(1-20) Within his first year this child, who was God Siva embodied as the son of these Brahmana parents, showed himself proficient in languages. By the second year, he could recite all books and showed an untaught mastery of Kavyas and Puranas. Hearing once, he could learn anything, and so, he not only gave the least trouble to the teacher on his own account, but relieved him from much of his burdens by offering to teach his fellow students. Being free from Rajas and Tamas even from his days as a playful child, he soon became the master of all learning. Now after his tonsure ceremony, he shone like a sacrificial fire into which ghee offerings have been poured. Wonder of wonders! Without any instruction this boy was to master all the four Vedas with their auxiliary branches of learning, besides literature and the tough subjects of logic and sound reasoning. Excelling even the Guru of the Devas in his power of speech, he was to out-distance and silence all the proud scholars of the place. By the flow of words from his mouth, astonishing even Adisesha, he was destined to silence all debaters who faced him. Before his powerful criticism that would pulverize the teachings of spurious sects, the upholders of such doctrines were to find themselves helpless. Siva guru, his fortunate father, felt his family blessed and its reputation enhanced by this son who equaled the sun itself in the brilliance of his body and mind. But Siva guru was not destined to see the full development of the genius of his son. For, he passed away suddenly when the boy was only three years old and thoughts about his Upanayana were just cropping up in his mind. Alas! death makes no distinction between the good and the bad. The birth of a son in a family is sometimes a rarity, and of a talented son much more so. Having got such a talented son, and that after much prayer and austerities, Sivaguru was not fortunate enough to see the glorious efflorescence of his genius.

After the cremation and funeral ceremonies were over with the help of relatives, they all comforted the widowed lady with soothing words. One year was spent in the observance of vows and ceremonies connected with funeral obsequies,’ after which that noble lady began to think of the U panayana of her son. In his fifth year she conducted the Upanayana of the’ boy and thereby derived that satisfaction which only the proper discharge of a duty can bring. Very quickly he learnt the four Vedas and the six Sastras from the Guru, who was astounded by the prodigious intelligence and capacity of the small boy. His fellow students could not keep pace with him, and the Guru himself felt embarrassed by the demands on his ‘limited capacity to teach. His progress in study was so rapid that within two or three months he equaled the Guru himse!f in knowledge. In the knowledge of Vedas he was like Brahma; of its auxiliaries, like Gargya; of sacred narratives, like Brihaspati; of the doctrines on rituals, like Jaimini; and of philosophy, like Badarayana. The extensiveness of his learning was so great that he looked the very embodiment of Vyasa. Assiduously he learnt logic, Yoga philosophy, Samkhya philosophy of Kapila, and Mimamsa doctrines as expounded by Bhatta; but his interest and joy in these subjects got completely submerged in his tremendous enthusiasm for the non-dualistic doctrine of the Upanishads. like a well in the waters of a flood.

(21-33) While residing in the Guru’s house, the boy Sankara went with a fellow student to the house of a poor Brahmana for alms (Bhiksha). Thereupon the lady of the house said with utmost humility to the Brahmacharins: “Fortunate, indeed, is the person who gets an opportunity to offer hospitality to Brahmacharins like you. But we are accursed beings whom poverty has deprived of the resources for the same. Vain is our birth as human beings !” Thus bemoaning her own fate piteously, the lady presented a mere gooseberry to them with a heart writhing in pain born of the thought of her utter poverty. Boy Sankara, touched to the core of his heart by the poverty of the family, instantaneously composed a great hymn of exquisite beauty (Kanakadhara-stotra) on Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and good fortune, praying for the relief of the family. Soon did the Goddess manifest herself before him, illuminating all the quarters like a flash of lightning by the brilliance of her form. The boy prostrated himself before her and stood in all humility before the Goddess who, being highly propitiated by the beautiful hymn, said’: “I have understood what you want of me. But how can this couple become the object of my attention when they are devoid of any store of past meritorious acts that would make them eligible for the same?” To this the boy said: “0 Mother! They have made a gift of a gooseberry fruit to me. If Thou art pleased with me, Thou shouldst bestow on them the reward for this gift of theirs.” Highly pleased with the boy’s reply, the Goddess immediately filled the house of the Brahmana with pellets of gold resembling gooseberry, to the utter astonishment of all onlookers. Afterwards they all began to praise the boy saying, “Sankara, like a Kalpa-taru, has brought prosperity to this place. He has endeared himself to the Brahmanas and the Devas by bringing wealth with which Vedic sacrifices could be performed.” Thus, winning the goodwill and blessings of the Brahmanas and the Devas, Sankara continued his study under his teacher.

