Prakarana Granthas

The Vivekachudamani is a collection of poetical couplets authored by Shankara around the eighth century. The philosophical school this compilation attempts to expose is called ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism, one of the classical orthodox philosophies of Hinduism. The book teaches Viveka: discrimination between the real and the unreal. Shankara draws inspiration from various Shrutis (eg. the Upanishads). More Info …

In this set of twelve stanzas, the Master tries to convey to us a correct conception of the essential nature of the Self. More Info …

In treatises such as Nirvana Manjari and Nirvana Shatkam, Sri Shankara Bhagavatpadacharya has contented Himself with enunciating the nature of the Self as the Innermost essence of the individual soul and in doing so, He has drawn attention to its transcendental all-pervasive aspect. He has equated it with Shiva, the Highest auspicious Entity. But He has not used the familiar word Brahman for that Entity nor specifically stated that the inmost Self is really even that Brahman. Nor has He detailed there the processes by which that identity can be realised in actual experience. These factors are supplied in these eight stanzas and the latter form, therefore, a practical supplement to what has been stated before. More Info …

The Method of introspective self-analysis by which we can eliminate all factors which are not the Self and ultimately arrive at a realisation of the Pure Self is described in these six stanzas. More Info …

Hasta-āmalaka is meant to be ‘an amla berry (āmalakam) in the hand (hasta)’. Śaṅkarācārya used this berry as a metaphor to acknowledge Hastāmalaka’s ‘ripeness’ and his clarity of knowledge regarding Vedānta, and also to reveal the esoteric nature of the Vedāntic scriptures as a whole (to reveal knowledge that is ‘hidden’). More Info …

The four fold qualifications required by a Vedanta student are Discrimination, Dispassion, Determination and Desire for freedom from bondage. More Info …