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Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination

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Shankara was a 7th century hindu mystic/saint. he founded a number of monastic orders in his short life,[32 yrs], and showed remarkable spiritual talents and insights from a very early age. this book is a true classic in the field of the jnani yoga tradition. his directives are clear, succint, and leave no doubt in the readers mind he knew where of he spoke. i wouldn't say this should be your entry level book into the advaita philosophy but if the idea of your oneness with brahman, the impersonal ground of being, appeals to you and you're ready for the genuine article, then this little book is for you and will reward your careful study. i'll be quiet now and let the master have the last word with a few quotes from the book: "when the vision of Reality comes, the veil of ignorance is completely removed. when our false perception is corrected, misery ends." and "the self controlled man is illumined when he enjoys eternal bliss. he is entirely merged in Brahman. he knows himself to be the unchangeable reality". and, "teachers and scriptures can stimulate spiritual awareness. but the wise disciple overcomes ignorance by direct illumination, through the grace of God". and, "the treasure i have found cannot be described in words, i am one with Brahman".

Shankara's Vivek Chudamani is a classic text orignally written in Sanskrit and is a must of anyone on the spiritual pathway to enlightenment (Hindu/Buddhist pathways). It makes you take a hard look at your beliefs and practices, social norms and customs and helps you separate the wheat from the chaff. Swami Prabhavananda and Christoper Isherwood have done an excellent job of translating it into English. The translation is easy to read, although the material is by no means a light read and is meant for someone who is serious about the pathway. It is a great book to read again and again as your awareness grows.

We are currently witnessing a spate of atheistic and agnostic, generally scientistic, denials of the existence of God (Often perceived as appropriate responses to the ongoing onslaught of machinations of the fundamentalist media). Alongside these inceasingly popular books, we have a lengthening list of works which approach religion and the objects of its concern from a phenomenological standpoint, materlialistic analyses tracing what amounts to a "natural history" of God, or God as conceptually conceived. How can one adopt the pretense of attempting to study God when one's attention is focused on the ever shifting sands of temporal/material existence, where the mind is kept ever flirting with one image, or illusion, after the next?
I beg all of the authors of these books to turn now to this venerable masterpiece - The Crest Jewel of Discrimination, which gives a precise and comprehensive description of the nature and existence of God: ". . . beginningless, endless, immeasurable, unchanging, one without a second . . . pure existence, pure consciousness, eternal bliss, beyond action, infinite, omnipresent . . . cannot be grasped since it is transcendent . . . cannot be contained, since it contains all things . . . without parts or attributes . . . subtle, absolute, taintless, indefinable, beyond the range of mind and speech . . . reality itself, established in its own glory, pure, absolute consciousness, having no equal, one with a second . . ." This extract may serve the prospective reader as an example of the succint yet comprehensive analysis given here. The book is, as always in the style of Sankara, eloquent in its spare and direct rendering and clarification of the most obsessively mystifying, often abstruse and yet essential subjects. The translation here, of 1947 vintage, is justly celebrated.
Wisdom is revealed on every page - remarkably, every question the devoted seeker might ask is answered in detail and, best of all, the reader can carry this diminuative treasure trove anywhere - the ultimate distillation of Truth in a mere 150 pages.

Prabhavananda used to be an indian monk of the Ramakrishna order directing the hollywood branch of that organisation in the first half of the last century. Isherwood was a famous writer who worked together with Prabhavananda. They translated indian scriptures and wrote several books, either together or independently. This particular book is a translation of the Vivekachudamani, a compact presentation of advaita vedanta, attributed to Shankara. It's pleasant to read and contains deep wisdom. The Ramakrishna Vivekananda Organisation has also another version of the Vivekachudamani on sale, which contains the Sanskrit text as well.

In my library Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination (Viveka Chudamani) is the companion of Narada Bhakti Sutras. They are equally essential. Even though every World Religion teaches the otherness of God (in one way or another) nevertheless the concept of our identity with the Absolute makes some appearance in each of them. This is the foundation book of that belief in Hinduism and, as such, it is a vital part of the world's spiritual heritage.

The Crest Jewel of Discrimination teaches about Atman and Brahman, and how they are the true existence. Everything else is illusion. Atman and Brahman are a state of non-duality, which means that our physical existence is not real. It is the equivalent of a dream. Our life purpose is to realize the Atman, the Self.

The teachings of Advaita Vedanta are meant for everyone. Even though Shankara was a Hindu philosopher, this is applicable in every religion. A Course in Miracles teaches non-duality as well.

It is a matter of debate whether Viveka-Chudamani was actually written by Shankara, due to dissimilarities with Upadesa-Sahasri, which was almost definitely written by Him. Never the less, this is still a nice book on non-dual teachings.

There is a good introduction to both Shankara, and non-dual philosophy, before the Crest-Jewel of Discrimination starts. All of the basics of Advaita philosophy are covered in the Introduction, written so that the beginner should have no problem assimilating them. The brief account relating who Shankara was, and some of the events of his life are helpful and enjoyable to read also.

The basic premise and message of the book is about discriminating the real from the unreal, the Atman from the Non-Atman. According to the Crest-Jewel of Discrimination, the aspirant after Self-Realization should have a spirit of renunciation for the world, and a distaste for sense-pleasures, materialism, etc; basically all things that are not-Atman, and therefore, not Eternal. Aspirants should disassociate themselves from the body, and instead always associate themselves with the Eternal Atman, which is identical with Brahman. Helpful examples from everyday life are used to demonstrate the principles, such as the snake and the rope demonstrating Maya, or superimposition on the Brahman.

Once halfway through the Crest-Jewel of Discrimination, it seems to become very repetitive, stating over and over again that our true nature is the Atman, identical with Brahman, and how everything else is unreal. Even so, this is a nice inspirational book, and makes for a good introduction to non-dual philosophy as well.

Excellent book. For those students of the path this book offers a very real and thought provking perspective on the essential subject of discrimination and other related topics. The text is well written and clear. Very Highly recommended.

The inner page states, "Shankara (686-718 A.D.) was one of India's greatest philosphers and teachers---a simple, gentle and joyous man who in his short lifetime reformed Hindu philosophy and founded ten monastic orders. 'Crest-Jewel of Discrimination' is one of his two major works."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Brahman is real; the universe is unreal. A firm conviction that this is so is called 'discrimination' between the eternal and the non-eternal." (Pg. 38)
"The waking state is only a prolonged dream. The phenomenal universe exists in the mind." (Pg. 58)
"The Atman is the witness---beyond all attributes, beyond action. It can be directly revealed as pure consciousness and infinite bliss. Its appearance as an individual soul is caused by the delusion of our understanding, and has no reality. By its very nature, this appearance is unreal. When our delusion has been removed, it ceases to exist." (Pg. 62)
"Cease therefore to dwell upon sense-objects: that is the root of all evil. He who has won liberation in this life is liberated also when he gives up the body." (Pg. 81)
"The Atman is the ground and the reality... So also this universe is none other than Atman." (Pg. 90)
"Gain experience directly. Realize God for yourself. Know the Atman as the one indivisible Being, and become perfect." (Pg. 103)
"I do not require any special condition or proof in order to know that my name is Devadatta. Similarly, for a knower of Brahman, the knowledge that 'I am Brahman' does not require any proof." (Pg. 110)