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Ashtavakra Gita(Ancient hindu philosophy poem) : It really opened a new dimension of thinking for me. It's main message of identifying yourself as the witness c

by frontman1988 4y ago

Ashtavakra Gita(Ancient hindu philosophy poem) : It really opened a new dimension of thinking for me. It's main message of identifying yourself as the witness consciousness is quite trippy and the sanskrit used is quite powerful. It plays around with the concepts of soul , karma and concept of non-duality in quite radical ways. I found it quite an empowering way of going about life, one can only imagine how it must have felt for the original author/s who discovered it as an "insight" on the reality of life. Such people nowadays would be called delusional though.

leephillips 4y ago
Any English translation worth reading?
- frontman1988 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavakra_Gita#Translations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavakra_Gita#Translations Thomas byrom's "The Heart of Awareness" is a popular translation for a quick read. If you want something denser with commentaries and explanations, Swami Nityaswarupananda's translation is great. Another good translation keeping western audiences in mind is Duet of One by Ramesh Balsekar.
  - leephillips 4y ago
    Thanks!
- vram22 4y ago
  There should be but I don't have the name handy right now. Check out translations of Advaita and other Hinduism scriptural books by the Ramakrishna Math.
  - vram22 4y ago
    And the main texts about Advaita are the Prasthana Trayi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasthanatrayi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasthanatrayi
vram22 4y ago
>Ashtavakra Gita It is about Advaita (Vedanta). Another good introduction to it is the Mandukya Upanishad: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandukya_Upanishad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandukya_Upanishad which, in just 12 verses, shows that we are neither body or mind but the witness of both.
- vram22 4y ago
  Also check out Drg Dryshya Viveka (Discrimination between the Seer and the Seen), another fundamental Sanskrit text about Advaita. English translations should be available for both it and the Mandukya.
vram22 4y ago
>Such people nowadays would be called delusional though. Not necessarily, at all. Advaita is supposed to be very rational and logical, and not require faith. Faith belongs to the path of Bhakti Yoga (faith/devotion to God), while Advaita is about the path of Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge. Also, the Wikipedia article about Advaita Vedanta seems to me to be somewhat poor, and factually wrong in parts, IMO, though I am not an expert on this. I may think this way because my family has some background knowledge about Advaita, Adi Shankara, Sanskrit and related subjects related to Hinduism, going back some generations, so I may have picked up some stuff by osmosis, apart from what I have read and studied and practiced myself.

leephillips 4y ago

Any English translation worth reading?

frontman1988 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavakra_Gita#Translations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavakra_Gita#Translations Thomas byrom's "The Heart of Awareness" is a popular translation for a quick read. If you want something denser with commentaries and explanations, Swami Nityaswarupananda's translation is great. Another good translation keeping western audiences in mind is Duet of One by Ramesh Balsekar.
- leephillips 4y ago
  Thanks!
vram22 4y ago
There should be but I don't have the name handy right now. Check out translations of Advaita and other Hinduism scriptural books by the Ramakrishna Math.
- vram22 4y ago
  And the main texts about Advaita are the Prasthana Trayi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasthanatrayi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasthanatrayi

vram22 4y ago

>Ashtavakra Gita It is about Advaita (Vedanta). Another good introduction to it is the Mandukya Upanishad: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandukya_Upanishad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandukya_Upanishad which, in just 12 verses, shows that we are neither body or mind but the witness of both.

vram22 4y ago
Also check out Drg Dryshya Viveka (Discrimination between the Seer and the Seen), another fundamental Sanskrit text about Advaita. English translations should be available for both it and the Mandukya.

vram22 4y ago

>Such people nowadays would be called delusional though. Not necessarily, at all. Advaita is supposed to be very rational and logical, and not require faith. Faith belongs to the path of Bhakti Yoga (faith/devotion to God), while Advaita is about the path of Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge. Also, the Wikipedia article about Advaita Vedanta seems to me to be somewhat poor, and factually wrong in parts, IMO, though I am not an expert on this. I may think this way because my family has some background knowledge about Advaita, Adi Shankara, Sanskrit and related subjects related to Hinduism, going back some generations, so I may have picked up some stuff by osmosis, apart from what I have read and studied and practiced myself.