Philosophy of Adi Sankara

1. THE SWEET DEVOTION
PROF. CHITTOOR S NARAYANAN NAMBOODIRIPAD

2. OM SRI GURUBHYO NAMAH:
The blazing brilliance of Vedantha Philosophy drove away the slithering evil of the slimy darkness of
ignorance. Sankara, the Jagadguru, 12 centuries ago, wielded that trident of Wisdom, like Sankara,
the God of Dissolution. His spiritual Digvijaya, conquest, to establish the pre-eminence of Advaitha
revitalised the senile and besieged Hinduism.
We lighted the Adi Sankara Jyothi on 21.04.1988, the 1200th birthday of Adi Sankara(788-820)at
Kaladi, his birthplace. With the benign blessings of Their Holinesses, Mahasannidhanam Abhinava
Vidya Theertha Mahaswamigal and Sannidhanam Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, we are taking
the Jyothi to Kedarnath, where Adi Sankara attained Videhamukthi.
Blessed Athman, we have great pleasure to present this booklet on the occasion of this joyous Jyothi
Digvijaya.
In the service of Sankara,
SARADA SEVA SAMITHI

3. Other Books by the Same Author:
The Abode of Wisdom
Aithihya Sampudam
Aithihya Sanchayam
Narayana Navakas
The True Blue Flame
The Abode of Excellence
Rakshassinte Prathikaram
Paradevatha Upasana
Sarvangabhinayam

4. THE SWEET DEVOTION
PROF. CHITTOOR S NARAYANAN NAMBOODIRIPAD
SARADA SEVA SAMITHI, KALADI, KERALA.

5. Published by: Sarada Seva Samithi, Kaladi. Kerala.
Copyright: The Author
No of copies: 4000
Price: Rs.4.00
First Edition: December 1988
Printed at: Saraswathy Printers, Cherpu

6. FOREWORD
I had the sublime experience of addressing a very distinguished audience in the Pravachana
Mandir of Sri Sarada Peetham, Sringeri, during the 12th Centenary Celebrations of Adi
Sankara Bhagavatpada. It should have made me quake with fear since I had to stand before
Saradamba, the Goddess of Wisdom and Sri Sankara, the Sarvajna. But it did not. What had I
to fear? My Guru, the Jagadguru, His Holiness Mahasannidhanam Abhinava Vidya Theertha
Mahaswamigal was seated on his throne of wisdom with an enchanting smile – like a fond
father encouraging his baby to take a few faltering steps. Surely, it was a blissful experience
for me. My address was rather short, just a comic interlude between the scholarly speeches
of several Mahamandaleswar Swamijis and the divine Anugrahabhashana of the Jagadguru.
Call me, if you like, a vain peacock but this booklet is based on my address at Sringeri –
embellished with more ideas but substantially the same. If my words be slurred or senseless
I hope my Guru will forgive me with an indulgent smile. I know how benevolent he is! I place
this booklet at the lotus feet of His Holiness Mahasannidhanam.
Prof. Chittoor S Narayanan Namboodiripad

7. Offered
at the Lotus Feet
OF MY GURU, THE JAGADGURU
HIS HOLINESS MAHASANNIDHANAM
SRI SRI ABHINAVA VIDYA THEERTHA
MAHASWAMIGAL
of Sri Sarada Peetham, Sringeri.

8. THE JAGADGURUS
H H MAHASANNIDHANAM SRI SRI ABHINAVA VIDYA THEERTHA
MAHASWAMIGAL
H H SANNIDHANAM SRI SRI BHARATHI THEERTHA
MAHASWAMIGAL

