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Tattvabodhah
The human psyche is so composed that most of us, including atheists, at some point of time ask fundamental questions of life. It may begin with 'Why did this happen to me?' Then it goes on to 'Is there God? Who am I? What is the goal of human life? What happens when one dies? Why was the world created? By whom? How?....' In Tattvabodha, Sri Adi Shankaracharya lovingly answers these and many more such questions and introduces the aspiring student to the basic principles of Vedanta - the science of Life. This preliminary text is presented in the form of a dialogue between the Guru and the disciple. The disciple asks with genuine eagerness and the Guru answers with patience, with depth and with precision. Swami Tejomayananda's commentary on this text is illuminating and answers even unasked doubts of the beginner. His exposition, from what it takes to be a seeker to what it takes to make a saint of oneself, is masterly.
- GenresSpirituality
130 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
77 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 25, 2017
Intricate Advaita aphorisms explained by swamiji very simply. An entertaining read like most other books published by the Chinmaya mission. Hari Om
May 7, 2023
Book Title - *Tattva Bodha* (तत्त्व बोध)
Author -- *Ādi Śaṅkarācārya* (आदि शङ्कराचार्य)
~•~•~••~••~~••~••~~~••••~•••~
This book can be called the essential preliminary text prior to delving into the esoteric philosophy of Vedānta.
Not only that, it also helps in understanding the true nature of our existence, who we really are and it delivers you the knowledge of ultimate reality that is unchangeable and not conditioned by space and time.
Right from the birth, we human beings, because of us being a thinking creature (NB: thinking faculty is absent in all other creatures), we continuously think of us as imperfect and lacking in something and it propels us to constantly strive for that something and our life becomes a restless pursuit of that 'something unknown'. We think of and feel ourselves as incomplete and imperfect and that's why we continuously try to be perfect and complete by seeking material opulence or by seeking knowledge or wealth and so on. But perfection and completeness are unachievable things in this material world because they do not exist in real material world. Perfectness and completeness are like infinity. So, even if you become the richest person on the planet yet you will feel incomplete and imperfect because infinity is unreachable. Whether it is 1 or 10 or 1 Billion or 1 Trillion still it is infinite less than infinity.
So, how to quench this thirst of gaining completeness and achieving perfection!
We are actually the 'Self' or 'Ātman' the nature of which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss), hence we are actually already Perfect and Complete, we just have to realise the 'SELF'.
Like a Musk Deer is having the ecstatic fragrance of Musk in its own navel but a Musk deer entire life, remaining ignorant of the fact that the fragrance of Musk is emanating from its own navel, due to ignorance, getting enchanted by the fragrance of Musk, it keeps on wandering hither-thither all of its life in search of the source of that musk fragrance and in this relentless and restless pursuit of this futile exploration, many musk deer often fall from the high cliffs into the ditches of the valleys and lose their lives.
The same story goes with we human beings. For realising the 'Self', no materialistic endeavours Outside in this world is required. We just need to turn inward. We just have to be in the state of being and only true knowledge is required to realise the self. The sense of incompleteness and imperfection is just our delusion because of our ignorance of our true 'Self'.
There is only one way of knowing the perfect Self and Vedanta provides that, because it provides the direct and immediate knowledge of the 'Self', by which we can experience completeness and perfection.
A Must Read Book for All.
*This one book _(of course including the entire corpus of Vendānta)_ is worth all the books of entire libraries of the world. Because no other book can end your miseries _(misery means Ignorance)_ except this one.*
*Since aeons we have been wandering in the wilderness of the drama of life and trapped in the labyrinthine whirlpool of birth and death, and having read so many books so far still we are bereft of the knowledge of our true nature, still we are bereft of the sense of completeness and perfection, still we are being afflicted by the miseries and vagaries of life. All other books do not help in understanding our true 'Self' and end our miseries, they might just appeal to our intellectual taste or we may derive pleasure in reading them, but this book, if studied and contemplated under adept guidance of a true vedāntin, has the potential to end the spell of our delusion and lift the veil of ignorance.*
I would highly recommend reading this book.
֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥
Author -- *Ādi Śaṅkarācārya* (आदि शङ्कराचार्य)
~•~•~••~••~~••~••~~~••••~•••~
This book can be called the essential preliminary text prior to delving into the esoteric philosophy of Vedānta.
Not only that, it also helps in understanding the true nature of our existence, who we really are and it delivers you the knowledge of ultimate reality that is unchangeable and not conditioned by space and time.
