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...

सत्याभिसंधानरतो विमुक्तो
महत्त्वमात्मीयमुपैति नित्यम् ।
मिथ्याभिसन्धानरतस्तु नश्येद्
दृष्टं तदेतद्यदचौरचौरयोः ॥ ३३२ ॥

satyābhisaṃdhānarato vimukto
mahattvamātmīyamupaiti nityam |
mithyābhisandhānaratastu naśyed
dṛṣṭaṃ tadetadyadacauracaurayoḥ || 332 ||

332. He who has devoted himself to meditation on the Reality (Brahman) and is free from Nescience, attains to the eternal glory of the Ātman. But he who dwells on the unreal (the universe) is destroyed. That this is so is evidenced in the case of one who is not a thief and one who is a thief.

 

Notes:

[One who is not a thief etc.—The allusion is to-the hot-axe test applied in ancient times to persons-charged with theft etc. An axe would be made red- hot and the accused would be asked to hold it in

his hand. If his hand was not burnt, it was a proof that he was innocent, but if it was burnt, he would be convicted and subjected to the usual punishments. The Chhandogya Upanishad VI. xvi. makes use of such a parable, to which the present Sloka refers.]

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