Leaving Kerala at eight years old, Shankara walked approximately 1,600 kilometers northward to find his destined teacher. On the banks of the Narmada River at Omkareshwar, he discovered Govinda Bhagavatpada meditating in a cave. When asked "Who are you?", the young boy replied with verses that would later be known as Dasa Shloki: "I am neither earth nor water, nor fire, nor air... that Supreme Shiva alone I am." Govinda immediately recognized divine manifestation before him—his own teacher Gaudapada had prophesied this student would come. Under Govinda's guidance, Shankara studied the Brahma Sutras, Upanishads, and absorbed the non-dual philosophy that he would later systematize and spread across India.