A Panegyric of Sankara ¹

(34-109) 34. All branches of learning, when interpreted by Sankara, revealed a new significance, just as a beautiful girl shines with added lustre when united with a worthy husband. 35. No external light was a match for the ethereal glory that Sankara cast everywhere on account of his mastery of all learning. 36. The lotus feet of this great Master, served by the hands of holy men, put to shame the natural lotus fondled by the rays of the moon. 37. The feet of handsome persons are compared to the lotus. But no lotus known in this world can match Sankara’s feet. If out of water a moon-stone were to come up, if on that hard stone, a lotus were to bloom, if in that lotus a lake were to be formed, and if in that lake a lotus were to come up-to such a lotus (impossible and unknown) alone can Sankara’s feet be compared. So unparalleled and incomparable were his feet. 38. Thinking that it is adequate praise, some compare is feet to a lotus (Padma) and his face to moon (Dwijaraja). But these are an under-estimate of his greatness and not a praise. For ‘Padma’ or ‘lotus’ is a species of flower which even his disciple Padmapada trampled upon while

1. The verses that follow are not connected directly with the main subject matter. They form a praise of Sankara. his form and his great achievements, in verses that are couched in highly ornate and metaphorical style. In Sanskrit they constitute poetry of a very high order, the effect of which it is impossible to bring out adequately in an English prose translation.

he walked over a lake. And pray, how can Dwijaraja (moon) come anywhere near his face which received the adoration of innumerable Dwijarajas (learned Brahmana scholars)? 39. His feet are placed in their lotus hearts by spiritual aspirants for their own purification. And his face sheds a nectarine lustre that even gods seek in preference to the nectar they are accustomed to seek from the moon. So surely his feet are infinitely superior to the lotus and his face, to the moon. 40. In every way the holy influence of Sankara is a blessing for mankind -it brings the fruit (If spiritual realization close to them to pluck; it disperses the thick cloud of ignorance of devotees; it consumes all their sorrows: it shatters the embankments of their accumulated sins; it kidnaps their evil passions of arrogance, jealousy and the like; and it gives the fatal blow at the vulnerable spot in the body of man’s threefold miseries.

