Totakashtakam
|| तोटकाष्टकं ||
Advaita Guru-parampara:
These two verses honor the advaita paramparA. The names mentioned here,
in order, are 1) ShrIman nArAyaNa, 2) BrahmA, 3) VasiShTha, 4) Shakti,
5) ParAshara, 6) VyAsa, 7) Shuka, 8) GauDapAda, 9) GovindapAda,
10) ShrI (Adi) ShankarAchArya, and his four disciples, 11) PadmapAda,
12) HastAmalaka, 13) toTaka, and 14) Sureshvara, and other Gurus.
Sureshvara is also known as VArttikakAra because he wrote the famous
vArttika’s on the BRihadAraNyaka and taittirIya upaniShads.
ShrImannArAyaNa instructed the Vedas to BrahmA. The Vedas have no author,
and are hence called apauruSheya.'' Veda VyAsa authored the Brahma sUtra and other texts, such as the GItA, to expound the knowledge of the Vedas. Jagadguru Adi ShankarAchArya is a unique historical figure of India in that he combined within himself the characteristics of a poet, logician, an ardent devotee and a mystic and at the same time was the leading exponent of the system of philosophy called advaita. In his commentaries on the Prasthanatraya, he exhibited a rare faculty of relentlessly logical and concatenated argument and refutation, and such subtlety of reasoning as has been unsurpassed in the philosophical works of the world. His main teachings may be summarized as the affirmation of SamsAra or succession of births and deaths due to Karma and its significance, the realization of the essential relativity of phenomena in comparsion to the reality of the Supreme Self, the realization of that Self not being a mere theoretical exercise, but in the nature of the direct realization and actual experience taught by the upanishadic saying, tattvam asi, You are That.”
Verse 1
शंकरं शंकराचार्यं केशवं बादरायणम् । सूत्रभाष्यकृतौ वन्दे भगवन्तौ पुनः पुनः ॥
śaṅkaraṃ śaṅkarācāryaṃ keśavaṃ bādarāyaṇam | sūtrabhāṣyakṛtau vande bhagavantau punaḥ punaḥ ||
I offer obeisances again and again to shrī Veda Vyāsa (Bādarāyaṇa), the author of the Brahma Sūtras, who is none other than Lord Viṣṇu (Keśava), and shrī Śaṅkarācārya, the commentator on those sūtras, who is none other than Lord Śiva (Śaṅkara).
Verse 2
नारायणं पद्मभुवं वसिष्ठं शक्तिं च तत्पुत्रपराशरं च । व्यासं शुकं गौडपदं महान्तं गोविन्दयोगीन्द्रमथास्य शिष्यम् ॥ श्री शंकराचार्यमथास्य पद्मपादं च हस्तामलकं च शिष्यम् । तं तोटकं वार्तिककारमन्यानस्मद्गुरून् संततमानतोऽस्मि ॥
nārāyaṇaṃ padmabhuvā vasiṣṭhaṃ śaktiṃ ca tatputraparāśaraṃ ca | vyāsaṃ śukaṃ gauḍapadaṃ mahāntaṃ govindayogīndramathāsya śiṣyam || śrī śaṅkarācāryamathāsya padmapādaṃ ca hastāmalakaṃ ca śiṣyam | taṃ toṭakaṃ vārtikakāramanyānasmadgurūn saṃtatamānato’smi ||
I bow perpetually to Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā (Padmabhū), Vasiṣṭha, Śakti, his son Parāśara, Vyāsa, Śuka, the great Gauḍapāda, Govinda Yogīndra and his disciple Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, and his disciples Padmapāda, Hastāmalaka, and the disciple Toṭaka, the author of the Vārttika, and all our other teachers.
