*PRECEPTORS* *OF*
*ADVAITA* *PUBLISHED BY* *SRI KANCHI KAMAKOTI SANKARA MANDIR* *SECUNDERABAD* *1968* Preface In the history of Advaita after Śrī Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda, it is a unique and rare event that is being commemorated by the publication of this Volume — the Diamond Jubilee of the ascension to the Śrī Kāmakoṭi Pīṭha by His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Chandraśekharendra Sarasvatī, Śrī Śaṅkarāchārya of Kāñchī. For sixty years the Āchārya has adorned the Holy Seat founded by Śrī Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda, making its lustre spread far and wide and bringing solace to innumerable seekers all the world over. The present Volume is a collective offering made to the Jagadguru by His devotees, as a humble token of their ineffable gratitude, veneration, and love, on the auspicious occasion of the Diamond Jubilee. Advaita, which is the Plenary Experience, is not a system among the systems of philosophy or a cult among the cults of religion. It has been taught by great preceptors from time immemorial as the culmination and goal of all philosophical schools and religious persuasions. The Advaita tradition traces its inspiration to God Himself — as Śrīman-Nārāyaṇa or as Sadā-Śiva. The supreme Lord revealed the wisdom of Advaita to Brahma, the Creator, who in turn imparted it to Vasiṣṭha. This wisdom was handed down at first as vaṃśa-paramparā, i.e. as from father to son, in succession. With Śuka and Gauḍapāda commenced the śiṣya-paramparā, i.e. the line of succession from preceptor to disciple. Śaṅkara, an avatāra of Śiva, was the greatest consolidator of Advaita : his penetrating and lucid commentaries on the three p rasthānas, viz. the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavadrgītā , and the Brahma-sūtra, have been acclaimed as masterpieces of Vedāntic literature. The teachers of Advaita who came after him have expounded the Upaniṣadic teaching in numerous works. In the present Volume, there are articles contributed by various scholars on the Preceptors of Advaita belonging to the three periods into which the history of Advaita falls: that of pre-Śaṅkara teachers, beginning with Vasiṣṭha. that of Śaṅkara and his immediate disciples, and that of post-Śaṅkara exponents of Advaita. The first fifty-six articles cover sixty Preceptors of Advaita: it will be seen that not only philosophers but also poets, literary writers, and exponents in some of the regional languages have been included here. Articles 57, 58, and 59 are devoted to Śaṅkarite Institutions, Kāmākṣī and Kāmakoṭi. and the Kāmakoṭi Pīṭha, respectively. The sixtieth article presents a brief life-sketch of His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Chandraśekharendra Sarasvatī, the Sage of Kāñchī, the Diamond Jubilee of whose Pīṭhārohaṇa this Volume commemorates. In the last article, the sixty-first, are given English translations of two of His Holiness’s discourses — On Advaita, and On the Significance of Śaṅkara Jayanti. We are grateful to all those who have, with great joy and profound devotion, helped to make the publication of this Volume possible: to the scholars who have contributed articles; to Dr. N. Veezhinathan who translated into English such of those articles which were originally written in Samskrit or Tamil, and who attended to the many details of publication; to Dr. T. P. Ramachandran who assisted in reading the proofs; to Śrī T. Sadasivam, Editor, “Kalki”, for help and advice in regard to the illustrations and the cover-design; to Śrī Sridhar of “Ānanda Vikatan” for supplying photographs of His Holiness; to the G. S. Press for the excellent printing; to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for a generous grant-in-aid. May this reverential offering to His Holiness serve, in however small a measure, the cause of Advaita — which is the cause of universal Spiritual Peace — so dear to His heart! Madras December 31, 1967 Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 1. Vasiṣṭha VASIṢṬHA *by* K. S. Ramaswami Sastri B.A., B.L. Vasiṣṭha is one of the supreme seers, sages and saints of India. In the course of uttering the *Gāyatrī-mantra* day after day, the names of seven sages (Atri, Bhrigu, Kutsa, Vasiṣṭha, Gautama, Kāśyapa, and Angirasa) are repeated everyday. In Vālmīki’s world-famous epic poem *Rāmāyaṇa* (the 19th sarga or chapter in the Bāla-kāṇḍa) the sage Viśvāmitra goes to King Daśaratha of Ayodhyā