41. Look at the uniqueness of the feet of this embodiment of Parabrahman! In days of yore, with a kick of that left foot, he warded off the god of Death and offered protection to Markandeya: in his incarnation as Sankara, whenever people bowed at his feet On his arrival at any place, he removed all their Sorrows. And even today, as Nataraja (dancing Siva). the deity in the temple of Vyaghrapura, his feet trample upon the evil demon of epilepsy that plagues mankind. 42. The tread of his feet, indicating his gradual advancement in childhood, made him resemble the waxing moon in many ways: as the moon’s disc becomes fuller and fuller with the passing of days, his body attained greater and greater development and lustre; as the moon-rise makes the sea swell up, his progress in life led to a high-tide of Brahmavidya : as the growth of the moon surrounded by stars (Tara)’ removes the darkness of night, he dispelled the darkness of ignorance from the hearts of men by the power of Tara (Pranava or Omkara); and like the moon refreshing people by driving away the heat of the day, he brought solace and joy to mankind by his presence in their midst. 43. Vedic scholars say that by prostrating at his feet men would attain to the Lord or gain salvation. But I go further and say: men attain to Moksha even by offering their heart’s devotion at the feet of those who have served him. 44. His thighs covered with a white cloth, resembled the trunk of an elephant whitened by the foam from the waves of the milk ocean. 45. With a three-stringed waist band round his waist, he looked like a crystal hill with three lines of golden creepers round its base. 46. Observing his figure. with his left hand holding a book and the right hand posed in Jnanamudra (in which the fore-finger is pressed to the thumb), one would think he is picking out the thorns of vicious arguments that have been inflicted on the sacred Vedic knowledge contained in the book in his left hand. 47. It looks as if the lotus flowers close their petals towards the evening out of reasons of security. They are dismayed that the arms of Sankara. tender and lovely like flowers of Kalpa-taru, have stolen much of their own tenderness and loveliness even during day-time when they stood full-blown. If such stealing could be effected in broad day-light. how much Worse it will be at night! Anticipating this, as it were. the lotus flowers close the portals of entry into them by reducing themselves into buds at night. 48. His chest, broad and plump, looked like a bed spread for Jaya-Sri (goddess of victory) to take long rest after her tiresome peregrinations all over the world. 49. His two arms shone like the weapons known as Parikha for destroying internal and external enemies-internal enemies consisting of baser passions and external enemies in the form of controversialists – or better still, as two towers of victory. 50. His sacred thread, rivaling the rays of autumnal moon in its subdued brilliance. shone across his chest, and appeared in its softness, as if made of the delicate thread drawn from the stalks of lotus flowers. 51. His neck was in appearance like a big white conch, whose sonorous sound was the proclamation of victory over controversialists. 52. His teeth and lips looked. in close association with each other. like moonlight reflecting on a tender red coral creeper. 53. His glowing cheeks were the mirrors that the creator had provided for Saraswati. the Goddess of learning, who had her scat in his face. 54. Out (If the ocean of men’s good deeds rose the moon of Sankara, pouring its nectar-like light on mankind. But while the nectar and the light of the moon only tend to dim the spiritual glory of even the wise by promoting lust, the radiance from the Lord’s face went to enhance man’s spiritual urge. 55. Lo! beyond all description is the beauty of his eyes, the playground of the graces of the lotus-born Goddess Lakshmi – for, a mere look with which she was pleased to shower a rain of gold on a poor woman! 56. That sage resembled Rama in most respects: just as Rama destroyed the Asura Dushana (a Rakshasa of that name), Sankara demolished the criticisms (dushana) of opponents. Even as Rama constructed setu (the linking path) to Lanka across the ocean, Sankara established a setu (a link of peaceful reconciliation) among sects and doctrines. As Rama destroyed Atikaya (a Rakshasa of that name), Sankara destroyed the great infatuation that one is the body (atikaya-Vibhrama). Rama was a terror to Lanka (city of that name), so also was Sankara a terror to seductive women (lanka). Rama was the resort of all restless monkeys (samsari-sakhamrigah), while Sankara was the resort of all men in sumsara (cycle of transmigratory existence). And both were like moon- Rama by bringing joy to the hearts of the sages under the nightmare of Rakshasas, and Sankara by being the most luminous among sages whose glances were like the succession of waves of the milk ocean. 