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 580

संसाराध्वनि तापभानुकिरणप्रोद्भूतदाहव्यथा
खिन्नानां जलकाङ्क्षया मरुभुवि भ्रान्त्या परिभ्राम्यताम् ।
अत्यासन्नसुधाम्बुधिं सुखकरं ब्रह्माद्वयं दर्शयत्य्
एषा शंकरभारती विजयते निर्वाणसंदायिनी ॥ ५८0 ॥

saṃsārādhvani tāpabhānukiraṇaprodbhūtadāhavyathā
khinnānāṃ jalakāṅkṣayā marubhuvi bhrāntyā paribhrāmyatām |
atyāsannasudhāmbudhiṃ sukhakaraṃ brahmādvayaṃ darśayaty
eṣā śaṃkarabhāratī vijayate nirvāṇasaṃdāyinī || 580 ||

580. For those who are afflicted, in the way of the world, by the burning pain due to the (scorching) sunshine of threefold misery, and who through delusion wander about in a desert in search of water – for them here is the triumphant message of Shankara pointing out, within easy reach, the soothing ocean of nectar, Brahman, the One without a second – to lead them on to Liberation. 

 

Notes:

[Threefold misery—the ádhyátmika (those pertaining to the body and mind, such as pain, anguish etc.) the adhidaivika (those coming from divine visitations or scourges of Nature, such as cyclone, earthquake etc.), and the adhibhautika (those due to other creatures on earth).

Wander......water—are lured by the prospect of happiness from transitory things, which, as in the case of a mirage, exhaust them the more.

Easy reach—for this Mine of Bliss is their very nature. It is no external thing to be acquired. They have simply to realise that they are already That.

On to liberation—By inducing them to take away their self-imposed veil.

The solemn cadence of the Sardulavikridita metre makes a fitting termination to the prophetic discourse. ]

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