/lit/ - Literature

Copy pasting some posts that people found helpful on advaita. Thanks again to the advaita poster:

Adi Shankara's Prasthanatrayi commentaries (his most important works)

>Commentary on 8 of the Muhkya Upanishads part 1
https://archive.org/details/EightUpanishadsWithSankarabhashyamSwamiGambhiranandaVol11989

>Commentary on 8 of the Muhkya Upanishads part 2
https://archive.org/details/EightUpanishadsWithSankarabhashyamSwamiGambhiranandaVol21966

>Brahma Sutra Bhasya (commentary) of Shankaracharya
https://archive.org/details/BrahmaSutraSankaraBhashyaEngVMApte1960

>The Bhagavad-Gita with commentary of Shankaracharya
https://archive.org/details/Bhagavad-Gita.with.the.Commentary.of.Sri.Shankaracharya


Adi Shankaras non-commentary Prakarana Granthas (philosophical treatises)

>Atma Bodha (Self-knowledge)
http://www.lovebliss.eu/Download/Atma%20Bodha.pdf

>Upadesasahasri (A Thousand Teachings)
http://estudantedavedanta.net/Sri_Shankaracharya-Upadeshasahasri%20-%20Swami%20Jagadananda%20%281949%29%20[Sanskrit-English].pdf

>Aparokshanubhuti (Direct experience)
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.216548

>Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel of Discrimination)
https://ia800108.us.archive.org/18/items/Vivekacudamani/Vivekacudamani.pdf


Non-Adi Shankara Advaita texts

>Voga Vasistha
https://archive.org/details/VasisthasYoga

>The Ashtavakra Gita
https://realization.org/p/ashtavakra-gita/richards.ashtavakra-gita/richards.ashtavakra-gita.html

>The Ribhu Gita
https://archive.org/stream/RibhuGitaRamaMoorthyH./Ribhu%20Gita%20%20Rama%20Moorthy%20H.%20#page/n1/mode/2up

>Avadhuta Gita
https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Song-of-the-Avadhut-by-Dattatreya.pdf

>Advaita Bodha Deepika (The lamp of non-deal knowledge)
https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Advaita-Bodha-Deepika.pdf

>Drg-Drsya-Viveka (An inquiry into the Nature of the 'Seer' and the 'Seen')
https://vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/Others/DrgDrsyaViveka1931.pdf

>The Tripura Rahasya (Mystery Beyond the Trinity)
https://www.beezone.com/Ramana/tripura%20rahasya.pdf


Ashtavakra Gita for the TLDR, Adi Shankara's commentaries + Yoga Vasistha can be considered core texts, Shankara's non-commentary works and the other non-Shankara texts complement the core ones

>>11473119
>Brihadaranyaka Upanishad commentary of Shankaracharya
https://archive.org/stream/Brihadaranyaka.Upanishad.Shankara.Bhashya.by.Swami.Madhavananda

>Chandogya Upanishad commentary of Shankaracharya
https://archive.org/stream/Shankara.Bhashya-Chandogya.Upanishad-Ganganath.Jha.1942.English

Also here is another good text to list in the secondary texts part of it (assuming it's still enough to fit in one post)

>The Kaivalya Navaneeta (Cream of Liberation)
http://ramana-maharshi.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/7/2/24723372/kaivalya_navaneeta_-_cream_of_liberation.pdf


>Of the works you've listed, where does one begin?

Read the Ashtavakra Gita for a quick TLDR. After that either read the Yoga Vasistha or read through the core texts of Advaita (Shankara's Prasthanatrayi commentaries, roughly 2,000 pages). After you read one of those read the other. The prasthanatrayi texts that Shankara comments on are earlier than the Yoga Vasistha but the Yoga Vasistha may slightly pre-date Adi Shankara. Reading both Vasistha and his commentaries would round out your understanding exceptionally well. After that really any order.

There are two high quality abbreviations translation of Vasistha, both by the same guy, my other link has the longer one. The original Sanskrit has roughly the same # of verses as the bible and the only full English translation was awful so I'd not recommend it.


>How would you contrast traditional metaphysics in the West with Advaita Vedanta? As for initiation

A. Coomaraswamy wrote an excellent article on that subject titled 'Vedanta and Western Tradition'. I couldn't do it more justice than him.

http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/viewpdf/default.aspx?article-title=The_Vedanta_and_Western_Tradition_by_Ananda_Coomaraswamy.pdf

For a basic intro to Islam from a traditionalist standpoint (more of a conceptual overview than a practical one):
>"Islam and the Destiny of Man" by Charles Le Gai Eaton
>"Islam: Ideals and Reality" by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Are two great introductions from traditionalists.

