/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.14914841]

Is Vedantasara by Sadananda the best introduction to Advaita Vedanta? Do I have to read anything else first?

[Anonymous No.14914850]

>>14914841
what the actual fuck
this ugly fucking bitch is literally look like an alien

[Anonymous No.14914862]

Just read the Ashtavakra Gita, it's all you need assuming you get it.

[Anonymous No.14914868]

>>14914841
nigga ew

[Anonymous No.14915200]

bump

[Anonymous No.14915214]

>>14914850
>>14914868
plebs

[Anonymous No.14915369]

>>14914841
Start with the Greeks.

[Anonymous No.14915515]

Read Guénon (pbuh) and you will have a clearer understanding.

[Anonymous No.14915516]

>>14914841
That eye make-up is very heavy but, that aside, I wish white women had a cultural garb consisting of that kind of adorning jewelry. It's my dream to fuck a jeweled up jezebel

[Anonymous No.14915544]

>>14914841
It's considered to be a classic introductory text. If you have not read a book explaining Hindu philosophy first then you'll want an edition that has copious notes explaining what the words mean like this one.

https://estudantedavedanta.net/Vedantasara-Nikhilananda.pdf

[Anonymous No.14915924]

>>14915544
Thanks a lot, anon!

[Anonymous No.14917300]

>>14915214
I don't like facial piercings.

[Anonymous No.14917667]

>>14915515
Holy based!

[Anonymous No.14918185]

bump

[Anonymous No.14918270]

>>14915515
>>14917667
reading quartery sources

back to plebddit please

[Anonymous No.14918606]

>>14915924
No problem anon, if you have a serious interest in studying Advaita I'd recommend eventually trying to read through Shankara's works once you feel like you are ready for them or once you've read enough intro texts as they are really the gold standard of Advaita writings

[Anonymous No.14918716]

>>14914841
Feel free to read the Law of One series too, if you'd like. It falls under the genre of "New Age" literature, but I personally count it as the most comprehensive and coherent description of reality I've yet encountered. Covers every major area of existence you can think of, and incorporates it all under a single worldview that seamlessly marries the scientific to the spiritual.

https://www.lawofone.info/

It asserts the same thesis as Shankara's philosophy, (i.e consciousness is unchanging unity, the realm of becoming is illusory from that perspective) but elaborates on it far more and incorporates a much larger range of concepts resulting in a far more expansive worldview than I've found elsewhere.

It's supposedly channelled by a collective intelligence living on a different planet, which is how the authors received the information. They had to use trance sessions, and the end result is the series of transcripts which transpired during them (which is often found of New Age material). But you can retain your skepticism as to their source, and simply read it with an open-mind and ponder the contents for yourself.

[Anonymous No.14918801]

Is Vedantasara by Sadananda to Advaita Vedanta what Elements of Theology by Proclus is to Neoplatonism?

[Anonymous No.14918832]

>>14915515
Lmao at everyone shilling Guenon on this board. Guenon and all of his fans are utter brainlets.

[Anonymous No.14918837]

>"Lmao at everyone shilling Guenon on this board. Guenon and all of his fans are utter brainlets."

[Anonymous No.14918876]

>>14918801
That comparison could be made, they are both considered to be fairly short works summarizing the ideas of the school they belong to. I think Proclus differs more from Plotinus compared to the very few areas where Sadananda differs from Shankara though.

[Anonymous No.14919128]

>>14918876
Did you read both?

[Anonymous No.14919238]

>>14918837
That's the lowest of efforts

[Anonymous No.14919276]

>>14918837
>quoting twice
Are you a retard?

[Anonymous No.14919285]

>>14919128
I've read neither but am just going on what I've read about both of them. I've read almost all of Shankara's works and a good deal of other Vedanta texts though and am quite familiar with Advaita.

>Yet on many points, he (Proclus) is very critical of Plotinus, pointing to contradictions, rejecting provocative views such as the thesis that One is cause of itself (causa sui), the doctrine of the undescended soul, or the identification of evil with matter. Another radical difference from Plotinus (and Porphyry) is the importance attributed to theurgy for the salvation of the soul and the authority of Chaldaean Oracles.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/proclus/

As far as I'm aware Sadananda like other late-medieval Advatins mostly differs from Shankara in introducing an extra stage of samadhi at the end of the classical path to God-realization which Advaita follows which consists of sravana, manana and nididhyasana. However the word samadhi never occurs in the 10 Upanishads Shankara commented on, and Shankara himself only uses the word a few times in his works, and he never describes it as an essential part of the spiritual path. Samadhi is moreso a concept that plays a larger role and has more importance in Hatha Yoga and Tantrism, as the medieval era progressed there was some cross-influence and it seems samadhi gradually migrated into Advaita and began to have more importance that it did originally. Despite this the Vedantasara is still viewed as a classic introductory Advaita text by traditional Advaitin orders themselves, i.e. the samadhi change is not hugely important and it's mostly the same ideas as in any other Advaita text. I see the incorporation of samadhi as being as reconcilable with Shankara's thought. This is an essay that talks about samadhi in Advaita and it's respective importance to Shankara and later Advaitins.

https://realization.org/p/misc/comans.samadhi-advaita.html

If you wanted to read an introductory Advaita text that hails from its classic days and which don't have any of the subtle later differences such as in Vedantasara you can read the short text Atma-Bodha which is supposed to have been written by Shankara or an immediate disciple of his. This PDF of it below has a large intro essay and copious notes to it explaining the terminology like the other pdf of Vedantasara that was posted.

https://estudantedavedanta.net/Sri_Shankaracharya-AtmaBodha%20(and%20Other%20Stotras)%20-%20Swami%20Nikhilananda%20(1947)%20%5bSanskrit-English%5d.pdf

[Anonymous No.14920487]

Why would you read crypto-Buddhism?