Why Shankar Failed?

Once Adi Shankar was camping briefly in the distant Himalayas with few of his disciples. Their abode was perched atop a high cliff on the banks swirling Mandakini letting them have unfettered view of the snow-capped peaks of majestic Himalayas. The born explorer that he was, Adi Shankar one day decided that he will explore the origin of holy river Mandakini. Accordingly he instructed his disciples to take minimum articles of need and embarked on a long and arduous journey alongside the river to locate its origin. They trekked upstream along the river for several days. At places the river would be a roaring like a wounded tiger while at others it will an image of placid calm slowly moving in all its pristine glory.

One day they reached a place where a steeply rising cliff blocked there way alongside the river bank. Apparently ages of attrition by the swift currents of Mandakini had cut the huge rock down the middle. It was not possible for them to continue along the bank, therefore they decided to make a detour and join the river at some point upstream. They entered the thickly wooded forest surrounding the high cliff. Their progress was very sluggish due to the wild growth through which they had to make their way. It became more and more difficult as they inched forward but suddenly they found themselves in a small clearing in the thick forest. There was a small dyke passing through the middle of this clearing. Already extremely tired they made a brief halt there. The disciples gathered wild berries and other fruits and had a light lunch and rested for a while. Used to spartan life their needs were few and easily satisfied. Finally when they decided to move on, they saw giant bear standing in their way. The unusual size of the bear surprised Shankar while the disciples were frightened. The bear looked at them curiously, its stance not threatening. Indifferent to his presence Adi Shankar continued walking and calmly passed the giant bear, his shaky disciples closely following him. When all of them passed by him, the bear said aloud,

"O’ great acharya, you will succeed and you will fail."

Hearing the bear talk, acharya looked back and asked, "Why do you say so, O’ great bear."

"O’ wise sage, you are learned and deeply perceptive. You saw my unnatural size and deduced quickly that I couldn’t be an ordinary-bear. You noticed my stance and rightly deduced I mean no harm. You are also not unnecessarily inquisitive therefore remained indifferent. My presence here is no business of yours, so you did not care to know more about me, therefore your vision and deep perception and clear focus on objective will make you successful for present. Your complete indifference and unconcern for unusual will result in failure of your mission in the future."

Thus saying so, the bear quietly entered the woods and disappeared in the wilderness. Amused and thoughtful, Adi Shankar continued journey onwards and soon found the riverbank. The climb from here became still more daunting and journey back breaking. The continuous but slow climb sapped their patience nevertheless they continued the journey relentlessly. Eventually they reached a high plateau, a large stretch of flat land dotted with round low mounds and hardly any vegetation. This was a breath-taking view of the majestic peaks covered with glistening white snow all around them. Far in distance they could see trickling water from a gigantic glacier forming the source of great Mandakini.

The exhilarating fresh air, pristine clear waters of Mandakini and the view of surrounding peaks completely dissolved their weariness. A serene quietness permeated their being and a profound sense of well being left them spellbound. At last Adi Shankar said,

"Vatsa, I have given you the knowledge of life and death, de-mystified concept of Maya and the Moksha. I have taught you the concept of non-duality, the philosophy of Advait, explained to you the non-destructive nature of soul and I have told you the meaning of Vedas. It is time now for you to experience the proximity of God. The vision you see here, the fresh airs you breath here and the complete stillness you feel here takes you to the presence of God. If you feel the same sense of completeness, same sense of overwhelming calm as I do, you have experienced God."

Thus saying these profound words, Shankar looked around him and found his disciples in complete harmony with him. He was gratified that they were all experiencing the presence of God. Adi Shankar then decided that this experience must be shared with the entire mankind, therefore he said.

"Children, You and I are going through this divine experience. It will be very selfish of us not to share this experience with the entire world. Ordinary people can not be easily motivated to undertake such a hazardous and difficult journey for an abstract and intangible experience as we are enjoying. We must, therefore build a temple here and we shall spread the word about the extraordinary powers and benevolent nature of the presiding deity that anybody who visits this place, all his desires will be fulfilled. Only this will motivate people to undertake the pilgrimage to this place and allow them experience the proximity of God."

The temple of Kedarnath was built under the supervision of Acharya Shankar. Adi Shankar thus succeeded in his mission. In the beginning those who visited the holy shrine, reached there after several days of arduous journey. They had no dead lines to meet no urgent need to return quickly. All of them experienced the presence of God.

Today, if you visit the holy shrine of Kedarnath, you will notice tens of thousands of people braving the difficult climb, overcoming there own weaknesses to reach the holy shrine. They start early in the morning, toil for eight to ten hours and reach High Mountain shrine in the evening. They are very tired so quickly go to sleep. They spend night worrying about the limited time available with them, the deadlines to meet and a huge crowd to cope with to perform puja at the shrine. Early next day they join the long queue, indulge in petty quarrels for the position in the queue and scold the priests for their treachery. Eventually they enter the temple shrine, offer flowers and prasadam to the deity, job accomplished they are now worried to return as quickly as possible to reach base station before dark. In all their anxiety, they completely miss the proximity of God. The majestic mountains, the exhilarating fresh air and the serene quiet Mandakini, all are there but are completely ignored in their misplaced priority. These have only peripheral impact on them.

Shankar, you failed.

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