Best intro I've read to date (a good place to start):
>Vision of Islam by Sachiko Murata and William Chittick
There are some audio lectures on this books by Hamza Yusuf which can be found here:
https://archive.org/details/TheVisionOfIslamByHamzaYusuf

>Creed of Imam Tahawi (succinct summary of mainstream Sunni belief, or Aqidah)
http://www.afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf

Also check out this book list by Abdal Hakim Murad (aka Tim Winter):
https://splendidpearls.org/2015/03/30/shaykh-abdal-hakim-murads-book-recommendations/

Another resource you might want to look into are online lectures. Some people to look out for on youtube:
- Hamza Yusuf
- Abdal Hakim Murad (Tim Winter)
- Ali Ataie
- Jonathan AC Brown
- Pretty much anyone affiliated with Zaytuna College

Here are some helpful videos:
>documentary narrated by Charles Le Gai Eaton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y13ZibfjWUs

>documentary on al Ghazali
https://vimeo.com/76920869

>Foundations of Islam Series by Hamza Yusuf
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7DDC6E4A27E031CC
>Understanding Islam Series by Abdal Hakim Murad
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL85C4200AAB2EDAFB

>Random lectures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60JboffOhaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no5RCHRbknk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi1EwbQHTVg&t=1154s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VUwBvJF9vY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD5hNos1eJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlEtV0rDPA

I also suggest reading "Sea Without a Shore" by pic related (right). He actually spends some of the later chapters trying to refute "perennialism"/traditionalism, and while I don't find his arguments in that regard convincing, I would still highly recommend it as a primer on tasawwuf. Nuh Ha Mim Keller is basically the Muslim Seraphim Rose. Also, be sure to check out some of his audio lectures which are up on youtube.

Here's the story of his conversion:
http://seekershub.org/blog/2018/02/becoming-muslim-shaykh-nuh-keller/

Awesome! These threads always have some of the most interesting discussion on this board.

Holy shit, retard.

Several people told you your threads' titles were misleading and you said you would change it and solicited responses.

OP is most faggot OP and trans-muslim loser.

>>11473119
Please add this version of Vivekacudamani in the list Advaita works in the next thread >>11462017.

Also, please include these videos of Prince Charles on Traditionalism in the OP next time.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnnXKmGQ4nI
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zITpU225cG4

the root ontology of Traditionalism is a hodgepodge of late 19th century esotericism and hermetic syncretism, post-Kantian Religionswissenschaft and Protestant theology, the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule and its early 20th century offshoots, which also had a post-Kantian epistemology, and a healthy dose of Romantic theory on religion and myth, which has been described by Beiser and other scholars as "neo-Platonist," or as the "archetypal" strand of Kant interpretation. Read any myth-related text of Schelling and you will see Traditionalism. Actually, read Paul Bishop's book _The Archaic_ for a decent discussion of the core concept(s) from which Traditionalism sprang. Its ontology is part of a general response to Kantian rationalism that involved a re-introduction of archetypal (i.e., Platonic) metaphysics with a vaguely emanationist structure -- that is, bootleg neo-Platonism.

This movement was (and remains) deliberately syncretic because when you identify the primary forms or archetypes with a symbolic and mythic structure (as ALL of the traditions I just outlined did), you get a philosophy and history of religion that makes all traditions into particular instantiations of underlying immutable principles (as all of the traditions I just outlined concluded). Just read _The Oriental Renaissance_ by Schwab, which was praised highly by Mircea Eliade, about whom both Guenon and Evola complained in correspondence that he was a Guenonian Traditionalist who wouldn't cop to the fact and that he was getting credit for Guenon's ideas especially. Eliade agreed; so Guenon, Evola, and Eliade agree that Eliade is a reasonably faithful transposition of Guenonian philosophy, and Eliade embraces Schwab's diagnosis of syncretic, Fruhromantik neo-Platonism as the basis of the Traditionalist worldview, e.g., as its syncretic neo-Platonist framework effortlessly reduces and re-appropriates Hinduism, Islam, Platonism, and everything else to be simply an emanation of its own "central, really real" myths and archetypes. That is why "Hinduism looks like neo-Platonism," a favourite line of Traditionalists -- real similarities between the two systems, perhaps owing to some real underlying Indo-European metaphysics, are in fact bowled over and destroyed by Traditionalism's extremely lazy neo-Platonist framework, which has been called "all-reducing." Traditionalists did not save or invent the method of comparative religions -- they killed it, and laminated its corpse.

tldr: Traditionalism is an esoterically-oriented synthesis of scholarly paradigms that go back to Kant, under which paradigms traditional neo-Platonism, and Christian and especially German mysticism were reinterpreted by the early Romantics. And it's a late-comer to the game at that.

Can traditionalism become a practice sui generis? As in, create new traditions that a man can follow?
What benefits can one incur on following such practices?

>>11473162
Hello, Theosophy/Kant shill. Started copypasting and ran out of tricks, I see?