57. His gracious smile always shed the refreshing ambrosia that could relieve the weariness and sufferings of men travelling through the wilderness of Samsara abounding in the thorns of evil men, in the forest-fire of sexuality, in the fierce wild elephants of diseases. in the treacherous jungle-tracks of life’s bewildering ways. and in the mighty swamps of misfortunes and disappointments. 58. His forehead bears three shining lines of marking with holy ashes Some compare them to the three courses of the sacred Ganges, but my view is that they represent the glorious achievement of producing wonderful commentaries on the triad of the Upanishads, the Brahma-sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. 59. By contemplating on his form of incomparable sublimity, people reject like straw the attractiveness of Kama, the god of love. This justifies our identification of Sankara with the destroyer of Kama, the great God Siva, who is noted for this achievement of His. 60. Acharya Sankara is verily that Dakshinamurti who is represented as sitting in absolute silence under a banyan tree •and interpreting Non-dualism through that silence. Abandoning that silent teaching, he has now appeared on earth as the active preacher and commentator Acharya Sankara, whose eloquent interpretation of the Vedanta during his extensive tours over the country and whose numerous writings come as a saving rain for people who are being baked in the forest-fire of ignorance in the jungles of Samsara. 61. Many teachers and preachers were going about the country, vociferous in their arguments and fierce in their passionate sectarianism. Ordinary people were thrown into utter confusion by the display of spurious learning by these false prophets. The Lord was born as Sankara to give relief to men from this doctrinal lawlessness. So, when the Acharya was born, the heterodox Buddhist philosophers began to tremble, while the dissident teachers like the Samkhyas lost their eloquence. 62. God Siva and Acharya Sankara resemble each other in many respects: both are conquerors of Kama, the god of erotic love. Both are all-knowing. And both are recognized as the best and the highest in their group-Siva among gods and Sankara among saintly scholars. But there is one interesting difference between them-while Siva is noted for his destruction of Yajna (the sacrifice of Daksha), Sankara promoted Yajna by propagating the Vedas and their teachings. 63. I am sure that in all the three worlds there is not a single one who comes anywhere near him. “He alone is his equal”; there is none to say ‘no’ to this statement. 64. The excellences of Sankara were countless, one virtue yielding many more-like the ‘wish-yielding trees’ of the heavenly garden, whose branches are full of blossoms and each blossom is covered with hovering honey bees. 65. He overcame all the defects of the human mind by the practice of their opposite qualities-lust by reflecting on its evils; anger and violence by cultivation of patience; greed and duplicity by learning contentment; pride by recognition of other’s merits; and the demoness of unquenchable desires by learning to be satisfied with what one possesses. 66. Impossible it is to describe the transcending greatness of the great soul who uprooted lust, the great enemy of spiritual progress, even from the hearts of his disciples; who shattered to pieces the great obstacle of anger; and who dug out as easily as grass all defects like greed and other evil traits of the human heart. 67. Surprised at the wonders attendant on the advent of Sankara, the following strange conversation is said to have taken place between a Dig-gaja (Elephant supporting the quarters) and his wife; “How is it,” asked the elephant’s wife, “that even at noon we are experiencing this cooling light of the moon?” The Elephant replied, “O dear one! You are wrong; it is not the moon that is cooling us but the aura of virtues that surrounds Siva’s new incarnation as Sankara.” “But then,” continued the female Elephant, “if it is really mid-day, and the cool moonlight is not there, pray, how are these blue lotuses in bloom?” The Elephant replied, “What you see are not blue lotuses. They are the wide-staring eyes of the four Dames, the quarters, who are struck with wonder at the uniqueness of the Sankara incarnation.” 