Prasnottara Ratnamalika--Of Adi Shankaracharya--Part 1

[Guest guest]

Hari OM!

 

Today being Guruvayur Ekadasi day, thought of posting this Prasnottara

Ratnamalika by Adi Shankaracharya, I will post this as three parts. this is

Part 1

 

 

Q: What deserves full and unquestioned acceptance ?

A:The instructions and orders of the Guru (guru vachanam)

 

Q: What is to be rejected?

A:Those things that one should not do or what is evil.[akaryam is the

negative part of karyam which is any normal duty that one is permitted to

do]

 

Q: Who can be considered as a Guru (the spiritual teacher)?

A:That one who knows the truth, who lives in and as truth and who always

(satatam) strives for the good of his (hita) disciple(s) (sishya).

 

Q: What (kim) is the immediate duty (kartavyam) and binding of a truly

learned man ?

 

A:To try and succeed in terminating the ever-revolving cycle of births and

deaths.(samsaara santati - is this vicious cycle)

 

Q: What is the seed (bijam) of the tree (taru) of liberation (moksha)?

 

A:The attainment of perfect and true knowledge (samyak-jn~anam) and its

application in everyday life (kriyaa-siddham)

 

Q:What is the most beneficial thing ?(kah pathyataro)

A:Dharma, or the path of righteousness is.

 

Q: Who is the clean person ? (kah sucir-iha)

A:That one whose mind (maanasam) is pure (suddham).

 

Q: Who is the real intelligent person? (kah pandito)

A:That one who is endowed with the power of discrimination (viveki).

 

Q: What is poison ? (kim visham)

A:Not abiding by the advice of wise, elderly people. (avadhirana gurusu).

 

Q:What is the essence of this (illusory) life that we are leading ?(kim

samsaare saaram)

A:The understanding that it is only transitory and will not last forever.

 

Q: What can be considered as the dearest thing for a man ?

A:The leading of a life that is entirely devoted to the good (and only good)

of himself (sva) and others (para).

 

Q: What spoils the mind (madhi) and brings down its efficiency like an

alocholic drink ?

A: Love (or) Friendship (snehah) of the abnormal or extreme kind.

 

Q: What can be considered as thieves in a man ?

A:The Sense Objects that bog down the mind from its higher faculties

(vishaya).

 

Q: What is the nature of the bhava (sagaram) , the vicious cycle of births

and deaths ?

A:It is the continuing thirst of desires.

 

Q: Who is the enemy ? (ko vairi)

A:An idle disposition.

 

Q: What is the root cause of fear for all ?

A:Death (maranam)

 

Q: Who can be called as blindest of the blind? (andha is blind)

A:That one who is not free from all attachments and who rather sticks to

them. (ragi).

 

Q: Who is the most brave one ? (kah suro)

A:That one who does not fall to the glancing-arrows (the intoxicating looks)

of amorous women. (locana - eyes; banam-arrow)

 

Q: What should be considered as nectarine words by the ears ? (karnam -

ears; amrutam - something nectarine or sweetest)

A: The advice of holy elders (sad upadesah)

 

Q: What makes one respectable?

A: A character that makes one abhor begging for favors (vishaya).

 

Q: What is too deep to be known ? (kim gahanam)

A: The nature of women (or what is behind a woman's mind) (stri-caritam)

 

Q: Who is the clever man ? (kah caturah)

A: One who does not become the slave of the influence of females.

 

Q: What is misery or worry ? (kim duhkham)

A: Getting dissatisfied with everything that one comes across. (a-santosah)

 

Q: What is it that makes one unworthy of all ? (kim laghavam)

A: The beggarly nature that cringes for favors from even the worst of men.

 

Q: What can be deemed as an ideal life ? (kim jivitam)

A: A life that stands above all criticism is such one. (anavadyam)

 

Q: What is inertness ? (kim jadyam)

A: The act of not practising what one has learnt.

