Hastamalaka^[1]

Hastamalaka’s parents lived in a village called Sribali, near Gokarna (Karnataka). He was born Self-realized. His behavior as a child caused his parents a lot of concern, because he remained dumb and completely unaffected by happenings around him. The troubled parents brought him to Adi Sankara, who asked him who he was. The boy replied in verse, describing his essential nature as the non-dual Atman.

Sankara realized that this seemingly dumb boy was actually like the vedic Rishi Vamadeva, and asked the parents to leave the boy with him as a sannyasin, who was then called hastāmalaka. This name comes from a well-known metaphor. The words hastāmalaka and karatala-amalaka are often used in Advaita writings, when the immediate knowledge of the Atman is said to be grasped as if it were the gooseberry (amalaka) fruit in one’s hand (hasta). As such, the name hastāmalaka denotes this disciple’s depth of Atma-Ignorance.

When Shankara, the Guru of the world, was traveling in the western parts of India and overcoming in debate the expounders of the various schools of thought, he once came to a village known as Srivali. When a brahmin inhabitant of the village named Prabhakara heard about his arrival he went to him with his thirteen year old son. He prostrated before Sankara and made his son also prostrate. He then explained that the boy had been dumb from his childhood, that he had no likes and dislikes, nor a sense of honour and dishonour, and that he was completely inactive. The Guru then raised the boy up and asked him:

  1. ‘Who are you? Whose child are you? Whither are you bound? What is your name? Whence have you come? O Child! I should like to hear your reply to these questions.’ Thus spoke Sri Sankaracharya to the boy, Hastamalaka, who replied as follows.

  2. I am neither man, God, yaksha, brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya, sudra,^[2] brahmachari, householder, forest-dweller, nor sannyasi; but I am pure awareness alone.

  3. Just as the sun causes all worldly movements, so do I — the ever present, conscious Self — cause the mind to be active and the senses to function. Again, just as the ether is all-pervading, yet devoid of any specific attributes, so am I free from all attributes.

  4. I am the conscious Self, ever-present and associated with everything in the same manner as heat is always associated with fire. I am that eternal, undifferentiated, unshaken Consciousness, on account of which the insentient mind and senses function, each in its own manner.

  5. I am that conscious Self of whom the ego is not independent, as the image in a mirror is not independent of the object reflected.

  6. I am the unqualified, conscious Self, existing even after the extinction of the mind, just as the object remains ever the same even after the removal of the reflecting mirror.

  7. I am eternal Consciousness, dissociated from the mind and senses. I am the mind of the mind, the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear and so on. I am not cognizable by the mind and senses.

  8. I am the eternal, single, conscious Self, reflected in various intellects, just as the sun is reflected on the surfaces of various sheets of water.

  9. I am the single, conscious Self, illumining all intellects, just as the sun simultaneously illumines all eyes so that they perceive objects.

10. Only those eyes that are helped by the sun are capable of seeing objects, not others. The source from which the sun derives its power is myself.

12. Just as a fool thinks that the sun is entirely lost when it is hidden by dense clouds, so do people think that the ever-free Self is bound.

13. Just as the ether is all-pervading and unaffected by contact, so also does the ever-conscious Self pervade everything, without being affected in anyway. I am that Self.

14. Just as a transparent crystal takes on the lines of its background, but is in no way changed thereby, and just as the unchanging moon on being reflected on undulating surfaces appears agitated, so is it with you, the all-pervading God.

15. As this stotra^[3] reveals the Self as clearly as the amalaka fruit placed on the palm of the hand (hasta), it received the name Hastamalaka Strotra. Moreover, the boy, eminent in jnana, came to be praised by all the people of this world by the name ‘Hastamalaka’.