Totakacharya

Totakacharya (IAST "IAST|Toţakācārya") (c. 8th century CE) was a disciple of Adi Shankara, the Advaita philosopher. He was made the first Jagadguru ("head") of the Jyotirmatha Peetham, the matha founded by Adi Shankara in Badrinath.

Meeting Adi Shankara

The IAST|Mādhavīya Śaṃkaravijayam states that when Adi Shankara was at Sringeri, he met a boy named Giri. Adi Shankara accepted the boy as his disciple. Giri was a hard-working and loyal servant of his Guru, Adi Shankara, though he did not appear bright to the other disciples. One day, Giri was washing his Guru's clothes, when Adi Shankara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedanta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores. At this, Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that it would be the same if Adi Shankara taught to this dumb object as he taught to Giri. Now, Adi Shankara wanted to reward Giri for his loyalty and devotion. Thus he mentally granted Giri the complete knowledge of all the śāstras ("sciences"). The enlightened Giri composed extempore the Totakashtakam, a Sanskrit poem in the "toţaka" metre, in praise of the Guru Adi Shankara. Thus the dumb disciple Giri became Totakacharya.

Works

*Śrutisārasamuddharaņa — Published edition: Edited with a commentary titled Girisambhutaratna, by Swami Vidyananda Giri, Sri Kailash Ashrama, Rishikesh, 1972
*Toţakāşţakam

ee also

*Adi Shankara
*Advaita Vedanta

References

*Madhava Vidyaranya, Sankara-Digvijaya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2002, ISBN 81-7120-434-1. Purchase online at [http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/books/elist.asp?ProductType=MA15 www.sriramakrishnamath.org]