9. THE SWEET DEVOTION
Twelve centuries ago, Kaippilly Sankaran Namboodiri, a precocious youngster from a remote
village of Kerala called Kaladi proclaimed: “Aham Brahmasmi” – “I am the Absolute Truth!”
That was a dark period for Hinduism; the misguided people, in search of fickle material
pleasures, had fallen on evil ways and black practices. Buddhism and Jainism were gaining
ground and someone had to reassert the supremacy of t he Vedic wisdom and rejuvenate
the senile Hinduism. Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada, the exponent of Advaitha philosophy did
that.
Adi Sankaracharya, the Universal Guide, proved beyond all reasonable doubts, that the
microcosmic soul is the absolute macrocosmic soul even though a man who identifies
himself with this gross body cannot realise the truth. The Jagadguru’s famous simile of the
Ghatakasa, the sky within a crock, illustrates this. There is no difference between the infinite
sky and the small space within the crock. A thin layer of dried clay might apparently divide
them for a while but once that shell cracks, the non-duality becomes evident; so too is the
case of the cosmic and the individual souls. The attributeless Absolute Truth is
incomprehensible since ‘eyes cannot see, words cannot explain and even the mind cannot
encompass Him’. ‘He is the Truth, the Wisdom and the Infinity’ but He is beyond all qualities
like colour and form so that the five sense organs of man fail to know that transcendent
Truth.
An academic knowledge of the non-duality of the macrocosmic and the microcosmic souls is
not enough, just as an exhaustive study of musicology does not a singer make. Even when
every note is meticulously accurate, a song falls flat unless he can energise it with Bhava,
mood, and lilting grace. Likewise, we need an intuitive realisation to know and really feel the
Advaitha philosophy. That is the difference between the Sankaran Namboodiri who graces
the idol at Sringeri and this Narayanan Namboodiripad who is just another weak mortal
teased by desires and despairs. When Adi Sankara proclaimed, “I am the Absolute Truth!”,
he was that – a Godman liberated from biting material shackles. That was exactly why he
was the preceptor of the universe. But even if this Namboodiripad repeats those words,
parrot like, a thousand times, he will remain a prosaic Professor who tries to hide his
ignorance with thundering words. We need a true blue liberation of the soul to reach that
pinnacle of Sankaracharya where we are beyond pleasure and pain.
A legend from Kerala about the Godman Pakkanar makes this difference between a truly
liberated soul and a pretender clear. Once he was on one of his frequent travels through a
forest. The tropical sun was harsh and he reached a small hut on the roadside where a
bronze-smith was working. The smith had some molten bell metal in a pot which was so hot
that he had to use a long pair of tongs to hold it. Pakkanar went up to tell him that he was

10. very thirsty and wanted something to drink. He wanted the molten metal to quench his
thirst! Incredible! Yet that was exactly what the Godman wanted. The smith was aghast at
this request, and naturally, refused to comply. But Pakkanar insisted and very reluctantly
the smith extended the pot. Without the least hesitation, the Godman drank some of the
red-hot liquid and wonder of wonders, it was like cold water to him. With a satisfied belch,
he thanked the smith for the soothing drink, while that pop-eyed man tried to convince
himself that it was no fantastic dream. By this deed Pakkanar demonstrated the
characteristics of an Advaitha philosopher.
A true Advaithin is not bound by the laws of nature – fire cannot scorch him nor can pain
bother him in the least. He is the master of nature since he realises its illusory nature. Once
Padmapadacharya, responding to his master’s call from the opposite banks of the river
Ganges, walked over the hurrying waters. A lotus rose up from the waters at every step and
the soft petals held him up. Definitely he was Adi Sankara’s disciple! A pretender who learns
Advaitha as an intellectual exercise, or a good, logical argument or even as an old theory to
accept blindly, is a mere mortal in the spiritual sense. Despite all his scholasticity he remains
a weak aspirant. The Godman exists at a higher, supernatural level; he realises how he is
Brahman and that makes him divine. The pretender is not that and that is why Sri Sankara
specifies the qualities that make one fit to become a student of Advaitha philosophy. He
must have the wisdom to differentiate between the true and the false. He must renounce
the benefits of all deeds and restrain the mind and the five senses. Th complete faith in the
revealed wisdom of the Vedas, he concentrates on perfect liberation. The Acharya’s
commentary on Brahma Suthra proclaims that such a person alone can try to realise
Brahman. Of course, to know Brahman is to become Brahman. Sankara makes it a
precondition which means that the others remain pretenders only.
How can a man become an Advaithin? For a Gowdapada or Sankaracharya, the path is not a
rutted track full of dizzying hairpin curves leading to a cul-de-sac. Such blessed souls tread a
wide, sunlit road singing the Vedic hymns, knowing full well their own omnipotence. Such
blessed souls but appear rarely indeed. As Vedas explain, He is Truth, Wisdom and Infinity.
Our sense organs can analyse and know something only when the object has qualities like
colour, smell or form. Brahman is beyond all that and an objective study is impossible. The
Upanishads say that even Yama, the God of Death and Varuna, the God of Water could not
teach that Wisdom objectively, using the prosaic intellectual tools. Where an outward
observation is impossible, a student has to turn his vision inwards, by a kind of third eye,
and develop his intuitive powers. He can, to some extent, use the technique of elimination,
the negative method where he learns that the various material objects do not constitute the
Absolute Truth. Sankara Bhagavatpada argued with the different schools of thought like the
Poorvameemamsa and proved that the only way to God-realisation is the Jnana Yoga, the
Path of Wisdom. Rituals cannot do it, as he convinced Mandana Misra. That was how
Mandana became Sankaracharya’s disciple and the head of the Sri Sarada Peetham of
Sringeri, under the name Sureswaracharya.

