Adi Shankaracharya, Wonders of His Childhood

Adi Shankaracharya, Wonders of His Childhood

by | May 18, 2025 | Scripture

Adaptations and Excerpts from “The Life of Adi Shankaracharya” from Amritapuri.org

In Amritapuri, the scripture classes given by Brahmachari Atmaprakash Chaitanya are very cherished among the ashram residents. Amrita Virtual Academy also offers a wide variety of scriptural courses and retreats, which students love.

In Sanatana Dharma, Sri Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian Vedic scholar, philosopher and teacher of Advaita Vedanta. His illuminating commentaries are studied very deeply even today. To bring you closer to this great commentator on the Vedic scriptures, we would like to share a few miraculous and legendary stories from the childhood of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. Enjoy!

 


The Young Renunciate: Embracing Sannyasa at Age Eight

When he was five years old, Shankara was initiated into Vedic study. At just eight years old, he was burning with the desire for liberation. Shankara shared with his mother his wish to become a sannyasi. She was reluctant to give him her permission and blessings. However, one day, when he accompanied his mother for a bath in the river, a crocodile caught hold of his leg and started dragging him. His mother could only stand and watch helplessly. Then Adi Shankaracharya called out to his mother, asking her to permit him to become a sannyasi at least during these last moments of his life. She agreed, and miraculously the crocodile let go of Shankara’s leg. To console his mother, he promised her that he would come back to her at the time of her death and perform the last rites.

Soon after that he left home in search of his guru. He walked about 2000 kilometers to the banks of the river Narmada. There he met the sannyasi who was to become his guru, Govinda Bhagavadpada (also known as Govindapada). According to the legend, when Govinda Bhagavadpada asked Shankara for his identity, the child started chanting a spontaneous composition of 10 Sanskrit verses (today referred to as the Dasa Sloki), in which he illustrated the depth of his wisdom and inner experience. He was immediately accepted as a disciple.

 


Foundational Years: The Path from Eight to Sixteen

He stayed there serving his guru for four years. Under his teacher’s compassionate guidance, the young Shankaracharya mastered all the Vedic scriptures.

At the age of twelve, his guru said that Shankara was ready to write commentaries on major scriptural texts. At his guru’s command, Shankara wrote commentaries explaining the subtle meanings hidden in the teachings of the scriptures. At the age of sixteen, he finished writing, having completed writing all the major treatises.

Sri Adi Shankaracharya went traveling by foot, across ancient India bringing the life-giving message of the Vedas to the hearts of the masses. “Brahman, Pure Consciousness, is the Absolute Reality. The world is unreal. This is the correct understanding of the sastra —the thundering declaration of Vedanta ” 

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः।

अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः॥ (ब्रह्मज्ञानावलीमाला)

 


Legends of Shankaracharya


Shower of Golden Fruits

Before he was eight, as a young brahmachari (a celibate student, studying under a master’s guidance), the young Shankara went to a house to beg for his daily food. The hostess was a kind but very poor lady. All she could give him was a small amalaki, goose-berry fruit. Shankara was deeply touched by the sincerity of this poor lady and he invoked Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth) by singing spontaneously the Kanakadhara Stotra The legend has it that the Goddess showered golden amalaki fruits into the house.

 

Changing the Course of the Purna River

Shankara’s mother used to go a long way every day to take her bath in the Purna River. One day the young Shankara found her lying unconscious, due to exhaustion. He prayed to the Lord and the next morning the river started flowing by the side of his house.

 

Guru Govindapada’s Blessings

During the rainy season, the river Narmada was in spate, flowing rapidly and heavier than usual. The floodwaters rose and were about to enter the cave in which his Guru was sitting, deeply immersed in samadhi. His disciples did not dare to disturb him, though his life was in danger. Then Shankaracharya placed his kamandalu (water pot) at the entrance of the cave saying that it would absorb all the waters of the flood. His words came true. The floodwaters could not disturb his Guru’s meditation. Guru Govindapada blessed him saying, “Just as you contained the floodwaters in your kamandalu, you should write commentaries containing the essence of the Vedantic scriptures. By this work, you will gain eternal glory.”

 

Final Rites of His Mother

Shankaracharya was somewhere in North India when he came to know of his mother’s impending death.  By using his yogic powers, he travelled through the air to reach her quickly. At her request, he granted her divine visions.

When he tried to arrange the cremation of his mother’s body, his relatives refused to help him on the grounds that as a sannyasi he was not permitted to perform funeral rites. Normally this would have been a serious setback as a cremation involves rituals, which would require physical assistance by a few people. So Shankaracharya performed a miracle. He made a funeral pyre out of plantain stalks. After placing the body on the pyre he took some water and after chanting a few mantras he sprinkled the water on the pyre. Immediately the pyre caught fire. Thus he was able to complete the funeral rites without help.