68. Surprisingly, bees ceased to look even at grape juice, milk, sugar candy juice and other intensely sweet liquids, of which they are very fond. For lo ! they now found all places brimming with the far sweeter essence of Sankara’s greatness! 69. Incomparable in greatness was our sage. For by his patience, he deprived even the earth of her reputation for that quality; by his learning, he brought humiliation on Skanda and others in that field; and in renunciation, he towered even over Vyasa’s son Suka, the prince among renouncers. 70. By his exemplary forbearance, he ranks with the earth; by his reputed learning, he is equal to Saraswati; and by his liberality to suppliants, he resembles the heavenly tree Kalpataru. Wise men hesitate to compare his greatness with any lesser objects. 71. Like him, none exists now; like him, none existed before; and like him, none will exist hereafter. What wonder is there if he thus stands peerless for all time like Mt. ‘Sumeru! 72. By his birth, his family shines; by the nobility of his character, he shines; by his vast learning, his nobility shines; and by his exemplary humility, his learning shines. 73. The sage was verily a Kalpa-taru, with its floral wealth of reputation, with its honey bees of knowledge seekers, with its tender foliage of abounding virtues, with its sap of patience, and with its fruits of spiritual realizations. 74. The works of even the greatest of sages like Kapila, Kanabhuk and Patanjali are nowhere before the words and writings of the Lord. What then of the work of other sages! 75. The head of the Upanishads, drooping under the blows of criticism by Bhatta Bhaskara, once more got uplifted by Sankara, whose restatements of their teachings are as unique for their sweetness as for their power. 76. Where is the cause for fear of famine from the hot summer of the evil teachings of Buddhist Bhikshus, when there is flowing nearby the mighty river of words from the Himalayan heights of Sankara, even like the Ganges that gushed forth from a Himalayan cave, where it was held up as it flowed from the matted locks of Siva, for the benefit of the ancestors of Bhagiratha! 77. The learned eloquence of the Lord is a shackle for restraining the wayward movements of the mad elephant of skeptical thought; it is a palace for the king of knowledge; it is an ornament that learned men wear; it is the support for the teachings of the Vedas; it is a boat carrying one across the ocean of Samsara; and it is a storm that blows away the noxious smells of heretical teachings from the atmosphere of thought. 78. The words of wisdom of the sage-the vibrations’ of Advaitic thought that it released like the toll of a mighty bell–were, on the one hand, a Mantra that paralyzed the mind and speech of sophistical heretics, and on the other, a breeze that broadcast the sweet fragrance of the lotus lake of Vedic teachings. 79. Who on earth would not be charmed by that Brahman-knower’s teachings which are more fragrant than substances like camphor and musk, which are sweeter than sugar candy and milk, which surpass moonlight in the cooling, influence, it has on the heat of the three-fold miseries of men-physical, psychic and spiritual! 80. Advaita, the royal road to salvation, which is free from thorns and other obstructions of perverse thoughts, and is ever thronged by wise men who avoid the crooked ways of the sophists, has now been decorated with honey-laden flower-wreaths of the great Acharya’s charming teachings. 81. Like a cooling breeze, free from the dust of atheistic thoughts and laden with the fragrance of spiritual insight, his words of beauty and wisdom have been a refreshing and rejuvenating influence on all weary travelers in the jungles of Samsara, scorched by the heat of its forest fires of worldly worries and tribulations. 82. On listening to his teachings so full of sweet persuasiveness and profound wisdom, one is led to wonder whether Goddess Saraswati is verily performing a dance on the tip of his tongue, spreading far and wide the melodious sound produced by the combination of the jingling of her anklets and of the mini-bells in her waist band, along with the clang of the bracelets on her arms. 83. The literary style of the Acharya, while it excels in its power the rolling sound of the thunder clouds which rise above the ravings of the sullen wind-tossed sea at the out-break of the monsoon, resembles in its charming agreeableness the sweet fragrance coming from a garden of jasmine flowers. 84. His prose and poetical works, flawless and pleasing to read, are a veritable encyclopedia of learning. While delectable like nectar, they are entrenched in such sound reasoning that they are impregnable to the attacks of opponents with their malicious questionings and criticisms. Full of positive and ennobling ideas, they are capable of removing the miseries of life and guiding man to the goal of salvation. 