[Advaita-l] Shankara Digvijaya Sara - part 24

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

(Despite the title of this sarga, the author of the sāra has omitted the 
story of Hastāmalaka.  In brief he was the son of Prabhākara Miśra, see my 
comments on śloka 15, who lived in a place the MSD calls Śribalipuram 
which is the modern Shivalli in Karnataka.

Prabhākara Miśra had a son who since birth had been in a silent autistic state 
since birth.  At his wits end, the father brought this boy to see 
Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya asks him who he is, and the boy suddenly bursts 
forth with fourteen verses on the nature of Brahman.  These verses are called 
Hastāmalakīyam.  Śaṅkarācārya wrote a bhāṣya on them.  He explains to 
Prabhākara that the boy is unfit for karma and should become his disciple. 
Prabhākara agrees and Śaṅkarācārya and Hastāmalaka travel onwards.)


152| tataḥ śatānandamahendrapūrvaiḥ suparvavṛndairupagīyamānaḥ |
padmāṅghrimukhyaiḥ samamāptakāmakṣoṇīpatiḥ śṛṅgagiriṁ pratasthe ||63||

152. Then the Lord of those who have fullfilled [i.e. passed beyond] all 
desires [i.e. Śaṅkara] who is praised by Śatānanda [i.e.Viṣṇu], Mahendra [i.e. 
Indra] and the myriad Gods, left for Śṛṅgagiri with his disciples beginning 
with Padmāṅghri [i.e. Padmapada].(63)

(The word vṛnda literally means 10 to the power of 11.)

153| yatrādhunāpyuttamamṛṣyaśṛṅgaḥ tapaścaratyātmabhṛdantaraṅgaḥ |
saṁsparśamātreṇa vitīrṇabhadrā vidyotate yatra ca tuṅgabhadrā ||64||

153. There even now, the great Ṛṣyaśṛṅga, who has internalized establishment 
in Ātman, practices tapa. There is the Tuṅgabhadrā [river] which sparkles and 
purifies by merely one touch.(64)

(The story of Ṛṣyaśṛṅga is told in the Rāmāyaṇa.)

154| adhyāpayāmāsa sa bhāṣyamukhyāngranthānnijāṁstatra manīṣimukhyān |
ākarṇanaprāpyamahāpumarthānādiṣṭavidyāgrahaṇe samarthān ||66||

154. He [i.e. Śaṅkara] taught his commentaries and other principal works to 
the wisest.  Just by hearing them, they who were able to grasp this knowledge 
were able to attain the highest goal.(66)

(There is no point in repeating the tenets of Vedānta even 100,000 times to 
one who is unable to understand its implications.  Conversely the greatest of 
intelligence and understanding is useless if one never hears the supreme 
knowledge in the first place.  Those who have both heard and understood are 
capable of the highest goal -- mukti or liberation.)

155| mandākṣanamraṁ kalayannu śeṣaṁ parāṇudatprāṇitamāṁsyaśeṣam |
nirastajīveśvarayorviśeṣaṁ vyācaṣṭa vācaspatinirviśeṣam ||67||

155. As if embarrassing Śeṣa with the intricacy of his works, he dispelled the 
notion that there is a difference between the jīva and Iśvara in the manner of 
Vācaspati [i.e. Brahma].(67)

(As I explained in my comments on śloka 37, Ādiśeṣa incarnated as the sage 
Pātañjali who wrote three śāstras that cover body, mind, and speech.)

156| prakalpya tatrendravimānakalpaṁ prāsādamāviṣkṛtasarvaśilpam |
pravartayāmāsa sa devatāyāḥ pūjāmajādyairapi pūjitāyāḥ ||68||

156. He caused to be built there a hall like Indras’ assembly hall that 
displayed the entire art of architecture and caused that Goddess worshipped by 
all Gods to be permanantly worshipped there.(68)

157| yā śāradāmbetyabhidhāṁ vahantī kṛtāṁ pratijñāṁ pratipālayantī |
adyāpi śṛṅgeripure vasantī pradyotate'bhīṣṭavarāndiśantī ||69||

157. That Śāradāmbā in order to keep Her promise, remains to this day in 
Śṛṅgeri manifesting to grant the wishes of Her devotees.(69)

(See ślokas 131-133 for the promise.)

158| cittānuvartī nijadharmacārī bhūtānukampī tanuvāgvibhūtiḥ |
kaścidvineyo'jani deśikasya yaṁ toṭakācāryamudāharanti ||70||

158. Toṭakācārya exemplifies one who is always trying to please [his guru], 
conscientous in practising dharma, considerate to all beings, whose speech is 
controlled and follows every command of his teacher.(70)

(The fourth of Śaṅkarācāryas' main disciples was Toṭakācārya as mentioned in 
śloka 16.  His birth name was Udanka but he was also known as Giri as he was 
strong and silent like a mountain.  He was always full of gurubhakti but not 
thought of as very clever by his fellow disciples.  Once when he was late to 
attend the class, they grumbled and asked Śaṅkarācārya to start without him. 
Śaṅkarācārya was appalled by this display of egotism so in order to rebuke 
them, he gave Giri the power of poetic speech.  Giri spontaneously composed 
verses in the Toṭaka chanda which is how he got the name Toṭaka.  The verses 
are known as Toṭakāṣṭaka.)

159| pumarthāścatvāraḥ kimuta nigamā ṛkprabhṛtayaḥ prabhedā vā muktervimalatarasālokyamukharāḥ |
mukhānyāho dhātuściramiti vimṛśyātha vibudhā viduḥśiṣyānhastāmalakamukharānśaṅkaraguroḥ ||87||

159. The wise understand the four [main] disciples of the guru Śaṅkara, 
beginning with Hastāmalaka as the four goals of Humanity, or the Nigama 
[i.e. Vedas] divided into Ṛk etc. or the types of liberation beginning 
with sālokam or as the faces of Dhātu [i.e. Brahma].(87)

(The four puruṣārthas or goals of humanity are artha or wealth and power, kāma 
or love and pleasure, dharma or moral, social, and religious duty and mokṣa or 
liberation.

The four divisions of the Vedas are Ṛk, Yajuḥ, Sāma, and Atharva.

The four types of mukti are sālokya or residing in the brahmaloka and other 
heavenly worlds, samīpa or feeling inseparable from a deity, sarūpa or having 
the same form as a deity and sāyujya or total identification and oneness with 
Brahman.  Of these the fourth is the most important.

Brahma is typically depicted with four faces.)


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>