Honoring Promise to His Mother

Despite the rigid orthodoxy dictating that a monk cannot perform funeral rites, Shankara had promised his mother he would be there in her final moments. Through yogic vision, he realized she was dying and rushed back to Kalady. When the local villagers refused to help a monk light a funeral pyre, Shankara used his yogic powers to manifest fire from his own right arm, cremating her in her own backyard.