English
A passage for editorial review. A COMPENDIUM OF THE RAJA YOGA PHILOSOPHY, Comprising the principal treatises of Shri- mat Sankaracharya and other renowned authors. PUBLISHED FOR THE BOMBAY THEOSOPHICAL PUBLICATION FUND, BY TOOKAKAM TATYA BOMBAY. 1888. (AH rights reserved.) .. BOMBAY :— PRINTED AT THE SUBODHA-PRAKASH PRESS. ;3 A3 2, TABLE OF CONTENTS, PAGE. I. Shrimat Shankaracharya's Aprokshanubhuti (Direct cognition of the Unity of Jiva and Brahma) 1 II. Shrimat Shankaracharya's Atmanatma Viveka setting forth the scope and purpose of the Vedanta Philosophy* 34 III. Shrimat Shankaracharya's Atma Bodha. ... 40 IV. Shri Vakyasudha 69 V. Yedant Sara of Sadanand Swami, a resume of the Vedanta Philosophy 83 VI. Shrimat Shankaracharya's Crest Jewel of wisdom 103 VII. Shrimat Shankaracharya's Charpat Pangari. 1GO < PREFACE. It is in the hope of laying before aspirants to spiritual knowledge, both in the East and the West, particularly before those who do not know Sanscrit, the theory of the Higher self and the mode of its realization that the book is published. It contains English Translations of a few celebrated treatises on the subject : — 1. Sankaracharya's Aparokshanubhuti (Direct cognition of the Unity of Jiva and Brahma). 2. Sankaracharya's Atmanatma Viveka, setting forth the scope and purpose of the Vedanta philosophy. 3. Shri Vakyasudha, teaching the annihilation of egoism to realize the Universal Atma. 4. Vedanta Sara of Sadanand Swami giving a short re sume' of the Vedanta philosophy. 5. Sankaracharya's Crest Jewel of wisdom, 6. Charpat Panjari. We venture to assure our readers that a careful study of these treatises will lead them to an exalted state of the mind which will raise them above the sphere of physical sorrows and pains and ultimately enable them to overcome the limitation, of time and space by realizing the Immortal Ego, DIRECT COGNITION OF THE UNITY OF JIVA AND BRAHMA. BY S'rimat S'ankaracMrya with notes TRANSLATED BY MANILAL NABUBHAI DVIVEDI F.T.S. 1. I* bow to S'ri Hari-f- — to Is'var — the highest happi ness, the best instructor, the all-pervading, the one_ cause (material instrumental as well as final) of the Universe. wwrr 5551: n ^ n 2. Hence forward is expounded the course of realising the Irivisible, for the easy acquisition of final absolution (from the bonds forged by igi\or<tf\ce-avidyd) ; let those only who have sufficiently prepared themselves for being initiated into the secrets of this Science, by every effort frequently meditate upon the truths herein inculcated. * The ego — the eu'uddha jiva (6th principle) as it were contemplates upon Ishwar— Brahma— the creator and yet— the destroy er_of_all avidyd igno rance, i. e. tries to realise its primal identity with Brahma. t He who by the light of knowledge takes away, melts away all avidya the common substratum of the three .States of sleep, dream and waking. ( 2 ) 3. Indifference (1) and the other (3) preliminary qualifica tions are acquired by the performance of duties peculiar to one's own caste and creed, by austerities, and by propitiating the deities &c.* rn 4. That is pure Indifference which consists in the loss of all desire for the enjoyments of the senses., beginning from the Satyaloka (the highest heaven) to the Marty aloka (this world), as for the dung of a crow. ft *ff fJpw: fF^N^^T ^f^: * I IIMI 5. The determination that the only eternal and permanent principle of the Cosmos is Atman (the Subject of all perception^ and that every thing else is opposed in its very nature to this Atman (i. e. is impermanent) as being the objectf of percep tion — Such fixed (theoretical determination, the cause of In difference, is called the Right know/edge (2) of objects. a ^RTSK u also or: i f ( 3 ) Wlf^farf 6. Now the effects (3) of Indifferences : — tfama, Dama and four others. The abandonment of all previous impressions ma turing themselves into tangible effects now (i.e. the controlling of the Antaskarana) is called S'ama (1) ; complete restraint over the bent of the external senses (over our bodily acts) is called Dama (2). 