Vivekachudamani - Crest Jewel of Wisdom

De: Vedanta Society San Francisco
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  • Resumen

  • Swami Tattwamayananda will begin a new scripture, Vivekachudamani of Shankaracharya, on Friday November 15 2024, at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Temple.

    Vivekachudamani, which means "The Crest Jewel of Discrimination," is a poem by Shankaracharya that summarizes Advaita Vedanta philosophy and is one of the its important introductory texts.

    For up to date schedule: sfvedanta.org
    Web: www.sfvedanta.org
    Livestream: https://livestream.com/sfvedanta

    All Original Content © Vedanta Society of Northern California
    Copyright Vedanta Society, San Francisco
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Espiritualidad
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Episodios
  • Vivekachudamani 12 Uncontrolled Senses Lead to Destruction - By Swami Tattwamayananda

    Vivekachudamani 12 Uncontrolled Senses Lead to Destruction - By Swami Tattwamayananda
    Apr 18 2025
    The student poses seven questions in the 51st verse. The rest of the text answers these seven questions. The seven questions are: (1) What is this bondage? (2) How does it come about? (3)
    How does it exist and what sustains it? (4) How do we come out of it? (5) What is anatman? (6) What is the supreme Atman? (7) How do we differentiate between atman and anatman?

    Starting with the 74th verse, the teacher begins to answer the fifth question posed by the student:
    “What is anatman?” by discussing the gross body. There are three sariras: Sthula sarira (gross body), sukhshma sarira (subtle body, the personality behind the gross body) and karana sarira (lack of understanding of our true nature).

    In the 74th, 75th and 76th verses, the teacher discusses Sthula Sarira or physical body. It is composed of marrow, bone, fat, flesh, blood, skin and cuticle. It also includes legs, thighs, chest, arms, back and head. These together constitute the physical body. When we identify with this physical body, we are deluded.”

    While the gross body may seem detestable, it is a great asset, as it is what we use to achieve liberation.

    A machine is made of parts. If we take one part out, it becomes non-functional. Similarly, the physical body is a machine made of parts. It belongs to the perishable, empirical world. It has borrowed intelligence (from Atman). We delude ourselves into thinking that this machine is our true nature. We refer to this machine when we say “I”. This misunderstanding is rooted in ignorance of our true nature. It is the basis of bondage.

    When Socrates was sentenced to die by drinking poison, one of his disciples, Crito, approached him and asked him” “How do you want us to bury you?” Socrates replied: “For that, you should first know who is the real “I”.

    77th verse: Those who are deluded are called Mudha. They are attached to sense objects through an invisible rope that binds them to this world. They are spiritually enslaved by desire of the senses. It is a bondage that makes them move up and down in cyclic existence.”
    Attachment here refers to obsessive attachment to an extent that it makes us spiritually enslaved.

    78th verse: Shankaracharya uses examples from the animal kingdom to explain how one reaches destruction when guided by the senses - Deer (sense of hearing), Elephant (sense of touch). Moth (sense of seeing), Fish (sense of taste), Bee (sense of smell). Each of these creatures reaches death as they are guided by one of their senses. What to speak of humans who have five senses active all the time.

    79th verse: “The poison of a cobra is less poisonous than the poison of sense objects. The cobra has to bite you and the poison has to be consumed. Seeing the cobra does not kill you. But mere sight of a sense object can remain in the mental system for a long time and can be a door to destruction, depending on one’s mental constitution.”
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    1 h y 2 m
  • Vivekachudamani 11 Developing Detachment Towards Non-Eternal - By Swami Tattwamayananda

    Vivekachudamani 11 Developing Detachment Towards Non-Eternal - By Swami Tattwamayananda
    Apr 11 2025
    Developing Detachment Towards Non-Eternal
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    1 h y 8 m
  • Vivekachudamani 10 Realization Requires Spiritual Effort - By Swami Tattwamayananda

    Vivekachudamani 10 Realization Requires Spiritual Effort - By Swami Tattwamayananda
    Apr 4 2025
    Title: Realization Requires Spiritual Effort

    Verses: 64, 65, 66, 67

    The essence of the 60th, 61st and 62nd verses is: “Books are helpful, but by themselves they do not constitute the supreme goal. Books by themselves will not help us with the highest spiritual realization. Long, eloquent scholarly discussions can only confuse oneself and others. As long as one has not realized the spiritual truth, books are useless. Upon realization of the spiritual truth, books are useless. The world of books is like a big jungle that can only create confusion, if we do not understand that the spiritual truth is beyond books.”

    Scriptures attempt to describe the truth – they do not constitute the supreme truth. Spiritual truth is beyond ideas and books – it is a matter of inner experience. With this understanding, we should read scriptures.

    The same idea is emphasized in the 63rd verse with an analogy. If someone is bitten by a cobra, he needs medicine to recover. Similarly, our ignorance can only be cured by a medicine - the realization of Brahman, the real experience of spiritual unity.

    Ajnanam refers to a lack of awareness of our true nature. It does not refer to intellectual ignorance. It refers to ignorance at an emotional level, because our mind does not permit us to do what we may intellectually understand and want to do.

    We have to remove the levels of dirt/filth in the mind by feeding it good food and directing it towards healthy channels.

    Upon enlightenment, our mind develops a corrective mechanism. It becomes impossible for us to do anything that is harmful to others.

    64th and 65th verses continue the analogy: “A sickness is not cured by uttering the word “medicine”. One actually has to take the medicine. Similarly, just by saying “Brahman”, one does not realize Brahman. Without dissolving the world in Brahman, without realizing the Atman, one cannot get liberation.”

    In Vedanta, this world is only an appearance as illustrated in the rope snake analogy. When light is brought to the room, what we previously thought was a snake, dissolves into the rope. Similarly, the empirical world should be dissolved into Atman.

    The 66th verse repeats the same idea with another analogy: “To be a king, one should have a kingdom. One should have conquered enemies and acquired wealth. One does not become a king by just claiming that he is a king. Similarly, without undertaking spiritual practices, one cannot become enlightened.

    67th verse: “Suppose someone tells you that there is a box of treasure hidden somewhere beneath the earth. The treasure is covered by a huge stone in the pit. To get to the treasure, the following has to happen: (1) You should hear about it from someone (2) You should know the exact location (3) You should go there and dig and remove the stone (4) Then, you can take out the treasure.

    Similarly, to realize the spiritual truth, we should first listen to spiritual ideas expounded by the great sages. We should practice sravanam, mananam, nididhyasanam – listen to spiritual ideas, contemplate on it and deeply internalize it. By doing so, we remove all the wrong ideas about our true nature – this is like digging to remove the stone. “

    Chandogya Upanishad has the following illustration: “A sage from Gandhara had gone to another town and is returning to his hometown. Along the way, some robbers ambushed him, blindfolded him, and tied him to a tree in a forest. To escape, what should he do? He should make a loud noise. Then someone passing through that way can hear him, remove his blindfold, and release him. Such a person can bring him back to the road and show him the way to Gandhara.” In this illustration, the traveler is a normal human being, who thinks the world is meant for sensory enjoyment. The robbers represent his own actions. His bitter experience is due to his bad karmas.

    The blindfold represents Maya. His desire for worldly enjoyment is the rope that binds him. Body is the forest in which he is lost. The person helping him is his teacher, who knows which road to take to reach Gandhara, his own spiritual home.”
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    1 h y 7 m
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