Books on Advaita Vedanta
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Shunya English
Ah, the life-changing, brain-stretching, and occasionally reality-shattering philosophy of Advaita Vedānta! Before we dive into the reasons why you should read this book on ancient school of thought, let’s start with a fair warning: attempting to understand Advaita Vedānta is like trying to untangle your headphones after they’ve been in your pocket for three months. Only instead of headphones, it’s your entire concept of reality, and instead of your pocket, it’s the infinite cosmos. Intrigued? You should be!
Advaita Vedānta-the philosophy of non-dualism-declares, with the confidence of a cat knocking over a glass of water, that the world as you know it is an illusion. That’s right, everything you think you know-your job, your mortgage, that leftover pizza in the fridge-is Maya, or cosmic trickery. The only true reality, according to Advaita, is Brahman: the infinite, eternal, formless essence that’s simultaneously you, me, and that leftover pizza. This is philosophy with a capital “Whoa.”
Shunya Hindi
आह, अद्वैत वेदांत वह जीवन-परिवर्तनकारी, मस्तिष्क-विस्तारक, और कभी-कभी वास्तविकता को झकझोर देने वाला दर्शन! इस प्राचीन विचारधारा पर आधारित पुस्तक पढ़ने के कारणों में जाने से पहले, एक ईमानदार चेतावनी से शुरुआत करते हैं: अद्वैत वेदांत को समझने का प्रयास ऐसा है जैसे तीन महीने तक आपकी जेब में पड़े हेडफ़ोन को सुलझाने की कोशिश करना। बस फर्क यह है कि हेडफ़ोन की जगह आपकी पूरी वास्तविकता की धारणा है, और आपकी जेब की जगह अनंत ब्रह्मांड।
रोमांचित हुए? होना भी चाहिए!
अद्वैत वेदांत—अद्वैतवाद का दर्शन—बिल्ली की आत्मविश्वास भरी चाल से, जो पानी का गिलास गिरा देती है, यह घोषणा करता है कि जो दुनिया आप जानते हैं, वह एक माया है। जी हां, जो कुछ भी आप सोचते हैं कि आप जानते हैं—आपकी नौकरी, आपका कर्ज, फ्रिज में बचा हुआ पिज्जा—सब माया है, यानी ब्रह्मांडीय छल। अद्वैत के अनुसार, केवल एक ही सच्चाई है: ब्रह्मन्, जो अनंत, शाश्वत, और निराकार है, और जो आप, मैं, और वह बचा हुआ पिज्जा, सब कुछ वही ब्राह्मण है। हैरान हुए न?
Nothing to do, Something to notice
There are two Gitas. The famous one has a war, a chariot, seven hundred verses and God at the reins. The other has a king, a boy whose body is bent in eight places, and no chariot at all. Nobody fights. This book is about the other one. It takes the twenty things the Ashtavakra Gita most wants you to see, gives each a chapter and a single verse in Sanskrit, Roman and plain English, and then tries it out on an ordinary day. You may even find out what to do about the lift that stops at every floor, the mango that will not ripen however badly you want it to, and the glasses you turn the house over for while they sit on your head. The answer, as the title has already told you, is nothing, and it is a better answer than it sounds. It asks for none of the usual things: no meditation, no belief, no getting up at five. It asks you to look. Laughing is optional, but likely. In the original, the student gets the last word. Here, it is yours.
The Gita with no chariot, no war and nothing to do – read on a bus, tested at the sink.
