?Question?

[Ravisankar Mayavaram]

On Sat, 5 Dec 1998, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:
>
> Given that a name is not even necessary to a person who has renounced nama
> and rupa, what possible purpose could there be to being a dashanami except
> to express a relationship with a sampradaya?  And everyone admits it is
> Shankaracharya who has founded the Dashanami order.
>

|| bhava sha.nkara deshikame sharaNam.h  ||

I think we have to look at this issue deeply.

1) First of all, bhagavAn shrI shankara founded 4 AmnAya
(traditional)  maTha-s. My question is why then the sannyAsa
order was classified into 10 groups. Will not 4 be suffice? To
identify the sannyAsis initiated from each of these maTha-s? If
there was a need to identify them.

2) To start with on what basis the sannyAsis where assigned to an
appropriate order, say tIrtha or AraNya? And to what orders did
the 4 chief disciples belong to?


Unless we understand the purpose and significance of the
institution, we cannot say it is a guru-shiShya system or a
society  for sannyAsis. What were the rules of the structure
created will also determine whether one has violated it or not.

If you can give an answer supported by some authorities (like
statements of shankarAchArya-s of one of the maTha-s), it will be
more convincing.

About your comments about shrI ananda tIrtha. He is one of the
great teachers of vedanta and definitely deserves respect and
veneration. We may not agree with him, that is a different issue.
shrI ananda tIrtha has written bhAShya-s on prasthAna trayI and
established a system with a proper basis. If you say something so
strong, you should support your statements with some form of
authority.



With regards,
Ravi

|| AUM namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ||

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>From  Mon Dec  7 15:38:08 1998
Message-Id: <MON.7.DEC.1998.153808.0600.>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 15:38:08 -0600
Reply-To: msr at isc.tamu.edu
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ravisankar Mayavaram <msr at ISC.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: AmnAya stotram.h Verse -13
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Further details about shrImaTha at badari (this maTha is more
commonly known as jyotir maTha)

AnandabrahmachAriti giriparvatasAgArAH |
nAmAni toTakAchAryo vedo.adharvaNa saj~nikaH || 13||

The dashanAmi orders asigned to shrImaTha are giri, parvata and
sAgara. bhagavAn shrI shankara appointed shrI toTakAchArya who is
known as Ananda brahmachAri as the first AchArya of the maTha.
veda assigned to the maTha is adharva.

--
The following account is taken from the introduction of the
toTakAShTakam text in the Jaguar sanskrit site. This is about the
shrI toTakAchArya. I thank shrI Anand Hudli, who posted this
document to that site.
--

Anandagiri was one of the less scholarly disciples living with
Shankara at Sringeri.  But Giri, as he was called, was extremely
devoted to the Achaarya. 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 shaanti paaTha. 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 Padmapaada, who was obviously proud of his erudition,
said, ``Giri is a dull fellow. He really does not deserve to
learn the shaastras.  What is the point in waiting for him to
join us?''

Shankara decided to humble the pride of Padmapaada and other
disciples.  Out of sheer compassion for Giri, the Achaarya
blessed him with the knowledge of the shaastras, making use of
supernatural powers to do so.  As a result, Giri became a learned
scholar instantaneously.  Returning from the river, he composed
the toTakaashhTaka, eight verses in praise of his Guru. The other
disciples were struck with wonder to hear him extemporaneously
compose the ashhTaka in the difficult meter.  Giri also composed
another work, again in the toTaka meter, called the
ShrutisaarasamuddharaNa. Due to the grace of the Guru, Giri
became a knower of all scriptures, and he earned the respect of
Padmapaada and other disciples. He came to be known as
toTakaachaarya, 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.

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