Shankara's advaita

[Guest guest]

Re: Advaita Digest 428

Zo Newell <zonewell wrote:

> Re: Devandra's comment ("like living in the USA and not knowing about

> Bill Clinton!!", very funny) --

> There seem to be people on this list who are quite unfamiliar with

> Advaita and its founder Adi Shankara. I am curious as to why they

> d to such a list? (No criticism intended, just wondering.) For

> any of you who would like to find out about Advaita firsthand, I have a

> suggestion. My guru Sri Brahamanda recommended Shankaracarya's ATMABODHA,

> "Knowledge of Self", to beginners; he called it "a complete Bible of

> mysticism in which nothing is left out!" Possibly discussions would be

> more satisfying if we all were, um, on the same page.

>

> Zo

>

-------------------------

 

Dear Zo,

 

Just for academic interest, although Shankara was undoubtedly the foremost

exponent of Advaita, he may not be said to be its founder, as his guru's guru

Gaudapada taught an even more absolute form of Advaita. To Shankara, however,

may perhaps be attributed the concept of maya, which he probably introduced to

make Advaita more intelligible to the lay-man. Gaudapada taught that nothing but

the One exists. Shankara added that maya makes it appear as if things exist.

Interestingly, the Advaita taught by the Naath Panth (Naath sect) to which

belonged Jnaneshwar (13th century) and Nisargadatta Maharaj (of "I Am That"

fame), is similarly considered to be a more absolute (or subtler?) version of

Advaita than Shankara's. For example, where Shankara gives the example of the

rope which is seen as a snake, (in which the snake is not seen once the rope is

recognised as a rope), Jnaneshwara gives the example of the gold and the golden

ornament, the ornament (as *different* from gold) being only a concept, which is

nevertheless continued to be seen as such after this recognition. Of course,

all these versions exist only for the sake of explaining Advaita to the average

people. Also, the original philosophy on which Advaita is based is contained in

the Upanishads ("Vedanta").

 

 

Best wishes,

 

I agree with you as regards Atmabodha, and would also add Vivekachudamani to the

list. But a couple of lesser known texts which give the highest Advaita are the

Ashtaavakra Gita and the (not easily available) Yoga Vaashishtha. Both are

associated with the mythological story of Rama. Yoga Vaashishtha contains the

teachings of Sage Vashishtha (Rama's guru) as taught to Rama, and the

Ashtaavakra Gita contains the teachings of Ashtavakra (King Janak's guru) to

Janak. (Janak, as you may already be aware, was Rama's father-in-law).

 

Nitin

Homepage:http://personal.vsnl.com/ntrasi

[Guest guest]

On Tue, 14 Dec 1999, Nitin Trasi wrote:

> I agree with you as regards Atmabodha, and would also add

Vivekachudamani to the list. But a couple of lesser known texts

which give the highest Advaita are the Ashtaavakra Gita and

the (not easily available) Yoga Vaashishtha.

>

> Nitin

> Homepage:http://personal.vsnl.com/ntrasi

>

 

Hari Om,

 

A very nice collection of books (including ones mentioned including

Vashishta Yoga) is available from Blue Dove press.

 

http://www.bluedove.com/index.html

 

Peace,

 

Lilia