85. His teachings are capable of destroying the false identification of the Self with the body that basic ignorance which forms the first sprout of miseries on the tree of life, which is the spring that floods life with the water of mental worries, which is the dancing platform for obstacles and difficulties, which is the prefatory introduction to life’s book of evils, which is the fertile field of malicious thoughts, and which is the spring for the continuous flow of false perceptions. 86. The pearl-like words of the Acharya representing the ancient wisdom of the Vedas will remove the dreaded fears. of Samsara from aspirants who have been misled into the path of the Tathagata (Buddha), wherein is laid the dangerous trap of nihilism by the sect of the Kshapanakas. 87. The Acharya’s profound teachings, powerful like the currents of Ganga augmented by strong winds, flow majestically, carrying away the accumulated dirt of false doctrines and giving relief to the mind of man stricken with the drought of perverse notions on Dharma. 88. The aroma of his words, charged with the stimulants of wisdom and love, delights, inebriates and renders ecstatic the bee of wise men’s mind, like the spreading fragrance of fresh jasmine and the honeyed sweetness of Mandara flowers. 89. Except fools and idiots, who will delight to wallow in the muddy waters of Dwaita, having once experienced the blissful shower of the Acharya’s words having Advaita as their import? Will one accustomed to put on fine silken dress, ever care to bear the disgusting burden of torn and foul-smelling rags? 90. One who has attained to an extreme refinement of understanding by exposure to the moonlight of the Acharya’s teachings will no more feel any interest in the good things of life. Milk and honey will be for him like salt, sugar like chilies, and sugar-cane, grapes and plantains like worthless stuff! 91. How could his words be so uncommonly sweet unless the sweetness residing in all sweet things in the world has gone to enrich it in some way or other-the sweetness of honey by sale, of grape by presentation, of milk as a religious gift, of sugar cane juice by extraction, and ambrosia by fear of theft? 92. So also where from did his words, so unique in their nobility and so transcendent in wisdom, derive their perpetual fragrance unless they have gathered it from all the sources of sweet smell-from camphor by loan, from musk deer by training, from jasmine by long association, from saffron by purchase, and from sandalwood by theft? 93. For long have I been accustomed to consume curd milk sugar-candy water and the juices of various fruits. But none of them come anywhere near the delectableness of Sankara’s words, before which even the heavenly nectar will lose its fame as the most delicious of all drinks. 94. A veritable shower of camphol solution to men scorched by the fierce heat of the fire of Sam sara, a long pearl necklace of great natural beauty adorning the goddess of Mukti, a swan shining in the wonderfully calm and joy-giving lake of Advaita-may Sankara’s nectarine words of such description bring purity and enlightenment to the minds of all! 95. Victory unto the creeper of Sankara’s noble teachings-the creeper which has grown in the bed of Vedanta (Upanishads), which is winding round the supporting palm of learned men, which is watered by the expositions of great disciples like Suresa, which is covered by the foliage of spiritual detachment and the floral wealth of enlightenment, and which yields an abundant harvest of the luscious fruits of immortality for the consumption of all spiritual seekers. 96. The teachings of Sankara constitute a mighty river whose sanctifying waters are the Upanishads, and whose torrential flow, sweeping away the pride of all dualistic thinkers, is irresistible like the heavenly river Ganga rushing from the matted locks of Siva with its waters overflowing its bank. 97. No praise is too much for his teachings, whose mighty waves, resembling those of the roaring milk ocean at the time of its churning by the Devas and Asuras, bathe the bodies of men scorched by the heat of the flames of Samsara, with their rejuvenating spray of ambrosial words. 98. The ‘white’ radiance of the Lord’s fame has come out victorious in its contest for supremacy with similar glories possessed by the silvery mountain, the milk ocean and the autumnal moon. 99. Lo! It looks that the moon, defeated in its contest with him for purity, is daily taking a plunge in the sea for washing off its dirt, and that finding the mark unerased still from its face, has gone into hiding in the matted locks of Siva ! 