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Saundaryalahariof Sankaracarya

(The Upsurging Billow of Beauty) by: Nataraja Guru

This detailed commentary views the Saundaryalahari — compilation of 100 verses in praise of the Devi — as Advaita Vedanta itself. The absolute joy of Advaita is presented in a pictorial language, subjectively as ananda, and objectively as saundarya.

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Details

Year Of Publication: 2017
Edition: 3rd
Pages : xxvi, 573
Bibliographic Details : Diagrams; Appendices; Glossary; Index; Bibliography
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23 cm.
Weight: 1000

Overview

The Saundaryalahari has fascinated and puzzled generations of scholars and laypersons; subject to continuing study and debate, till today, such details as the authorship of the 100 verses named the Saundaryalahari remain a matter of contention, particularly among scholars. While some attribute it to Shankara, others argue that the Saundaryalahari’s verses in praise of the Devi cannot have been authored by this staunch Vedantin; some argue that it’s value is essentially in the realm of what is loosely called “tantra,” while others extend the significance of the Saundaryalahari to include the preoccupations of Vedanta. Nataraja Guru is unequivocal in his belief that none other than Shankara could have composed this masterpiece of mystical poetry and identifies internal evidence in the verses themselves to support this view. The detailed commentary views the Saundaryalahari as Advaita Vedanta itself. The absolute Joy of Advaita is presented in a pictorial language, subjectively as ananda, and objectively as saundarya.

Contents

Foreword
— Swami Muni Narayana Prasad
The Structural Secrets of the Saundaryalahari
— Scott Teitsworth
Preliminaries
Generalities
Inner Space and Structuralism
Shankara’s Saundaryalahari
Shankara as a Dialectical Revaluator
The Nature of the Text
Further Implications of Structural Language
Yantra, Mantra and Tantra
The Meaning of Lahari
The Alphabet of the World of Beauty
Elements of the Perceptual Components of the World of Beauty
A Word about Bindusthana
Structural Dynamism
Other Miscellaneous Ideograms
Functional Monomarks of Graded and Duplicated Divinities or Presences
A Drama Unfolding within the ‘Self’ as in the ‘Non-Self’
Part I — Anandalahari
Commentary (verses 1-41)
Part II — Saundaryalahari
Commentary (verses 42-100)
Appendices
I : Saubhhagyalakshmi Upanishad
II : Yogaraja Upanishad
translations Dr. Hypatia A. Chaitanya
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Meet the Author
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1895-1973
Nataraja Guru is the disciple-successor of Narayana Guru (1854-1928), whose dialectical revaluation and restatement of Sankaracarya’s Advaita Vedanta conformed for the first time to the requirements of a normative or experimental science, to the extent that will probably ever be possible. Sankara himself may be said to be a continuator of Vyasa, who in his turn revised and restated the wisdom of the Upanishads as understood in his time. Nataraja Guru is thus a representative of the same pure, direct and vertical line of succession of philosophical revaluators extending back through time to the most ancient phase of the recorded history of human thought. The Guru may thus be seen to be uniquely qualified to undertake the present work, which he did at the instance of Narayana Guru himself. Sent by Narayana Guru to study in the West, Nataraja Guru was awarded the D. Lit. degree from the University of Paris. In 1923 he established the Narayana Gurukula, with headquarters at Varkala in Kerala State, a Guru-disciple foundation which welcomes all who seek the wisdom of the Absolute in open and living terms. The Guru has translated into English and commented on all of the major works of Narayana Guru, and has written on a wide variety of subjects, employing throughout a protolinguistic or structural approach which could be said to be his unique contribution to the perennial wisdom heritage of mankind.