to ask him to send Rāma with him to protect from destruction by demons the sacrifice that was going to be performed by him. King Daśaratha was unwilling to do so because Rāma was young. Thereupon Viśvāmitra tells him: *aham vedmī mahātmānam rāmam satya-parākramam vasiṣṭho’pi mahātejāḥ ye chānye tapasi sthiṭāḥ* (I know Rāma to be high-souled and of true prowess. The sage of spiritual radiance — Vasiṣṭha — and others who excel in tapas, i.e., spiritual austerity, also know him to be so.) Even then the king was unwilling to send Rāma with Viśvāmitra But Vasiṣṭha advised the king to grant Viśvāmitra’s request, and thereupon King. Daśaratha sent Rāma and Lakṣ-mana with Viśvāmitra. Vasiṣṭha was the *purohita* (spiritual adviser) of the king of *sūryavamśa,* i.e. the solar dynasty. Viśvāmitra taught them two potent *mantras* — Bala and Atibalā — which enabled them to conquer hunger and thirst and perform miraculous acts. Viśvāmitra performed his projected sacrifice unhindered, as Rāma and Lakṣmana protected it from all attackers. After Rāma and Lakṣmana returned from the island of Laṅkā after destroying Rāvaṇa and his rule over the universe, Vasiṣṭha was one of the eight sages who crowned Rāma as the king of Ayodhyā. *vasisṭho vāmadevaścha jābāliratha kāśyapaḥ kātiyāyano suyajñaśca gautamo vijayas taṭhā abhyashiñchan nara-vyāghram prasannena sugandhinā salilena sahasrākṣam vasavo vāsavam yathā* *(Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa* — *Yuddha-kāṇḍa, sarga* 131, Verses 61, 62). (Vasiṣṭha, Vāmadeva, Jābāli, Kāśyapa, Kātyāyana, Suyajña, Gautama and Vijaya performed the coronation of Rāma with limpid and fragrant water, as Vasus crowned Indra as the King of all the worlds). Such a consummating coronation of Śrī Rāma by Vasiṣṭha was supplemented and perfected by another coronation, i.e. the gift of spiritual knowledge to Rāma as described in the great work *Yoga-vāśiṣṭha* which is as great in merit in its way as *Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa* and is much bigger in size than *Vālmīki Ramāyaṇa,* Adapting a well-known Sanskrit verse about *Vālmīki Ramāyaṇa,* we may say about Vasiṣṭha’s work: *vasiṣṭha giri saṃbhūtā, rāma sāgara gāminī punātu bhuvanam puṇyā rāmāyaṇa-mahānadī* The first part of the work deals with *vairāgya* (freedom from desire), *Mumukṣutva* (desire for spiritual liberation), *utpatti* (creation), *sthiti* (preservation) and *upaśama* (dissolution). The second part of the work consists of two sections, viz. Pūrvārdha and Uttharārdha (the first part and second part) which deal in great detail with *nirvāṇa* (annihilation of individuality and achievement and spiritual experience of universality and divinity). I shall quote in conclusion from *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* a few verses which combine wonderful beauty and divine sublimity. *evam sarvamidam viśvam paramātmaiva kevalam brahmaiva parākāśam esa devaḥ parah sṃritaḥ tadetad pūjanam śreyaḥ tasmāt sarvam avāpyate tadaiva sargabhūḥ sarvam idam tasminnavasthitam akṛtrimam anādyantam advitīyam akhaṇḍitam abahissādhanāsādhyam sukham tasmād avāpyate* (The whole universe is one with Paramātmā, i.e. the Universal Lord. Brahman is known as Parākāśa, i.e. the Supreme Sky. Worshipping Him is beneficial. >From Him comes everything. He is the Creator of everything. All things rest in Him. He is not the Creation. He is without beginning and end. He has no peer. He is undivided and indivisible and full. He is not created by an agency outside Him. We get all bliss from Him). Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SAKTI *by* Srivatsa Somadeva Sarma Sāhitya-vānmukha-bhūṣana Purūna-sāgara In the uninterrupted lineage of the preceptors of Advaita, Śrī Śakti Āchārya occupies the fourth place. His biography and greatness are described in various Purāṇās. Vasiṣṭha, the spiritual son (mānasa-putra) of Brahma, had a hundred sons through his wife, Arundhatī. The eldest among them was Śakti, who possibly on account of the varied powers he had, was named so. The greatness of Śakti is set forth in the work ‘Śrī Kāmakoṭi Pīṭha Jagadguru Paramparāratnamālāstuti’, by Sadāśivabrahmendra with the commentary by Atmaprakāśendra Sarasvatī, published by Śrī Vidyā Press, Kumbhakoṇam, in 1837. *“bahumitrasahakṣitīśapāpāpahasānnidhyam arodhyasatpratāpam mahadañchita-manti’a-yantra-śaktim manasā śdktimupaimi sadviraktam”* “I meditate upon Śakti, the detached one, whose presence removed the sins