Nourish Your Soul: Inspirations from and Lives of Great Saints
By Swami Mukundananda
Rupa Publications, 240 pages, Rs. 395

There is a well known discourse delivered by Osho Rajneesh. He said he was asked by renowned Hindi poet Sumitranand Pant to name 12 great stars in the firmament of Indian spirituality. He names the dozen, gives a short introduction to each of them, and then goes on to reduce the list (“If I were to name only six of them … only three of them…”).

In a new book, we have an introduction to 11 Great Souls, saints and seers of Hinduism:

* Meerabai
* Adi Shankaracharya
* Soordas
* Tukaram
* Kabirdas
* Ravidas
* Andal
* Ramanujacharya
* Purandara Dasa
* Vallabhacharya
* Tyagaraja

The book comes from Swami Mukundananda, who divides his time between India and the US. He is a world-renowned spiritual teacher, an authority on mind management, and a bestselling author who earned his degrees from the prestigious IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta. His latest book, ‘Nourish Your Soul: Inspirations from and Lives of Great Saints’, is a humble tribute to these eleven remarkable saints who embodied the eternal Truths of the scriptures.

It may surprise us to know that saints too faced challenges much similar to ours—financial crises, health problems, bitter relatives, and so on. Yet, it was precisely in bearing these adversities with steadfast faith and unflinching devotion that they became guiding lights for us.
 
This unique compilation of teachings will continue to provide spiritual guidance for generations to come.

Here is an excerpt from the short essay on a great saint:

Adi Shankaracharya

In the rich spiritual lineage of Bharat, Adi Shankaracharya has been one of the most influential Vedic philosophers and Acharyas. He is considered by many as the saviour of the Sanatan Dharma in his times. In addition to writing many sacred works and commentaries, he also established 10 sanyas sampradayas that continue even today. Appreciating the importance of his life and works requires an insight into the socio-religious situation prevailing at that time.

After Shree Krishna closed His pastimes on the earth, Kali yug began. With the passage of time, religious practices were degraded. People were committing animal sacrifices in the name of yajnas. They were misinterpreting the holy books and had become mired in rituals. This was when the Buddha appeared and preached his gospel of compassion and purity of thought. He taught Dharma and Sangha but not devotion to God.

In due course, however, the vigour and purity of the Buddha’s teachings were forgotten. His followers made huge viharas and began worshipping the Buddha as God. They evolved specious logic to defend their ideologies. To add to the confusion, Buddhist tantrism grew in popularity, with its many yanas, such as Vajra-yana, Sahaj-yana, Guhya Samaja-yana, and Kalachakra-yana.

Since Buddhism had become the state religion, followers of Vedic dharma were reduced to a minority. Those who remained were divided into fanatic and quarrelling sects. Adherents of Saṅkhya, Nyāya, and Vaiśheṣhika propounded their dry logic, while ignoring the practice. Followers of Mimansa restricted themselves to karm kanḍ, believing the celestial abodes as the highest attainment. Other denominations, such as the Kapalikas, Pancharatras, Ganapatyas, Pashupatas, Kalamukhas, Tantrikas, and Kaulas asserted bizarre and even atheistic views. Their internecine quarrels disillusioned people from the lofty ideals of Hinduism.

Spiritual wisdom was thus conspicuous by its absence. Needless to state, Hinduism had reached its lowest ebb, and there was an urgent need for its revival before it collapsed into oblivion. It was at this time that Adi Shankaracharya appeared. His teachings of non-dualism charmed the Buddhist philosophers back into the fold of Hinduism. With masterful commentaries on the Vedic scriptures, not only did he reconstruct faith in people’s hearts and reestablish the glorious position of the eternal Vedas but also united society around common values and principles. Thus, the great Acharya course-corrected the journey of countless souls.

[...]

The Teacher of Advaita
In Varanasi, also popularly known as Kashi, the Acharya began accepting disciples and training them to be instruments in his work. Among them was Sananda, who later became known as Padmapada. Two other well-known students were Trotakacharya and Hastamalak.

