The Glory of the Supreme Illuminator ("Vastu prakāśa," Nāma Ghoṣā 371-75)

 bastu-prakāśa

harināma rase, baikuṇṭha prakāśe
prema-amṛtara nadī .

śrīmanta śaṅkare, pāra bhāṅi dilā

bahe brahmāṇḍaka bhedi .. 371

gowindara prema, amṛtara nadī

bahe baikuṇṭhara parā .

cāri puruṣārtha, tāhāra nijharā

harināma mūla dhārā .. 372

haribhakti dāna, diẏā jagataka

tārilā saṃsāra sindhu .

henaẏa kṛpālu, śaṅkara bināi

nāhi nāhi āra bandhu .. 373

hari bhakatira, pātilanta hāṭa

śaṅkare jagata juri .

rāmanāma ratna, behāẏā jagate

calaẏa baikuṇṭha purī .. 374

śrīmanta śaṅkara, hari bhakatara

jānā yena kalpataru .

tāhānta bināẏa, nā-i nā-i nā-i

āmāra parama guru .. 375

The Glory of the Supreme Illuminator

The nectar-flavored joy emanating from the Dispeller of Suffering’s glories forms in Nescienceless City

a river of nectarine love.

Sankara, endowed with the Lord’s evolutive power, has broken its embankments

and it now flows down, piercing the entire creation. 371

The river of nectar-love, of the Chief of Sensory Receptors,

flows down from Vaikuntha.

The four purposes of human life—they are its waterfalls;

Hari’s glory is the principal stream. 372

Giving the gift of pure devotion to Hari, he has enabled

the entire world to cross the ocean of births and deaths.

Apart from such a compassionate Sankara,

we do not have any other friend. 373

Sankara has established, all throughout the world,

the market of Hari-bhakti.

Doing trade in the gem of Rama nama, the entire world

now goes to the city of Vaikuntha. 374

Srimanta Sankara is the wish-fulfilling    tree, know,

of the pure devotees of Hari.

Apart from him, we have no other, no other, no other (shelter);

he is our supreme illuminator. 375

[Translation done on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Śaṅkaradeva (05-10-2022).]

The Offering of Respect: A Translation of a Passage from the Nama Ghosa

The Offering of Respect (namaskara)

I salute you, Krsna, my Lord; since I am a sinner, nobody
says ‘you are mine’ to me.
Knowing that you are the purifier of the fallen, in you
I have become sold, on my own account. 191
Salutations  to that Great Remover of All Sin whose two lotus-like feet
are the dirtless ocean of pure happiness;
who is the origin-less supreme personality, ever-present across all time and space, who is the supreme truth and always beneficient and kind,
who is the possessor of all opulences and who removes the cycle of existence. 192
Delusion, nescience, passion; arrogance, dirt and lust;
hypocrisy, hatred and other such feelings; that venerable preceptor in whom all these are not present,
I bow down and salute his feet. 193
Victory to you, O Lord of the Yadus, the preserver of the organs of knowledge, the Chief of the Cows,
Yadu’s descendant, Lord of Primal Matter, the actuator of the material entities;
O pure devotees' treasure, the life of the embodied lives,
I bow down and do obeisance at your feet. 194
Salutations to you, O the one forever joyous, the supreme cause of the creation,
the immanent residence of the world, possessor of all opulences;
salutations to you who are ever-existent, pure, enlightened; who are the fulfiller of desire, the unobstructed one,
the supreme pure personality, the master, the one ever-present in time and space. 195
O Rama, the unstained one, the destroyer of the demons,
the delighter of the devotees, supreme deity!
Only you are the supreme preceptor, O the shelter of all embodied personalities!
At your feet I do service. 196

The Supreme Importance of the Guru in Sankaradeva's System

The human body, as we have indicated in a previous blog post, is an instrument for realizing pure devotion (bhakti) and, as a by-product of it, salvation (mukti). It is an instrument for educating oneself regarding the true nature of reality--about the external (material) world as well as our own selves--and for feeling the grace of the Lord. For the embodied pure-personality (jiva) to finally take sole-refuge (eka-sarana) in Him and lead a life of pure devotion to God. From an evolutionary perspective, the human body is the most appropriate accompaniment to the transcendental person, now fallen into the material world, for the development of his highest consciousness.
But mere presence of the human body, although it supplies the congenial environment, would not automatically guarantee the obtaining of the saving knowledge of devotion by the jiva. An external teacher is required in order to educate the jiva and to color his mind with devotion and to connect him to Paramatma, the indwelling preceptor. This requirement is fulfilled by the entity known as Guru whose job it is to instruct the lay people of the world in the matter of obtaining their supreme welfare and to exhort them to take sole-refuge in the Lord.
In the Bhagavata, it is said that as long as a person does not engage in understanding the ontological categories or entities (tattvas), he does not come out of the darkness of ignorance (this passage is from the fifth canto):