11. The Jnana Yoga, Wisdom which is indisputably the sole path is rather unapproachable for
the ordinary man. He may have to strive and strain through years of patient meditation and
disciplined rituals as a preparatory stage. We all know that music at its best is the tender
melody of vibrant emotion. For a blessed singer, it is a bubbling spring coming out of a
devoted heart; almost identifying himself with Nada Brahmam, God manifesting as sound.
Yet a talented boy needs elaborate voice-culture to prepare himself for that mellifluous
flight of Raga delineation. Just as he repeats each note of the octave for years, a simple man
has to imbibe the culture of spiritualism ere he tries to tear away the veil of illusion. Bhakthi
Yoga, devotion, is this spiritual culture. We know that the voice culture is not music, so too
the devotion which is the culture of Wisdom. Or, is it? A connoisseur might argue that the
training strains of a gifted singer is better than the music of the second rate performers. At a
particular level of excellence we are aware of a quantum leap from the set movement of the
Raga to pure musical bliss but it is hard to say how or when. So too with Bhakthi and Jnana
Yoga.
The starting point is renunciation. “Thena Tyakthena Bhungeetha” as the Upanishad puts it.
The rejection of the tempting world and the abstinence from illusory thrills, a mere negation
of the stampeding thoughts cannot be called renunciation. If we stagnate through sheer
laziness or hibernate through lack of drive, it is not renunciation. An idiot has a kind of placid
detachment as he slumbers through a bewildering panorama of life. Above all, the
numbness of defeatism is not renunciation. The ascetic discipline can never be such a
negative approach. A Yogi sitting cross-legged in the isolation of an unscalable peak is
neither ignorant of the pleasures of the society below nor too senile to revel in it. He shows
supreme dynamism and daring as he concentrates on his goal of liberation. His approach is
very positive and very determined. The goal is very vivid and single-mindedly he goes for it.
His concentration is so unwavering that he forgets everything else. He simply scorns the
wayside ventures and steamrolls his way on. Arjuna, the archer-prince of Mahabharatha,
had that kind of concentration when he shot his arrows. The epic gives the allegorical story
of how Drona, his Guru, tested his wards. He fixed a target and asked all his disciples to
concentrate upon it but they could see not only the target but the surrounding scene also.
Arjuna alone could concentrate so well as to exclude everything else. No wonder, Arjuna
alone could bring the target down. The perfect student is the one who can see the bull’s eye
because if he is aware of extraneous factors, his arrow takes a wayward course. A sprinter
aiming at the world record cannot afford to look round to enjoy the bounties of nature. He
must use all his faculties to reach the tape. The ascetic is like that; he wants the ultimate
bliss and his determination to reach that pedestal is so fierce that he scorns to tarry awhile
to taste the excitement of earthly existence. It is not escapism, nor the crippled retreat of a
dejected man into a world of despondency. Nor is it the senile sloth of a person without
enthusiasm and enterprise. The ascetic might apparently be careless of even his obligatory
duties but that is a mistaken impression because it is the determination and dedication that
makes him meditate exclusively on his goal. He knows how illusory the world is and does

