Once Aryamba was shocked to find a large cobra coiled around the
neck of Shankara. While she was watching, it turned to a
garland. It is said that Shankara could read, write, and speak
Sanskrit at the age of one. Once some children were arguing
about the number of seeds inside a melon. Young Shankara said
that the number of seeds inside that melon would correspond to
the number of gods who created the universe. When the children
cut open the melon, they found only one seed !! One day when
Shankara was returning from his mid day bath in the Ganga, he
found a Chandala in his path. The chandalas are the untouchable
castes, even the shadow of whom is supposed to pollute the
brahmin. Shankara urged the man to move aside. Whereupon the
chandala questioned Shankara. ” You preach that the atman and
the Brahman are the same, the only imperishable truth and that
all distinctions are barriers in the realization of that supreme
truth. So am I to move my body, which is a transient state of
being or my atman which is etern