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...

महामोहग्राहग्रसनगलितात्मावगमनो
धियो नानावस्थां स्वयमभिनयंस्तद्गुणतया ।
अपारे संसरे विषयविषपूरे जलनिधौ
निमज्योन्मज्यायं भ्रमति कुमतिः कुत्सितगतिः ॥ १४१ ॥

mahāmohagrāhagrasanagalitātmāvagamano
dhiyo nānāvasthāṃ svayamabhinayaṃstadguṇatayā |
apāre saṃsare viṣayaviṣapūre jalanidhau
nimajyonmajyāyaṃ bhramati kumatiḥ kutsitagatiḥ || 141 ||

141. The man of perverted intellect, having his Self-knowledge swallowed up by the shark of utter ignorance, himself imitates the various states of the intellect (Buddhi), as that is Its superimposed attribute, and drifts up and down in this boundless ocean of Samsara which is full of the poison of sense-enjoyment, now sinking, now rising – a miserable fate indeed!

 

Notes:

[Himself imitates &c.—The Self is the real nature of every being, but a mistaken identification with the Buddhi causes him to appear as if he were active. See note on Sloka 135.

Samsara—the entire relative existence.

Up and down: sinking and rising.—Acquiring different bodies such as the angelic or the animal, according to the good and bad deeds performed, and enjoying or suffering therein. ]

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