ADVAITA VEDANTA WEBSITE

 

 

(The website has been completely revised and much new material added. The latest revision was on September 4, 2016.)

  

A NEW, UNPUBLISHED COMMENTARY ON SANKARA’S SAUNDARYA LAHARI, WITH NOTES AND STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS BY THE AUTHOR, IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THIS WEBSITE.

 

NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE: "Le Facteur Personnel dans le Processus Educatif": Nataraja Guru's Doctoral Thesis, presented at the Sorbonne, 1932.

 

A  DISCUSSION FORUM  IS BEING DEVELOPED ON THIS WEBSITE - CLICK HERE

 

Advaita Vedanta has been the mainstream of philosophy in India for the last thousand years. Two of its most important representatives in the twentieth century were Narayana Guru (1854-1928) and his successor, Dr. Nataraja Guru, B.A., M.Sc., D.Litt. (Sorbonne) etc. (1895-1973), founder of the Narayana Gurukula. On this site you will find their most important works: commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, on Narayana Guru's Darsana Mala - the Integrated Science of the Absolute - and on his Atmopadesa Satakam (One Hundred Verses of Self-Instruction) and, last but not least, a series of commentaries, notes and structural diagrams relating to the Saundarya Lahari. This enigmatic work by Sankara, the founder of Advaita Vedanta in its present form, was the focus of Nataraja Guru's attention during his final years. In his commentaries he fully develops the structural methodology which is perhaps his major contribution to the philosophy of science, and indeed to all of science, when its implications are fully understood. Tantra, Yoga, Vedic ritualism and the idiom of Sanskrit poetry are used as structural elements to express Advaita philosophy in a proto-linguistic, non-verbose schematic language which has universal application. Shorter works, consisting of essays and articles on a multitude of subjects, are also to be found on this site.  A biography of Narayana Guru, "The Word of the Guru" and the Autobiography of Nataraja Guru are also available. More information can be found on the Content page . If you have any comments, questions etc. - please contact us:   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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NARAYANA GURU

 

 

  

NATARAJA GURU

 

CONTEMPLATION

by Narayana Guru

Meditation on the Self is contemplation,
Because the Self consists of bliss,
A knower of the Self meditates by the Self,
Upon the Self, forever.

 

The Absolute is meditated upon
Because it consists of bliss.
Constant meditation on the Absolute
Is thus known as contemplation.

 

It is even bliss that all do meditate,
No one at all meditates suffering.
That which is meditation of bliss,
As contemplation it is thought.

 

It is the Self alone that contemplates the Absolute;
The knower of the Self meditates on the Self, and not on any other.
That which is meditation on the Self
Is said to be contemplation.

 

Bliss, the Self and the Absolute
Are said to be the names of this alone.
In whom there is such sure awareness,
He as a contemplative is well known.

 

"I am Bliss, I am the Absolute, I am the Self."
In whom, in such forms,
There is always creative imagination,
As a contemplative he is well known.

 

The wife does not merely adore the husband,
Nor the husband merely adore the wife,
It is self-bliss alone that they adore,
As lodged within every sensuous object.

 

For the wise man who sees
Thus at any place whatever,
There is nothing at all other than Self-bliss.
Such contemplation verily is the highest.

 

Towards the Father of the World, to one`s
Spiritual teacher, father, mother,
Towards the Founders of Truth, and
Towards those who walk in the same path;

 

Towards those who put down evil,
And those who do good to all -
What sympathy there is, is devotion here,
While what here belongs to the Self Supreme is the ultimate.

 

 From Narayana Guru’s “Darsana Mala”, Ch.VIII

 

 FIVE VERSES ON INWARD RELEASE

 by Narayana Guru.

What name? Caste? Trade? How old?

From questions such, when one is free,

He gains release.       

                                     .

Come, go, go not, enter, what seekest?

From utterances such, when one is free,

He gains release.            

                                 .

Departest when?  When arrived?  Whence and even who?

From questions such, when one is free,

He gains release.               

                               .

I or thou; this and that; inside or out; or none at all;

From cogitations such when one is free,

He gains release.     

                                          .

To the known and the unknown equalized;

Differenceless to one’s own or that of others;

Even to the name of such, indifferent;

From all considerations such, one freed,

Himself becomes He, the one released.             .