>>11473170
>sui generis

Lol are you with the Theosophy/Kant shill too? Or are you him? Is it your sole mission in life to ruin threads dedicated to Islamic practice or something...? Again please seek help.

>>11473149
You're conflating two different sets of posters. One set claimed the title was misleading, but they were mainly shitposting. The other set (towards the end of the thread) suggested I change the title in order to draw less attention to the thread. Excusable error on your part.

Which esoteric texts do I need to read to attain laser vision? Something in the Vedanta tradition, I assume?
>>11473162
Will reading Kant give me the laser vision I desire?

>>11473170
It CAN, but it shouldn't be. Schuon tried to do this and it failed miserably. That's why most of us are opposed to the idea of "traditionalist groups" or "traditionalist sufi orders". If you want to be an actual "traditionalist" stick to an actual tradition.

>>11473191
Knowledge of the laser vision was lost in the Treta Yuga, sorry anon.

>>11473174
>>11473183
I wouldn't even bother.

>>11473191
Please don't post in this thread unless you are serious about being a Muslim. Muslims do not have laser vision.

>>11473203
This thread is not only for Muslims. Or for people who follow any tradition for that matter. It's for discussion of religion, metaphysics, symbolism, "spirituality", etc particularly from a traditionalist standpoint.

>>11473188
Stop posting your trans-muslim threads with false titles claiming they're about 'traditionalism' you enormous faggot.

I'm in need of something to read. I've read Intro to the Hindu Doctrines and have been making my way through Shankara. I'm interested in reading more traditionalist writings and also learning about Sufism.

>>11473162
It seems somebody thinks I am you so is proper to give an opinion of your post.

Looks like you asseverate traditionalism is a representation of some archetypal flow, not just following certain routines, at least as I read it. I find it very intriguing and may need to digest more what you propose.

>>11473194
Well, if it is possible then I see an appeal and hope in that. Is not that I wouldn't stick to some specific tradition, I may need to see which tradition schools are, if you can call school to types of traditions.

>>11473191
Is this something you read about in Theosophy, shill? Maybe Theosophy talks about such things but Guénon decisively BTFO Blavatsky in his 1921 book History of a Pseudo-Religion.

Thanks for stopping by! Continue being immature and ruining threads. Fucking loser lmfao.

>>11473209
You should continue reading but consider seeking out a local Muslim community and asking for guidance. Books can only teach you so much but real guidance by an Islamic teacher will be necessary to help you avoid making mistakes in your study.

>>11473208
I will make du'a for you, inshallah.

>>11473209
Read the book on tasawwuf here (Sea Without a Shore)
>>11473138

It's not traditionalist, but none of the traditionalists wrote a book comparable in scope and quality to this one.

>>11473216
It's called a joke, buddy. I used it to lightheartedly bump the thread.

>>11473208
true religiosity is synonymous with islam. why do you think islam is taking over the west? religion is being restored to a people that desperately needs it.

>>11473216
I can't tell if you're a shitposter posing as a trad in order to make us look bad, but please calm down. This happens every thread, it's really not a big deal at this point.

>>11473233
Sure sure sure. It's always a "joke" when you try to sabotage these threads, Theosophy shill.

>>11473239
>Traditionalism looks "good" when it's blended into Theosophy

Try actually reading a book instead of playing pretend. Do you even practice a tradition? What is with the Theosophists in these fucking thread?

>>11473209
I highly suggest you read Man and His Becoming According to the Vedanta by Guenon before you dive into Adi Shankara and Advaita Vedanta.

>>11473222
I want you to move to an arab country and try to assimilate in with these inbred 70 IQ savages whose pedophile leader you worship because you're desperate for some masculinity in your life and then get your boipussy raped over and over by them. Move to Afghanistan, faggot.

>>11473252
I'm sure there's a lot of things you want, but we can't always get everything we want. Realizing this is a big part of being an adult.

>>11473234
>why do you think islam is taking over the west?
Because jews are letting them in like they did in Spain.

>>11473256
Stop making these threads on /lit/ you fucking freak.

>>11473252
>inbred

This is a myth pushed by the West after it colonized and destroyed the Islamic world because it lacked any sense of religious community. Now that community is being restored and there is at least some hope that the West will become stable again, and stop wrecking the world. Why does that upset you so much?

I don't need to "move to an Arab country," there is no such thing as an "Arab" country to begin with and I am not Arab. I attend worship services in a growing Islamic community.

>>11473259
Oh look, the /pol/ racists are here to attack Islam.

Your side is losing, which is why you are so angry. There are more devout Muslims in every one of your cities than there are Christians. People are seeking the truth.

>>11473265
OP here. Are you a Muslim/convert?

>>11473265
>myth
False. These are inbred savages.

Stop making these threads.

>>11473267
Yes. Thank you for making these threads. Sorry they are always filled with racists.

