hastāmalakācārya was one of the four primary disciples of ādi śaṁkara. When the ācārya asked him who he was, he spontaneously replied with 12 beautiful verses. It is said that ādi śaṁkara himself composed a commentary on these verses, which was published in the vāṇi vilāsa edition of his complete works. The 4-sentence introduction to this bhāṣya is particularly short and eloquent.
iha hi sarvasya jantoḥ “sukhaṁ me bhūyāt”, “duḥkhaṁ me mā bhūyāt” iti svarasata eva sukhopāditsā-duḥkhajihāse bhavataḥ |
Every being that is mired in saṁsāra naturally wants to find happiness, and be free of sadness.
tatra yaḥ kaścit puṇyātiśayaśālī avaśyaṁbhāviduḥkha-avinābhūtatvāt anityatvācca vīṣayajaṁ suḥkhaṁ duḥkhameveti jñātvā, yatnena sasādhanāt saṁsārāt tyaktāsaktiḥ atyantaṁ virajyate |
And, of these samsārīs, those that are fortunate renounce. They detach themselves from saṁsāra by understanding it to be duḥkha for two reasons – (1) it can never be totally free from duḥkha and (2) it is impermanent.
viraktaśca saṁsārahānau yatate |
After detaching themselves, they then try to destroy his samsāra in it’s entirety.
saṁsārasya ca ātmasvarūpa-aparijñānakṛtatvāt ātmajñānāt nivṛttiḥ iti taṁ prati ātmajñānam ācārya upadiśati |
The bond with saṁsāra exists because the self has not been completely understood, and because the seeker has not been engaged in understanding the self. To remedy this, the ācārya starts his teaching.
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