DIVINEINFORMATION PART 17 Dear friends,
While going through one of my externalmemory device, I came across some good information about Aadi Sankara. I thought of sharing interesting ones fromthem as a series. Inpart 17 , I am starting with 72th item in this posting. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 26-05-2021.In72.4 72.4 Long tours of AadiSankara Biographiesnarrating in full the story of Sankara speak extensively regarding the longtours of Sankara to many parts of the country. These digvijaya travels may be said tohave begun from the time of Sankara's leaving the sacred city of Kasi. Biographies of Sankara tell about Sankara's visit to Prayag, Badrinath, Kashmir andto a number of places in the south such as Chidambaram, Madhyarjunam, Jambuk-esvaram,Srirangam, Rameswaram, Tirupati and to many other sacred spots lIke likeDwaraka in the west coast and Puri Jagannath on the eastern coast. 72.5 Sankaras' Kailasa Yatra Sankara's yatra to Kajlasa,the abode of Lord Siva, is one of the most notable events in the history of theAcharya.During the course of his peregrination in the Himalayan region, Sankaracharyadesired to have darshan of Sri Paramesvara having his abode in Kailas. Sankara managed to reach Kailasquickly because of his yogic power. He had darshan of LordParamesvara and Devi Parvati.According to tradition, Sankara adored Paramesvara by singing two hymns, known as"Sivapadadi-kesanta stotram" and "Sivakesadipadantastotram". Immensely pleased withSankara's prayers, Paramesvara blessed Sankara, presented him with five sphatika (crystal) lingas andinstructed him to arrange for the worship of the Ifngas Iingas for the sake ofthe welfare of the universe,indicating also the mode of worship. Paramesvaraalso handed over to Sankara the palm-leafmanuscript of Soundarya Lahari, which is noted as Siva's own hymn inpraise of the Parasakti. 72.6Kailas to Kanchi >From available biographicalinformation, it is learnt that Sankaracharya placed >one of the five sphatika lingas got at Kailas, the MuktiLinga in the temple at >Kedarnath, He consecrated the VaraLinga at Neelakanta Kshetra inNepal. With the other three, hereturned to the south. He placed the Bhoga Linga for being worshipped at the Sarada Peetha inKarnataka He sent the Moksha Linga toChidambaram for being worshipped In the temple of Sri Nataraja in that sacredplace He kept the Yoga Linga for his own personalworship and for his successors at Kanchi. References to the placeswhere the five-sphatika lingas were established for worship are found in Anantanandagiri's biography and in Markandeya Samhita. The Sivarahasya points to Sankara'shastening to the earth with the lingas and worshipping them in his own asramaat Kanchi. Thepeople of Kanchi, under the leadership of King Rajasena, offered a grandwelcome to Sankara atthe outskirts of Kanchi City, It is said that the Acharya stayed atthe Mukti Mandapa in the small Visvesvara temple, on the bank of theSarvateertham tank for some time. Bhagavatpada Sankara gotKanchi city remodelled and also caused the reconstruction of the threeprinciple temples of Kanchi viz., the temples of Sri Ekamranatha, Devi Kamakshiand Sri Varadaraja with the assistance of Rajasena, ruler of Kanchi. Sankara consecrated theSrichakra before Devi Kamakshi and thereby secured Her bounteous grace ondevotees having Her darshan. 72.7 Sri Sankaracharya's Sarvajnapeetha-rohana at Kanchi A significant event in thehistory of Sankaracharya is his occupying the Sarvajna Peetha -the Throne ofOmniscience at Kanchi. Cidvilasa's Sankaravijaya -Vilasa, Govindanantha'sSankaracharya Charitam and Rajachudamani Dikshita's Sankarabhudaya, narratethe Acharya's ascending the seat of Omniscience at Kanchi, in South India. Sixteenverses of the 25th chapter of Cidvilasa's biography describe the event. Anasareeri voice (air noise or divine voice) informed Sankara, when he was aboutto ascend the Peetha, that it would be proper for him to ascend after winning in debate, thescholars assembled there Sankarathought for a while. A group of scholars who had come there from some villages of theTamraparni valley put some questions to Sankaracharya on his philosophy ofMonism, Maya (the theory of illusion), Devabeda, Murtibeda, etc. Sankaraexplained to them the eternal and all-pervading nature of Brahman, theinability of man to understand the Supreme One seeming as different entities, becauseof ignorance, the non-existence of a second other than the Brahman and themeans for attaining emancipation. The scholars were fully convinced. They bowedbefore the Great Acharya. Thereafter Sankara ascendedthe Sarvajnapeetha amidst the sounding of musical instruments and thetumultuous shouts of joy of the vast number of devoted spectators. Showers offlowers fell from above and a fragrant breeze blew all around. Agreat ascetic one of the early Acharyas of the Kanchi Sankaracharya Math -byname Jnanottama -has written a commentary entitled "Chandrika", onSureswaracharya's "Naiskarmyasiddhi". Along with the commentary"Chandrika", Naishkarmyasiddhi has been edited by Professor Hiriyannaof the Maharaja's College, Mysore and published as No.33 of the Bombay Sanskritand Prakrit Series in 1925 A.D. In the preface to this edition ProfessorHiriyanna observes "The second sloka (at the end of the commentary)alludes to the author of the Chandrika as the glory of the Sarvajnasrama bywhich term we have to understand the Sarvajna Peetha or the Pontifical seat atthe Advaita Matha In Kanchipuram. These remarks of the learned professorcorroborate Sankara's occupying the Sarvajna Peetha at Kanchi, as described inthe biographies noted above. 