By Sharon St Joan
One of the great saints of Hindhuism, Adi Shankara, is believed to have been born in the eighth century AD, probably in Kerala, in southern India – and to have died when he was quite young, in his early thirties.
During his short life, he traveled all over India and up into the Himalayas. As a very young boy, around seven, he repeatedly asked his mother to allow him to become a monk. His mother refused, not wanting to lose him at such a young age, since, as a monk, he would have left her and gone off to travel with other monks.
There is a story, which is clearly not literally true, that one day, at the age of seven, when he was bathing in the river, he was attacked by a crocodile and one of his legs was partly swallowed. He cried out and his mother, who was nearby, ran toward him. She intended to rescue him, but he resisted, saying that he did not wish to be saved unless she would agree to let him leave home and become a monk. (Of course, this conversation could not realistically have taken place while the boy was being half swallowed by a crocodile.) However, as the story goes — seeing that he was determined and was about to be swallowed by the great crocodile, his mother relented and gave him permission to become a monk at the young age of seven. Then he allowed himself to be rescued – and set off to join other monks and begin his life of dedication to God. Later on, he returned to visit his mother.
Traditionally, permission to become a monk needed to be given by the mother specifically, rather than the father – perhaps with the expectation that the mother would place the future well-being of the child above any other requirements, such as that of being successful or prosperous.
Spending his life as a wandering monk, Shankaracharya travelled all over India, always walking on foot. He became very well-known everywhere and was accompanied by crowds of followers. Whenever he came to a big town, he would generally take part in a debate (as was the custom of those days) on a theological topic with a monk from the town. These debates drew large crowds and often lasted several days.
During his travels Shankaracharya set up four main headquarters throughout India, with the first one in Kerala, where he had been born. Actually, there were – and are today – five major centers – although the fifth, for some reason, is not always acknowledged. I have visited the fifth one, however – located in Kanchipuram, where there is still today a large center bustling with activity. There, the current Shankaracharya, lives and teaches. The tradition of each Shankaracharya being succeeded by another has existed, unbroken, since at least the ninth century.
Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, the Shankaracharya who preceded the current one, was revered as a saint. He lived to be over one hundred years old, and at the age of 100 he was still traveling, walking on foot for twenty miles a day, accompanied by crowds of followers. He lived on one handful of rice each day. Much loved as a saint and holy man, he gave talks in the villages that he traveled through.
The five headquarters in India of the Shakaracharyas, including the fifth one, in Kanchipuram, were established by the first Shankaracharya. The Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, when I visited it, was very busy, with people standing in a long line to see the Shankaracharya. The rooms and hallways were lively and crowded.
The Shankaracharyas represent the influential Hindu school known as Advaita Vedanta. The main tenet of this school is that Brahman alone exists. All else is, ultimately, illusory. The world as we see it is unreal, but the underlying, true reality is Brahman. This is not an explanation that can be grasped on a purely intellectual level. This truth is a mystical reality and can only be perceived clearly from that level, as if the sun has rolled back the clouds.
Adi Shankara is credited with the authorship of around one hundred writings. Many of these would have been attributed to him as a result of the common practice of ascribing authorship to a well-known author – regardless of who actually wrote the work in question. Despite that, Adi Shankara, clearly was a very prolific author of spiritual writing – and wrote a great many books — both poetry and prose.
One of the most influential and profound saints of the Hindu faith, his words live on, shining light down through the centuries.