Friday, December 09, 2005

Shloka on Sankaracharya Bhagavadpada


sruti smriti purananam alayam karunalayam
namami bhagavatpadam sankaram loka sankaram

I salute the divine feet of the great Sankara,
the repository of sacred scriptures,
an abode of immense compassion,
who ever accomplishes the good of the world

Taken from the preface of The Vivekachudamani of Sankaracharya Bhagavatpada: An Introduction and Translation by John A. Grimes. John Grimes, begins the Vivekachudamani with the following Shloka:

Sarva-vedanta-siddanta-gocharam tam agocaram
govindam paramanandam sad-gurum pranto'smy aham


This is what Grimes says about the invocation Shloka:

Traditionally, Indian philosophical treatises begin with an invocation to God and/or one's Guru. Sankara, in this invocation, igeniously, insighfully and subtly reveals the non-duality of Advaita even as he offers his obeisance simultaneously to both God and Guru. He was able to do this because, one of the names for God is Govinda and the name of Sankara's Guru was algo Govinda. Intriguingly, this stanza simultaneously admits both interpretations. Underlying this play of language is the insight that God, Guru and the goal of life for the individual are not different; they are the same.

3 comments:

PS Prasad Warrier said...

This verse dedicated to Adi-Shankara vibrates today as heard from the voice of my Guru " Swami Sukhabodananda " and wish to hear and repeat the same before commencing my activities.

udnis said...

Request a slogam
Sree bhagawath pada virudhavali.
It starts with first and second stansas are:
Patupatahaberikalabangala katal kanussana veenas venumbrudhanga disakala vadhya vindha!
Nikilavadhya gosha shravana kandhi sheeka vimatha brundha koLahala! Parak swamin(1)
Jaya govinda bhagawath pada padhabja shatpada jaya jeeva parabedhabha vadhooka jagadhguro.
Jaya bo bowdha pashanda vidhvamsana vichakshana jaya vedantha sidhantha sidhanjana mahamathe!... Parak swamin (2)
These are in Sanskrit I transcripted.
Please get me this slogam.

udnis said...

Further stansas!
Nithyannadhanala samana ganapadhana ganapadhana brushavismaya manaloka;
Bakthi prakarsha paripoojitha Chandra chooda karunyalabdha nikilaabi matharthasidhe......parak swamin(3)
Prasthana toorya patahana kashangaberibambamninadha bagireekrutha dikthateeka;
Abhyarna desha vinaman Nikilavaneendhra moordhanyaratna ruchiranjitha manjulangre.... Parak swamin(4)
.....
Further 4 stansas are there the words printing I couldn't read due to old printing.
Please try to obtain this slogam.
Hari Om