Mananam

  chandraśēkhara chandraśēkhara chandraśēkhara pāhimām । chandraśēkhara chandraśēkhara chandraśēkhara rakṣamām ॥ ratna-s ā nu  ś ar ā sana ṃ rajat ā dri  śṛṅ ga niketanam ratna-s ā nu ś ar ā sana ṃ rajat ā dri śṛṅ ga niketanam ś iñjin ī -k ṛ ta pannag ēś vara ṃ acyut ā nala s ā yakam । k ṣ ipra-dagdha puratraya ṃ trida śā layair abhivanditam chandra śē kharam āś raye mama ki ṃ kari ṣ yati vai yama ḥ ॥ 1 ॥ pañca-pādapa puṣpa-gandha padāmbuja-dvaya-śōbhitam phāla-lōchana jāta-pāvaka dagdha-manmadha-vigraham । bhasma-digdha ka ḻ ēbara ṃ bhava-nāśanam bhavam avyayam chandra śē kharam āś raye mama ki ṃ kari ṣ yati vai yama ḥ ॥ 2 ॥ ( This is a beautiful wall carving of “Gajasamhara” Lord Shiva slaying the elephant demon Gajasura. This carving is in Hoysaleswar temple, Halebidu, Karnataka, India which was built in 12th century by Hoysala Empire.) pa ṅ kajāsana padma-lōchana pūjita-a ṅ ghri sarōruham dēva-sindhu tara ṅ ga-śrīkara sikta śubhra-ja ṭ ā-dharam matta-vā...

Preface This is a personal reflection, not a scholarly verdict, offered in gratitude to Sri Satchidanandendra Saraswatij (whom I shall refer to in this blog, as Sri Swamiji) for quietly clarifying my Advaita foundations and reshaping how I read our Ācārya’s bhāṣyas. At the same time, my own understanding, though refined and sharpened by Sri Swamiji, continues to hold all later Advaitins after Sri Śri Śa ṅ kara  in the highest reverence, and I still see deep value in the positions they adopted in their respective times and contexts. Here is a link to Swamijis book available in PDF at the  https://adhyatmaprakasha.org/php/sanskrit_books.php https://adhyatmaprakasha.org/php/english_books.php   Theme: Dwelling on Sri Swamiji’s Contribution to Advaita Sri Satchidanandendra Saraswati Swamiji entered my life at a time when I was trying to reconcile Sri Śri Śa ṅ kara - our bhagāvan bhāṣyakāra, with Sri Vyāsa, with the authors of itihāsa and purāna and to...