12. not care to be smothered in it when he knows the ecstasy ahead. He does not identify
himself with his gross body, or groping intellect; instead, delves deeper into that fourth,
vibrant state; beyond the subconscious, a state of superconsciousness where he is aware of
the cosmic soul as his own. The layman, driven by the shallow consciousness fears the
lurking dangers; the wise who controls the subconscious is at peace with himself and the
superman who is the master of the superconscious mind enjoys perfect bliss. The ascetic
knows that and checks the promptings of the grasping mind. That is Vairagya, renunciation.
Often, great men, aided by the fund of virtue they have earned in previous births, choose
the path of spiritualism. The Jagadguru Sankaracharya himself cut off his mundane ties at
the age of eight when he realised the evanescent nature of the happiness that others
fondled. His widowed and heart-broken mother tried to dissuade him since he was her only
prop in life. One day, while taking his ritualistic dip in the river Poorna, a crocodile caught
hold of him while his hapless mother stood on the bank, at the site of the present Sringeri
Sankara Math. Sri Sankara called out to his mother that his mortal life was at an end and the
only way in which he could save the body for the time being was to accept the ascetic vows
which meant a new life. The poor mother had to agree and Sankaracharya went out into the
world as the master of Advaitha philosophy. But then, Sankaracharya was no ordinary
mortal; he was the incarnation of Sankara, the Lord of Dissolution, the presiding deity of the
massive sanctum sanctorum of the Vadakkumnatha Temple of Trichur. The Sankaracharya’s
of Sringeri Sarada Peetham, Their Holinesses Mahasannidhanam Abhinava Vidya Theertha
Mahaswamigal and Sannidhanam Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the spiritual heirs of
Sankaracharya, also realised the folly of the mud-spattered world and carnal cravings and
sought asceticism as small boys. I believe that they must have inexhaustible reservoirs of
virtue from previous births. His Holiness Mahasannidhanam belonged, before his Sanyas, to
a branch of the family which gave birth to that divine composer Saint Thyagaraja. Not a bad
ancestor to show the spiritual path!
The normal man usually pursues wisdom only when a seemingly cruel fate kicks him out of
his complacency, his endless circle of daily routine. We often wonder why fate is so sadistic
to virtuous men. The economists speak of a big push to make a static economy that spins
round a vicious cycle of poverty to take-off into a dynamic one. A steady push is not good
enough; it can give temporary relief only to the economy. A sudden, violent push alone
raises it from the rut. So too here, a man needs a big kick by a particularly harsh fate to
break him away from the spiritually static state. An aeroplane lumbers along the runway
indefinitely unless a sudden acceleration enables it to take-off into the air. We know and
like the hard ground on which our lives run and moves on comfortably, confidently. We get
the momentum and the inflexible will to rise above the pastures we love only when we
suffer a hard kick. A painful, heart-breaking kick that ultimately raises us to sublime bliss!
Melpathur and Poonthanam, two great Godmen of Kerala had such experiences.