Verse 3
विदिताखिलशास्त्रसुधाजलधे महितोपनिषत्कथितार्थनिधे । हृदये कलये विमलं चरणं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥१॥
viditākhilaśāstrasudhājaladhe mahitopaniṣat kathitārthanidhe hṛdaye kalaye vimalaṃ caraṇaṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
O thou, the knower of all the nectar-like Milk-ocean of scriptures! O thou, the expounder of the topics of the great Upaniṣadic treasure-trove! On thy faultless feet I meditate in my heart. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 4
करुणावरुणालय पालय मां भवसागरदुःखविदूनहृदम् । रचयाखिलदर्शनतत्त्वविदं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥२॥
karuṇāvaruṇālaya pālaya māṃ bhavasāgaraduḥkhavidūnahṛdam racayākhiladarśanatattvavidaṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
O the Ocean of compassion! Save me whose heart is tormented by the misery of the sea of birth! Make me understand the truths of all the schools of philosophy! Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 5
भवता जनता सुहिता भविता निजबोधविचारण चारुमते । कलयेश्वरजीवविवेकविदं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥३॥
bhavatā janatā suhitā bhavitā nijabodhavicāraṇa cārumate kalayeśvarajīvavivekavidaṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
By thee the masses have been made happy, O thou who hast a noble intellect, skilled in the inquiry into self-knowledge! Enable me to understand the wisdom relating to God and the soul. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 6
भव एव भवानिति मे नितरां समजायत चेतसि कौतुकिता । मम वारय मोहमहाजलधिं भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥४॥
bhava eva bhavāniti me nitarāṃ samajāyata cetasi kautukitā mama vāraya mohamahājaladhiṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
Knowing that thou art verily the supreme Lord, there arises overwhelming bliss in my heart. Protect me from the vast ocean of delusion. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 7
सुकृतेऽधिकृते बहुधा भवतो भविता समदर्शनलालसता । अतिदीनमिमं परिपालय मां भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥५॥
sukṛte’dhikṛte bahudhā bhavato bhavitā samadarśanalālasatā atidīnamimaṃ paripālaya māṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
Desire for the insight into unity through Thee will spring only when virtuous deeds are performed in abundance and in various directions. Protect this extremely helpless person. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 8
जगतीमवितुं कलिताकृतयो विचरन्ति महामहसश्छलतः । अहिमांशुरिवात्र विभासि गुरो भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥६॥
jagatīmavituṃ kalitākṛtayo vicaranti mahāmahasaśchalataḥ ahimāṃśurivātra vibhāsi guro bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
O teacher! For saving the world the great assume various forms and wander in disguise. Of them, thou shinest like the sun. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 9
गुरुपुंगव पुंगवकेतन ते समतामयतां नहि कोऽपि सुधीः । शरणागतवत्सल तत्त्वनिधे भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥७॥
gurupuṅgava puṅgavaketana te samatāmayatāṃ nahi ko’pi sudhīḥ śaraṇāgatavatsala tattvanidhe bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
O the best of teachers! The Supreme Lord having the bull as banner! None of the wise is equal to Thee! O Thou who art compassionate to those who have taken refuge! The treasure-trove of truth! Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
Verse 10
विदिता न मया विशदैककला न च किंचन काञ्चनमस्ति गुरो । द्रुतमेव विधेहि कृपां सहजां भव शंकर देशिक मे शरणम् ॥८॥
viditā na mayā viśadaikakalā na ca kiṃcana kāñcanamasti guro drutameva vidhehi kṛpāṃ sahajāṃ bhava śaṅkara deśika me śaraṇam
Not even a single branch of knowledge has been understood by me correctly. Not even the least wealth do I possess, O teacher. Bestow on me quickly Thy natural grace. Be thou my refuge, O master Śaṅkara.
॥इति श्रीतोटकाचार्यविरचितं श्रीतोटकाष्टकं सम्पूर्णम्॥
About this stotra
The Totakashtakam was composed by Giri (an enlightened disciple) in praise of his Guru Adi Shankara. Literally, it means a rhyme of eight verses composed by Totaka. The poem’s meter is anapestic tetrameter, with four feet of unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables per line.
This work is called Totakashtakam because it consists of eight verses and is written by Totakacharya, one of the famous disciples of Adi Shankaracharya. Totakacharya is given as an ideal example for a disciple who gets everything merely by the grace of the teacher.
According to the story, Totakacharya was considered a dull disciple of Shankaracharya. The other disciples looked down upon him because he could not grasp the Shastras well. One day, Giri was washing his Guru’s clothes when Adi Shankara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedanta. He waited for Giri to return. Another shishya, Padmapada, pointed to a wall and said teaching Giri would be like teaching a wall. Shankaracharya wanted to humble them and was pleased with Giri’s devotion. When Giri returned, he was singing this song glorifying his teacher. By mere sankalpa, Shankaracharya gave all knowledge to him.
This verse happens to be in a special Sanskrit metre known as Totaka Vrittam. Thus Giri got the name Totakacharya after the metre. In all eight verses, the fourth line is the same: bhava sankara desika me saranam — “May you become my refuge, my shelter, my savior.”