of the king by name Bahumitrasahan, who had pre-eminent splendour, who possessed of *mantra* and *yantra* powers bestowed upon him by great ones.” The commentator explains the meaning of this verse as follows: Mitrasaha of the solar dynasty had Vasiṣṭha as his family preceptor. Destruction of wild beasts and demons being the duty of the king, Mitrasaha once wanted to kill a demon; but the latter, by the power of his ‘māyā’ eluded the arrow and hid himself somewhere. With the evil intention of doing some wrong to the king, the demon disguising himself as a cook, prepared food from a human being’s flesh for the ancestral ceremony to be performed by the king. The food was served to Vasiṣṭha. But, the sage coming to know of the true nature of the food that was served to him, got angry and spelt a curse on the king that he should become a man-eating demon. The king, not knowing the tricks played by the demon thought that Vasiṣṭha was wrong in cursing him and he, in turn, in an angry mood took water in his palms to spell a curse on the sage. The minister, however, dissuaded him from doing so by saying that by cursing the preceptor the whole family would be destroyed. The king, fully convinced, poured the water on his feet. If the water taken after determination is poured anywhere that portion or place would get dirty. As a result of the king’s pouring water on his feet, his feet also became dirty; henceforth, he was called ‘Kalmāṣapāda’. This act, according to the king, was mainly intended to show others that any insult done to the preceptor would be a sin. Thus having become a demon, one day while he was on a chase to kill the sons of Vasiṣṭha he came across Śakti Āchārya, and on merely seeing him his sin and curse were removed. He then prayed to śakti Āchārya to take him as his disciple and instruct him on the nature of Truth as a result of which he crossed the ocean of transmigration and attained release. This narrative is slightly different from the one that is found in the other Purāṇa. There, it is found that ‘Kalmāṣapāda’ killed and ate all the one hundred sons of Vasiṣṭha including Śakti, that Śakti’s son Parāśara in order to kill the demons performed a sacrifice and that Śakti by the grace of Lord Śiva appeared before the child to make him stop the sacrifice. There seems to be a contradiction involved in the narratives of the two Purāṇas. But if we adopt the view that ‘Kalmāṣapāda’ ate Śakti and others from the first Purāna and that his sins and curse were annihilated just by the mere presence of Śakti emerging from the sacrificial fire and that he attained liberation on receiving instructions from Śakti himself from the other one (Purāṇa), the mutual contradiction in the views expressed in the two Purāṇas get dissolved. In the 65th chapter of the first half of the Liṅga-purāṇa the following version is found. It says that Śakti is the eldest of the one hundred sons of Vasiṣṭha. He learned all the arts from his father, married ‘Adṛśyantī’ and was running the life of a householder duly performing all the prescribed Karmas. Viśvāmitra, as a result of his enmity towards Vasiṣṭha, accosted a demon by name ‘Rudhiran’ to enter the body of ‘Kalmāṣapāda’ and made him kill Śakti and the other sons of Vasiṣṭha. Overcome with grief at the death of his sons, Vasiṣṭha, as was the custom in that cosmic age fell from a hill-top with his wife in an attempt to end his life as well as that of his wife. This way of putting an end to one’s life was known as ‘bhṛgu-patanam’ which was not regarded as suicide, since one was permitted to end one’s life at the time of grief by falling from the hill-top. But ‘Bhūdevī, the Goddess of earth saved the old couple. ‘Ādṛśyantī, the wife of Śakti, consoled them by saying that since she was in the family way, the family thread would not be disrupted. Vasiṣṭha was solaced on hearing this piece of good news. One midnight Vasiṣṭha heard the chanting of the Vedas from the place where Adrśyantī was sleeping. As he was wondering, he heard an unknown voice saying that it was his grandson, the son of Śakti who was chanting the Vedas from the womb of his mother, that he (the child) was going to be a great devotee of Śiva and that he would compose Viṣṇupurāṇa. Vasiṣṭha, forgetting the grief that had seized him, began expecting the day of his grandson’s birth. At last, the day also came and the joy of Vasistha and his wife knew no bounds. After having worked out the child’s horoscope, he