Aparoksanubhuti

by Adi Shankaracharya, Chinmayananda (Commentary)

'Aparoksanubhuti' a 'Prakriya grantha' is an introductory text book written by Adi Sankara and not a 'Sastra Grantha'. A 'Prakriya Grantha' is a book of definitions, a book of categories written in order to explain the deep truths given in the 'Sastras's. 'Aparoksanubhuti' is one of the fundamental text books in Vedanta one must not be misled by its false look of simplicity. Though it looks simple, there is a wealth of profundity in it.

Aparoksanubhuti helps the student to directly perceive the Truth, and hence the very text-book is called 'A-para-aksa-anubhuti' 'Aksa' means 'eyes' 'Para-aksa' means 'somebody's eyes'. Hence Paroksa means through the eyes of someone else or secondhand. 'Aparoksa' -means 'not second-hand, i.e. first hand'. 'Anubhuti' means 'experience'. Direct experience of the Self within ourselves. The very name of the text-book thus indicates that here the emphasis is more on practice than on theory.

This book is a ready vehicle to enter into the path of meditation. The ideas in this book, being the fundamental points of Vedanta, are similar to the ones in, Atma Bodha or Vivekacudamani, also by Adi Sankara. But Aparoksanubhuti delves even deeper, for the advanced seeker to guide him to a direct experience of the Self. This book also gives enough material to logically convince us that what is emphasised is not a theoretical explanation but a practical guide book to those who can live the Spiritual values and come to experience, the Atman, the Self within oneself.

Genres: Hinduism, Spirituality, Philosophy, Religion, India

126 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2005

About the author

Adi Shankara(788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian guru from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta. His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.

Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.

AKA Śaṅkarācārya; Śaṃkara; Śaṃkarācārya; Ṣaṅkara Āchārya; Shamkaracharya; Çamkara; Śaṃkara-bhagavat-pāda; Shankara; Çankara; Ādi Śaṅkara; Shankarâchârya; Śaṁkarācharya; Sankara; Shang-chieh-lo; Shangjieluo; Śankaracharya; Adi Sankar; Āticaṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Caṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Adi Sankaracharya; Āticaṅkar; Āticaṅkarācāriyar; Āticaṅkarar; Adi Sankaracarya; Adi Shankaracharya; Camkaracarya

Reviews

[Nidish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, but I felt a lot is lost in translation. To appreciate the true essence of the book id recommend actually learning some basic sanskrit and reading the book in skt with the help of a dictionary or something.. Sankara's references to patanjali's yoga aphorisms and his different viewpoints therein show that aspect of the vedic religion that's lost today-flexibility. I'd say its a must read for any beginner of Indian philosophy, or more specifically advaita.

[Giorgos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verses:

56. This world, though an object of our daily experience and serving all practical purposes, is, like the dream world, of the nature of non-existence, in as much as it is contradicted the next moment.

57. The dream (experience) is unreal in waking, whereas the waking (experience) is absent in dream. Both, however, are non-existent in deep sleep which, again, is not experienced in either.

Recommended for those studying advaita vedanta.

[Shirish Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

||53|| - "When duality appears through ignorance, one sees another; but when everything becomes identified with the Atman(Self), one does not perceive another even in the least."

With duality comes anger, delusion, jealousy, greed and suffering. When all is One , who is there to hate, blame , criticize. Adi Sankaracharya beautifully introduces the concepts of Advaitha Vedanta in this scripture. The arguments are very systematically organized , leaving the reader without any doubt. Highest form of philosophy , and extremely poetic. Bonus : Sankaracharya mentions 15 meditation techniques at the end , to get that direct experience - Aparokshanubhuti

[Ludo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a translated version in Dutch.
Working on this version very slowly, since it contains the original Sanskrit and with that I'm just a beginner :-)

[‎]

Swami Sarvapriyananda - Aparokshanubhuti
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD...

[A.B.Ouzounian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind blowing! A treasure of a book.

If one is interested in Advaita Vedanta, in the study of the non-dual path, then it is recommended to meditate and contemplate the pearls of wisdom written in the Aparokshanubhuti written by Sankaracharya Sri

[K. BALAKRISHNAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Advaitha 👍

It is a beautiful simple and clear narrative to learn step by step, what advaitha means .🙏 No doubts raised and clarified, leading to protracted reading. !

[Bradly Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

🙏🙏🙏

Divine knowledge for those who are ready. Aham Brahmasmi! Aham Brahmasmi! Aham Brahmasmi! Never give up your daily spiritual sadhana!

[Muni Sreenivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful similes + 15 practice steps to reach 'that'.

[Anmol · Rating 3 out of 5]

An underwhelming experience from the poetic perspective, even when compared to Shankara's Atma Bodha. What is interesting here is Shankara (or his later followers)'s refutation of Buddhist shunyata using Vedic scriptures (shruti) as a source, but then a volte face where, verse 90 onwards, he goes against the emphasis on the persistence of karma even after self-realisation in the very same scriptures. Here, he provides the (apparently) contradictory doctrine that only the scriptures that contribute to jnana-yoga should be followed.

Note also the conclusion, which tries to reinterpret Patanjali's Yoga Sutras by redefining the 8 limbs from the perspective of jnana alone. He literally refers to the common understanding of pranayama as "torturing the nose by the ignorant". In my opinion, his strict emphasis on jnana even in yoga ignores the role of the mind and body as instruments towards self-realisation. To be fair, he does provide a role for hatha-yoga in the last verse, if only for mind and body purification to help in self-realisation.

More broadly, though, after my recent reading of more realistic Advaitins like Sri Aurobindo and Swami Medhananda's writings and talks on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, I cannot stomach Shankara's extreme Advaita (something that I could do when I was 17). It is cold and lifeless, like its nirguna Brahman. Maybe I will come back to this someday when I again find myself in the nihilistic, agnostic void which Shankara fills so masterfully.

[Sunil Kanojia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aparokshanubhuti Fantastic - if we want to experience what is covered in (2) Drig Drasya Viveka and (1) Tattvabodha. Several meditation verses so that we may build our own unique wisdom. We must follow the sequence of reading (3) Aparokshanubhuti to get its best benefits.

(1) Tattvabodha
(2) Drig Drasya Viveka
(3) Aparokshanubhuti
(4) Tattvabodha

I'm very fortunate to read all these starting January 2024; these will always be on my table to get back to the basics of Prarabdh Grantha of Acharya Shankaracharya Jee, in a lay man's language - medical terminology before learing Biology or Anatomy IMHO

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

His Holiness speaks about meditation and mindfulness in such a powerful way. The 6 different levels of man are discussed, how asleep we are and that we need to stay on a spiritual path to get to the wakened state. That we believe we are this body but this is just a dream, an illusion. We are not separate from others, we are all One! Wonderful book of Realization and Mindfulness. A small book, but hard to read without a spiritual teacher, someone who is Awake, Realized!

[Anthony B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theory and Practice of Brahman Realization.

The steps at the end embody the theoretical ideas of Atman/Brahman in the earlier part. This work must be studied several times for full comprehension.

[agnostic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating relates only to root text itself, not to any commentary or associated materials.

[Malik S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tasking book though, but has helped me to firm my experiences.