What is the purpose of professional ambition and desire for excellence if it only enhances ego?
Eternal Witness - Swami Sarvapriyananda
Ramakrishna has no peer. Nowhere else in the world exists such unprecedented perfection, such wonderful kindness to all, such intense sympathy for men in bondage.
I am what I am , and what I am is always due to him. Whatever in me or in my word s is good and true and eternal came to me from his mouth, his heart, his soul. Sri Ramakrishna is the spring of this phase of the earth’s religious life., of its impulses and activities. If I can show the world one glimpse of my Master I shall not live in vain.
In the Ramakrishna Incarnation there is knowledge, infinite love, infinite work, infinite compassion for all beings. You have not yet been able to understand him. Even after hearing about him, most people do not understand him. What the whole Hindu race has thought in ages, he lived in one life. His life is the living commentary to the Vedas of all nations. People will come to know him by degrees.
~ Swami Vivekananda
Sri Ramakrishna and Vedanta
Ascent to Divine Love
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
02 Q & A Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam Second Q & A Session
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
01 Q&A Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam First Q & A Session
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
04 Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam Session 4 Verse 4-5
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
03 Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam Session 3 Verse 2-3
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
02 Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam Session 2 Verse 1
Manisha Panchakam is a set of five verses in which Adi Shankaracharya succinctly presents the essence of Advaita Vendanta, philosophy of non-duality.
The occasion for this composition was an encounter between Shankaracharya and a sweeper. When Shankaracharya was walking, along with his disciples, towards the temple of Lord Viswanath in Varanasi, it so happened that a sweeper was walking towards him on the same street. Shankaracharya asked the sweeper to move away from his path. The sweeper then asked him some questions that form the substatnce of two verses which are a prelude to the main composition.
On hearing the sweeper's questions, Shankaracharya realized that the person before him was no ordinary sweeper. Shankaracharya's response to these questions, given in five verses, are called Manisha Panchakam; the word 'manisha' meaning 'firm conviction' appears in the last line in all five ("pancha" means five) verses.
01 Swami Sarvapriyananda Manisha Panchakam Session 1 Introduction
Swami Nikhilananda, a direct disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, was born in a small Indian village in 1895 and was ordained a monk of the Ramakrishna Order in 1924. After spending several years in the Himalayan monastery of his Order, during which time he made a study of Hinduism and other systems of philosophy and religion, he was sent to America in 1931. He founded the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York in 1933 and was its spiritual leader until his passing away in 1973.
‘Ashtavakra Gita’ is one of the advaitic masterpieces. Without mincing matters it comes out with the advaitic truth, the whole truth and nothing but advaita which is the Truth. This book embodies Ashtavakra’s teaching to King Janaka which vouched him Self-Knowledge between the time he placed one foot upon the stirrup of his horse and lifted himself to place the other foot on the other stirrup.
However, as can be seen from the following quote, Bhagavan Ramana said that there is no time involved at all in Self-Knowledge.
“…. When I entered the hall the story of how the Ashtavakra Gita came to be taught was being recounted in English for the benefit of the above Raja and other visitors. After the story was read out, Bhagavan said, ‘Because Brahma Jnana is not something external, which is somewhere faraway where you can go and get it, you cannot say that it will take so long or so short a time to attain it. It is always with you. . . . All that is necessary is to surrender yourself completely to the Guru, to surrender your notion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ ….”
Devaraja Mudaliar in Day by Day with Bhagavan, dated 31.3.1945 (Afternoon)
Of course, that is what King Janaka did. He surrendered his notion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ to Sage Ashtavakra. Has not Bhagavan said that surrender and Self-enquiry are the only two ways to Self-Realisation?
Bhagavan has also made other references to this great book.
Sri Ramakrishna persuaded Narendra to read ‘Ashtavakra Gita’ which had a stupendous impact on the young devotee who later flowered into Swami Vivekananda, the doughty Advaitic evangelist.
The present upload of this Gita is in Sanskrit, English and Tamil in sound and script. The Sanskrit script is in Bhagavan’s own handwriting cut out from an Archival Publication of the Ashram.
Note on Texts of Ashtavakra Gita
Sanskrit – Text: In the Handwriting of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
Tamil – Translation: By Sri Viswanatha Swami
English – Translation based on: 1. Swamy Nithya Swarupananda, John Richards, Hari Prasad Shastri
Swami Sarvapriyananda, Spiritual Leader and Minister of the Vedanta Society of New York, gave a talk on Gita in Daily Life at the Sri Venkata Krishna Kshetra Temple, Tempe, AZ. In this talk, Swamiji highlights the importance of Karma Yoga as expounded in the Bhagavad Gita. The talk on Sunday July 22nd 2018 was organized by the Ramakrishna-Sarada Vedanta Center of Phoenix, AZ.
