Shankaracharya and Sastha

Dear Arvindji,

Pranam!

Swami,

I would like to ask on few questions:

1)Adi Sankaracharya is one of the finest vedic scholar whe had ever had. He had composed beatiful hymns on  Hindu Gods and Goddess. To my utter suprise, I've never seen any composition on Lord Shasta by Shankara Bhagavatpada. Also, according to Shri XXXXX in his website, Adi Sankaracharya had not composed any hymn on Lord Shasta.

I've once asked a gentleman on this and he told me that Lord Shasta's incarnation was after Shankara Bhagavatpada and our beloved lord's duty was more as guardian deity which I did not agree totally to his comments. 

Swami,

What i'm curious to know here, why there is no any hymns on Dharma Shasta by Adi Sankara? May be there could be a composition by Adi Sankara on Lord Shasta which i do not know till today.

2) What is the mount/vehiche of Lord Shasta?  Based on my findings, I've seen Lord Shasta rides on Horse, Elephant and tiger. And in Sabarimala Sanctom Sanctorum, horse is mounted on the Dwaja. Swami, could you please explain this doubt as well?

Thank You.

Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa!

Warm Regards,

Sudharan

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Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa

In the world of spirituality many people today assume things and the worst part of it is they propagate what they believe (or what they want to believe)

So no one can Just like that pass judgments on the Master of the Universe. Now its a fashion and Ego of people that they even tend to comment on God. 

Let people call him Guardian Deity, Village Deity or Tribal Deity or anything they want.. afterall He is everything to us.

If Sastha is guardian deity then who is Vishnu ? - even his duty is the same Protection- Paalana - Stiti or whatever you call it.

If Sastha is tribal deity then who is Shiva ? - clad with tiger skin, snakes and who lives in the Graveyard.

Shankara and Sastha

Who said Adhi Sankaracharya has not composed any stotra on Sastha.?

The Gentleman you have mentioned has done a great job by compiling many stotras and putting in his website... But that doesnt mean he is an authority and can pass judgement on our Lord. 

Let me point out a small thing... He has published a dhyanam 

Thamalasyamalam bhadram.... and he has explained it as Sastha's dhyanam.. Whereas its the dhyana sloka of Satyaka - Sastha's son...

A simple thing which many of us fail to understand Sastha is different from Ayyapan. Sastha is a God and Ayyappan and Shankaracharya both are incarnations. Then how can a God's manifestation take place after a human being?

Ayyappan might have incarnated after Shankara but Sastha is the Supreme Lord who was always there (in other words - before Shankara ; After Shankara and forever)

Sastha at Kaanchipuram

There are nearly 6000 Sastha Shrines out of which Iam sure more than 2000 temples will be before Shankara. Sorimuthaiyan Kovil at Karayar is worshipped by Agastya, Achankovil by Parasurama and Kanchipuram - the wonderful Kshipra Prasaada Moorthi - Purna Pushkala Samedha Maha Sastha was worshipped by Durvasa. This is only a tip of the iceberg....

There is a Deva Rahasya that every divine incarnation must get the anugraha of Sastha to complete His divine mission. (This rule is proved from Mahavishnu's Incarnations, Devi's Incarnations, Subramanya's incarnations and continues till Sudarshana, Bhairava and all other Devatamshabootas. For each devata I can point out in detail but Iam not going to that subject now)

Then how can Shankara who is Shivamsha miss this Supreme Personality ? 

Shankara is also attached to Sastha personally

Another thing which many people donot know is - Sastha is enshrined in Adhishankara's mother's house ie Melpazhur Mana, where Shankara was born. (Kiratha Sastha is the family deity of this Mana)

If you have visited Chottanikkara - you may find two shrines of Sastha there. One shrine was already there as per the temple pratishta. And the second Sastha shrine has its own story - Once when Devi was out on a procession, the procession was attacked by rogues. To safeguard the Goddess, the Namboothri sent his family deity Sastha along with them. Sastha who came along with Devi, stayed back at Chottanikkara.