100. It looks that it is due to the ‘whiteness’ of Sankara’s fame spreading everywhere in the sky that we see the Dames of the Four Quarters beautifying themselves with all white ingredients-their braids with Mallika flower, their foreheads with white sandal paste Tilaka, and their chest with the white pearl necklace of stars. 101. The beauty of the moon of Sankara’s glory is far more fascinating and far reaching than that of the natural moon. Lo! See how the quarters seek to retain it in their lap always, how the stars try to reach it with their rays, how the sky kisses it ever in passionate love, how the heavenly Ganga embraces it always through reflection, how the inaccessible caves of Mount Lokaloka gleam with its rays, and how even the heart of Adisesha leaps with joy at its rise. 102. The radiant waves of the milk ocean of his fame laugh, as it were, with contempt at the silvery light of the moon, humble, the pride of the invigorating delectableness for which ambrosia is famous, and shatters the dense darkness of ignorance that overcasts the worlds. 103. The succession of the glorious achievements of this great Sannyasin excels in brilliance the rare gems that come out one after another from an elephant’s forehead when struck by the paws of a lion, and also compels overtures of friendship from the high and luminous waves that ceaselessly rise on the milk ocean stirred by the churning rod of Mandara mountain. 104. “O Cave of Lokaloka!”, said the blue lotus lake, “why are you sitting with an unusual sweetness on your face? Is it because you are absorbed in the joy of the company of your husband, the spreading moonlight of Sankara’s glory?” To which the Mountain Cave replied, with a counter-question, “Is there any cause different from that for the bloom on your face, o blue lotus-lake?” Thus did they exchange pleasantries at the expense of each other. 105. Like a storm scattering the lightweight cotton of controversialists loaded with their pride of learning, like the milk ocean of spiritual consciousness swelling at the moon-rise of wisdom everywhere, like the spreading rain clouds giving relief to people suffering in the forest-fire of Samsara, shines Sankara in all the glory of his unrivaled greatness. 106. It was only after a thorough test, by enlightened -scholars, of his proficiency in the Sastras, Smritis, Puranas, Itihasas like the Mahabharata and all other branches of knowledge, that he established his claim to be a ‘Master of all Learning’. 107. Even as he had acquired mastery of all learning, so had he attained to peace and purity through the reverential study and practice of the great teachings of Vyasa in the Brahma-sutras. 108. Though a denier of the reality of the world, unlike Brahma, its creator, Sankara still deserves to be called by Btahma’s appellation Chaturasya, one with four faces, because he, too, was in another sense a Chaturasya-one possessed of an impressive face. He also deserves to be called Purushottama, the noblest of beings, like Mahavishnu, though unlike Mahavishnu, who is always associated with a ‘Bhoga’, His serpent associate Adisesha, Sankara was an Abhogavan, one without any concern with worldly enjoyments. Like Siva he was one who had conquered cupid, though unlike Him, who is known as Virupaksha or one with queer eyes, Sankara was endowed with attractive eyes. Thus, a peer to the Trimurties, he was a unique personage deserving the allegiance of all the worlds. 109. Wise men admiring Sankara saw in him the very presence of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. For, they found in him the presence of the consorts of all these three-Brahma’s consort Saraswati in his face as great power of speech (Saraswati); Vishnu’s consorts Kshama (Earth-Goddess) and Sri (Lakshmi), as patience (Kshama) and as glory of form (Sri) in him; and Siva’s consort Arya (the Divine Mother) as the noble devotees (Aryas) worshiping at his feet. 110. The Truth of the Upanishads is self-existent and is not born of any human agency. just as Sita was not born of any human parentage. As Sita, devoted only to Rama, was abducted and in many ways persecuted by Ravana in the false garb of an ascetic, so did the Buddhist upholders of ‘the doctrine of momentariness’, putting on the false garb of monks, do violence to the great Upanishadic truths devoted exclusively to the Supreme Being. And just as Rama destroyed all the Rakshasas, the enemies of enlightened men, and rescued Sita-so did Sankara defeat the Buddhists, the traducers of the Vedas, and restore the Sita of Upanishadic truth to its pristine glory. Victory unto the great Sankara, the benefactor of the three worlds!