Announcement and Introduction

[Guest guest]

Namaste all,

 

While random noble thoughts and good quotations can certainly be

appreciated, the purpose of advaitin list may not be served by just

piling up such random notes and musings, however much spiritual and

devotional they may be, on the posts of the list. Recently all of us

seem to be straying towards this kind of 'pramAda' (=slip). It is

necessary to focus our attention on a few topics only at a

particular period of time and dwell intensely on them in order to be

useful (spiritually) to ourselves and the rest of the members of

the list. And that was why the monthly topic system was introduced

and I thought it was going well. The list loses its purpose if it

becomes just an outlet for miscellaneous posts lacking any

organization. Kindly let us all go back to Shankara.

 

There are so many expository works of Shankara that have yet to be

studied. Just to follow my own advice above I am choosing one work

of Shankara to set the pace and thus setting a task for myself. It

is Adi Shankara's Shata-shlokI.

 

The title means `A Century of Verses'. It actually consists of 101

four-line verses, all of the same metre with 21 syllables in each

quarter. The work is a capsuled version of the whole spectrum of

advaita, straight from the Master. Because it is poetry, it spares

us the difficult terrain of long-winding arguments and dialectics

in prose that is characteristic of the commentaries or Bhashyas.

So even those of us who are beginners to advaita, as well as those

who are not comfortable with Sanskrit, can appreciate it. And

further, unlike the commentaries, it could probably have

been `spoken' out by the Acharya rather than composed in a `written'

manner. Consequently there is an added style – which, in addition,

includes the usual majesty of Shankara's writing -- of a purposeful

extempore after-dinner conversation, the poetic impact of which may

be enjoyed more if we know the language. I recommend it to every

reader, who has any interest in advaita. Indeed I would like to call

it: "Triple A – FAQ on advaita" – standing for "Authentic Answers

from the Acharya to Frequently Asked Questions on advaita". Some of

the shlokas would probably admit a month-long discussion by the

group.

 

My source is the book `Select works of Sri Sankaracharya' – with a

general translation by S. Venkataramanan, and with a Foreword by K.

Balasubramania Iyer, published by G.A. Natesan and Co., Madras, in

1944.

 

My posts on this will begin very shortly. Incidentally, by some

quirk of family circumstance beyond my control I am likely to be

still in the U.S. for a few months more, contrary to my earlier 'au

revoir' to you. And I would like to finish the study (along with you

all) of Shankara's Shata-shloki during this time.

 

PraNAms to all students of Shankara.

profvk