Hastamalakam I
ADI SANKARAR’S FIVE QUESTIONS
At the end of the
marathon debate with Adi Sankarar in the city of
Proceeding on
his journey through the region now known as Karnataka, Adi Sankarar camped in a
village called Srivali, where a resident Prabhakara by name called on him along with his 13-year-old
son who had been without speech for the previous 11 years. When a
child, the boy had fallen into a river and was resuscitated by a yogi.
The child, however, seemed to have lost his speech thereafter. He was always
contented and happy and carried out instructions like an automaton. The
grieving father pointed out, “See, Sir, I asked him to prostrate at your feet
and he is still lying on the ground in that position. He would get back to his
feet only when specifically told to do so”.
Listening to
the account, Adi Sankarar, in a flash deduced the actual condition of the boy.
He himself lifted the lad and looking into his eyes addressed him kindly: “Who
are you standing in front of me now? Whose son are you? Whither are you bound?
What is your name? Where indeed have you come from? Answer me in a manner to
gladden my heart”.
The boy, who
had been dumb for 11 long years broke into a torrent of spontaneous poetry and in 13
four-lined verses, he revealed his real identity as the Absolute, the One
without a second. The Self stood explained as clearly as a berry (nellikkai) held in the palm of one’s hand. The berry
is called amla and the hand is hasta in the Sanskrit language. Overjoyed at the boy’s exposition, Adi
Sankarar himself gave the title Hastamalakam to the collection of the
boy’s poem. The lad was also named Hastamalakan and Adi Sankarar did him the honour of authoring a commentary on the work called Hastamalakiyam.
Today we are
taking up this unique scripture for our study and the copy of poems in your
hand is a masterly translation provided by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi. Are we
not twice-blessed?
Prima facie,
the queries put by Adi Sankarar could be answered with the bio-data of the boy;
but that would have been an exercise in redundancy. And that was not what the
Master wanted. The questions were cardinal in nature and so merited a profound
reply. That was what the boy proceeded to deliver in accordance with the
bidding that the answer should be in a manner ‘to gladden’ the Preceptor’s
heart. As Ramana Maharishi has said, a diligent disciple is one who is alert
even to a look from the Master. Hastamalakan was a model for Guru-bhakti and no wonder, he was eminently deserving of the
Master’s Grace.
Hastamalakan’s father Prabhakara
was overjoyed on listening to his son speaking and after paying obeisance to
Adi Sankarar he took the boy home. He came back on the next day to report
disconsolately that the son had resumed his total silence on leaving the
presence of Adi Sankarar. The Master told the father, “Your son will not be of
any use to you, don’t you see? Leave him here as my disciple and return with
the proud thought that your offspring is to be of service to the whole of
humanity”.
The five
seminal questions were put by Adi Sankarar not merely to the tongue-tied boy
before him, but to all of us seekers, enmeshed that we are to various degrees
in the coils of the world-process.
By the first
two questions, “Who are you standing in front of me?” and “Whose son are you?”
the message that is sought to be conveyed is, “you are not the badges that you
sport. A professional actor on the drama-stage knows and is never unaware of
the fact that despite all the make-up on him, he is in reality neither monarch
nor mendicant but an ordinary citizen like any member of the audience and the
role he dons is only for a brief duration and that too for the sake of
livelihood. Are you less intellectual than an artiste that you should want to
be known by your adjuncts or upadhis? Minus these upadhis, what or who are you? Have you ever paused to
ponder over this?
By the
question, “What is your name?” it is made clear, ‘For the purpose of
introducing yourself, do not be content with chanting “Abhivadhayae”
which is but a tutored ritual. You have responded to many names in the past and
your present name was thrust on you a few days after your birth. If you are not
your continuously changing roopam (form)
neither are you your naamam (name). Your form
and name are no different from your dress’.
By the
remaining two questions, “Whither are you bound?” and “Where did you come
from?” it is pointed out that worldly life is akin to a journey with the Earth
being a chatram. Any journey should have a
purpose and a destination. Have you identified these and are you heading in the
right direction?
The five
questions are elaborated before each one of you and you should touch your heart
and come out with appropriate answers. After you do this homework we shall see
the replies given by that inspired lad Hastamalakan who proved to the world
that Realisation can be attained to by anyone born on
this Earth, simply by virtue of the seeker being a human being endowed with the
sixth sense to which all that is required as additive and catalyst is spiritual
earnestness.
— Excerpt from Sage TGN’s Talk on Hastamalakam