>>11473268
Your children will be Muslim.

>>11473267
OP is a beta faggot white guy who doesn't know what the word 'traditionalism' means and who converted to the religion of his wanted occupier because he's mentally fucked up and suffered trauma, as he has admitted.

His threads needs to be sabotaged and reported, and he needs to no longer post here.

>>11473234
>why do you think islam is taking over the west?
immigration, you stupid sandnigger.

>>11473273
Mods need to do something about this guy. He doesn't belong here and his threads are misleading.

Report all threads by the OP and make sure they are stumped from the get go. This weirdo needs to leave.

>>11473153
The point of having the copypasta is that everything in it one can read online as a pdf immediately to see for themselves. If you can find a pdf viewable online to link to of Bharati's commentary then by all means link it but otherwise its good to have one just so people can read it, (Bharati's commentary recommended) can just be added alongside it.

>>11473268
Reported for discussing politics on a literature board.

>>11473276
>>11473282
If you dislike these threads so much, why don't you stop bumping them?

>>11473153
Noted. I'll consider adding the Prince Charles video, but as another poster pointed out, it would be preferable to include links for the other recommendations. Thanks for contributing.

I am not muslim or OP and I don't see any problem with this thread, and I am actually learning. The only one talking about politics is /pol/.

Why can't /pol/ leave?

>>11473273
>>11473291
what a fag lmao kys traitor

>>11473293
Do you know about OP? He is mentally sick and will bump his own thread to 310.

Mods, delete these threads and ban OP, these theaads don't belong on /lit/.

>>11473268
>>11473278
immigration alone cannot explain the massive turn in the west toward Islam, as evidenced by the rising interest in traditionalist thought as well. why dont eastern europe immigrants to western europe cause mass conversions to catholicism? because christianity is a dead religion that never had any spiritual core or ascetic tradition. tasawwuf is showing westerners what they have been missing for hundreds of years and may actually heal the west's problems.

>>11473302
All I know about OP is that unlike you he seems to actually put some work into his posts.

>>11473312
OP is a sick freak who has admitted that his unstable mental state and family issues are the reason for his warped perspective, try to pay better attention.

Mods, delete thread. /lit/izens report all threads by OP from now on.

>>11473303
>because christianity is a dead religion that never had any spiritual core or ascetic tradition
That's not true, though. Monasticism plays a large role in both Eastern and Western Christianity, particularly Eastern. But I agree about your point on tasawwuf. Something comparable to that has been lacking in Christianity for a long time, although perhaps people will cite the "Jesus prayer", but zikr, in my opinion, is something orders of magnitude greater from the initiatic standpoint.

Everyone take a chill pill. Retarded posts are, have been and will be inevitable on 4chan. We can just post in the usual way while ignoring the obviously retarded ones. If people had ignored the dumb posters in the last thread then there wouldn't have been a 300+ post thread full of arguing and stupid shit. If someone disagrees with something but writes out their view in a well-formulated way than its not a big deal to engage with them. Ignore the obvious trolls and the drive-by shitposts.

>>11473312
>poster count unchanged
Hello OP.

>>11473329
Exactly. Just ignore shitposts, and if they violate rules (e.g. posting about politics) report them.

>>11473303
>massive turn in the west toward Islam
all sandniggers and a few dozen pseuds who read Guenon's wikipedia page

>why dont eastern europe immigrants to western europe cause mass conversions to catholicism?
Because they are already either Catholic or Orthodox

>christianity is a dead religion
wanna provide some evidence for that?

>that never had any spiritual core or ascetic tradition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesychasm

>tasawwuf is showing westerners what they have been missing for hundreds of years and may actually heal the west's problems.
What we have been missing for hundreds of years is Christianity. If you've read even one of the traditionalists posted in this thread you would know that they all trace the beginning of real declne in Europe to the Enlightnement and Industrial Revolution. Islam is going through plenty of modernisation and compromise, western "muslims" by and large are not practising muslims any more than the average New York kike is a practicing Jew. The only growth Islam is experiencing in the West is a cultural/political/ethnic growth. Islam in Europe is just as stagnant and deaed as Christianity is in Europe.

>>11473329
The trolls are a tad frightening though.

>>11473329
The problem is that people are "disagreeing" with things from obviously stupid viewpoints designed only to harass and annoy sincere discussion of Islam and Traditionalism, like for instance Kant. Kant is so clearly outdated and pointless to any discussion of Shankara or Rene Guenon that why would you even bring him up? They are only doing it to harass believers.

>>11473335
I'm not OP. I'm the guy who posted the laser vision joke.

>>11473335
Anyone who has followed the OP's posts knows he is a fucked up character, which is why he doesn't even understand and mislabels the subject matter. Him and his posts don't belong on /lit/ and all his posts/threads need to be reported and deleted until he goes away.

>>11473303
What a retard