72.8 Kanchi -Sankaracharya's Last Resort Sankara Bhagavatpadacharyareturned to Kanchi, the Southern Mokshapuri, towards the end of his earthlycareer and shook off his moral coils in that sacred city. A number of worksstate these facts. Verse 46 of the sixteenthchapter of the ninth section of the voluminous Sanskrit work "Sivarahasya" (in the printed Canareeseedition No.32, Jayachamarajendra Series of the Mysore Palace, refers toSankaracharya's worship of the Yoga, Bhoga, Vara, Mukti and Moksha lingas, tohis success over scholars of other faiths and to his attaining siddhi (eternal bliss) athis own ashrama in Kanchi. Markandeya Samhita, anancient puranic treatise, consists of 100 khandas, each having sub-sections calledparispandas, Sub-section 7 and 8 of the 72nd khanda of this work narratebriefly the history of Sankara. This is evident from the colophon at the end ofthe 7th parispanda of the 72nd khanda as noticed in the Descriptive Catalogueof Sanskrit Manuscripts, volume VI of the Oriental Research Institute, Universityof Mysore, 1981, page 191 (Appendix 1- 332, Serial No.18179, Ms. No. P. 33878/1-title "Sankaracharitam". A verse, in the seventh parispanda of the 72nd khanda 01this work, relates that the Mahatma, Sankara, attained the cit-svarupa, He attained eternal bliss atKanchi, after having consecrated Kamakshi. Anantanandagiri's biographyof Sankara (all versions printed and manuscripts, including the MadrasUniversity edition) says "The World Preceptor (Sankara) desiring to leavefor his own abode, sitting once in the Moskhapuri of Kanchi, absorbed his grossbody into the subtle one and getting reduced into the size of a thumb, attainedeternal bliss and remains at the all-pervading "Cit" to thisday". TheBrhad Sankara Vijaya, and Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra's Gurunatramala indicate thatAcharya Sankara attained eternal bliss at Kanchi -the Southern Mokshapuri. Theconcluding verse of Rajacudamani Deeksita's "Sankarabhyudaya" refersto Sankara worshipping Kamesvari (Kamakshi) every day and attaining supremebliss. Patanjali Vijayam by Ramabhadra Diksita (Kavyamala Series No.51 ,Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay), has a verse at the end, stating that Sankara,after having produced the Bhasyas and conquered the directions (digvijaya)stayed permanently at Kanchi. A Report on Search forSanskrit Manuscripts in South India, by Dr. Hutzch, a German scholar,(published by the Government Press, Madras in 1905 -No.2146, Part III) contains a list of pontificalpreceptors of the Bharati ascetic order of the Tungabhadra region. Some verses are foundin this list about Adi Sankaracharya. The verses relate that after travelingwidely Sankara reached Kanchi of his own accord, consecrated Kamakshi andattained final beatitude at Kanchi itself. TheGuruparampara Namamala of the Sankarite institution at the confluence of therivers, Tunga and Bhadra (Kudali) also speaks of the Great Acharya's reachingKanchi of his own desire, after long and wide travels, of the consecration ofDevi Kamakshi and of his Siddhi there. Comingto modern times, there is quite a large number of works, in differentlanguages, written by erudite scholars mentioning Kanchi as the last resort ofSankara. The Bengali Visvakosa (HindiEdition), an encyclopedia, gives the information under the word Kanchi as theplace where Sankara attained Siddhi. Pandit Mahamahopadhyaya Gopinath Kavirajhas stated that the temple of Kamakshi at Kanchi is famous and in that templethere is the stone icon of Sankara and that is the lace where he attainedSiddhi.Pandit N. Bhashyacharya (of Madras) in his "Age of Sankaracharya"(Adyar Library, Madras, 1890 A.D., page 22) says "Lastly towards the endof his life he came to the south but had to leave his body and this world atKancheepuram at the early age of thirty-two:' Saligram Srikanta Sastry of Sringeri has takena copy of the 16th chapter of the ninth amsa of "Sivarahasya" fromthe Manuscript Library in Mysore and has rendered it in Kannada. The Englishtranslation of a sentence in the Kannada work is as follows: "Having come to Kanchi, inhis own ashrama, he (Sankara) absorbed his gross physical frame into the subtleone, became pure, blissful citsvarupa and attained final Siddhi:' Apartfrom all the citations made above, it needs to be mentioned that, In theSrimukha-Birudavan (the string of honorific epithets) of the Sankaracharya Mathat Kanchi (existing without change from very ancient times), the followingepithet is found: "Srimacchankar Bhagavatpadacharyanam adhisthane Simhasanabhishiktanam " The word "adhisthane" points to Sankara's Siddhi at Kanchi. Itmay be noted that the name of Sri Sankaracharya is found only in the officialseal of Kanchi Kamakoti Matha. The word "Kanchidivya kshetre"and thephrase ..Srimacchankara-Bhagavatpadacalyanam adhisthane ., in the birudavaliindicate Sankara's siddhi at Kanchi. My note- There are variations about the place Aadi sankara climbed Sarvanjapeetha and Samadhi I will continue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/615882357.179143.1622022077099%40mail.yahoo.com.
