The Essentials of Vedanta - Vedanta-sara
Introductory texts in Vedanta
of Sadananda Yogindra
Translated and Annotated
by Neal Delmonico (Nitai Das)
1. For the attainment of my desired goal, I seek shelter in the Self, the support of all, beyond the reach of speech and mind, unfragmented eternal existence, consciousness, and bliss.
2. After worshiping my revered teacher who, because he has moved beyond awareness of duality, is Non-dual Joy (Advayananda) not just in name, I shall proclaim the "Essentials of Vedanta" according to my own understanding.
3. Vedanta, indeed, is the sources of true knowledge, the Upanisads, and the Sariraka-sutra and so forth which support them.
4. Because this is a specialized treatise of Vedanta, its motivating causes are supplied by the motivating causes of that (Vedanta), and thus they shall not be reflected on separately.
5. There the motivating causes are the qualified student, the subject matter, the relationship, and the purpose.
The Qualified Student
6. The qualified student, however, is the true knower who, by having read the Veda and Vedanga according to injunction, has understood on a theoretical level the meanings of all the Veda, whose mind is extremely pure because all the impurities have been removed through the performance, either in this birth or in another, of the obligatory, occasional, expiatory, and meditative rites, after giving up both desirable and prohibited actions, and who possesses the four expedients (sadhana).
7. Desirable actions are rites like the Jyotistoma sacrifice that bring about desired results (for the performer) like heaven and so forth.
8. Prohibited actions are acts like the killing of brahmanas that bring about undesired results like (residence in) hell and so forth.
9. Obligatory rites are prayers at the day's junctures and so forth which, if not performed, bring about sin.
10. Occasional rites are rituals like the Jatesti that are connected with (occasions like) the birth of a son and so forth.
11. Rites of expiation are rites like the Candrayana that bring about destruction of sins.
12. Meditations, like the teaching of Sandilya, are mental acts that have as their object qualified Brahman.
13. The highest purpose of these rites, headed by obligatory rites, is purification of the intellect; but meditations have focusing of the reflective mind (as their purpose). (This is known) from the revealed text (sruti): "Seekers of Brahman want to know that self by reciting the Veda, by sacrifice", (Brh. U., 4.4.22) and the tradition (smrti): "By austerity one destroys impurities", (Manu Sam., 12.109).
14. The obligatory and occasional rites as well as the meditations have as lesser results the gaining of Pitrloka (the world of the Fathers) and Satyaloka (the world of truth, the world of Brahma). (This is known) from the revealed text: "By rites the world of the Fathers, by knowledge (i.e. meditation) the world of the gods (are won)", (Brh. U., 1.5.16).
The Four Expedients
15. The expedients are the ability to discriminate between eternal and non-eternal things (1), indifference to the enjoyment of this-worldly and other-worldly results (2), the six excellences headed by control of the mind (3), and being desirous of liberation (4).
16. First, discrimination of eternal from non-eternal things is the discriminating awareness: "Brahman alone is the eternal substance; everything other than that is non-eternal."
17. Just as enjoyment of the things of this world, like garlands, sandalwood, women, and so forth, being produced by action, is non-eternal, so is the enjoyment of the objects of that world (the heavenly world), like ambrosia, etc., non-eternal. Complete disengagement from them is indifference to the enjoyment of this-worldly and other-worldly results.
18. (The excellences) headed by control of the mind are known as: control of the mind, control of the senses, cessation (of sense engagement), endurance, contemplation, and faith.
19. Firstly, control of the mind is holding the mind back from objects other than hearing (of the revealed texts), and so forth.
20. Control of the senses is the turning away of the external senses from their objects other than those things (i.e., the hearing, etc. that bring about knowledge of the self).
21. Cessation is the complete disengagement from their objects of the senses, that were previously (only) turned away from those objects, apart from those (hearing, etc. that bring about knowledge of the self). Or, cessation is the abandonment of prescribed ritual acts according to rule.
22. Endurance is toleration of the dualities of cold and heat, etc.
23. Contemplation is concentration of the restrained mind on hearing, etc. and on the objects appropriate to those.
24. Faith is trust in the statements of the teacher and the Vedanta.
25. Being desirous of liberation is the desire for freedom (from bondage).
26. This sort of true knower is the qualified student. (This is known) from revealed texts like: "Therefore, controlled of mind and sense, uninvolved, tolerant (of heat and cold, etc.), and concentrated, a knower of such (i.e. that the self is not connected with action and result of action) sees the self in the self and the self in all", (Brh. U., 4.4.23). And it is said:
To one of peaceful mind and conquered sense,
Whose faults are destroyed, who acts as described,
Endowed with quality and following always,
To him, who wants liberation, should all this be given. (Upadesa-sahasri, 324, 16.72)
The Subject
27. The subject matter (of Vedanta and this work) is the oneness of the limited living being (jiva) and Brahman (or) pure consciousness, which is the object of true knowledge, because in that, indeed, is the intended meaning of the Vedanta texts.
The Relationship
28. The relationship is that of making known and being made known, which exists between the means of true knowledge, the Upanisads that establish that (knowledge) and the object of true knowledge, that is, the oneness of those (the limited living being and Brahman).
The Purpose
29. The purpose (of Vedanta and this work) is (1) ending the ignorance relating to the object of true knowledge, (which is) the oneness of them (the limited living being and Brahman), and (2) attaining the joy of one's own true nature. (This is known) from the statements of revealed texts like: "the knower of the self crosses over sorrow (ignorance)" (Chand. U., 7.1.3) and "he knows Brahman (and) becomes Brahman", (Munda. U., 3.2.9).
The student's duty
30. Just as a man with his head aflame (runs) to water, this qualified student, burned by the fires of worldly existence such as birth and death, goes, gift in hand, to a teacher versed in the Veda and situated in Brahman and follows him. (This is known) from revealed texts like:
To know that, he, with wood (gift) in hand,
Should approach a teacher,
Who is versed in Veda
And situated in Brahman. (Munda. U., 1.2.12)
The teacher's duty
31. That teacher, out of great compassion, instructs him by the method of superimposition and then disabusal. (This is known) from revealed texts like:
That learned one should speak to him,
Who has approached him completely,
With a peaceful mind and controlled senses,
That knowledge of Brahman as it is,
By which the highest truth is known,
That of the undiminishing self. (Munda. U., 1.2.13)
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JagadanandaPanditaDas