The Ribhu Gita

[Guest guest]

To One and All,

 

I have just received the Ribhu Gita from the Sanskrit (obtained

through the Vedanta Society - the response from them was

astonishingly fast), as recommended by Ramana Maharshi and find it

fascinating. I began reading from the beginning and then discovered

that it is like the ocean itself -- anywhere one opens it pure

consciousness is found (to mix metaphors). It is fascinating to open

to a page, read a line or two, and then open another page, and read

lines there and lo, they make a continuity.

 

It is a very holographic work in which every verse or line reflects

all the others. Most amazing. I wonder if anyone else has found that

to be the case as well.

 

It appears to me that if sacred writings were a pyramid, the pyramid

would look something like this:

 

1. Ribhu Gita

2. Bhagavad Gita - Upanishads

3. (Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

4. Teachings of Ramana Maharshi - Other Advaitists such as

Nisargadetta, Krishnamurti, Poonja, etc.

5. Teachings of other Mystics

6. The Scriptures of all religions

7. The Study of Science

 

with section 1 being the summit and each section from 2-7 making up

the lower strata of the pyramid and the lower on the pyramid the more

in the relative (world), the higher the more in the Absolute.

 

However,

as I view the Ribhu Gita I wonder what the difference is between the

translations from the Sanskrit and the Tamil. I have material from

the Tamil (which I got off the web) and it is substantively different

from the same material from the Sanskrit.

 

Can anyone clarify the differences and indicate which one is

preferred? From what I can tell the Sanskrit version is the earlier,

while the Tamil is derivative so we have the following apparent

situation:

 

Ribhu Gita -> Sanskrit -> English

Ribhu Gita -> Sanskrit -> Tamil -> English

 

It was moderately expensive, so my question really amounts to:

Is there value in obtaining both translations?

Should I have obtained the translation from the Tamil?

 

Also the glossary is good, but not perfect. There are terms in the

text which are not explained from the Sanskrit, nor are they in the

glossary. Also there are some "jargon" words in the English which

seem to have "insider" meanings. I have parsed out some of the

meanings.

 

An example is "Not-Self".

There is no explanation of the use of the term, which apparently is a

short cut way of saying,

"the held belief in something separate from the Absolute, from Self,

from Brahman, which is an impossibility as there is nothing which can

be separate from SELF".

 

Sooooooooo...........

is there a useful glossary of Advaita Vedanta terms and vocabulary

readible available, which has been found useful to members of this

forum? On the web or in book form?

 

Thank you for listening,

Namaste,

John L.