 

Q: Who is the vigilant (the one who is ever-awake)? (ko jagarti)

A: That one who has the power of discrimination (and who puts it to use)

(viveki)

 

Q: What is sleep ? (ka nidra)

A: The complete ignorance of one's own predicament in this Samsara Sagara.

 

Q: What is in such a flux and so temporary and ever-changing like water

drops on a lotus leaf ?

A: Youth, Wealth and life-span are those. (yauvanam, dhanam and caayuh -

respectively)

 

Q: Who is cooling and full of ever-present radiance like the moonlight ?

A: It is the saintly ones. (saj-jana)

 

Q: What is (comparable to) Hell? (ko narakah)

A: The state of subjection to others. (para-vasata)

 

Q: What is happiness? (kim saukhyam)

A: The state of complete non-attachment to everything.

 

Q: What is truth? (kim satyam)

A: That one which is beneficial to all living beings (and not harmful to

even a single creature).(bhuta hitam)

 

Q: What is dear to all creatures ?

A: Life. (asavah - the opposite of savah or death)

 

Q: What is the cause of disappointment ?

A: Inordinate self-estimation.

 

Q: What endows one with happiness ?

A: Friendship (or keeping in touch) with the holy and saintly ones.

 

Q: Who is the most skilled one in destroying all forms of sorrows ?

A: That one who has renounced everything in all aspects.

 

Q: What is Death ? (kim maranam)

A: Utter ignorance.

 

Q: What is it that is beyond all evaluation ?

A: The gift that is given to a person who is in need and at the time of

need.

 

Q: What causes torment till death ?

A: Sins committed by one but guarded by a veil of secrecy. (undisclosed

sins)

 

Q: What should one strive to achieve in life ? (kutra vidheyo yatno)

A: To get good education, good medication and the habit of making gifts.

(vidya-abhyase, sad-aushadhe and daane respectively)

 

Q: What activities should one resist from doing ? (avadhirana kva karya)

A: Association or indulgence with the unscrupulous, others' women and

others' wealth. (khala, para-yosit and para-dhana respectively)

 

Q: What should one always think of (in his mind) throughout day and night ?

(kahar nisam anu-cintya)

A: About the non-permanance of the worldly and materialistic life and

certainly not about thoughts that give sexual excitement.

 

Q: What should be one's favorite duty in life ?

A: Being kind to all the suffering living beings and making friendship with

the honest and holy men. (karuna - diineshu, saj-jana maitri )

[karuna-kindness; diina - suffering ones; maitri-friendhip]

 

Q: What kind of people cannot be put in the right course of life even by

force?

A: The habitual rowdy, the one who is always doubtful of everything, the

irreversibly pessimistic and the ungrateful ones.

 

Q: Who is a sadhu (a virtuous person) ? (kah sadhuh)

A: That one who is full of good character. (sad vrttah)

 

Q: Who is the most inferior man ?

A: That one who is of bad character.

 

Q: Who can conquer the entire world ?

A: That one who is truthful (satya) and patient (titiksaavata)

 

Q: Who is praised even by the celestial ones (the devas) ?

A: That one who is full of kindness and mercy. (dayaa-pradhaanaaya)

 

Q: What should cause fright in one ?

A: The sight (or even thought) of the forest of samsaara , if one is a man

of

 

chastened understanding

 

Q: To whom do all living beings submit and obey ?

A: To that one whose speak is truthful and full of mercy, and who has

humility.

 

Q: Where should one establish oneself ?

A: In the path that is righteous and that yields benefits here and in the

 

hereafter (during and after this worldly life).

 

Q: Who is a blind man ? (ko andho)

A: That one who delights in doing things (knowingly) that should not be

done.

 

Q: Who is a deaf man ? (ko badhiro)

A: That one who does not listen (na srunoti) to advice given for his

good.(hitani)

 

 

 

(to be continued on Part 2

 

 

--

Krishna Prasad

 

.. Yad yad aacarati sreshtah, tad tad eva itaro janah. As the Gita puts it,

consistency of purpose and a spirit of dedication and, if necessary,

sacrifice, should characterize the new spirit.

We Must - Swami Chinmayanada