Kaladi

The town Kaladi is situated on the bank of Periyar River about 45 kilometers northwest to Cochin. It is the birthplace of Sripada Sankaracharya, the exponent of impersonal philosophy. He also built two temples in Kaladi. That is why Kaladi has become a place of pilgrimage for the impersonalists. One temple is called Dhakshina-Murti (Lord Siva) Temple and the other is called Goddess Saradha Temple. There is also an ancient Lord Krsna Temple, which comes in the family tradition of Sri Sankaracharya. The purpose of Sri Sankaracharya’s appearance was to drive away the Buddhism by preaching the impersonal philosophy. We have described the purpose of Sri Sankaracharya’s appearance in the introduction to our Bhagavad Gita (page-7) where Lord Siva talks to His wife Parvati in the Padma Purana.

Sri Sankaracharya was born in 788 AD and died in 820 AD. As he was born in the Brahmana family, he joined in a Sanskrit school in Trichur at about 28 kilometers away from Kaladi. Being poor he would usually beg food from others. His father had died in his early childhood therefore he was fully dependent on his mother. Once while begging alms, he approached a house where he was greeted by a young but a poor lady. Seeing Sankaracharya on her door and had nothing to give him, she felt very hurt in her heart and gave him an amalaki fruit, a pungent fruit available in India. At the time Sankaracharya quoted a verse in prayer to Lakshmi Devi to reward sufficient wealth to the lady. This lady had an amalaki tree in her house upon which marry amalaki fruits hang. By the prayer of Sankaracharya, all the amalaki fruits turned into golden amalaki and thus she became prosperous.

While Sankaracharya was in his young age his mother became very old. She wanted Sankara too marry but Sankara wanted to take ascetic life (sanyasa). Since his mother would never grant him such permission, he made a trick. One day, when Sankaracharya was bathing, as he did daily with his mother in the river Periyar, Sankaracharya, as he was an incarnation of Lord Siva, mystically created a crocodile who caught his foot. By that time his mother had bathed and was on the bank putting on her clothes. The crocodile was pulling Sankara deep into the river and he cried out to his mother for help. His mother, being old in age, could not do anything but cried out for the Lord for help. Hearing this, Sankaracharya said, “Mother, if you allow me to take sanyasa, this crocodile will surely leave me, otherwise it will surely kill me.” Seeing no alternative, his mother granted the permission saying, “You can take sanyasa.” As soon as she said this the crocodile immediately disappeared. The scriptures prove that Sankaracharya is an incarnation of Lord Siva therefore he was able to create scriptures prove that Sankaracharya is an incarnation of Lord Siva therefore he was able to create such artificial crocodile circumstance. When he found himself freed from his mother he left her mother with a promise that he would return for her funeral.

Sankaracharya accepted Sri Govinda as his guru and took sanyasa at the age of seven. His guru ordered him to go to Banaras and study Sanskrit. After mastering in Sanskrit, Sankaracharya gave an impersonal commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, Vedanta Sutra, and on ten Upanisads naming as Sariraka Bhasya. He established four mathas which we had discussed under Orissa. In the north he established Jyotir-Math at Badrinath, in the west Saradha-Math at Dwaraka, in the east Govardhana Math at Puri and in the south Sringeri Math at Rameswaram. By his powerful teachings, he drove out Buddhism from India. He preached throughout India and his real mission was to re-establish the Vedas, because Lord Buddha had removed the Vedas from the public by criticizing them.