Spirituality is often perceived as a pursuit to be practised on a mountainside. However, Shankaracharya was determined to bring it to the villages, towns, and cities of Bharat. In his digvijayi yatra (victory journey) across the nation, he tirelessly strived to infuse Vedic wisdom into the hearts of all. With utmost compassion, he raised the consciousness of all who cared to hear him.

People spend their entire life chasing money, palatial houses, power, and fame. However, in his famous Prashnavali, Shankaracharya questions the nature of success:

jagad jitam kena? ‘Who shall conquer the world?’

He then provides his deeply spiritual answer:

mano hi yena ‘One who conquers the mind.’

So much to gain from so few words of Shankaracharya! We all wish to upgrade our lives, but we do not realize that our mind contributes the most to our life’s experiences. It creates our perceptions of happiness and distress. If it goes astray, it robs our inner joy, dragging us into a cesspool of miserable thoughts and feelings. But if effectively trained, the mind becomes our biggest resource for optimism, contentment, determination, and joyfulness. The wonder is that 2000 years ago, Shankaracharya emphasized the science of mind management as the most useful skill in life.

Shankaracharya condensed the entire Advaita philosophy in his Brahma Jnanavali Mala with the statement: brahma satyam jaganmithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ It means God is the Absolute Reality; the world of maya is an illusion; the individual soul is non-different from God.

To validate it, Shankara quoted: aham brahmāsmi, the famous mahavakya from the Brihadaranyak Upanishad. It means ‘I am one with the Almighty’.

The Vaishnav acharyas who followed Shankaracharya explained that the mantra does not mean the soul itself is God. Rather, as one’s hand is one with the body, and as the leaves are one with the tree, similarly, the soul is also one with God.

In fact, Shankaracharya also states the same in his Vishnu Shatpadi Stotram:

satyapi bhedāpagame nātha tavāham na māmakīnastvam
sāmudro hi taraṅgaḥ kvachana samudro na tāraṅgaḥ (verse 3)

‘O Lord! It is true that You and I are one; and yet, there is a difference. Just as waves arise from the ocean, not the other way around, likewise, we have emanated from You, not You from us.’

Masterful Writings of Knowledge and Devotion
At Kashi, the Acharya began writing books. These became a legacy for the future. Their impact was compounded by his mastery over Sanskrit and powerful writing style. By the age of 16, he had finished writing his major treatises. His wealth of knowledge was reflected starting from his first commentary on Vishnu Sahasranam to his later expositions on Bhagavad Gita, the 11 Upanishads, and the Brahma Sutras. These latter three together came to be known as Prasthān Trayī (three gateways of knowledge).

His other important works expounding on the fundamentals of Advaita Vedanta philosophy include the Vivek Chudamani, Atma Bodha, Aparoksha Anubhuti, Atma-Anatma Vivek, Drig-Drishya Vivek, Vaakya Vritti, Sanat Sujatiya, and Upadesh Sahasri.

Shankaracharya’s Jagannathashtakam, Pandurangashtakam, and Krishnashtakam are some of the best poems in Indian literature. They describe the beauty of Shree Krishna and His various Forms. These compositions convey that unless a soul remembers Krishna, it will continue to rotate in the cycle of birth and death. His popular lines often sung during the famous Jagannath Rath Yatra are:

jagannāthaḥ swāmī nayana patha gāmī bhavatu me

‘O Lord of the universe, when will You become visible to my eyes?’

His compositions are famous even today in the arena of Carnatic music and find beautiful expressions in traditional dance forms, such as Odissi, Kuchipudi, and Bharatnatyam. In this way, Shankaracharya truly inspired souls for millennia on the path of spirituality.

The Acharya also composed innumerable meditative hymns, such as Saundarya Lahari, Shivananda Lahari, Nirvana Shatakam, and more. All of these are matchless in sweetness, melody, and thought.

[The excerpt reproduced with the permission of the publishers.]