The chanting of the holy Vedas filled the morning air,
As Mother Nature was waking up Her children fair and square,
The Ashram of Adi Shankara was filled with peace incomparable,
As each & everyone of the disciples were doing penance of something laudable.
They were sincere seekers of the highest wisdom - The Vedanta!,
Which uses the mind and intellect to cut through the veils of Maya,
Adi Shankara, the greatest Teacher of Mankind was sitting in peace,
Watching His disciples go about doing their duty religiously.
In all this there was but one disciple, who was least interested in Scholarship,
His name was Trotakacharya, who was a congenital dullard,
But He loved His Acharya with all His life, willing to do anything,
While all the other disciples of Shankara, made an effort to excel.
In mastering the various branches of the ancient Vedas,
Trotakacharya was happy to serve His beloved Master with all his heart,
He was untiring in his service to His Master, come rain or sunshine,
Once when Shankara was to begin expounding the loftiest ideals of Vedanta.
He waited on the dullard Trotakacharya to come and join in,
This act of the Acharya, amused the other disciples of His,
As they began to insist, to begin without wasting no time of His,
Seeing the haughtiness of his disciples, riding on their intellectual might.
Adi Shankara decided to teach them a fitting lesson in humility,
He lovingly called out, "Trotaka! Where are you?"
And within moments, hearing the voice of the Master,
Trotakacharya came rushing as if God Himself had called Him.
"Speak!" said the great Acharya to Trotaka,
Without least hesitation or getting anxious of his inherent inabilities,
Trotakacharya sang the gist of the entire Vedas in a song instead,
All the jaws dropped and eyes bulged out in sheer disbelief.
When they saw the dumb Trotaka sing the Vedas, instead of speech,
They fell at the feet of the Acharya, who was the embodiment of Siva,
He smiled in compassion and said, "Trotakacharya is the gem of Shankara;
because He knows how to serve his Acharya".
Almost everyone sits at the feet of the Blessed Guru,
Till they imbibe his wisdom and then become Gurus in their own right,
But very few serve at the feet of the Guru till the very end,
Knowing it in their hearts, that this service leads to incomparable bliss.
What is the use of Scholarship, when it swells your head with pride,
True learning is when your heart expands and embraces all as one,
And most importantly, never forget this, that,
One look of the Guru, is enough to make the dumb speak.
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