So Shankara defeated with logic those people who existed on logic. He cut down logic with logic. But in that moment of de-feat Shankara told them, “Your logic is futile, my logic is also futile. I took out your thorn with my thorn, but my thorn is not more valuable than yours. And don’t try to keep my thorn in your wound, otherwise this will also cause you as much pain as your thorn was giving you. It is better to throw away both these thorns.”
This was the meaning of being his disciple: to move away from the intellect and come down to the heart. Truth has to be sought not with thinking, but with feeling. Truth has to be discovered not with logic, scriptures and principles, but with an open heart. When the flower of the heart blossoms, then the sun of truth shines on it. The rays of truth dance on the blossoming flower of the heart. This was the meaning of disciplehood. But those who could not understand this, were made to understand in their own language by Shankara.
Shankara is a unique person. And it is very easy to misunderstand the unique person because he is beyond your common understanding. It seemed to people that he was also a logician, a great logician. But can a great logician say, “Sing! Dance! Sing the song of the divine”? It is just not possible for the logician to say so. Such words can be spoken only by a lover of the divine from the depths of his heart. So remember this.
“You have said many times that a dialogue is not possible through debate.” It is never possible. Shankara cleaned the ground for dialogue, by logic and debate.You were full of debate, so he humbled you with debate. You were full of arguments, so he humbled you with arguments. He cleared the ground with these, then sowed the seeds of love and devotion.
Many people have been thinking that Shankara is contradictory. He is not contradictory. He seems contradictory, in the same way as when you see someone in your neighborhood demolishing his house. It takes him months to demolish it and then to clear the debris; then he lays the foundation and he builds a new house. Will you call this person contradictory? One day he demolishes his house, and the next day he builds it. It may seem contradictory, but you know that if a new house is to be constructed then the old one has to be demolished. There is no contradiction in this contradiction. The new house can be built only after demolishing the old one.
Shankara is not contradictory, he is fighting logic with logic. When the old house is demolished, then he gives the invitation to dance. You will say that this is contradictory – first he talks about thought and logic, then he talks about love and dance.
No, he used logic to destroy the old and then built the new with emotion. He cleared the ground with logic and then sowed the seeds of love. There is no contradiction.