Totakashtakam

About this stotra

The Toṭakāṣṭakam was composed by Giri (an enlightened disciple) in praise of his Guru Adi Sankara. Literally, it means a rhyme of eight (Sanskrit: aṣṭa) verses (ślokas) composed by Toṭaka. The poem's meter is anapestic tetrameter, with four feet of unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables (laghu-laghu-guru characters) per line, and four lines per stanza.
This work is called Thōtakāshtakam because it consists of eight verses (ashtakam) and it is written by Thōtakachārya, one of the famous disciples of Adi Sankaracharya. Thōtakacharya is given as an ideal example for a disciple who gets everything merely by the grace of the teacher. According to the story, Thōtakachārya was a very dull disciple of Sankaracharya. The other disciples like Padmapada, Sureshwara, Hasthāmalaka etc were great in scholarship. It seems that they looked down upon Thōtakacharya because he could not grasp the Shastras well.
Per the Mādhavīya Śankaravijayam, when Adi Shankara was at Sringeri, he met a boy named Giri. Adi Shankara accepted the boy as his disciple. Giri was a hard-working and loyal servant of his Guru, Adi Shankara, though he did not appear bright to the other disciples. One day, Giri was washing his Guru's clothes, when Adi Shankara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedanta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores. At this, another shishya, Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that teaching Giri would be the same as teaching this wall (a dumb object).
It seems that Sankaracharya wanted to humble them and also Sankaracharya was pleased with the devotion of Giri who was serving him. Sankaracharya did not say anything but kept waiting. Then the disciple came bringing the clothes and drying them. At that time, he was singing this song glorifying the greatness of his teacher Sankara. They thought Giri was an illiterate person not knowing Sanskrit and incapable of composing anything. Hearing this, all other disciples were wonderstruck. By mere Sankalpa, it is said that Sankaracharya gave all knowledge to him. This verse happens to be in a special Sanskrit metre known as Thōtaka Vruttam. So this particular metre is called Thōtaka metre. Thus Giri got the name Thōtakachary, after the metre.
His Pūrvāshrama name was something else and he got the name Thōtaka after this metre. Therefore, this work is called Thōtakāshtakam due to two reasons. One reason is that it is in Thōtakä metre and the other reason being that it is composed by Thōtakacharya.
Thōtakacharya has not written many works or many are not available for us. There is another work by Thōtaka. It is an advanced treatise on Vēdanta known as Shruti Sara Samuddharanam which literally means extracting the essence of the Vedas.
It is a work consisting of 174 or 178 verses in which Thōtakā analyzes the Mahāvākyam 'Tatvamasi' and he establishes Jīvātma Paramātma Aikyam logically and he refutes all other systems of philosophy. This Shruti Sära Samuddharanam also is in Thōtaka metre. At the end of Shruti Sara Samuddharanam work, there is a Mangala Sloka on Lord Vishnu. That Mangala Sloka alone is the famous Dhyana Slöka used in Vishnu Sahasra Nama which is 'bhooh padau yasya nābhirviyadasuranilash chandra suryau cha netre'. This is also in the same metre.
In this composition, we do not find Vedāntic teaching here, but it is the glorification of his Guru Adi Sankara. This is the background of this work. And in all the eight verses, the fourth line is the same which is bhava sankara dēsika mē saranam
Dēsikaha means Acharyaha. A guru is called Desikaha. Shastra Tatvam Upadishati iti dēsikaha. The one who teaches the Shastram, the one who imparts the Shastric knowledge is called desika or Acharyaha. So Sankara dēsika means Sankaracharya.
Sankaracharya got the name because he did Mangalam, he did good to the entire world or the society. The word 'Sam' means Mangalam, 'Karaha' means the one who brings about. Therefore, 'Samkaraha' means Mangalakarta. Mangalakari is meaning of the word Sankara. The word Sankara originally belongs to Lord Shiva.
Since Sankaracharya is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva, the Acharya also got this name 'Sankara'.
Sankaram Sankaracharyam Keshavam Badarāyanam
Vyasacharya is supposed to be an incarnation Vishnu and Sankara is supposed to be an incarnation of Shiva.
Therefore, here Thōtakā addresses Sankaracharya, Shankara Desika, or Bhagavan Sankaracharya. Mē Saranam Bhava - May you become my refuge, my shelter, my savior. This is at the end of every verse.
Excerpt from 'Thotakashtakam explanation by Swami Paramarthananda.'