And now coming back to your query - If you see Shiva Keshaadi Paada Stuti in which Shankara Salutes Ganapathy, Subramanya and Sastha respectively on the 7th 8th and 9th slokas 

(Aarooda Prauda Vega....)

There are many Stutis attributed to Shankara which he has not composed and many more Stutis composed by him but not properly recorded.

There is a wonderful Stuti by Shankara is there which many of the books have not recorded...

Its Sastha's Keshadi Paada Dashakam - starts with AshAnu rupa phaladam

Vaahana Of Lord Sastha

Undoubtedly the Vahana of Sastha is Elephant...
"Davala Vaaranam DIvya Vaahanam" - says Harivarasanam.

Even Mantra Shastras and Puja Kalpams and Avarana Pujas gives separate puja for this Elephant. You have both white and black elephant as vahana for Sastha. One is Prabhuta and the other one is Taraka.

All the ageold temples of Sastha like Aryankavu, Karanthapuri etc has only this Elephant vahana

And the next Vahana of Sastha is Horse. Sastha's horse is of green color. This is what you see in Sabarimala, Kuthiran and many other temples.

And coming to Tiger... its only in Ayyappan incarnation he rode on a Tiger and in mantra Sasthra we dont find any form of Sastha acknowledging Tiger as his Vahana.

We call him Vanpuli Vahanan just because of the Ayyappan Incaration and the Pulipaal episode. But the Official Vahana Status is given primarily to Elephant and Horse.

And there are puranic episodes and at some temple we find Bull and also Dog as a vahanam to Sastha like Sori Muthaiyan Kovil or Kadanthethi but surprisingly not even a single dhyana or form or temple with Puli(Tiger) Vahana

Sastha – the Lord of the Vedhas

1) Is ayyappa a dravidian god which is taken into hindu religion after a long time?

bcoz we cannot see him any of the puranas.Only in Skanda purana and brahmanda purana we can see some glimpses about his existance.

2)Why his worship is more popular in  kerala and tamil nadu? 

3)who is karuppa saamy? Nothing has been mentioned in any of the puranas about him also.

4)We can see in wikipedia and related serches that ayyanaar worship started from 2nd Century AD itself in tamilnaadu.Is there any chance that a warrior lived in that time and due to the respect every body treated him as god?

5)In sankaracharyar's book "mahastru pooja klapdrumam" we can see balasastha mantram in a local malaylam language and am sure that the particular mantras for balasastha is not sanskrit.This even generates the dought that whether the book written by some body else?

Vinay Krishnan

Project Engineer

Al Faraa Contracting

Abudabi

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Dear Mr Vinay

Very nice questions.... Though I have answered most of these questions in my Book Maha Sastha Vijayam, let me try to briefly answer the queries....

1) Is ayyappa a dravidian god which is taken into hindu religion after a long time?

bcoz we cannot see him any of the puranas.Only in Skanda purana and brahmanda purana we can see some glimpses about his existance.

This theory is called "ABSURD".... First make the difference between Sastha and Ayyappa... Ayyappa is a local name which will never appear in Puranas (Like Subramanya and Muruga)

So its not right to say Sastha does not appear in Puranas. Do we have access to the Puranas directly ? do we read the original text of the puranas in the original saskrit text?

The total number of slokas in all the puranas goes to 4 lakhs and everyone reads only the precise form of translation of these puranas and never dream about the original text.

Hariharaputra or Sastha is very well available in Brahmanda Purana, Skanda purana (not as a passing reference or glimpses as you reffred but we have exclusive Sastha Patalam itself and 143 places where Sastha is referred). Apart from this Linga Purana, Padma Purana shows the reference of Sastha..

You even have the reference of Sastha in Upanishad...

I can quote a number of examples... but Iam concluding with this...

Please read my article 

Sastha – the Lord of the Vedhas

http://shanmatha.blogspot.com/2009/09/sastha-lord-of-vedhas.html

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2)Why his worship is more popular in  kerala and tamil nadu? 

According to my findings, the worship of Sastha must have been a very widespread one - now confined to Southern Zone... 

You have traces of worship of Sastha at Bengal- but in a different form...

