Textual Tuesday

Hari OM

The schema of study devised at Chinmaya Mission is the subject of this post each week. To see all texts referred to, click the label below ("SuggtdReading").

It is worth pointing out (again) that the majority of these texts gain benefit from being read within a study group situation and if you would like to take up such an opportunity there may well be one close to you. Just contact your local CM centre. There is no harm in reading alone - though in the same manner that reading a maths or physics or biology text, there will come a point where the complexities and interconnections and all the subtleties might escape notice or risk being misinterpreted. Not only that, sharing views and thoughts on a text with others is great fun!

Anyway, the next text in line for reading after Kindle Life is BHAJA GOVINDAM. (That link is to the index in 'chapter one' of AVblog, where the original discourse posts have been sorted in reading order.) This text was covered in some depth on the earlier blog and you are encouraged to take a look. 

The shlokas were mainly written by Sri Adi Shankara himself, but it is considered that some verses were added by one or more of his four closest disciples. The prompt to compose these verses came, it is fabled, when Bhasyakaara came upon some pundits just blindly teaching by rote some Sanskrit grammar whilst clearly not paying attention to the meaning and intention of the words. This great Mahatma and teacher was greatly disturbed at how the texts got twisted and wrongly used, not to mention that there was a total lack of application of the philosophy behind the texts, that being Advaita. It might be said then, that this is a hymn of reprimand!

After the initial tirade of what is being done wrong and how to see that for ourselves, we are then given warnings and pointers for self-improvement. It is a rousing and entertaining text as much as an instructive one!!!