yavata puruse tattva nakare bicara

ajnana timire pari dekhe andhakara

ehimate karmmara adhina huya nara

nanana yonita bhrami phure nirantara

mai basudevata nakare yave mati

yavata sarana laiya nakare bhakati

tavadeke deha dhari bhrame samsarata

janiya bhajiyo mora carana padmata

As long as the embodied pure-personality (purusa) does not contemplate the entities (tattva),

so long does he grope in the darkness of ignorance (ajnana).

In this manner, subservient to karma's will,

man roams endlessly from womb to womb.

As long as he does not direct his mind to me, Vasudeva [the immanent supreme soul of all creatures],

as long as he does not do devotion (bhakti) to me, taking sole-refuge (sarana),

so long will he be traveling in samsara inside a body.

Knowing this truth, you engage exclusively in pure devotion at my lotus-feet.

It is precisely in order to educate the jivas regarding the tattvas (concerning such questions as which entity is inert or unconscious and which is conscious, etc.) and to direct the mind of the jivas towards God that the Guru makes his appearance. Though, literally speaking (i.e. from the literal point of view), Guru and Deva (God) are two distinct entities, yet, on account of the similarity in their essential nature, they are identified (i.e. considered as one and the same). Madhavadeva writes on this striking similarity between God and Guru in his Nama Ghosa (v. 681):

hari yena ati krpamaya bhakta gurujano sehinaya

duyojana eka sarirata matra bhinna

krparase yukta huya citta lokara hitaka cinti nita

nija gune tusta duyo ahamkare hina.

Like Hari who is extremely full of grace, the devotee-guru is also of the same kind. 

Both are the same, being different only in body. 

Hearts satisfied by the juice of compassion, thinking at all times, the good of the people,

they are by nature satisfied; both are bereft of ego.

The Lord and the Guru who gives the knowledge of devotion to the Lord are so similar in their nature (as well as their role) that the two entities are identified. Both are of utterly compassionate nature.
Now, regarding the true Guru, Sankaradeva, in his Bhakti Pradipa, has the following lines to say:

vedara rahasya tattva sakale jananta

krsnaka bhakati bole saksata karanta

krsnaka bhakati hove samsaraka tare

nahi nahi samsararta guru ata pare

ehente uttama guru kahilo samprati

iharase upadese suddha haiba mati

amata adhika guru jana sito jana

sisya huya seva karo tahara carana

[Krsna says to Arjuna:] He knows all the mysterious truth (rahasya tattva) of the Vedas

and also, he meets Krsna in person by virtue of his devotional prowess.

[One] accomplishes (pure) devotion to Krsna and crosses the cycle of births and re-births (samsara).

[For this purpose] there is no other, no other Guru apart from him in this world.

He is the best (uttama) guru, this I tell you presently.

And it is only through his instruction (upadesa) that one's intellect will be purified.

Know that one to be a guru greater than me.

Even I become the disciple of such a one and do service to his feet.

“Even prakriti (material nature) is God’s creation, know this as Truth, Essential”: On the Worship of maya, etc. and the 'Personalities' of the Puranas

In the view of Sankaradeva, the ‘goddess’ or devi is definitely a personification of maya and should not be worshiped. The term maya is used synonymously with prakrti or material nature because it is the job of material nature to conceal and obscure God and to project the unreal (a-vastu)—lifeless (jada) matter—as real (vastu). This is given in the Bhagavata, 2^nd Canto. Logically, therefore, if our objective is to approach God, reclaiming our eternal status as eternal, conscious, joyous personalities in His eternal service, instead of lapsing into death (mrtyu), dissolution and mutation (vikara), then we have to root our intellect in God, not in maya.

In English, maya (literally meaning ‘not-that’ or ‘illusion’ in Sanskrit) is often found translated as nescience, descending from the Latin nescientia and essentially meaning ‘absence of knowledge’ or, more plainly, ‘ignorance’. This translation is very apt because it captures the stellar role of prakrti (mentioned above) in plunging the mind of the embodied being (jiva) into ignorance (avidya).