13. Poonthanam Namboodiri from Angadippuram lost his only son under tragic circumstances.
Shattered by that traumatic event, he sought solace at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna of the
Guruvayoor temple. His grief was so intense that he forgot everything else and his devotion
was so pure that he was able to exclaim “When Lord Krishna plays in my mind, what need
for a boy of my own?” Indeed, the playful Lord did dance in his heart and stirring poems
flowed out of Poonthanam’s heart. He was happy! Melpathur Narayanan Bhattathiri was a
superb scholar in the full bloom of his youth when paralysis laid him low. Wracked by pain,
he was carried to Guruvayoor. Every day, as a part of his penance, he fashioned ten Slokas in
praise of the Sustaining Lord. His physical infirmity opened his intuitive eyes and by the end
of thousand Slokas he became a healthy Godman. And, he could see Lord Guruvayoorappan
in every devotee who came there. Lord Krishna must have been in his playful mood since He
made Melpathur a great scholar-poet, second only to Sankara Bhagavatpada himself. The
big kick was physical for Melpathur and mental for Poonthanam but in either case, it was
strong enough to make them dynamic disciples of spiritualism.
A devastating kick of ill-luck, by itself, does not make us take off, we simple go mad or
become crippled in character unless we have the culture to make us receptive. We have to
fine-tune ourselves by listening to philosophical discourses, chanting hymns, serving God in
His manifest forms and the like. The agony that breaks the misguided person elevates the
man trained to the devotional path into a superman. A scientist needs years of workaholic
study and analysis before embarking upon the exciting odyssey of fundamental research
and a philosopher needs disciplined training before he unravels the mystery of the abiding
joy. Once he gains sufficient momentum, a big kick can raise him to the rarefied
stratosphere of Advaitha philosophy, well beyond the gravitational pull of the earth; where
he orbits free with the twinkling stars of the heavenly pantheon. Anyway, Bhakthi Yoga gives
wings to the soul and helps reach the Advaitha.
The uninitiated might think that the Bhakthi Yoga is based on sheer idolatry, a blind worship
of all kinds of mysterious deities. Verily, the very large number of deities seem confusing. To
worship an Elephant-God or a Fish-God seems ridiculous. A vain thinker might exclaim that
it is absurd to worship God’s creations as God, nay, it is blasphemy. It is easy to sneer at the
magnitude that he cannot comprehend. That is the ever present problem with Hinduism; it
is too deep for a man with short breath; or worse, for those who cannot swim. The ancient
saints sang mellifluous hymns to propitiate Indra who wields the lightning as his weapon or
Varuna, the Rain-God or Agni, the Fire-God. But we have to pity the cynic who calls them
barbarians worshipping unknown natural forces regarding them Gods. Did they not lack the
sharp, realistic vision of modern science which explains the wind and the sun, even though
they paraded enchanting patterns of imagery? Awed worship of fierce natural forces is not
devotion. The detractors of Hinduism and the Bhakthi Yoga fail to follow the magnificent
allegorical significance of these hymns. Maybe the critics lack the intellect to encompass the
wisdom or maybe they are wilfully obtuse; but ignorant they certainly are.

