Publisher: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust
Language: English & Sanskrit
Total Pages: 132
Available in: Paperback
Regular price
Rs. 315.00
Description
'Aparoksanubhuti', a Prakriya Grantha' is an introductory textbook written by Adi Sankaracarya and not a 'Sastra Grantha'.A 'Prakriya Grantha'is a book of definitions, a book of categories written in order to explain the deep truths given in the 'Sastras.' Aparoksanubhuti' is one of the fundamental textbooks in Vedanta. One must not be misled by its false look of simplicity. Though it looks simple there is a wealth of profundity in it. 'Aparoksanubhuti' helps the student to perceive the truth directly,and hence the very textbook is called 'A-para-aksa-anubhuti.'' Aksa' means 'eyes' 'Para-aksa' means somebody;'s eyes. Hence parks mean through the eyes of someone else or secondhand.' Aparoksa' means not secondhand,i.e., first hand.' Anubhuti' means experience. Direct experience of the Self within ourselves. The very name of the book thus indicates that the emphasis is more on practice than on theory. This book is a ready vehicle to enter into the path of meditation. The ideas in the book, being fundamental points of Vedantamare similar to the ones in, Atma Bodha or Vivekacudamani, also by Adi Sankara, But 'Aparoksanubhuti' delves even deeper, for the advanced seeker to guide one in a direct experience of the Self. The book also gives enough material to logically convince one that what is emphasized is not a theoretical explanation but a practical book to those who can live the spiritual values and come to experience, the Atman, the Self within oneself.
About the Author
Adi Shankara (Malayalam, Sanskrit: IAST: di a kara, pronounced [a d i a k r ]) (788 CE - 821 CE?), also known as a kara Bhagavatp d c rya and di a kar c rya, was an Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and Brahman, in other words, non-dual Brahman, in which Brahman is viewed as without attributes. He hailed from Kalady of present-day Kerala. Shankara traveled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He founded four maths ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival, and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship. His works in Sanskrit, all of which are extant today, concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita (Nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, at a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic Canon (Brahma Sutra, Principal Upanishads, and Bhagavadgita) in support of his thesis. The primary opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers some arguments against the views of other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism that he was partly familiar with.