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 422
विद्याफलं स्यादसतो निवृत्तिः
प्रवृत्तिरज्ञानफलं तदीक्षितम् ।
तज्ज्ञाज्ञयोर्यन्मृगतृष्णिकादौ
नोचेद्विदां दृष्टफलं किमस्मात् ॥ ४२२ ॥vidyāphalaṃ syādasato nivṛttiḥ
pravṛttirajñānaphalaṃ tadīkṣitam |
tajjñājñayoryanmṛgatṛṣṇikādau
nocedvidāṃ dṛṣṭaphalaṃ kimasmāt || 422 ||422. The result of knowledge should be the turning away from unreal things, while attachment to these is the result of ignorance. This is observed in the case of one who knows a mirage and things of that sort, and one who does not. Otherwise, what other tangible result do the knowers of Brahman obtain?
Notes:
[One who knows......does not—The man who knows the mirage laughs at the illusion and passes by, but the ignorant man runs after it, mistaking it for water. To the sage the world appears no doubt, but he knows it to be unreal and is not lured by it. Not so the man of the world. ]