1 a n 7. The entire turning away from all objects of sense, the almost voluntary absence of all desire for such objects, is the height of Uparati (3) ; and the patient suffering of all pain or sorrow is the state of happy Titikshd* (4). 8. Faith in the words of the Upanishads, as well also in the words of those who interpret them — the teachers, (as also, and perhaps chief! y; in one's self ) — is called S'radd/id (5) ; the absorption of the mind in the one paramount aim of all exer tion — the Sat — the Universal Atman — (i. e., excessive desire, to know and realise that Paramdtman ; or the utter incapability arising from such a state, of deviating from the right path) ia called Samddhdna (6). 9. When and how shall, oh my Fate, I be free from the bonds of this world — birth and rebirth — this strong and all absorbing desire constitutes the fourth and last of the four preliminary stages — Desire of Absolution (4). * " The cessation of desire, a constant readiness to part with every thing in the world"— Theosophiat Vol. V. No. 12. P, 282, ( 4 ) 10. One who having passed through the said preliminary stages desires knowledge for final absolution must set himself seriously to think. f*RTirFf PRT ^r% \\\\\\ 11. Knowledge is not produced by any means other than right thinking ; just as the objects of this universe are never perceived but by the help of light. nun 12. (a) Who am I? (6) How is this evolved ? (c) Who is its creator ? (cQ What is the material of which it is made ? — This is the form of rational thought. : \\\\\\ 13. (a) I certainly cannot be this body — a mere collection of the various Tatvas ; nor can I be any one of the senses (for the same reason), I must certainly be something quite apart from both of them : — This is &c. 14. (6) Everything emanates from ignorance, and melts away into knowledge ; (c) the various fancies the antasharana must be tlie (as understood by us) creator — This is &c. 15. (d) The material cause of these two, ignorance and fancy, is the incomprehensibly minute but unique and undecay- ing everlasting sat, just as the earth is the cause of jars etc — This &c. snft 16. There is no doubt that Jam one with that supreme ego, I am the very ego, which is common to all men, which is unique and one, which is incomprehensibly small, the subject of all perception, the everpresent witness, (seeing everything without the ordinary means of knowledge), the ever existent undecaying, spirit : — This &c. ft iran* ^ir ^ faTT^Rr : i 17. The one Atman, the ever present Universal spirit — is free from all conditions (as organs of sense &c.), whereas the Delia i. e. lingadeha or astral body is bound by many :* what ignorance could surpass that of those who confound these two together ? 18. The Atman is the internal governor of this deha which is the governed and therefore external : what ignorance &c. 19. The Atman is all conscious Intelligence and all holiness : the deha i. e. the Sthtiladeha or physical body is all flesh and blood, (i, e. inert) and therefore unclean : what ignorance &c. * i. e. 17. The 5 Pran* +5 Dnyanendriya + 5 Karmendriyas + Buddhi + Ahankara = 17. 20. The Atman is the illumination of the Universe and purity itself; the deha is all darkness (evolved from ignorance) what ignorance &c. Praft ft s|<fr ^faftraft ¥*RPT: I qo \\\\\\ 21. The Atman is permanent, eternal and therefore existence itself: whereas the dehas are non-eternal (subject to change) and non-existence incarnate : what ignorance &c. 22. That is the self-illuminating power of Atman, which enlightens all the objects of this Universe : it is not any ordi nary light like that of fire or any other thing, which has no power to interfere with the presence of darkness in any the same contiguous place.* 23. It is very strange that people though always talking of this deha as something belonging to me (the subjective Atman) and therefore apart from He who possesses it, like one see ing ajar of earth talking of it as seen by him, and therefore, apart from him, should rest contented with identifying this ego with its (temporary tenement) deha 1 * It may be argued that if the light of the Atman is unlike that of fire etc.