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 31
मोक्षकारणसामग्र्यां भक्तिरेव गरीयसी ।
स्वस्वरूपानुसन्धानं भक्तिरित्यभिधीयते ॥ ३१ ॥mokṣakāraṇasāmagryāṃ bhaktireva garīyasī |
svasvarūpānusandhānaṃ bhaktirityabhidhīyate || 31 ||31. Among things conducive to Liberation, devotion (Bhakti) holds the supreme place. The seeking after one’s real nature is designated as devotion.
Notes:
[The seeking etc.—This definition is from the Advaita standpoint. Dualists who substitute Isvara, the Supreme Lord, for the Atman or Supreme Self immanent in being, of course define Bhakti otherwise. For example, Narada defines it as “sā kasmaicit paramapremarūpā”—“It is of the nature of extreme love to some Being,” and Sandilya, another authority
on the subject, puts it as “sā parānuraktirīśvare”—“It is extreme attachment to Isvara, the Lord.” On reflection it will appear that there is not much difference between the definitions of the two schools.]