 

 

Thanks to Tanmayi for collecting these inspiring legends from the Amritapuri website and making them available for Amrita Virtual Academy students.

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Source article: https://www.amritapuri.org/40614/shankaracharya.aum

Source graphics: https://arisebharat.com/2015/05/01/sri-adi-shankara-some-incidents/

Pongal Festival – It’s Meaning and Significance

Pongal Festival – It’s Meaning and Significance

by | Jan 11, 2022 | Ecology

Pongal is celebrated the day on which the sun begins to move northwards is called ‘Makar Shankranti’. In Tamil Nadu this festival is called the Pongal or Thai Pongal. The period is referred to as Uttarayanam and is considered auspicious. Pongal is a four-day festival.

The first day, Bhogi, is celebrated on the last day of the month of Margazhi. On this day, people decorate their homes. New vessels are bought and clean up home and environment.

The second day is Perum Pongal, is the most important. People worship Surya, the Sun God. Women decorate the central courtyard of their homes with beautiful kolams, done with rice flour and bordered with red clay. The Pongal payasam is cooked in the early morning during the sunrise, exactly at the moment when the new month is born.

The third day is Mattu Pongal, celebrated to glorify cattle that help farmers in a myriad ways. On this day, the cows are bathed and decorated with vermilion and garlands and fed.

The last day is Kaanum Pongal. It is that part of the festival when families used to gather on the riverbanks and have a sumptuous meal. It is also time for some traditional dances such as kummi and kolattam. Special prayers are offered by women for the well-being of their brothers.

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Pongal ushers in the New Year in Tamil Nadu. Newly-harvested grains are cooked for the first time on that day. Joyous festivities mark the celebration in every home. The poor are fed and clothed. On the next day, the cow is worshipped, and birds and animals are fed.

Amma says “For me there is no creator and creations. Like the ocean and the waves, they are all one and the same. God is in the people or in the world, and the world is in the people. It is love that transforms into worship. Even nature is part of God. That is why we have temples even for insignificant creatures such as lizards, trees and poisonous snakes. We have ‘Mattu Pongal’, we worship the cattle. We need them for cultivation. It is a form of thanksgiving to the entire creation as that is the power that sustains life.”

The Sun is worshipped as the embodiment and source of Life-Force, without which we could not be. Payasam is offered to the sun seeking his blessings, and then eaten as prasad; the second day, animals are venerated, usually through the worship of a representative cow, which again is offered sweet payasam; the third day sees the family relations worshipped, of course through more offering of payasam, and, more importantly, through the coming together of family members. If there have been arguments or miscommunications in the family, this is the day when the air is cleared and hearts are opened. It can be a very healing time, restoring a deep relationship with the Universe, Mother Nature and one another. Through this festival, the Creation is recognized as the miraculous divine blessing it truly is.

“Pongal” means “to oveflow.”

Amma also explained an interesting point about the intelligence behind this kind of worship, saying that it is not superstitious, but in fact very practical. During this particular festival for example, the tradition of cooking payasam and allowing it to boil over is observed all over South India. This overflowing of sweetness represents the Prema (Divine Love) that should overflow from our hearts towards all of Creation. Amma continued with a remarkable point. She said that the steam rising from the rice, jaggery, cardamom and other spices being boiled in so many households and mixed with the smoke from the firewood traditionally used, actually creates a special medicinal combination that has a very beneficial effect on the atmosphere. The collective observance of this and similar practices has a positive effect on both the ‘mental environment’, as well as the weather, climate and harmony of Nature in general. This is just one aspect of the subtle wisdom underlying these simple, elegant customs.

“Pongal means ‘to overflow.’ The time when humankind’s love for nature and nature’s love for humankind overflow—that is Pongal. Human beings make nature happy by having good thoughts and doing good actions. Nature blesses humankind with a bountiful harvest. When the universal mind and the individual mind overflow and become one—that is what Pongal is symbol of.

“Matru-devo bhava, Pitr-devo bhava, acharya-devo bhava atithi-devo bhava—‘May you see your mother as God, your father as God, your teacher as God, your guests as God’—this is what Sanatana Dharma teaches us. Respect everything, worship everything. Why? Because there is nothing other than God. May this Pongal Festival be an opportunity for you to you to instill this culture and God deeply within and spread it without.

“Festivals are, in fact for everyone living in the area. Even people working far away will return home in order to participate. Everyone will sit together, eat together and remember old times together. On such occasions, we experience the joy and exuberance that occur when hearts come together. These festivals are sacred moments that help us to establish love and unity and nourish our relationships.

(Repost from Amritapuri.org)