साक्षात् मुझे अभी तक अनुभव नहीं है की कोई बाह्य गुरु लडखडाते पलों में सशक्त सहारे / दीवाल / लाठी का भाव दे। संभवतः आंतरिक गुरु जरूर है जो बाहर घने जंगल से मेरे लिए सहारे / लकड़ियां ढूंढ के लाता है , चिंगारी देके अग्नि जलाता है , भूख के अनुसार भोजन देता है , रुग्ण देह मन को जो खुराक चाहिए वो भी जंगल से ही लाता है , और कौन सी और कब कितनी देनी है इसका भी निर्णय वो ही करता है। और जंगल से बिनी चुनी इन दुर्लभ अमूल्य जड़ी- बूटियों के प्रति आभारी भाव होना भी मेरा ही गुरु ज्ञान देता है , क्योंकि जो भी हमारे मार्ग में सहायक है भले नन्ही घास हो या वृक्ष या पंचभूत , तरंगे या तत्व , उनका योगदान भी किसी प्रकार कम नहीं ,ये भाव आवश्यक है ! कब किस भाव को प्रेम देना है ! कब सहलाना है ! और कब अनुशासित करना है।वो मेरा गुरु भली भांति जानता है।
वंदे श्री गुरु परंपरा
॥ तोटकाष्टकं ॥
साक्षात् मुझे अभी तक अनुभव नहीं है की कोई बाह्य गुरु लडखडाते पलों में सशक्त सहारे / दीवाल / लाठी का भाव दे। संभवतः आंतरिक गुरु जरूर है जो बाहर घने जंगल से मेरे लिए सहारे / लकड़ियां ढूंढ के लाता है , चिंगारी देके अग्नि जलाता है , भूख के अनुसार भोजन देता है , रुग्ण देह मन को जो खुराक चाहिए वो भी जंगल से ही लाता है , और कौन सी और कब कितनी देनी है इसका भी निर्णय वो ही करता है। और जंगल से बिनी चुनी इन दुर्लभ अमूल्य जड़ी- बूटियों के प्रति आभारी भाव होना भी मेरा ही गुरु ज्ञान देता है , क्योंकि जो भी हमारे मार्ग में सहायक है भले नन्ही घास हो या वृक्ष या पंचभूत , तरंगे या तत्व , उनका योगदान भी किसी प्रकार कम नहीं ,ये भाव आवश्यक है ! कब किस भाव को प्रेम देना है ! कब सहलाना है ! और कब अनुशासित करना है।वो मेरा गुरु भली भांति जानता है।
वंदे श्री गुरु परंपरा
॥ तोटकाष्टकं ॥
The four Disciples of Shankaracharya
Padmapada, literally meaning the one with the Lotus feet. Adi Shankara was traveling and they set up camp at a beautiful lake. Padmapada was foraging on the opposite bank of the lake, when suddenly the Guru called him… So intense was Padmapada’s love and devotion to His Guru, that he just ran across the lake on the water to where his Guru was… It is said that wherever Padmapada’s feet touched the water, a Lotus sprang up to support him. And hence he got the name Padmapada.
Vishnu, the boy who accompanies Shankara at Narmada, and is assumed to be dead by him by drowning, meets him again at Kashi and is taken as a disciple. Vishnu is named Padmapada by Shankara.
To be like Padmapada means to walk delicately, tread lightly on the planet. Be ever cheerful.
Hasta Malaka, was the guy who was extremely skillful in doing work. Literally it means the one who does stuff as easily as holding an amala (goose berry) in his hands. He had never said a word to his parents, and when he met Adi Shankara, the story goes, that he chanted out the Hasta Malaka Stotram, which in just a few verses talk about the subime Advaita philosophy. His parents were shocked to see how the Knowledge came from this little child who had never uttered a word since birth.
Adi Shankara explained that once when the child was very small, the mother had taken him to the river to bathe, somehow the child toppled into the water and drowned… a Rishi who happened to be there witnessed this, and his heart went out for the sadness the parents would feel, so he left his own body and entered the dead child’s body, bringing into the child all his years of meditation and all the Wisdom of the Knowledge He had… To be like Hasta Malaka is to be adept, so adept that any work given feels as if its as simple as holding an amala in your hands.
In another scene, 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-j~nAnI. Shankara asks the boy "Who are you? Where are you coming from?". The boy replies "All pervading, yet unpolluted I am Atman," and is taken as disciple by Shankara and named as Hastamalaka (hasta = hand; Amalaka = myrobalan fruit) [He can perceive the eternal truth of Self, without effort.].
