.. Atma Bodha ..

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namaH shrIsha NkarAnandagurupAdAmbujanmane .
savilAsamahAmohagrAhagrAsaikakarmaNe ..
pa nchadashI
I bow at the lotus feet of the Guru, Shankara, whose function
is to eliminate the alligator of delusion (moha) with all its branches.
Atma Bodha, meaning self knowledge, was composed by Adi Shankara
sometime in the 8th century.
To quote Sri Radhakrishnan The Advaitism of Shankara is a system
of great speculative daring and logical subtlety . Its austere
intellectualism, its remorseless logic, which marches on indierent to
the hopes and beliefs of man, its relative freedom from theological
obsessions, make it a great example of a purely philosophical scheme . It
is impossible to read Shankaras writings, packed as they are with serious
and subtle thinking, without being conscious that one is in contact with a
mind of a very ne penetration and profound spirituality . With his acute
feeling of the immeasurable world, his stirring gaze into the abysmal
mysteries of the spirit, his unswerving resolve to say neither more nor
less than what could be proved, Shankara stands out as a heroic gure of
the rst rank in the somewhat motley crowd of the religious thinkers of
medieval India ....
Shankara taught us to love Truth, respect reason and realize the
purpose of life . Twelve centuries have passed, and yet his inuence is
visible.
His inuence on Indian philosophy is so enormous that most of the
later philosophies that evolved in India had either to agree with him or
disagree with him, quoting him nevertheless.
Shankara, in his indisputable style, allows a place for Karma and
Bhakti while emphasising the prime necessity of j nAna for the realization
of the Self . For example, while commenting on Bhagvadgita 18.45,
he takes Bhakti to be identical to j nAna by quoting 7.16-18 of
the gItA where Krishna says that a j nAni is one of His Bhaktas.
In Vivekachudamani, he goes on to say that Bhakti is one of
the most conducive causes for liberation . Similarly, in the third verse of
atma bodha, he says that karma is not opposed to ignorance, though it can
not destroy ignorance . Undoubtedly a great religious reformer and
philosopher, Shankara embraces within his fold all pantheism while
maintaining the principle of non-duality.
Though Shankara is famous for his commentaries (bhAShya-s) on the
three major texts considered as launching pad for liberation
(prasthAnatrayI, the triple cannon),

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namely bhagvad gItA, brahmasUtra-s, and upaniShad-s, he has

composed a large number of stotra-s (hymns in praise of various gods) and
also brief expositions in prose and verse (prakaraNa-s ). Atma Bodha falls
into the last category . A rare but an excellent commentary of this work in
Sanskrit has been provided by Swami kRiShNAnandAshramI and has been
translated in to english by Vidyaratna Menon . Other noteworthy
translations of the text are by Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Nikhilananda,
TMP Mahadevan, and Parthasarathy, to name a few.
The text of Atmabodha avoids the technicalities found in the
vedas, but conveys the message of jnana yoga (the path of knowledge) to
the layman . In a short compendium of sixty eight stanzas, the knowledge of
the Self is described in an unique and simple style . Shankara starts with
the requirements of the aspirant, and goes on to explain the nature of
world -Samsara, the embodiments of the soul, the inuence of mAyA and the
superimposition of Atman . He describes the meditation technique based on
aphorism I am Brahman, the supreme being,
Aham Brahmasmi, and elucidates the fruits of Self-realization and the
state of the jivanmukta (liberated soul).
Since the realization of the Self can not be had from books or
scriptures, Shankara insists on the necessity of instruction by a
Self-realized Guru (teacher). The intense desire to liberate and the
eort required by the sAdhaka (aspirant) is emphasized . If there is no
eort, there can not be a result . As Sri Radhakrishnan says People in
our society have resolved to renounce nothing, but wish to enjoy the fruit
of renunciation. The vedanta kesari puts it The goal we desire (should
be) to reach the ideal society of the prophets, a society of just,
peaceful, morally and intellectuially progressive community of non
attached and responsible individuals, the means we adopt therefore must be
worthy of the ends . Then only the real age of millennium will dawn wherein
one feels that the whole world is ones family of kith and kin, a place
for nothing but love and fellow feeling, in short a vasudhaivakuTumbakam.h
(universe as a family).
Commenting on the rst verse of Atma Bodha, the sanskrit
commentator, Swami kRiShNAnandAshramI, remarks that Sri Shankaracharya
composed the three great bhashyas (of the upaniShads, gItA, and brahma
sUtra) for the guidance of people qualied by birth, environment,
circumstances, and mental, moral and spiritual development . Out of great
compassion for the rest of the masses, Shankara composed Atmabodha for
explaining the knowledge of the Self.
The treatise of the knowledge of self, Atmabodha, is meant for
those whose sins have been destroyed by religious austerities, who are
calm, devoid of attachment and are persons desirous of liberation
(i.e . mumukShu-s desirous of mokSha).
The qualied are those who have the four fold requisities, 1.
discrimination between real and unreal (viveka) 2. non-attachment (i.e
indierent to the results of ones action) 3. desire for
emancipation (mumukShu-s) and 4. the six fold qualities,
a . sAma (restraint of internal senses)
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b . dAma (restraint of external senses)

c . uparati (control of senses, without jumping from one object to another)
d . samAdhAna (mind constantly on the Self)
e . titIkShA (indierent endurance)
f . shraddhA (faith).
The rest of the sixty seven verses may be roughly classied in to the following
subjects, means for emancipation (2-5), sa.nsAra (6-12), various sharIra-s
(embodiments) (13-19), adhyAsa (15-19), aha.nkAra (26-30), doctrine of
neti-neti (31-36), sAdhanA (37-39), self-realization (40-46), vision of a
j nAnI and characteristics of a jivanmukta (47-53), and nally the nature
of Brahman (54-68).
May the great AchArya, one of the greatest persons to grace this
planet, Shankara, make us aware of His grace.
~|1|:
.. AtmabodhaH ..
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References in introduction include notes from the translations
by Swami Nikhilananda, TMP Mahadevan, Vidyaratna Menon,
and the sanskrit commentary by Swami Krishnanandashrami .
Transliteration is by Kim Poulsen (poulsen at dk-online.dk).
Comments by Giridhar giridhar at chemeng.Isc.ernet.in
Additional proofreading by Avinash Sathaye sohum at ms.uky.edu,
David Lyttle dhlyttle at hotmail.com, and Sunder Hattangadi sunderh at hotmail.com
Please send corrections to [email protected]
Last updated February 11, 2012
http://sanskritdocuments.org
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