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 55
अविद्याकामकर्मादिपाशबन्धं विमोचितुम् ।
कः शक्नुयाद्विनात्मानं कल्पकोटिशतैरपि ॥ ५५ ॥avidyākāmakarmādipāśabandhaṃ vimocitum |
kaḥ śaknuyādvinātmānaṃ kalpakoṭiśatairapi || 55 ||55. Who but one’s own self can get rid of the bondage caused by the fetters of Ignorance, desire, action and the like, aye, even in a hundred crore of cycles?
Notes:
[Ignorance of our real nature as the blissful Self leads to desire, which in its turn impels us to action, entailing countless sufferings.
Cycle—Kalpa, the entire duration of the evolved universe. See note on Sloka 6.]