In Maharashtra its in a different name 

In Andra its Gurunatha

Mahidara, the author of Manta Mahodati(written in 14th Century) refers the prayoga karma of a particular Sastha Mantram.... He refers Sastha as the presiding deity of Raivatha Giri (present Day Gujarat) 

Brhaspati Smriti refers "Raivathe Maha Sastha" ie Maha Sastha lives on Raivatha Giri....

You even have a place called Mt. Sastha at United States where the Native Indians worship a figure which is very much in resemblance to our Lord Sastha.

May be the southern zone is less penetrated and less attacked and due to the Divine will, the worship of Sastha still prevails here

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3)who is karuppa saamy? Nothing has been mentioned in any of the puranas about him also.

Karuppan is the commander in cheif of Sastha's Army of Bhutas....

Ofcourse, so far nothing has been found regarding Karuppan in the puranas.... and many consider him to be Non-Vedhic deity.... 

But remember we  have exclusive and powerful moola mantra for Karuppan - which is not possible for a non-vedhic deity...

For any deity for that matter, the mantra Sasthra lists five limbs(parts) - 

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Ashtothra /  Sahasranama
2. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Moola Mantra
3. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Purana
4. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Kavacha
5. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Dhyana / Stotra

Mantra Sasthra recommends, even if one out of this five is available- its assumed that the remaining four are available.. and we need to search for it.. 

For Karuppan you have three - A wonderful Ashtotram from Rudrayamala Tantra and a very powerful Dhyana and an exclusive moola mantra....

You also have prayoga vidhi using Karuppan, which i cant reveal here....

So Karuppan is a vedhic deity - lack of availability of information on our side is not the mistake of Mantra Sasthra... More of practical experience is to be counted here...

(And there are people who  consider Karuppan as an Amsha or local representation of Maha Kala... who has a definite purana- Iam not entering that subject now....)

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4)We can see in wikipedia and related serches that ayyanaar worship started from 2nd Century AD itself in tamilnaadu.Is there any chance that a warrior lived in that time and due to the respect every body treated him as god?

I dont take the version of Historians who give absurd date to each period like placing Adhi Shankra to 8th century AD etc....


Also wikipedia is a place where anyone can write anything.... In one wikipedia page it was written "Sastha has a wife called Pushkala and son called Poorna." (?? !!)  I felt like breaking the computer seeing that....

Now coming to this statement - even before 2nd century you have poets of Sangam period who are named "Sathanar" - a name given after Lord Sastha...

A warrior who is treated as GOD - a system which was followed in Tamilnadu.... It is called Nadukal and the system is totally irrelevant to Ayyanar worship...

If you have visited any Ayyanar temple you could have noticed that Ayyanar/ Sastha is very much according to the Agamic Form... 

The Huge figures with Moustage, Big eyes and having very big swords - this is not ayyanar... these are of later date made up of sand-lime or cement..

Whereas Ayyanar is made of stone idol and is of normal size, without any moustage and with two devis - poorna and pushkala - typical agamic style

Nadukal deities have a specific rule which is no way connected to Ayyanar. 

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5)In sankaracharyar's book "mahastru pooja klapdrumam" we can see balasastha mantram in a local malaylam language and am sure that the particular mantras for balasastha is not sanskrit.This even generates the dought that whether the book written by some body else?

Ive seen the book you are mentioning... If I remember right its published in 1990s and that book does'nt give any source text for claiming it to be written by Shankara...

Just because its printed Adhi Shankara Virachitam it doesnt mean its authored by Shankara.... 

And by mentioning Bala Sastha I dont think its refering the Bala Swaroopam (Child Form) of Sastha.. instead it gives the dhyanam as "Dhamshtra Karaala Vadhanam...." and gives some absurd moola mantra (???) with typical malayalam words.... It tries to glorify the Kuttichathan who has nothing to do with Sastha....

Regarding the other moola mantras given in the book - some are right but its not free of mistakes (it is complied from the mantras followed and given as upadesham within a particular family at Trivandrum) 

You need not doubt.... the book is definitely written by somebody else and of a very latest origin...

Panchayatana puja

sir i want to know about panchayadhana pooja.