14. The Thanthric lore explains the principles of idol worship and temple offerings.
“Sivamathmani Pasyanthi, Prathimasu Na Yoginah: Ajnanam Bhavanarthaya Prathimah:
Parikalpithah:” The ascetic perceives Lord in his own soul; not in the icons. The icons are for
the ignorant to meditate upon. The truly wise who knows the Omnipresence of God
believes that God cannot be present everywhere and yet be absent in himself. He cannot
have a separate existence from God. He perceives God in all His glory within himself. But a
layman is too weak to meditate upon or invoke that divinity within himself. He needs some
aid, hence the idol. He does not try to propitiate the granite image or the God who truly
possesses the physical characteristics of the icon. Instead, he begs the attributeless God to
grace the sculpted stone. No doubt, God is in the icon also; rather, the icon is not a different
entity from God. Kind Father that He is, He has to grace the icon with great intensity when
His devotees beg Him. The icon might be a hard stone, but the chief priest invokes His
effulgence and through his Yogic power and psychic pull, seats Him there. He does create a
body for God in the idol, a Manthramaya Sareera – a body made up of mystic syllables and
hymns. He propitiates not the stone image but the Manthra-God he himself creates! When
innumerable devotees chant hymns and prostrate in front of it, God has to be there. That is
a fundamental aspect of Bhakthi Yoga, God is the personification of Love and is always ready
to oblige His devotees. He assumes any aspect they want Him to – through Manthras.
Prahlada, a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, proclaimed that He is everywhere, even in a mere,
faceless pillar. Lo! He did manifest there in the extra-ordinary guise of a half-lion, half-man
form. The idol represents God just as a photograph represents a man’s face. That is why
Hindus often use paintings to help them in their prayers. The ancient temple of Perinchellur
has a beautiful painting on the wall within the sanctum where devotees invoke God knowing
full well that it is nothing but the masterpiece of a talented artist.
In Kerala, some of the priests sing a special hymn while they perform the Pooja rites “Ye
Devasow Divyekadasasthe...” This Manthra states clearly that the idol represents all the
Divine forces of the universe, the upper and the nether world. He offers boiled rice, not to
the stone image before him, not the finite form that resembles him, but to the infinite
divine power present everywhere. Even the rice has allegorical implications; it is the product
of the Five Elements. Manthras enrich it in the esoteric sense with the nectar of Gods and
the quintessence of worldly sweetness as also energise it with his own devotion. The idol
cannot gorge Himself upon the small quantity of rice; even a child knows that and the wise
priest tries to offer it only as an allegorical sacrifice of all that he loves to consume. At the
sublimest level this Pooja is self-sacrifice, the dedication of the self to God. He offers
deathless devotion which is so dear to God! That is why Sankaracharya sang “Japo
Jalpassilppam Sakalamapi Mudra Virachana...” “May my mutterings be Manthras; hand-
gestures the gestures of Pooja; my walk the circumambulation; food, offerings to You...”
Maybe God does have desires! Does He not want the love of His children since without that
virtue even He cannot bless the sinners? He is, without doubt a doting Father, but He has to
be a just one and cannot bless the sinners. That saint Vyasa seems to smile when he

15. describes how Lord Krishna destroyed the killer-elephant, Kuvalayapeetham. Krishna’s
wicked uncle, Kamsa had tried to crush Him by releasing the maddened pachyderm at his
nephew. Lord Krishna playfully caught hold of the huge tusks and swung the mammoth
animal thrice around Him before killing it. Death by Krishna’s hands meant salvation and
Kuvalayapeetham had not deserved it. That must be why Krishna forcibly made it
circumambulate Him by swinging it round. That was virtue enough for the poor elephant’s
salvation!
The Hindu saints knew very well that the Sun and the Fire were but different benign
manifestations of God. Yajurveda says that the Brahman, the Absolute Truth is attributeless
Omnipotent but manifests Himself as the sky, then the wind and from that, as fire, water
and earth – grosser forms displaying more qualities. So the Vedic hymns are definitely not
the fearful wails of the simpletons, scared of unknown nature. In fact, the expression “God-
fearing man” is the most misleading phrase. To fear God is the worst kind of spiritualism; a
kinked, perverted way for a devotee. Perhaps, it is something worse. A religious fanatic who
wants to convert others to his own half-baked theories threatens dire punishments from
avenging God who destroys all those who do not obey all his thousand and one perverse
commands. God is love, He is the endless bliss, as the Vedas assert.
A devotee knows the Brahman, in His transcendent state is formless and that is why
Purushasooktha invokes Lord with a thousand heads, a thousand hands and a thousand
legs. We cannot take this piece in its literal sense; it would be very awkward for Lord to
sport such a figure. The savants had their own special language and the word ‘thousand’ in
the allegorical sense invariably meant infinite. So then, the transcendent effulgence of
Brahman is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. Heads, hands and legs indeed! Still
He towers above this limitation (limitation, indeed!)of infinity. “Poornasya, Poornamadaya
Poornameva Vasishyathe” “Take away infinity from infinity; infinity remains” the
Upanishads insist. A devotee can beg Him to display one of those infinite qualities in His
immanent form. Often, the temple deities have this spiritual specialisation! We have the
great Sastha temple of Thiruvullakkavu, Cherpu, where He manifests Himself as the God of
Wisdom. The massive Erattayappan temple of Peruvanam has the Omnipotent blessing the
children as merciful, smiling parents – Siva and Sakthi. They give prosperity and the
longevity to enjoy it in full. This is because great Godmen have lived there invoking those
particular traits. Sankara Bhagavatpada illustrates this principle charmingly in his Sowndarya
Lahari, a small poem of a hundred stanzas. Each stanza invokes special favours. Thus the
stanza “Kirantheemamgebhyah” begs to cure bodily ills and “Thanuchayabhisthe” makes
him an attractive personality. We know that Brahman, being above all qualities, can assume
all when the devotees beg Him. We have the famous story of Sankaracharya’s
‘Kanakadharasthavam’. Sri Sankara, a small boy at that time, went to the neighbouring
Brahmin house; seeking some food, as neophytes always did. Unfortunately, the
householder was so poor that he could give nothing to Sri Sankara except a gooseberry. A
pious and philanthropic man, he was very unhappy that he could not feed his guest