Sri Sankara Giri / Trotakacharya was the dullard. He was least interested in Knowledge and Spirituality. But he loved the Guru and wanted to do everything he could for him. He was intensely in devotion and Seva of the Guru. However, He usually snored through the Guru’s discourses. Adi Shankara loved him even so…
One day all the disciples had gathered together to hear the Guru talk, and as usual Trotakacharya was washing the clothes, cooking food, fetching water or doing some mundane task… Adi Shankara refused to talk without him being there, much to the chagrin of the other disciples, who grumbled among each other about the futility of waiting for him… He anyways sleeps through all the discourses, why does the Guru wait for him to begin?!
Suddenly they heard him coming, whistling and singing a song… The song expounded the Knowledge in a deep and profound way and was being sung to one of the toughest meters… They all listened astounded, marveling at the beauty of the song … as the simple minded (?!) Trotakacharya made his way to the Guru’s feet…and born Trotaka-Ashtakam . Sri Sankara, Giri, while listening to the discourses never asked anything. Disciples thought that Giri was a dumb idiot and did not know anything. One day, on Shravan Shukla Saptami, 2653, i.e. 11 Jul 488 B.C., Sri Sankara was waiting for Giri to arrive. Ultimately, Giri turned up and burst forth into eight slokas which had never been heard by the disciples earlier. These were the creation of Giri. These slokas are called "Trotaka ashtakam". Giri was named as Trotak by Sri Sankara.
Shankara is redirected by Kumarila to Mandana Mishra, a great scholar in Poorva Mimansa which puts emphasis on rituals, rather than renunciation leading to knowledge of Reality and Truth. Shankara defeats Mandana Mishra in a debate, takes him as disciple, and names him Sureshwara.
Here is an article containing the toTakAShTakam, eight verses
composed in honor of Adi ShankarAchArya.
A short description of the advaita paramparA and a short
account of Shankara's disciple toTaka are included.
शंकरं शंकराचार्यं केशवं बादरायणम् ।
सूत्रभाष्यकृतौ वन्दे भगवन्तौ पुनः पुनः ॥
I offer obeisances again and again to shrI Veda VyAsa, the author of
the Brahma sUtras, who is none other than Lord VishNu, and shrI
ShankarAchArya, the commentator on those sUtras, who is none other
than Lord Shiva.
नारायणं पद्मभुवं वसिष्ठं शक्तिं च तत्पुत्रपराशरं च ।
व्यासं शुकं गौडपदं महान्तं गोविन्दयोगीन्द्रमथास्य शिष्यम् ॥
श्री शंकराचार्यमथास्य पद्मपादं च हस्तामलकं च शिष्यम् ।
तं तोटकं वार्तिककारमन्यानस्मद्गुरून् संततमानतोऽस्मि ॥
These two verses honor the advaita paramparA. The names mentioned here,
in order, are 1) ShrIman nArAyaNa, 2) BrahmA, 3) VasiShTha, 4) Shakti,
5) ParAshara, 6) VyAsa, 7) Shuka, 8) GauDapAda, 9) GovindapAda,
10) ShrI (Adi) ShankarAchArya, and his four disciples, 11) PadmapAda,
12) HastAmalaka, 13) toTaka, and 14) Sureshvara, and other Gurus.
Sureshvara is also known as VArttikakAra because he wrote the famous
vArttika's on the BRihadAraNyaka and taittirIya upaniShads.
ShrImannArAyaNa instructed the Vedas to BrahmA. The Vedas have no author,
and are hence called ``apauruSheya.'' Veda VyAsa authored the Brahma sUtra
and other texts, such as the GItA, to expound the knowledge of the Vedas.
Jagadguru Adi ShankarAchArya is a unique historical figure of India in
that he combined within himself the characteristics of a poet, logician,
an ardent devotee and a mystic and at the same time was the leading exponent
of the system of philosophy called advaita. In his commentaries on the
Prasthanatraya, he exhibited a rare faculty of relentlessly logical and
concatenated argument and refutation, and such subtlety of reasoning as has
been unsurpassed in the philosophical works of the world.
His main teachings may be summarized as the affirmation of SamsAra or
succession of births and deaths due to Karma and its significance, the
realization of the essential relativity of phenomena in comparsion to the
reality of the Supreme Self, the realization of that Self not being a
mere theoretical exercise, but in the nature of the direct realization
and actual experience taught by the upanishadic saying, tattvam asi,
``You are That.''
On the occasion of ShrI Shankara Jayanti, I decided to post the popular
stotra on Shankara known as ``toTakAShTaka.'' The hymn is so called because
it has been composed in the difficult but beautiful meter called toTaka.
