Sankaracharya wrote many books which stand testimony to his great efforts at renewing the Hindu philosophy. At the highest level his books satisfied the intellectual curiosity of even the great western philosophers like Schopenhauer and Max Muller who found his advocacy of Advaita as irresistible. Sankaracharya's stotra's found a space in every Hindu home and heart.

Sankaracharya's heart is that of a Guru.

The three Basic texts of Vedanata which a student of Vedanta studies form a Guru. are Upanishads, Bhavadgita and Brahma Sutras . These deal with Brahman , Atman , Dharma, Jagat , Isvara, karma and Jnaana . One may straight away jump in to these texts , but there are many "Prakarana granthas" introductory texts which introduces several concepts which makes it easier to navigate the waves of thoughts that come up in the three basic texts !

He also left a series of books called prakarana granthas which are for the interested who want to learn.

Tatvabhodha is one such book.

Tatvabhodha starts with an invocation where in he states clearly this is meant for the seekers of Moksha endowed with Sadhana chatushtayam!

                There is classic book on Tarkasangraha. In the author declares in the opening stanza very clearly “ Balaanaam sukhabodhaaya”  meaning there by that it is for the beginners ! In Sanskrit literature it is a custom to declare the purpose of the text . Such declarations are very much in line with the tradition !!

In a similar way in the opening stanza of  Tatvabhodha , the author to whom it is attributed namely  Sankaracharya  says ” Mumukshunaam hitarthaaya “.  This does not imply automatically that it is for beginners .  Even Mumukshu the seeker gets to that state after a significant beginning . All this is being said to push a point that the  very brief text of Tatvabhodha is  too brief for a beginner ; With so much implied in each word and each question,   the corresponding brief explanation is more for a person who already knows. So a simple translation cannot   carry the complete meaning .

Extending the line of argument a little more, it is generally agreed that  the briefest statement like aphorisms carry much more content than that that is actually stated. That is how there are innumerable books on the Brahma Sutras . One hardly sees a book on Brahmasutras with simple translation of the Sutra because it does not justice to  the Sutra !

For proper understanding then Tatvabhodha too is to be analyzed  much beyond mere transalation of the lines

All this is to say we are ourselves not happy with the briefest translation type explanation   following several others along the way !!  Hence we plan to treat the Tatvabhodha  text in a more elaborate way. 

You see the first article  this week !!  

Fortunately the exception to the rule on Tavabhodha is available in the form of a book by Swami Sunirmlananda or Ramakrishna Math. We intend to rely on this for elaborating our understanding !!

om tat sat !!

References:

Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Shankaracharya ; Translated by Swami Gambhirananda; Published by Advaitashrama. www.advaitashrama.com

Sri Adi Sankaracharya's Tatvabhodha: Commentary by Tejomayananda. Chinmaya mission publication !

Insights into Vedata: Tatvabhodha by Swami Sunirmalananda , Sri Ramakrisna Math, Chennai.

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