealousy. And I am not even the four Purushartha — Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. I am the eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||3|| I am not Punya (good deed), Paap (Sin), Saukhya (friendship), or Dukha (Grief). Neither I am chants (Mantra) or Shrine (Teertha) nor I am the Veda or the sacrifice and oblation. Also, I am not the food, or the one that should be eaten, or the eater. I am eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||4|| Neither I am the fear of death nor I am the difference between races. Neither I am [any relation like] father, mother, nor I am born. Also, I am not a relative, a friend, a teacher (Guru), or a student (Shisya). I am the eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||5|| I am free from changes, and lack all the qualities and form. I envelope all forms from all sides and am beyond the sense-organs. I am always in the state of equality — there is no liberation (Mukti) or captivity (Bandha). I am the eternal happiness or bliss state, I am Shiv, I am Shiv.||6|| Poet: Adi Shankaracharya Source: Kamakoti © Stutimandal 2006, Mar 24.
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