There is an interesting history associated with this stotra. Anandagiri
was one of the less scholarly disciples living with Shankara at Sringeri.
But Giri, as he was called, was extremely devoted to the AchArya. Giri
would always engage himself in the service of his Guru. Once it so
happened that Shankara was about to begin his usual morning discourse
on the upanishads and the other disciples started reciting the shAnti
pATha. But Giri was absent because he had gone to the river to wash his
Guru's clothes. So Shankara asked the other disciples to wait for Giri's
return. But PadmapAda, who was obviously proud of his erudition, said,
``Giri is a dull fellow. He really does not deserve to learn the shAstras.
What is the point in waiting for him to join us?''
Shankara decided to humble the pride of PadmapAda and other disciples.
Out of sheer compassion for Giri, the AchArya blessed him with the
knowledge of the shAstras, making use of supernatural powers to do so.
As a result, Giri became a learned scholar instantaneously. Returning
from the river, he composed the toTakAShTaka, eight verses in praise
of his Guru. The other disciples were struck with wonder to hear him
extemporaneously compose the aShTaka in the difficult meter. Giri also
composed another work, again in the toTaka meter, called the
ShrutisArasamuddharaNa. Due to the grace of the Guru, Giri became
a knower of all scriptures, and he earned the respect of PadmapAda and
other disciples. He came to be known as toTakAchArya, because he was
an adept in composing verses in the toTaka meter. He became one of Shankara's
four most important disciples, and was later entrusted with running the
JyotirmaTh at Badari.
The above story is from the Shankara digvijaya of Madhava-Vidyaranya.
॥ तोटकाष्टकं ॥
The toTakAShTaka has been composed in the toTaka meter, in which
each pAda (quarter) has four sa-gaNa's. Here a sa-gaNa is made up of
two short syllables followed by a long one. The hymn naturally lends itself
to be set to music. A suggested RAga is (HindustAni) toDi.
विदिताखिलशास्त्रसुधाजलधे महितोपनिषत् कथितार्थनिधे ।
हृदये कलये विमलं चरणं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ १॥
O knower of the nectar-ocean of the scriptures, the expounder of the
knowledge of the great upanishadic treasure! I meditate on Your pure lotus
feet in my heart. O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
करुणावरुणालय पालय मां भवसागरदुःखविदूनहृदम् ।
रचयाखिलदर्शनतत्त्वविदं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ २॥
Save me whose heart is afflicted by the misery of the ocean of births,
O (You who are) the ocean of compassion! (By Your grace) make me the
knower of the truths of all the systems of philosophy. O Preceptor Shankara,
be my refuge.
भवता जनता सुहिता भविता निजबोधविचारण चारुमते ।
कलयेश्वरजीवविवेकविदं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ३॥
The people have found happiness due to You, who have the intellect adept in
the inquiry into Self-knowledge. Make me understand the knowledge of God
and the soul. O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
भव एव भवानिति मे नितरां समजायत चेतसि कौतुकिता ।
मम वारय मोहमहाजलधिं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ४॥
You are Lord Shiva Himself. Knowing this my mind is filled with an
abundance of joy. Put an end to my sea of delusion. O Preceptor Shankara,
be my refuge.
सुकृतेऽधिकृते बहुधा भवतो भविता समदर्शनलालसता ।
अतिदीनमिमं परिपालय मां भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ५॥
Only after numerous virtuous deeds have been performed in many
ways, does a keen desire for the experience of Brahman through You arise.
Protect (me who am) extremely helpless. O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
जगतीमवितुं कलिताकृतयो विचरन्ति महामहसश्छलतः ।
अहिमांशुरिवात्र विभासि गुरो भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ६॥
For the sake of saving the world, (Your) great (disciples) wander assuming
various forms and guises. O Guru, You shine like the sun (among them).
O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
गुरुपुंगव पुंगवकेतन ते समतामयतां नहि कोऽपि सुधीः ।
शरणागतवत्सल तत्त्वनिधे भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ७॥
O Best among the Gurus! The Lord whose flag bears the emblem of the
bull! You have no equal among the wise. You who are affectionate to those
who seek refuge! The treasure of truth! O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
विदिता न मया विशदैककला न च किंचन काञ्चनमस्ति गुरो ।
द्रुतमेव विधेहि कृपां सहजां भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥ ८॥
I have neither understood even one branch of knowledge clearly, nor do I
possess any wealth, O Guru. Quickly bestow on me the compassion which is
natural to You. O Preceptor Shankara, be my refuge.
इति श्रीमत्तोटकाचार्यविरचितं श्रीशङ्करदेशिकाष्टकं सम्पूर्णम् ।
