Category: Tattva Bodha
Posts related to preliminary spiritual text “Tattva Bodha” will be covered here. This text is authored by Sankaracharya, and is generally the first text to study for spiritual knowledge. It covers basic concepts and definitions in the form of questions and answers
-
From atad vyāvṛtti lakṣaṇa – अतद् व्यावृत्ति लक्षण (What the Self is not), Shakaracharyaji moves to defining the Self with taṭastha lakṣaṇa – तटस्थ लक्षण. The Self is defined as witness of three states of existence. Naturally the question comes, what are these states of existence? अवस्थात्रयं किम्?जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्त्यवस्थाः ॥ We exist in one of the…
-
The Gross Body स्थूलशरीरं किम्?पञ्चीकृतपञ्चमहाभूतैः कृतं सत्कर्मजन्यं सुखदुःखादिभोगायतनं शरीरम् अस्ति जायते वर्धते विपरीणमते अपक्षीयते विनश्यती इति षड्विकारवत् एतत् स्थूलशरीरम् ॥ While defining Self (आत्मा), Shankaracharyaji negates the gross body (स्थूलशरीर), thereby inviting a curious question from student about स्थूलशरीर. Gross (स्थूल) is something that can be perceived by our senses (ईन्द्रीय). The word शरीर comes…
-
तत्वविवेकः कः? आत्मा सत्यं तदन्यत् सर्वं मिथ्येति ॥ One must clearly understand definitions of sat (सत्), asat (असत्) and mithyā (मिथ्या). As captured in earlier post under the quality of Vivek (Discrimination), sat refers to the eternal, unchanging existence, in all 3 times (past, present and future) and without any modification (as modification implicitly means…