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 540
दिगम्बरो वापि च साम्बरो वा
त्वगम्बरो वापि चिदम्बरस्थः ।
उन्मत्तवद्वापि च बालवद्वा
पिशाचवद्वापि चरत्यवन्याम् ॥ ५४0 ॥digambaro vāpi ca sāmbaro vā
tvagambaro vāpi cidambarasthaḥ |
unmattavadvāpi ca bālavadvā
piśācavadvāpi caratyavanyām || 540 ||540. Established in the ethereal plane of Absolute Knowledge, he wanders in the world, sometimes like a madman, sometimes like a child and at other times like a ghoul, having no other clothes on his person except the quarters, or sometimes wearing clothes, or perhaps skins at other times.
Notes:
[Ghoul—with no sense of cleanliness. It should be noted that these are some of the devices to avoid the company of vulgar people.
Skins—the word in the text also means ‘bark.’]