was named ‘Śākteyan’. The child, noted for his wisdom even while in the womb, asked his mother the reason for her not being able to enjoy the birth of a child for her. While everyone else including Vasiṣṭha and his wife was avoiding a reply, the mother herself informed the child that his father was killed by a demon and that was the reason why she was not happy. Even before she could conclude her narrative, the child told the mother that he would bring his father very soon. Śākteya, praying to Lord Śiva, lit up a fire and began performing a sacrifice aiming at exterminating the demons. Thousands of them perished in that fire. Devi Pārvatī, consort of Lord Śiva, astonished at the child’s devotion to his father requested her husband, Śiva, to return the father to the child. Śiva also complied with the request of his consort. Śakteya, coming to know through his mother that Śakti was his father, prostrated before him. The father embracing the child told him thus: “Who can kill whom? It is only one’s karma that is responsible for one’s death. So, stop the sacrifice”. The family of Vasiṣṭha was once again united. Pulastya of the ‘Rākṣasa’ race, blessed him thus: “Since you were like an arrow to the enemy, you shall henceforth he known as ‘Parāśara’ and you shall compose Viṣṇupurāna”. The Mahābhārata, Adiparvan, 192-195, gives a biographical sketch of the three preceptors—Vasiṣṭha, Śakti, and Parāśara. Once, a king by name ‘Divodāsa’ also known as ‘Mitrasaha’ was returning after a tiresome hunting in the forest. On the way, he came across some sages among whom Śakti. also was one. The king, feeling hungry and thirsty, asked the sages to give him way. Śakti told the king that it was he who should give way for the sages and not *vice versa.* The king, getting angry at this reply whipped Śakti and he in return pronounced a curse on the king that he would forthwith become a demon. While the king, repenting for his action, was about to apologise to the sage, Viśvā-mitra prevented the king from doing so, by making a demon called kiṅkara enter the body of the king. Śakti learnt all the Advaita texts under his father, Vasiṣṭha. He was always conscious of his identity with the Supreme Self. It was indeed our good fortune to have had such illustrious, realised souls like Śakti who kept alive the Advaita tradition for the benefit of posterity. Last Updated: 16 February, 2018 Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PARASARA by N. Subramania Aiyar (Anna) B.A., L.T. I bow down to that great Saint, Parāśara, who composed the gem of a Purāṇa (the Viṣṇu-purāṇa) revealing therein faithfully the truths about soul, matter, God, their inter-relationship, enjoyment of this world, freedom and the ways and means thereof. Stotra-ratnam by Yāmunāchārya Vasiṣṭha, the mind-born son of Brahmā, begot Śakti. Śakti begot Parāśara. Parāśara begot Veda Vyāsa. Vyāsa begot Śuka. And all of them were great seers and the earliest of the builders of the enduring edifice of Sanātana Dharma. Parāśara lived at the end of Dvāpara-yuga, just before the Kali era set in. He was once crossing the Ganges in a boat plied by a fallen angel in the guise of a fisherwoman, by name Satyavatī. Parāśara fell in love with her and of their union was born a child of destiny. We are told that the birth of the child was mysterious, that he was no sooner conceived than he was born, ‘Sadyotpannaḥ’. He came to be known as Dvaipāyana because he was born on an island. He was called Kṛṣṇa because he was black. He earned the appellation of Veda Vyāsa, as he became later on the Codifier of the Vedic literature. Perhaps the greatest glory of Parāśara is that he gave Veda Vyāsa to the world. A tree is known by its fruit. Speaking of Vyāsa, Śrī Aurobindo says, “A wide and searching mind, historian, statesman, orator, a deep and keen looker into ethics and conduct, a subtle and high aiming politician, theologian and philosopher, it is not for nothing that Hindu imagination makes the name of Vyāsa loom so large in the history of Aryan thought and attributes to him work so important and manifold.” Parāśara is illustrious not only because he is the father of Veda Vyāsa but on his own account as a Mahaṛṣi, as a law-giver and as a powerful writer. We owe to him the Parāśara-smṛti and the Viṣṇu-purāṇa, called a gem among the Purāṇas. K RAJARAM IRS 16924 PART 1 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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