(adi Sankara) 16 A Silent Disciple

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.