Sri Shankaracharya - Atma Bodha

345 Pages·2011·13.36 MB·English

by  Swami Nikhilananda

0 aera

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Ane English Transtation of Stankarecharya’e tmabottia
SWAMI NIKHILANANDA

6

SRY KAMAKRISHNA MATIT
Mrnarone, Mansas +
oar
be Bia Daten eter)

2, nae inte an men, So at of the
“wens fri tnptin tc fm

meee
oe ag ay maior

May it be dedicated to Grabian! Om Tat Sat

het whlan an the Pure Ktosan ie the Brest Case,
the Care uf tha eres. Tho nose, the atti, the sas,
a the rene Cana Poe fo santana pa, i,
the cause of al these. Brat, Pave Retain te the Conc
of tha owes

Fite Bro ryan alos is ony real nature. What &
rang? te ig fo boaw one's owe Saf and teop 1 mind 3
Fe 11 to Baw ine Bure Fhmase

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Tos volume ix reprint of the American edition
of Solf-Knowledge (Atmabedha), an English
translation of Sankarzchatya's Aémadodhar with
notes, comments aad an elyuoraty introduction, by
Swami Nikhilsnanda of the Ramakrishna-Vivel
panda Centte of New York. The [eee und metrical
renderings of some of Rebsrya Sankaca's devo
ual hymns, which have beet appended eo his
short treatiee on Advaita Vedanta, serve so draw
the attention of the readers to the fens well-dmowa
aspect of Sankars's personality—hiv deep devor
tional approach to the ‘gods and yoddesses af
popular religion ©
An this. Indian ediion the orignal Sanskrit
texts have been added, which, we hope, will be
urefal to the Sauskeitdenowing rexders
1516 June 1847

PREFACE

‘Tu Atmabodha ot Seif-Knonwledge, ix short trea
tise on Advaita Vedanta, che philosnphy of Noo
Gualiatic Verktuta, It consists of oaly sixty-eight
verses in melodious Sansicit and is Believed to
have been composed by Stunkaehirya, tbe pret
Philoxopier of Nen-clvaliom,

According to the generally accapted modern
viow, Sankariabrrya, of Sankar, was bore daring
the eighth eomtury after Christ, am the village of
Kaladi on the west coast of south India, Ife bo-
‘onged to the simple, scholarly, and industrious

soobiide: sect Of bewlonios ol Mallar. After
completing the study of the Vedaa, le renounced
de twarldl at am eaely cige in quest a Truth and
ros auisiated into the monastic life by ube great
nectic Govindaptda, Presently he devoted him-
Bf lo the peactize of spiritual austerities, meditas
fon, and yoga. Refore iong Sankara's spiritual
‘ius and entellectua! acamen wore acknowledged
Pthe loading philosophers of Tudia. He engaged
msalf in reforming the Santana Dharma, tho
© SELP-KNOWLERCE

Eternal Religion of dhe Hindus, and with that end
{in view wrote commentaries on the Bhagavadgita,
the Brakma-suteas, and the principal Upanishads.
He became the personification of the wisdom of
the Vedas, He travelled the length and breadth
of India, preaching the divinity of the soul and the
‘onenesr of existenee. Before his death at the age
of thirty-two at Kedirnath, in the Himalayas,
Sankara had established monasteries at Sringeri
(Mysore) in the south, Puri io the exst, Dwaraka
(Kathiawad) in the west, ard Joshi Math (the
Humdlayas) in the north, and had placed four of his
gilted uisciples, exch well verued it ane uf the four
Vedas, im charge of them. Te reorganized the
anciant Vedie order of samnyasis aud assigned to it
the spiritoal leadership of Hinde society.

Sankara lived during the decadent peried of
Buddhisin. Hindvism was beginning to reassert
itsel? ime trae leadership was lacking, The coun-
try wis honey-eamhed with conflicting sects; 2
spitituat eonfusion reigned everywhere and people
were perplexed, Sankara’s worl, at this critical
me, was the salvation of the Veilic culture. He
met opponents from other schocis in open debates,
refuted theic views, and ze-established the supre-
macy of No-dualistie Vedanta, In the midst of his