After Sankara propagated his Advaitic doctrine from Kasi, there was an assembly of great scholars in the holy city. Sankara, who was in that assembly closed his eyes for a moment and experienced the vision of his mother in great distress. Immediately he dispersed the assembly and left for Kaladi. He reached his mother in her last moments, as promised, administered tulasi water to her lips and discharged his duties to the mother.

At that time, the people of Kaladi did not approve the actions of Sankara, because in their view, one who had taken to Sannyasa, should not revert to the activities of a householder and perform rituals. ‘Sannyasa’ means giving up all desires. The view of the orthodox pandits was that once a person had taken to sannyasa he should not perform the last rites for a mother or a father, which are the obligations of a householder.

To enable the students to understand the implications of this incident, I shall explain what Sannyasa means. Before one takes to Sannyasa, the ‘Viraga Homa’ is performed which signifies that the person dies as it were and gives up all his previous worldly commitments and enters on a new life, assuming a new form and wearing a new robe. The old form is cast away and the former name is also given up. He gets a new name ralated to the ascetic order. The suffix ‘ananda’ is tacked on to the name, though few of them experience ananda! After going through this ceremony, where is the place for mother or father? (SS Nov 96, pp.295-296)