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...

तयोर्विरोधोऽयमुपाधिकल्पितो
न वास्तवः कश्चिदुपाधिरेषः ।
ईशस्य माया महदादिकारणं
जीवस्य कार्यं शृणु पञ्चकोशम् ॥ २४३ ॥

tayorvirodho'yamupādhikalpito
na vāstavaḥ kaścidupādhireṣaḥ |
īśasya māyā mahadādikāraṇaṃ
jīvasya kāryaṃ śṛṇu pañcakośam || 243 ||

243. This contradiction between them is created by superimposition, and is not something real. This superimposition, in the case of Ishwara (the Lord), is Māyā or Nescience, which is the cause of Mahat and the rest, and in the case of the Jiva (the individual soul), listen – the five sheaths, which are the effects of Māyā, stand for it.

 

Notes:

[Mahat—See note on Sloka 123.

And the rest—the grosser manifestations that proceed from Mahat.

Five Sheaths— See note on Sloka 125. ]

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