Vivekachudamani
by Shankara | 1921 | 49,785 words | ISBN-13: 9788175051065
The Vivekachudamani is a collection of poetical couplets authored by Shankara around the eighth century. The philosophical school this compilation attempts to expose is called ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism, one of the classical orthodox philosophies of Hinduism. The book teaches Viveka: discrimination between the real and the unreal. Shankara d...
Verse 325
लक्ष्यच्युतं चेद्यदि चित्तमीषद्
बहिर्मुखं सन्निपतेत्ततस्ततः ।
प्रमादतः प्रच्युतकेलिकन्दुकः
सोपानपङ्क्तौ पतितो यथा तथा ॥ ३२५ ॥lakṣyacyutaṃ cedyadi cittamīṣad
bahirmukhaṃ sannipatettatastataḥ |
pramādataḥ pracyutakelikandukaḥ
sopānapaṅktau patito yathā tathā || 325 ||325. If the mind ever so slightly strays from the Ideal and becomes outgoing, then it goes down and down, just as a play-ball inadvertently dropped on the staircase bounds down from one step to another.
Notes:
[Ideal—Brahman. Cf. Mundaka II. ii. 3-4.
What a terrible and graphic warning to happy-go-lucky aspirants! ]