Questions and Answers

[Guest guest]

|| Namah Sivaya||

Dear friends,

Here is something interesting to read.

-Warm Regards

S. Prabhakaran

 

http://www.chitrapurmath.net/jul1955.htm#Prashnottari

 

Shri Shankaracharya's Prashnottari

 

(Summary of a discourse delivered by His Holiness at Puttur in

December 1938; adapted from the Shrimat Anandashram Ordination

Jubilee Souvenir)

 

Among the smaller works of Shri Shankaracharya is the

Prashnottari, a series of short questions and answers helpful to

aspirants on the path of self-realisation. It consists of 32 verses

in simple Sanskrit. A free English rendering of practically the

entire matter is attempted below.

 

1. O compassionate Guru, kindly tell me this. What refuge is there

for me who am being drowned in the midst of the boundless sea of

worldly life? - The long boat in the form of the lotus feet of the

Lord of the Universe.

 

2. Who, ideed is bound ? - He, who is attached to objects of sense.

What is complete liberation ? - dispassion towards objects of sense.

Which is the terrible hell ? - One's own body.

Which is the heavenly state ? - Cessation of desire.

 

3. What ends the cycle of births and deaths ? - Self-realisation,

born of a study of the Vedas.

What is the cause of liberation ? - The same as just stated.

Which is the one door of hell ? - Lust.

What leads to heaven ? - Non-violence to living beings.

 

4. Who sleeps happily ? - He who is absorbed in Samadhi.

Who is awake ? - He who discriminates between truth and untruth.

Who are the enemies ? - One's own senses, which, however, when

conquered, themselves become friends.

 

5. Who, indeed, is indigent ? - He who has vast desire.

Who is rich ? - He who is quite satisfied.

Who is alive yet dead ? - He who is not industrious.

What can be immortality ? - Desirelessness which gives happiness.

 

6. Which are the fetters ? - The feeling of "I" and "mine".

What intoxicates like wine ? - Lust.

Who is stark blind ? - He who is affected by Cupid.

What is death ? - One's own ill fame.

 

7. Who is a Guru ? - He who gives salutary advice.

Who is a disciple ? - One who is devoted to the Guru.

What is chronic illness ? - The cycle of births and deaths, O good

man.

What is the remedy for it ? - Reflection alone.

 

8. Which ornament is the best of ornaments ? - Character.

Which is the most holy water ? - One's own mind well purified.

What should here be given up ? - Gold and Lust.

What should always be heard ? - The words of the Guru and the Vedas.

 

9. What are the means of attaining to the Eternal ? - Company of

saints, gifts, reflection and contentment.

Who are the saints ? - Those who are free from all desire, whose

delusion is gone and who are firmly rooted in the reality of Shiva.

 

10. What indeed is the fever of living beings ? - Anxiety.

Who is a fool ? - He who has no discrimination.

Which is the pleasant duty ? - Devotion to Shiva and Vishnu.

What is life ? - That which is quite free from blemish.

 

11. What indeed is knowledge ? - That which enables one to attain the

state of the eternal.

What is true wisdom ? - That which is the cause of complete

liberation.

What is the profit ? - That alone which is Self-knowledge.

By whom is the world conquered ? - By him, indeed, who has conquered

his mind.

 

12. Who is the bravest of the brave ? - He who is not afflicted by

the arrows of cupid.

Who is intelligent, resolute and balanced ? - He who is not deluded

by the glances of the other sex.

 

13. Who is more poisonous than poison ? - All objects of sense.

Who is always unhappy ? - He who is attached to the objects of the

sense.

Who is blessed ? - He who does good to others.

Who is worthy of worship ? - He who is firmly rooted in the reality

of Shiva.

 

14. What, under all circumstances, should a learned man not do with

effort ? - Attachment and sinful action.

And what should he do ? - Study and practice of Dharma.

What is the root cause of mundane life ? - Anxiety.

 

15. Who is the wisest among the wise ? He who is not deceived by the

other sex.

Which indeed is the chain (that binds) living beings ? - Lust..

Which is the divine vow ? - Complete humililty.

 

16. What is very difficult for all to give up ? Evil desire.

Who is a beast ? - One who is without learning.

 

17. With whom should one neither live nor associate ? - Fools, the

mean, the cruel and the sinners.

What ought to be done quickly by a person desirous of final

liberation ? - Association with saints, selflessness and devotion to

the Lord.

 

18. Which is the root of littleness? - Begging.

Which is the root of greatness ? - Absence of begging.

Who indeed is born ? - He who has no re-birth.

And, who is dead ? - He who has no death again.

 

19. Who is dumb ? - He who is not able to say the right word at the

right time.

Who is deaf ? - He who does not listen to right and salutary advice.

 

20. What is the one reality ? - Shiva, the one without a second.

What is the best of all ? - Best conduct.

Which pleasure ought to be given up ? - Sexual pleasure.

Which is the best gift ? - Freedom from fear ever.

 

21. Who is the most formidable of enemies ? - Lust, with anger,

untruth, greed and desire.

Who is not satisfied with the enjoyment of the objects of sense ? -

That lust itself.

What is the origin of sorrow ? - The feeling of "mine".

 

22. What is the ornament of the mouth ? - Learning.

What is true action ? - Ever doing good to beings.

Which act does not cause repentance ? - The worship of Shiva and

Krishna.

 

23. Whose annihilation leads to liberation ? - The mind's.

Wherein is no fear at all ? - In final liberation.

Which is the most poignant dart ? - One's folly itself.

Who should be worshipped ? - Guru, God and the aged.

 

24. What should be done quickly by the intelligent man with effort

when the god of death has approached him to take away his vital

breath ? - Contemplation, with speech, body and mind, of the lotus

feet of Shri Krishna Who is the Giver of happiness and Slayer of

Death.

 

25. Who are the thieves ? - The seeds of evil desire.

Who shines in an assembly ? - He who is very learned.

Who gives happiness like the mother ? - Right knowledge.

What increases by giving ? - Right knowledge.

 

26. Whence, indeed, should fear be entertained ? - From people's

blame and the forest of worldy life.

Who is a very dear brother ? - One who helps in adversity.

And who is a father ? - One who gives all protection.

 

27. By knowing what, does nothing remain to be known ? - The grace of

Shiva, which is blissful wisdom.

By knowing what is the world known ? - The Eternal which pervades all

and is all.

 

28. What is difficult to obtain in the World ? - The Sadguru,

association with saints, enquiry into the Eternal, sacrifice of

everything and Self-realisation.

Who is difficult for all to conquer ? - Cupid.

 

29. Who is the most beastly of beasts ? - He, who having made an

intensive study of the Shastras, does not practise Dharma and has no

self-knowledge.

 

30. What is fleeting like lightning ? - Wealth, youth and life.

Which is the best gift of all ? - That which is given to a worthy

recipient.

What should not be done even when the vital breath chokes the

throat ? - Sinful action.

And what should be done ? - The worship of Shiva.

 

31. What should one think of intensely day and night ? - The

unreality of worldly life and the reality of the blissful Supreme

Spirit.

What is action ? - That which pleases Shri Krishna.

Wherein should confidence never be placed ? - In the sea of mundane

life.

 

32. May this garland of gems, by the name Prashnottara, when worn

about the throat or the ears, presently increase the charming bliss

of the learned, even like the stories of Vishnu and Shiva !

 

Top of Page