[Advaita-l] what is in the name?

Harsha Bhat harsha9519 at gmail.com
Sat Jul 25 00:16:18 CDT 2015


Namasthe
                                             Thanx for remanding such
beautiful stories.
Coming to Ravi Kiran sir ,
                                                 My question is not
misguided queries,My question is genuine doubt,
I din't question about sanyasathva of adi shankara and his guru parampara,I
got a doubt ,when all sanyasis have different purvashrama and sanyashrama
name,why not shankaracharya has such different names.....And my doubt is
cleared by learned scholars of this form.

I too have great respect to adi shankaracharya,And mine is not kutharka.It
 is correct question.

Regards,
Harsha Bhat

On Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 7:17 AM, Ravi Kiran via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 12:44 AM, Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaste,
> >
> > After seeing the post on naming ceremony (yOga-paTTa) of Acharya Sankara,
> >
>
> If there is a genuine doubt on tattva, it is said, the answers do get
> revealed through the grace of Guru paramparA
>
> However, the intent is of questionable, sans respect or devotion to one's
> own Guru paramparA and engages in kutarka, Ishvara alone save such..
>
>
> I am reminded of an upAkhyAna called "madAlasa-upAkhyAna" which
> > is my favourite one apart from "nala-damayanti" episode and
> > "sAvitri-satyavAn"
> > episode.
> >
>
> Its nice to see lots of patience, wisdom and compassion in this forum  who
> share their knowledge, to awaken, even to such misguided queries
> ...elsewhere (in non-advaita forums), fate is surely sealed, even if it is
> anywhere mere indicative, not deliberate as seen here :)
>
>
> >
> > The "madAlasa upAkhyAna" which is an episode of a King KuvalayAswa (also
> > ritadhwaja)
> > and his consort queen madAlasa (a brahmvAdini and yOgini). This couple,
> in
> > due
> > course of time, give birth to 4 children namely 1) vikrAnta 2) subAhu 3)
> > shatrumardana
> > 4) alarka, respectively.
> >
> > The first 3 names were selected by the king himself whose meanings run as
> > 1) one who
> > possess great valour and courage 2) one who possess powerful and
> beautiful
> > hands
> > & shoulders 3) one who conquers the enemies.
> >
> > When the king used to select the names, the queen madAlasa used to laugh
> > as if
> > she is making fun.  Irritated by her behaviour, the king asks the queen
> to
> > select the
> > name herself for their 4th son.  She purposefully names the 4th son as
> > "ALARKA"
> > and laughs again.
> >
> > Her husband Kuvalaswa questions the naming method of the sons and says
> > that the meaning of the name "alarka" is "mad dog" and says why such
> > meaningless name was christened to the 4th son whereas rest of the three
> > have
> > beautiful and meaningful names.
> >
> > Thus, begins the upAkhyAna.  Infact, when the three sons were born, the
> > great
> > brahmavAdini and yOgini madAlasa used to sing lullaby (jOla-pATa in
> telugu)
> > which is a set of 9 slokas which starts with :
> >
> > shuddhO(a)si rE bAla na tEsti nAma
> > krutaM hi vai kalpanayAdhunaiva
> > panchAtmakaM dEhaM idaM na tE(a)sti
> > tvaM cha asya rE rOdiSi kasya hEtOH ....1
> >
> > O my infant ! Don't cry. Thou Art Ever Pure and art Nameless &
> > Formless. The sorrow is related to your physical body which is
> > made of 5 gross elements.  Thou Art beyond these are are That !
> > So, don't Cry.
> >
> > Like this, there are 8 more slokas that are pregnant with vairAgya.
> >
> > The three kids, got vairAgya, leaving the kingdom, parents behind,
> > went to forest for tapasya.  Hence, the King Kuvalayaswa got
> > annoyed and tell his queen not make the 4th son alarka a virakta.
> > So, alarka was initiated into pravrutti-mArga by his mother madAlasa.
> > That said, later, with the grace of jagatguru dattAtrEya, the 4th one
> > also gets the brahma-jnAna.
> >
> > Now, the reason behind my typing this entire episode is that
> > when the King Kuvalayaswa asks his queen that when I have named
> > my 3 sons so beautifully that has a meaningful name why you have
> > chosen a queer and meaningless one for my 4th one.  The queen madAlasa
> > laughs and quotes extempore as :
> >
> > kalpanEyaM mahArAja krutA samvyAyahArikI
> > tvatkrutAnAM tathA nAmnAM shruNu bhUpa nirarthakaM
> >
> > The name is for the sake of vyavahAra only which has been coined by
> > we mortals. Realistically speaking, the Omnipresent Self, is beyond
> > names and forms. To Him, what name can we propound and by which
> > name do we have to address?
> >
> > So, my dear kuvalaswa ! don't be under the false impression
> > that the names you have chosen for your 3 kids are meaningful.
> >
> > yadi samvyavahArArthaM asannAma prakalpyatE
> > nAmni kasmAt alarkhyE nairarthyaM bhavatO mataM ?
> >
> > When the vyavahAra is an illusory by nature, one can call
> > by any vyavahAra-nAma to this gross body which is a
> > combination of 5 elements. So, your thought that my
> > naming of 4th son as "alarka" is absurd is meaningless.
> >
> > For vyavahAra, which is by itself mithyA, any same would suffice.
> >
> > This was the level of vEdAnta taught to the King Kuvalaswa
> > by his wife Queen Madalasa, who was a brahmvAdini and yOgini.
> >
> > Hail to our bhArata-bhUmi which was tread by such yOginis and
> > brahmavAdinis !
> >
> > jayatu bhArataM...
> >
> > regs,
> > sriram
> >
> >
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