16. properly. Touched by the magnanimity and poverty of the householder, Sankaracharya sang
the famous poem ‘Kanakadharasthavam’ praising the Almighty as Lakshmi, the Goddess of
Wealth. Of course, he knew that Brahman was not imprisoned in a feminine form. He simply
begged to appear in that specific form, that of an all-providing Mother. Rather, he
requested the good God the boon of prosperity, that particular benediction to demonstrate
the urgent desire to help the virtuous devotees. And Lo! A shower of gold pellets resembling
gooseberries fell on that householder. From then on, that house was called Swarnath Mana,
the house of gold. Sankaracharya knew that householders need divine help for material
wealth even if a superman like himself was beyond all that. It might seem rather paradoxical
that the master of Advaitha, the unbending prophet of the attributeless God wrote so many
poems praising the different deities of the pantheon. But then, he was the Jagadguru, the
preceptor of the whole world and had to guide even the flabby intellectuals who could not
scale the dizzy heights of Advaitha. He had to make them spiritually powerful, first, hence
the need for the hymns to the deities. Snakaracharya did not need that Bhakthi Yoga, the
man in the streets did.
Is it not ridiculous to enumerate all the specific desires to the Omniscient? He knows better
than the petitioner himself. Or is it not wrong to ask them since the savants advice to
control the carnal cravings? A Yogi alone can lead an austere life, a householder, motivated
by the needs of his domestic strife and social obligations, will always have desires. In
despair, he has no one else but God as his last hope. It is not despicable, either, since it
leads him to God. Usually, unbearable pain, both physical and psychic or vaulting ambition
makes him a devotee. The more desperate he is, the greater the intensity of his devotion. As
a preliminary step, it is welcome. The goal is wrong and perhaps the way too might feature
dangerous curves, yet he comes to the fold and God Himself will see to it that he gets
proper directions. By-and-by the mind becomes purer and finally, it brings about liberation.
We have a legend in Kerala, to elucidate this spiritual progress. It also illustrates the effect
of chanting special Manthras that beg Brahman assume specific attributes. Since the
Manthras invoke a deity, an attribute, it immediately grants the boon. But in the long run, it
guides him to the state of a Jeevan Muktha. Uddanda, a great scholar from outside Kerala
dominated the famous court of Manaveda Raja, the Zamorin of Calicut. Year, after year, he
used to win all the rich prizes offered for the various branches of learning, as a matter of
routine. The Keralites did not like it and wanted a champion of their own to challenge and
defeat Uddanda. A large group of patriots chanted the Bala Manthra and prepared some
rice spiritually energised by it. This they gave to a pregnant woman who, in due course, gave
birth to a boy, Kakkasseri Bhattathiri. The Bala invokes the Supreme manifesting Himself as
the Goddess of Learning and Kakkasseri Bhattathiri had to be a precocious genius. Even as a
small boy, he defeated Uddanda. Now, we might argue that those who chanted the
Manthra had only one aim, to destroy the pride of an outsider who had crushed them- not a
lofty ideal by any means. But the story had a sequel. By the time Kakkasseri Bhattathiri had
passed his teens, he became a thorough-going exponent of the Advaitha Philosophy.

