(adi Sankara) 16 A Silent Disciple Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Among all the disciples
There was one simple,
Giri, a gentle-silent-man,
When the class was on.

Others teased him,
And joked at him,
But he kept silent
And wasn’t violent.

He raised no doubt.
So, others thought
He was a dull idiot
And senseless misfit.

The Master knew well
The talent of this disciple,
And he wished to teach
A proper lesson to each.

One day, the class was on,
In his seat, sat everyone.
As Giri didn’t turn up, .
The class was held up.

Others were murmuring,
Why our Master was giving
Undue importance to him
And not at all to them.

At last Giri came late.
The usual man silent,
He was seen singing
And happily dancing.

It was a song in praise
Of his Master, a wise,
Kind, lovable, divine,
Teacher-heaven-born.

The song in eight stanzas,
Of ‘Thodaga’ style it was,
So, he was given the title
‘Thodagar, ’ the special.

The ‘Thodagashtam’ song,
Even this day is widely sung,
In reverence to the Acharya,
The Jagadguru Sankaracharya.