What are the moorthams to b placed on that.

please clear my query

Manikandan, Chennai

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Panchayatana puja is the

system of worship which was most common in every Brahmin house till few decades ago.

The Panchayatana is a system which consists of

the worship of five deities:

"Adityam Ambikaam Vishnum Gananaatam Maheswaram"

Aditya is Surya; Ambika is Devi; Vishnu is

Narayana; Gananaatham is Ganesha, Mahesvara is shiva.

These five are the great divine force whom every householder worships as pancha devata puja.

Based on the tradition

followed by the family, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four surround it and worship is offered to all the deities.

Adhi Shankara systemetised the Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism) and classified it into broad Six categories.

Shaiva - with Shiva as the Presiding deity

Vaishnava - with Vishnu as the Presiding deity

Shaktha - with Devi as the Presiding deity

Ganapatya - with Ganesha as the Presiding deity

Kaumara - with Subramanya as the Presiding deity

SoWra - with Surya (planets) as the Presiding deity

People mistake that Shri Shankara actually started this Panchayatana puja system - which is wrong. Deva Puja and Archana is one of the most important duties imposed by the Shastras. The Shastras are filled with details of the Panchayatana puja details and Shankra only prescribed us to follow it without fail..

The panchayatana scheme represent the five elements:

AkAshasyAdhipo viShNuH agneshchaiva maheshvarI |

vAyoH sUryaH kShiterIshaH jIvanasya gaNAdhipaH ||

Akasha : Space : Vishnu

Vahni : Fire : AmbikA

Vayu : Air : Aditya

kShiti : Earth : Shiva

Jala : Water : Ganapati

All the five deities are not Panchaloka or any other metal idols; But these five are represented by small natural stones found in various parts of Bharatha Desham.

Deity Stone River Place

Ganesha Red Sonabhadra Sone Bihar

Surya Crystal Vallam Tamil Nadu (Tanjavur)

Vishnu Saligrama Gandaki Nepal

Shiva Bana Linga Narmada Madhya Pradesh

Ambika Swarna Mukhi Swarnamukhi Andra Pradesh

The image of that particular devata is kept in the centre, surrounded by the other gods.

If he is a devotee of Vishnu, he places the idol of Vishnu in the centre with the other idols surrounding it. If he is a devotee of Lord shiva, a lingam is placed in the middle with the other images around it. If he is a devotee of Suryanarayana, he has a sphatika as the central object of worship.

The positioning in the panchayatana poojas are as follows:

Shiva Panchayatana Puja

• Shiva at the center
• Aditya at Southeast
• Gananatha at Southwest
• Ambika at Northwest and
• Vishnu at the Northeast.

Ganapathy Panchayatana Puja

• Ganapathy at the center
• Vishnu at Northeast
• shiva at Southeast
• Adithya Southwest and
• Ambal at Northwest

Vishnu Panchayatana Puja

• Vishnu at center
• shiva at Northeast
• Ganapathy at Southeast
• Adithya at Southwest and
• Ambal at Northwest

Ambal Panchayatana Puja

• Ambal at center,
• Vishnu at Northeast,
• shiva at Southeast,
• Ganapathy at Southwest and
• Adithya at Northwest

Adithya Panchayatana Puja

• Adithya at center,
• shiva at Northeast,
• Ganapathy at Southeast,
• Vishnu at Southwest,
• Ambal at Northwest

Along with this people worshipping Subramanya will include Him in the form of a (silver) Snake or Vel (spear)

shaiva ca vaiShNavam shaaktam sauram vainaayakam tathaa .

skaandam ca bhaktimaargasya darshanaani Shadeva hi ..

I can surely say - till panchayatana puja was strictly followed in our country we were really flourishing. Though the technical advancements were not present people were peaceful, satisfied and happy.

Only when this Panchayatana stopped during english invasion- we began to loose our glory- happiness, mental peace and everything.

Panchayatana Puja is a systematic procedure which involves physical and mental discipline, requires inner and outer cleanliness. This - when done systematically will surely bring the progress in the material world and the final truth - awareness of the true Self. By following it, one obtains the Lord’s Anugraha, without

which liberation is not possible.