Next to the Yoga Vashitha the most exciting philosophical book I read, when I started on yoga, was the Vivekachudamani. I had such zinging feelings: such a high sense of relief that I was not going mad, came from reading this book. That I was right to think and feel and align with yoga the way I do.. and that it was not some lunacy on my part. It reset my worldview.
Among translations, I like the tiny one I picked up from the Ramakrishna mission for all of Rs 50 (Wisdom is really so inexpensive:)
However, this one is from another translation. Below is the verse, but I actually like what the translator adds to the following verse, even more:
From The messge of Vivekachudamani, by Swami Rangananda.
The supreme Brhaman which is beyond the range of all speech, but accessible to the eye of pure illumination; which is pure, the Embodiment of Knowledge, the beginningless entity -- that Brahman art thou, meditate on this in thy mind. (Vivekachudamani)
"Ramakrishna used to say that almanancs forecast rain. But if we squeeze the almanac, we won't get even a drop of rain water. Information about rain is not actual rain. Similarly all the holy books contain information about God. They do not contain God. .. Information about God is not God. By squeezing these books we don't get God. But by squeezing our experiences we can realise God." : (Translator)
That which is untouched by the six-fold wave (mind's patterns); meditated upon by the Yogi's heart, but not grasped by the sense organs; which the buddhi (intellectual mind) cannot know; and which is unimpeachable - That Brahman thou art, medidate on this in thy mind. (Vivekachudamani).
Among translations, I like the tiny one I picked up from the Ramakrishna mission for all of Rs 50 (Wisdom is really so inexpensive:)
However, this one is from another translation. Below is the verse, but I actually like what the translator adds to the following verse, even more:
From The messge of Vivekachudamani, by Swami Rangananda.
The supreme Brhaman which is beyond the range of all speech, but accessible to the eye of pure illumination; which is pure, the Embodiment of Knowledge, the beginningless entity -- that Brahman art thou, meditate on this in thy mind. (Vivekachudamani)
"Ramakrishna used to say that almanancs forecast rain. But if we squeeze the almanac, we won't get even a drop of rain water. Information about rain is not actual rain. Similarly all the holy books contain information about God. They do not contain God. .. Information about God is not God. By squeezing these books we don't get God. But by squeezing our experiences we can realise God." : (Translator)
That which is untouched by the six-fold wave (mind's patterns); meditated upon by the Yogi's heart, but not grasped by the sense organs; which the buddhi (intellectual mind) cannot know; and which is unimpeachable - That Brahman thou art, medidate on this in thy mind. (Vivekachudamani).
1 comment:
Adi Sankaracharya's original Vivekachudamani, with commentary by late Sri Chandrasekhara Sarawati Swami of Singeri Peeth, published by Bhavan's, is the ideal treatise for spiritual aspirants.
Post a Comment