What can one of the greatest saints in the world, Shankaracharya, learn from a humble Chandala and his four dogs? Before we dive deep into the situation in which Adi Shankaracharya met the Chandala, let’s examine the situations in his life that led him to this meeting.
Adi Shankara is the most influential saint to walk this planet. I was surprised to learn some of the spiritual titans I admire, including Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, and the wandering Naga Sadhus, are all connected to the Adi Shankaracharya. Sri Ramakrishna’s guru was Totapuri, who belonged to the Puri Sampradaya, one of the ten orders of monks established by Shankaracharya. Similarly, many Naga Sadhus belong to different sects established by Adi Shankara.
The Background for Adi Shankara’s Mission
A few hundred years ago, before Adi Shankara was born, the Buddhist influence in India had reached its zenith and was starting to wane. Bhav Viveka, an extraordinary Buddhist monk and a follower of Nagarjuna, has written a scholarly work criticizing Sankhya and Vedanta as incoherent philosophies by taking sections of texts from different areas such as Vedas, Upanishads, and Purush Suktams. If we were to examine Bhav Viveka’s work, we would agree with him because Indian philosophy had these different streams of work presenting intuitive truths, but they were not logically presented. The connecting links between different systems were not clearly highlighted.
Shankara’s Contribution
The most significant contribution that Adi Shankara made was to organize these systems into a coherent and systematic framework. The challenge Adi Shankara faced is best highlighted by a quote from Swami Tapasyanda, a monk of the Ramakrishna order.
“He Shankaracharya inherited two great dilapidated castles. Buddhism was in decline and Purva Mimasa”.
Purva Mimamsa is a hermeneutical system based on the Karma Kanda — rituals and meditations of Vedas and was a system for the interpretation of Vedas. Purva Mimamsa claimed that all of the Vedas were connected to rituals. If you find anything in the Vedas unrelated to rituals, they become useless. Hence, according to Purva Mimamsa, Upanishads were not meant to describe the nature of the self but were ancillary to the system.
Shankaracharya came on as a young adult and took on this system of thought. In his commentary on the Isha Upanishad, he writes that of the 40 chapters in the Shukla Yajur Veda, the Purva Mimasa folks can keep 39 chapters because they deal with rituals, but the 40th chapter on Isha Upanishad belongs to the Advaita Vedanta sect or the Uttara Mimamsa.
Adi Shankaracharya then says that the Upanishads have nothing to do with rituals, and it reveals the non-dual reality of the self, namely “Aham Bhramasmi.” He excelled in harmonizing the contributions of all the stalwarts that preceded him and creating an easy way to understand the Upanishads. That system is extremely relevant today because when atheists like Christopher Hitchins or Sam Harris use science to attack religion, Advaitha Vedanta, harmonized by Shankaracharya, stands tall because it’s a system of reason, not belief.
The Meeting with the Chandala
This young monk who is challenging the current order is walking through the streets of Kashi with his devotees when they see a Chandala and his dogs. The exchange between them is recorded in Shankara Digvijaya — the biography of Shankaracharya.
When Adi Shankaracharya was performing mid-day ablution at Ganga in Kashi, a Chandala and his four dogs came in his way. Shankara asked the Chandala to move away from him since Chandalas were considered untouchables and dealt with the disposal of dead bodies.
The Chandala’s response completely shook Shankaracharya. I am presenting a summary in this article. You can read the whole text here.
The Upanishads describe the Supreme Being as non-dual, faultless, unattached, and ever-present. Some (ascetics ) hold the stick and wooden pot in their hand, wear the saffron robes on their body and speak beautifully. However, they have no actual knowledge and cheat the world.
Oh learned man, you said, ‘go away from my path.’ Were these words addressed to the body or the soul, which is separate from the body? If you meant the body, can there be any difference between two bodies developed with material food? What is the difference between the formation of one body and another when both of them are only the altered forms of the five senses? “How did you entertain the idea of differentiation between a brahmin and a chandala which could not exist in the Supreme Being?
“Oh, the greatest among sages, how did the ego arise in you to tell me, ‘I am a pure Brahman, you are untouchable? Even after obtaining the knowledge capable of leading to salvation, people get a desire to gain control over all other people; Alas! Even great saints get immersed in the illusions of the Lord, who is the greatest among the magicians.
Shankara’s reply is called Maneesha Panchakam and tells the Chandala that now that he has demonstrated supreme knowledge of the Brahman, he can no longer be considered untouchable.
In the waking, dream and deep sleep states, That which is their Illuminator, by which one comes to know and understand things
From the Creator down to the ant, that which is the very spark of life in them; the witness of the entire universe
That alone am I, and not the objects that are “seen”, firmly established in this Consciousness — if there is such a person,
be he a Chandala or be he a Brahmana, such a one indeed is worthy of being a Guru. This is my firm conviction.
At this point, the narratives significantly differ. The official narrative claims that Chandala and his dogs turned in Shiva with the crescent moon and the four Vedas. Another narrative claims that people have missed the whole point of the story by equating the Chandala to Shiva because you then argued that a low-cast Chandala could never have such supreme knowledge.
It does not matter if the Chandala was self-realized or was Lord Shiva himself. I just urge you to remember that when you read about Shiva or worship him remember that he did not sit in palaces. He roamed in cemeteries, lived in the mountains, and the ganas rejected by everyone were his followers and best friends. You cannot realize Shiva without seeing him in everyone.
Let me leave you with a song that Adi Shankara composed for Shiva.
Oh Glorious One, You are my Self, my mind is your mountain range, my breaths are your companions, my body is your temple, whatever I enjoy or create are offerings to You, sleep is my samādhi. When I walk, I go around You, all my speech is Your praise, whatever I do, all that is an offering to You.
Adi Shankaracharya
One of the most beautiful ways to express devotion to Lord Shiva is to do Abhishekam or Vedic Sadhana. I highly recommending using the free Vedic Sadhana app to deepen your relationship with Lord Shiva.
