| |
to preside over such a debate. But there was no other alternative, so Mandan Mishra's wife was made the judge.
Finally, Mandan Mishra was defeated. But his wife declared that even though he was defeated, he was only half defeated because she was his other half. "So now, Shankara," she said, "you will have to debate with me!" It was a trick! Now Shankara was in great difficulty.
It was declared that Mandan Mishra was defeated but only by half because in India we say that a husband is only half a person, his wife is the other half, and it is the two halves which make one whole. So Mandan Mishra was only half defeated; half still remained. "Now Mandan Mishra will preside and I will debate with you," said the wife. And she was really a rare woman -- she began to discuss sex!
Shankara was at a disadvantage. He was a celibate, so now he felt that he was going to be defeated. He knew nothing about sex; the whole phenomenon was unknown to him. It was a trick and now he was caught, so he said, "First give me six months' leave so that I can learn about sex. Only then can I come and discuss it with you. Otherwise I am already defeated." And the six months' leave was granted.
Then there was another problem -- the story is beautiful -- Shankara had taken a vow of celibacy for the whole of his life and so he could not use his body for any experiments in sex. Therefore he had to leave his body and enter another body, leaving his own body with his disciples to be continuously guarded and preserved, because if anything happened to it, he would not be able to enter it again. For six months a group of twelve disciples kept a constant vigil. They remained with the body continuously.
A king had just died, so when Shankara entered the king's body, it was already dead. Then the dead body revived and Shankara lived inside the body for six months, deep in sexual experiments. The king's wife began to feel that something was different, but what could she do? The person was different but the body was the same. After six months, Shankara returned to his own body, the discussion took place, and Bharati, Mandan Mishra's wife, was defeated.
This is one
|
|
|