The famous Conversation between Old Brahmin(Ved Vyas) and Adi Shankaracharya
**Old Brahmin**: Many commentators before you have written on these sutras. What distinguishes your work?
**Shankara**: Previous commentaries often accepted duality as real or compromised the non-dual position. This commentary shows that the sutras consistently teach that Brahman alone is real and that the world of multiplicity is apparent. It refutes the views of the Samkhyas, the Buddhists, and others using reasoning and sruti.
**Old Brahmin**: You claim to have refuted hostile doctrines. Yet new objections arise in every age. How can one commentary suffice for all time?
**Shankara**: The truth of non-duality is eternal. Objections based on ignorance will continue, but the method of inquiry remains the same. One who follows the reasoning and the sruti will arrive at the same conclusion regardless of the age.
**Padmapada**: This Brahmana is none other than that very Vyasa, the knower of the essence of all Vedantas and the author of these Sutras. He is an incarnation of Mahavishnu. And as for yourself, Sir, you are Siva Himself. What are we, your servants, to do when you two clash in such an endless and keen debate?
**Shankara**: Thy deer-skin covering, rain-cloud complexion, white sacred thread, matted locks, and shining diadem reveal thee to be Vyasa himself. Thy life and work have mitigated the banefulness of this age of Kali. If thou approvest of the commentary I have produced on thy Aphorisms which deal exhaustively with Truth transcendental and temporal, then deign to pardon my lapses and reveal thy true nature to me.
**Vyasa**: I know the depth of your scholarship. You are in every way equal to me in your learning. You are as dear to me as my son Suka. Do not think that I came to you for a mere debate. In the assembly at the heavenly abode of Siva I heard from the Siddhas that you have written a commentary on Vedanta Sutras. I was very glad to hear this, and I came desirous of seeing you, the commentator.
**Shankara**: Though I am very insignificant in comparison with thy great disciples like Sumantu and Paila, still out of thy pure goodness and mercy thou art looking upon me as worthy of thy recognition. To the luminous sun of thy Sutras shedding light on all doctrines of the Vedanta, I have only done an Arati by way of honoring it, with my commentary. Considering me as a disciple of thine, please pardon me for this foolhardy venture of mine, and condescend to give a critical estimate of it, correcting whatever mistake thou findest in it.
**Vyasa**: Dear boy, I have gone through your commentary carefully. In no way can it be called a foolhardy enterprise as you characterized it. You asked me to make a critical estimate of it, showing its merits and demerits. To do that will, indeed, be foolhardy. You are unrivaled in your grasp of the technique of interpreting Vedic passages. You have unusual mastery of grammar. And besides, you are a disciple of Govindapada. How then can there be any mistakes in your writings?
You, who were able to reject the life of sense enjoyment from your very boyhood as the sun rejects darkness, and have taken to the life of Sannyasa, can never be considered an ordinary man. You must necessarily be a great man full of wisdom and philosophic insight. Who else but a man of your calibre can give such a clear and lucid commentary on my aphorisms, terse in language, vast in meaning, and subtle in implications?
Scholars say that it is difficult to understand what exactly these aphorisms mean; so terse are they in expression. Hence it is said that the difficulty of anyone who interprets them is in no way less than that of the one who composed them.
Who else but an incarnation of Siva could grasp all the implications of these Sutras and produce a commentary on them, thereby elevating the Vedas to their dignified position from the degradation to which they have been subjected by the Samkhyas and other philosophers? Though you share the same name Sankara with God Siva, you are unique and seem to excel even that Divinity in many respects.
You have no trace of anger in your heart, which cannot be said of Siva who is noted for irritability. You entertain within yourself all Kalas or branches of learning, whereas Siva has only one Kala, the crescent moon, and that on his head. You are fully saturated with Girija or knowledge born of Vedas, whereas God Siva has only one half of his shared by Girija, his consort Parvati.
Many have made commentaries on my aphorisms in the past and many will do so in future also. But none of them has been able to know their real meaning as I conceive it; only you have. With the help of this commentary on the Vedanta Sutras and many allied writings, may you refute all opposing doctrines and, thereby, become famous in the world! Now permit me to depart. My heart is leaping with joy at your achievements.
**Shankara**: I have already written the commentaries, expounded them, and also refuted all hostile doctrines. What else have I got to do? Nothing more. I have come to the end of the sixteen years span of my life, and so shall presently give up this physical body of mine in thy presence. Please tarry a while at Manikarnika and witness it.
**Vyasa**: No, you should not end your life now. There are many more learned men, leaders of hostile schools of thought, whom you have not yet defeated in debate. Your life has to be prolonged for some years more, so that you may triumph over them also. Otherwise, the orphaned infant of aspiration for spiritual freedom, that has taken birth from you for the good of mankind, will perish prematurely with no parent to take care of it.
The intensity of joy that I experience by reading your very lucid and profound writing based upon your intuition of the Atman, prompts me to give you a boon. The Creator had given you only eight years of life. The satisfaction you gave to Agastya and other sages by your learning won for you an extension of your lifes span by eight years more.
May you live for another sixteen years by the blessing of God Siva! May your commentary shine till the end of time! During the rest of your life, may you uproot the doctrines of those who oppose the Advaita philosophy, and establish in them faith in this doctrine of the unity of all existence!
- Madhaviya Shankara Digvijayam (also called Shankara Digvijaya)