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POWERS
125
After a debate of several days, Misra was ready to admit total defeat. But Bharati said to Shankara: “Wait. Husband and wife are one person. You have only defeated half of us. Now you must debate with me. You may know all about philosophy, but I choose another subject. I choose sex. It is a great science. Before you can claim either of us as your disciples, you will have to debate with me and defeat me on that.”
For the moment Shankara was baffled. As a monk and a mere boy, he knew nothing whatever about sex. However, a plan occured to him. He asked for a month's delay; and this Bharati granted.
At this time, it so happened that a king named Amaraka lay dying. Shankara told his disciples to hide his own body in a safe place and take great care of it. Then, by yoga power, he left his body and entered the newly dead body of the king. Amaraka apparently revived, and continued to rule the kingdom under the guidance of Shankara.
Shankara-Amaraka proved to be a brilliant and just ruler, winning the admiration of all. But Amaraka's two wives soon realized that something extraordinary had happened. For the new Amaraka not only showed astonishingly youthful energy; he seemed as ignorant of sexual love as a baby. Meanwhile, the preoccupations of kingship and domestic life began to cloud Shankara's mind. He began to forget what he had done, why he had done it, and who he was. He began to believe that he really was Amaraka, and not Shankara.
Shankara's disciples learned of this. Since monks were not admitted to the court, they disguised themselves as wandering musicians and so came into his presence. Then they began to sing the poem called “Moha Mudgaram," "The Shattering of Delusion,” which Shankara himself had composed:
Beloved, strange are the World's ways and vast thy ignorance. Who is thy wife, and who thy son? Whose art thou?
From what place come hence?