17. Eventually, the Manthra effulgence in him took him to the level of a Jeevan Muktha. Let the
goal be selfish and base to begin with, that does not matter as long as that takes him to
devotion. Once he dedicates himself to God, He will make sure that he does not totter or
go-off into a cul-de-sac. The beginner might run round a bewildering maze awhile but
eventually he will reach the divine path and then that final release of a Jeevan Muktha.
The path of devotion is the preliminary step that prepares one for the free flight into the
path of wisdom. Sankaracharya himself uses the word Nididhyasana, meditation where the
element of self-sublimated love is not very prominent. There is something very interesting
about the base itself; the devotion itself is so blissful that seemingly, it can become the goal.
I am very proud to state that I am a humble devotee of Bhagavathy, the presiding deity of
the temple of Cherpu Padinjattumuri. There the Almighty reveals Herself as deified Love.
She is a proud Mother, proud of the devotion of Her children and their excellence. Lying in
the lap of Maternal care, savouring of the dulcet Love, I refuse to tear away the caressing
veil which makes one realise the attributeless Truth. I do not want to grow and become
conscious of my own power; to remain Her baby for ever is so sweet. A weak, helpless baby,
whom the Mother has to suckle! The grown-up youth might be able to stand on his own
legs, strong enough to work out his own destiny. But Her baby is infinitely stronger since She
is obliged to work for the baby. As Mahishasuramardini, the explosive kinetic power, She did
it once. She does it always! Pardon me, if I wilfully pretend to slumber in my Mother’s lap;
the warmth is so soothing. Oh, I want to see Her smile that makes my heart dance with
unfettered joy.
Saint Valmiki gives this idea in the form of a story. Lord Rama conquered Lanka killing the
mighty ten headed demon, Ravana, his sleepy brother Kumbhakarna and the warrior son
Indrajit and returned to Ayodhya, his capital city. There he was crowned with all pomp and
glory. Lord Rama then bade his greatest devotee and unbeatable lieutenant Hanuman to
beg for any boon that he wanted. Any boon, bar none; and Hanuman wanted just one thing-
devotion. Undying devotion to Lord Rama! What more could anyone want? It was bliss! I
know why Sankara Bhagavatpada wrote so many devotional poems. Was he not the
Jagadguru? He surely wanted his innumerable disciples to sip the nectar of Divine Love.
Who can resist a beatific smile after chanting the “Ardhanareeswara Sthotra”? By and by, he
will spring up like the irresistible Ganges from the frozen Himalayas and shout “Sivoham,
Sivoham!”
My Guru, the Jagadguru Mahasannidhanam Abhinava Vidya Theertha Mahaswamigal and
his spiritual heir Sannidhanam Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal have willed that I should
bring you this message. I beg you to study some of the Bhakthi Yoga Stothras of Sankara
Bhagavatpada. I beg you to go to the nearest temple and chant the appropriate set of those
hymns, at least once every month. Sankaracharya has wonderful hymns like the Siva
Bhujamga and Sivaparadha Kshamapana for Siva temples and Vishnu Bhujamgaprayatha for
the Vishnu temples. No one need convince us the extra-ordinary efficacy of these; we need

18. only know that the Jagadguru wrote them. Once again, with the blessings of the
Sankaracharyas of Sringeri, I beg every Hindu to popularise Adi Sankara’s devotional poems.
We know that the Prasthanathraya, the commentaries of the Brahma Suthra, the ten
Upanishads and the Gita form the blazing trident of Hindu wisdom to banish the darkness of
ignorance, the knowledge that creates Godmen. To learn them should be our greatest
ambition, we know. Yet most of us find them unscalable and incomprehensible. We have to
make a start and so let us begin with the brilliant Stothras of Bhagavatpads. Let us follow
the colourful beacon that the supreme Guide holds for us. Let us prostrate at the feet of
that Guide so that he might lift us up in his strong, protective hands. Surely, he is the master
of Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution. The best way to propitiate him is to repeat his
Stothras. Come, let us chant them in the abode of Gods.
Salutations to Sankara, Lord Sankara!