It is unfortunate, therefore, that the worship of maya should have become so widely prevalent in our traditions in the form of pujas (of Durga, etc.). One cannot but help feeling that man is now well and truly in the clutches of maya! The prolonged absence of spiritual reformers in our society, of the mettle of Sankaradeva, coupled with the spiritual illiteracy of the masses has resulted in such a situation. How many persons could possibly understand the purport of the scriptures without the guiding touch of a genuine Guru who could explain to the laity in easy to understand terms the difference between prakrti, purusa and parama purusa? Make no mistake, such a clear demarcation of the entities (tattvas) is the highest of all scientific enquiries.

When the goddess-follower (sakta) Madhava entered into disputation with Sankaradeva over the question of Durga worship, the reply of Sankaradeva would provoke the thought of all intelligent—rational—people:

“Mahamaya Devi, supreme goddess,
worshiped by the entire creation.
Prakriti’s amsa (part, manifestation) is Durga gosani - worshiped by one and all.
Offering of bali (sacrifice)
in grihastha dharma (householder’s life) to such a goddess,
for what reason you term as fault?”
Sankaradeva replied, “Madhava, Listen!
I tell you the fact, primeval.
Even prakriti (material nature) is God’s creation,
know this as Truth, Essential.
Anadi (Beginningless), Ananta (Infinite), Nitya (Everlasting), Niranjana (Unstained) and Sanatana (Eternal) is Lord Hari.
Hundreds of crores of times, He materializes and dissolves such a prakriti.”

[See the full debate here along with translation]

One of the greatest contributions of Sankaradeva in the field of spiritual reform was to awaken the masses from the stupor of maya worship. Now, whether people follow his exhortation or not is entirely upon the people. Sankaradeva never forces anybody.

Matter or prakrti is itself a lifeless entity. It is the Supreme Purusa Who actuates prakrti or material nature and infuses life, as it were, into ‘her’ to initiate the process of evolution or material creation. This is given in the Bhagavata, 3^rd Canto. Maya or prakrti is only a tool in the hands of Parama Purusa. In this way, the only aim of prakrti is to serve the Lord’s purpose. In the puranic representations, Laksmi is always seen serving the Feet of Visnu.

The poet-seers personified nature and the material agents present within it. By portraying the material agents as personalities, the poet-seer is able to demonstrate the superiority, nay the supreme status, of Parama Purusa in relation to these entities. By putting prayers, hymns and eulogies to the Supreme Lord into the ‘mouths’ of these ‘personalities’, the poet-seer utilizes the benefits afforded by such a personification to the hilt.

The puranas are the solidification of some of the abstract and ineffable ideas of the vedanta for the easy grasp of the lay populace. They represent the continuation of the same thought. There are the tales of different material agents told in these texts but Parama Purusa is never lost sight of. Each of these personalities has also clear and defined roles and their essential characteristics—whether they are conscious or unconscious entities—are given. It would be preposterous to assume that the inherent qualities which govern these material entities could be so attributed to God, the supreme Atman, as to identify Him with these ‘personalities’—forces, agents, energies—of material nature. Such an equation on the philosophical field would lead to suicide in the spiritual-theological field. Without knowing Paramatma in the right perspective, liberation is never obtained.

Thus, the puranas or, rather, their symbols and personalities, have themselves to be understood well if we are to view ourselves and the world around us in the poet-seers’ transcendent vision. Failing to do that would surely be not only the most glaring example of an exercise in misinterpretation but also a cause of great pain and grief for the poet-seers themselves.

মায়া আদি কৰি যত সমস্তে জগতে জড়
কৃষ্ণেসে চৈতন্য আত্মা শুদ্ধ |
চৈতন্য কৃষ্ণক এড়ি জড়ক ভজিয়া মৰে
কিনো লোক অধম মুগুধ ||৪৭

Whatever there may be, māyā and the rest all the world are gross.
Only Krsna is the Spirit, the Pure Consciousness.
How bewitched and deluded are the people who leave aside Krsna the Consciousness
And die worshipping the gross.
[Nama-Ghosa, 47]

But that is precisely what has happened in religions’ domain today. The personification is mistaken for the person. And the material for the spiritual. The various agents of material nature—represented, with a purpose, as ‘personalities’, ‘devis’ or ‘devas’—are  equated with the Supreme Spirit. What can be more tragic than that?