Right from the birth, we human beings, because of us being a thinking creature (NB: thinking faculty is absent in all other creatures), we continuously think of us as imperfect and lacking in something and it propels us to constantly strive for that something and our life becomes a restless pursuit of that 'something unknown'. We think of and feel ourselves as incomplete and imperfect and that's why we continuously try to be perfect and complete by seeking material opulence or by seeking knowledge or wealth and so on. But perfection and completeness are unachievable things in this material world because they do not exist in real material world. Perfectness and completeness are like infinity. So, even if you become the richest person on the planet yet you will feel incomplete and imperfect because infinity is unreachable. Whether it is 1 or 10 or 1 Billion or 1 Trillion still it is infinite less than infinity.
So, how to quench this thirst of gaining completeness and achieving perfection!
We are actually the 'Self' or 'Ātman' the nature of which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss), hence we are actually already Perfect and Complete, we just have to realise the 'SELF'.
Like a Musk Deer is having the ecstatic fragrance of Musk in its own navel but a Musk deer entire life, remaining ignorant of the fact that the fragrance of Musk is emanating from its own navel, due to ignorance, getting enchanted by the fragrance of Musk, it keeps on wandering hither-thither all of its life in search of the source of that musk fragrance and in this relentless and restless pursuit of this futile exploration, many musk deer often fall from the high cliffs into the ditches of the valleys and lose their lives.
The same story goes with we human beings. For realising the 'Self', no materialistic endeavours Outside in this world is required. We just need to turn inward. We just have to be in the state of being and only true knowledge is required to realise the self. The sense of incompleteness and imperfection is just our delusion because of our ignorance of our true 'Self'.
There is only one way of knowing the perfect Self and Vedanta provides that, because it provides the direct and immediate knowledge of the 'Self', by which we can experience completeness and perfection.
A Must Read Book for All.
*This one book _(of course including the entire corpus of Vendānta)_ is worth all the books of entire libraries of the world. Because no other book can end your miseries _(misery means Ignorance)_ except this one.*
*Since aeons we have been wandering in the wilderness of the drama of life and trapped in the labyrinthine whirlpool of birth and death, and having read so many books so far still we are bereft of the knowledge of our true nature, still we are bereft of the sense of completeness and perfection, still we are being afflicted by the miseries and vagaries of life. All other books do not help in understanding our true 'Self' and end our miseries, they might just appeal to our intellectual taste or we may derive pleasure in reading them, but this book, if studied and contemplated under adept guidance of a true vedāntin, has the potential to end the spell of our delusion and lift the veil of ignorance.*
I would highly recommend reading this book.
֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥֥
June 24, 2024
This is a fantastic boob and must start here if anyone wants to read VEDAS or ancient Vedic scripture. This IS THE VOCABULARY one must understand else they will take a long time (like I) to get into the core of knowledge >> wisdom.
It’s theoretical in the beginning, be patient, but amazingly important basic elements, finally put in a garland in the end! It’s worth knowing different shades of Panchamahabhuts as it would enlighten us with starting of scriptures such as VEDAS, ĀyurYoga, Āyurveda etc. I wish I had this introduction when I started my journey. Now I’m at peace with myself, completely 🧘♂️🧘♀️
It’s theoretical in the beginning, be patient, but amazingly important basic elements, finally put in a garland in the end! It’s worth knowing different shades of Panchamahabhuts as it would enlighten us with starting of scriptures such as VEDAS, ĀyurYoga, Āyurveda etc. I wish I had this introduction when I started my journey. Now I’m at peace with myself, completely 🧘♂️🧘♀️
October 30, 2023
Wonderful book by Adhi Shankaracharya with lucid and wonderful commentary by Gurudev Swami Tejomayananada. This book reflects upon basics of advait vedant and very essential for understanding basics of vedant. Really enjoyed it. Also Sanskrit is not very complex and can be understood if one has grasp over basic Sanskrit.
November 22, 2021
Great read through, it discusses the tattvas of Samkhya/Vedanta. I read the Vedanta Mission translation, without any commentary. I know about causal, subtle, gross body. It gets into the elemtents, space/ether, fire, water, air, earth. Short read, 16 pages.
March 19, 2023
A book that seems light and swift, whereas in reality it is a veritable treasure trove of definitions of concepts. So it’s almost a reference book, as the learning points are so densely packed. It merits dipping back into, as no way did I remember all those explanations!
January 18, 2025
If you want to understand Advaita Vedanta and like to have things laid out systematically, this is a great starting point. If you tend to think more in images and analogies, then Atma Bodha might be a good alternative.
January 29, 2024
This book can be described as an excellent stepping stone into the study of Vedanta. Swami Tejomayananda has in his inimitable style tried to simplify the complexities of Vedanta for the beginner.
March 21, 2024
Perfect for beginners
As a student and as a beginner, I have gained a lot of insights from this book and it has enthused me to study the Vedanta teachings
As a student and as a beginner, I have gained a lot of insights from this book and it has enthused me to study the Vedanta teachings
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews