Monthly Archives: March 2015

Vision Of Truth (sad darshanam) – Part 21

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िये प्रकाशं परमो वितीर्य

स्वयम् धियो अन्त: प्रविभाति गुप्त: ।

धियं परावर्त्य धियो अन्तरे अत्र

संयोजनान्नेश्वर-दृष्टिरन्या ।। —२४

dhiye prakAsham paramH vitIrya

svayam dhiyo antaH pravibhAti guptaH

dhiyam parAvartya dhiyaH antare atra

sanyojanAnneshvara dRiShTiranya—24

dhiye = to the intellect; prakAsham = sentiency;  paramH = Supreme; vitIrya = lent;

svayam dhiyo antaH = Itself (being) inside the intellect;  pravibhAti guptaH = shines while being hidden; dhiyam parAvartya = having turned intellect;  dhiyaH antare – within intellect;  atra = here; sanyojanAt = by uniting; na Ishvara dRiShTiranya = Ishvara vision (takes place)not by anything else.

The supreme having lent sentiency to the intellect, shines while being hidden inside the intellect. Having turned the intellect, here, within the intellect, by uniting, Ishvara vision takes place not by anything else.

The organs and mind are material in nature, by themselves inert. The all-pervading consciousness also available in the mind, lends sentiency to them. They, by nature are extrovert.

Man, has a tendency of feeling inadequate in many ways. This makes him search for something to make him more fulfilled. He resorts to the external world through the mind and organs. This is innate to all and has to be deliberately changed.

The first step to changing is to discriminate between the real and the unreal. Coming to this stage itself takes along time. Years of conditioning has led man to believe he is getting happiness and peace from the world. He has time and again been credulous enough to believe so, never questioning it, accepting it as the norm. On the other hand, he has been incredulous at the fact that the truth is something diametrically opposite. Continue reading →

Q. 369 – mokSha

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Q: What is meant by mokSha as a puruShArtha? (The answer should incorporate a definition of mokSha.)

Responses from Ted, Venkat, Ramesam, Martin, Shuka and Dennis

A (Ted): Moksha literally means, “liberation.” It indicates freedom from dependence on objects (i.e., anything perceivable, conceivable, or in any way experienceable) for happiness, contentment, or a sense of wholeness and completeness. And since it is our vain pursuit of permanent fulfillment through impermanent objects that is the cause of suffering, moksha also implies freedom from all suffering.

 Moksha is the essential purushartha (i.e. goal or end) that we are seeking, though in most cases not consciously, through our pursuit of artha (security), kama (pleasure), and dharma (virtue). If we analyze the objects we chase in any of these categories, we invariably find that it is not actually the object itself that we want, but rather the sense of peace and/or happiness that it seemingly provides us. Admittedly, the objects we seek to obtain in these areas are either necessary for our survival or enhance our enjoyment of life, but all are limited. And no limited object can provide limitless fulfillment. Thus, if we depend on these objects for our happiness, we doom ourselves to inevitable disappointment and certain suffering. Continue reading →

Tattvabodha – Part 1

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI am pleased to announce that Dr. VIshnu Bapat has granted permission for us to host his unpublished commentary on Shankara’s Tattvabodha.This is a key work which introduces all of the key concepts of Advaita in a systematic manner.

The commentary is based upon those by several other authors, together with the audio lectures of Swami Paramarthananda. It includes word-by-word breakdown of the Sanskrit shloka-s so should be of interest to everyone, from complete beginners to advanced students.

Here is the link to Part 1. This provides an introduction to the series and covers the Invocation. There is also a hyperlinked Contents List, which will be updated as each new part is published.

Upadesa Nun Malai

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Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi said little and wrote less. Much of what we have in English are (probably) imperfect recollections of his talks.  David Godman and Michael James have contributed excellently by translating some of Bhagavan’s original works into English – and perhaps most notably, Sri Murugunar’s collaborative effort with Bhagavan on Guru Vachaka Kovai.

An English translation, by ‘Kays’ of a Tamil “Commentary on Arunachala Stuti Panchakam and Upadesa Nun Malai” has recently been published.  This is a translation and commentary of Bhagavan’s poetic works, including Upadesa Undiyar (in Sanskrit, Upadesa Saram) and Ulladu Narpadu (Sat Darshan). The author, Kanakammal originally spent 3 years with Bhagavan before his passing, and then imbibed teaching from Sri Murugunar on Bhagavan’s works.

In her forward she writes “Though Murugunar taught exhaustively, what I could retain was much less. I had no courage to attempt to write on the Absolute Whole with this imperfect intellect of mine . . . None can say with certainty this is the really meaning for Sri Bhagavan’s compositions are an inexhaustible treasure”.  She passed away in 2010 at Sri Ramanashram.

Kays has also translated into English Lakshmana Sarma’s (“WHO”) translation and detailed commentary on Bhagavan’s Ulladu Narpadu. Bhagavan instructed him over 3 years on this verse by verse, from which Sarma translated Ulladu Narpadu into Sanskrit, which he got Bhagavan to approve, and then wrote a Tamil commentary.

Bhagavan himself said: “Everyone is saying that Lakshmana Sarma’s commentary on Ulladu Narpadu is the best. Nobody has studied Ulladu Narpadu the way Sarma has”.

Neither book is easy to find outside India.  Both are available at the Indian Sri Ramanashram website.  The first is also available here:

http://store.satramana.org/coonarstpaan.html

Aside from Michael James’ and David Godman’s translations, I suspect there is nothing as authoritative in English as these translations and commentaries on Bhagavan’s works, by two who sat at his feet.

Q. 368 – vAsanA-s

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Q: Do vAsanA-s belong to the causal body or the subtle body?  

In the subtle body camp I got a response from one of Swami Dayananda’s senior students saying that the causal body is pure ignorance with no attributes and that vAsanA-s “definitely belong to the subtle body”.   In addition, from my own quick review of some of Shankara’s basic works I can find no passage that says the causal body is anything but “avidyA” and find no mention of the term “ vAsanA-s ” anywhere.

In the causal body camp I have James Schwartz and multiple pieces of Chinmayananda literature.   In fact I have seen them equate vAsanA-s to avidyA by pointing out that avidyA and vAsanA-s are both caused by the guNa-s.

Can you help with this one?   What is going on here?  Btw, as an interesting side note, in Swami Dayananda’s extensive Gita course-books the word “ vAsanA-s ” does not appear once.

Answers from Ramesam, Ted, Martin and Dennis. Continue reading →

Science and Philosophy – Part III  

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“The intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups…literary intellectuals at one pole – at the other scientists, and as the most representative, the physical scientists. Between the two a gulf of incomprehension.”

“A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is about the scientific equivalent of: Have you read a work of Shakespeare’s? “- C.P. Snow (in the 1960s)

Continue reading →

Brahma Sutras

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Southern Aeschna(Originally posted to Advaita Academy Oct. 2010)

Most readers of this site will certainly have heard of this text- the third branch, nyAya prasthAna, of the source for the teaching of advaita. (The other two branches of the so-called prasthAna traya are the Upanishads or shruti, and smRRiti, of which the most important is the bhagavadgItA.) But few have probably read it. You may have attempted to do so but been quickly put off by its seeming complexity. This is not surprising!

The basic text was written by vyAsa and otherwise known as bAdarAyaNa. And ‘text’ is not really the right word. It is actually written in short, numbered sutras whose meaning is often obscure, to say the least. The practice of the time required that writers of such works used as few words as possible – and vyAsa must have been one of the most proficient! The reader is expected to remember what has gone before and fill in the appropriate words as necessary. He is also expected to know the Upanishads and other works off by heart so that the relevant references do not have to be spelled out. Continue reading →