Adi Shankaracharya is well known for his profound wisdom, but do you know the story of Totakacharya, one of his chief disciples? The great Adi Shankaracharya had four chief disciples – Sureshwaracharya, Padmapadacharya, Hastamalakacharya, and Totakacharya. The famous Totakashtakam in praise of the Guru was composed by Totakacharya. Read on to know the circumstances that led to the composition of these 8 beautiful verses in praise of the Guru, Shri Adi Shankaracharya.

Story Of Totakacharya

The story of Totakacharya that will be narrated here offers many lessons to us. It teaches us to place humility over arrogance and not judge a book by its cover. It is now time to tell the fascinating story of Totakacharya and how the Totakashtakam was composed.

Story Of Totakacharya – Silence Is Golden

Guru Adi Shankaracharya was engaged in teaching his four disciples – Sureshwaracharya, Padmapadacharya, Hastamalakacharya, and Totakacharya. He loved his disciples equally and spared no efforts to share his knowledge with them.

His disciples, except for Totaka studied hard, devoting their entire time to study. However, Totaka seemed uninterested in his studies. He never spoke and spent his time doing the daily chores of his Guru Adi Sankaracharya. His tasks included washing his Guru’s clothes, cooking for him, picking flowers for the daily worship, pressing his feet, and administering to his every need. After all his chores, Totaka used to sit at the back of the class listening with rapt attention to his Guru, never once opening his mouth.

Story Of Totakacharya – Absence of Totaka

Once it so happened, all the disciples except for Totaka gathered to listen to Sri Adi Sankara’s teachings. He was conspicuous by his absence. Adi Sankaracharya noticed the absence of Totaka and waited. The other disciples looked around and realized that Totaka was not there and their Guru was waiting for him.

They exchanged glances. Though they did not speak, their eyes gave expression to their thoughts. “Why is our Guru waiting for that dimwit Totaka!” they thought, as they smiled at each other. Padmapada gazed continuously at a pillar, drawing their attention to it. Padmapada was silently saying that Totaka was like a lifeless pillar, and teaching him was as good as teaching a blank wall!

The other disciples wondered why Sri Adi Sankara was waiting for a student who probably could not even understand the complex concepts of philosophy and spirituality, that he was explaining. They had formed the opinion that Totaka was a dimwit because of his silence.

Story Of Totakacharya – Birth Of Totakashtakam | The Story of Shankaracharya and Totakacharya | Sri Totakacharya

Adi Shankaracharya read the thoughts of his disciples with a mere glance. He called out loudly to Totaka who was picking flowers for the day’s rituals. The voice of his Guru was both music and a command to the ears of Totaka. He immediately proceeded towards Adi Shankaracharya with a beautiful lotus in his outstretched right hand and a beautiful prayer on his lips.

The other disciples of Adi Sankaracharya were stunned into disbelief at what they were witnessing. Totaka, whom they had never seen speaking, was singing a beautiful prayer in praise of his Guru. They were wonderstruck by the beautiful composition and the words of the prayer that had sprung to the lips of Totaka. Padmapada, Hastamalakha, and Sureshwara realized their folly and recognized the wisdom of Totaka, they bowed down to him respectfully.

Totaka then placed the lotus at the feet of Adi Sankaracharya and bowed down to him. The Guru filled with love for his student hugged Totaka with affection.

The prayer that Sri Totakacharya had composed came to be known as Totakashtakam, a beautiful string of eight verses in the adulation of Adi Sankaracharya.

We hope you loved reading this story of Totakacharya and his Guru Adi Sankara and learned a valuable lesson from it. Please subscribe to our blog for more exciting content, and do not forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for visiting our site nirvandiaries.com and taking the time to read this post.

If you wish to collaborate or work with us then reach us at [email protected]

We’d love it if you’d comment by sharing your thoughts on this post and share this post on social media and with your friends.

Follow our journey on our social media channels:
Facebook   Twitter   Instagram  Pinterest