MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA: 16 - Swami Advayananda ji.

Swami Chinmayananda:

May all of us rise above and beyond our limitations, remove the weeds within and await the harvest of light in our lives! Love, light and grace to everybody!

Happy Makar Sankranti to all

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Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF)

The auspicious Makara Sankranti day, during Uttarayana, marks the beginning of the harvest season. 

Signifying the end of the winter solstice and the beginning of longer, warmer days, this festival holds profound cultural and spiritual significance.

May this Makar Sankranti fill your life with the light of knowledge, the warmth of joy, and the spirit of togetherness. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and Happy Makar Sankranti! Shubh Uttarayana!

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Wednesday, 17 Jan 2024. 07:02.

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 

GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA

Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

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PART 1: Agama Prakarana (Mantras-29.)

THE SYLLABLES OF “OM”

Upanishad Section 3: 

Mantras - 8-12

Mantram - 12: ‘Amaatra’ – The Fourth Letter: TURIYA

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GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA

PART 4/4: ALAATA-SHANTI PRAKARANA (100 Mantras)

Quenching the Firebrand

Post-16.

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INTRODUCTION TO ALAATA-SHANTI PRAKARANA:

THE PLAN OF THE four parts of the Karika may be reviewed at this point in order to 

highlight the purpose of this final part in the light of the preceding three. Part 1 was a direct 

commentary on the 12 verses of the Mandukya Upanishad. This was followed in Part 2 by 

razing to the ground the old, redundant structure of Dualism, so that the new structure of 

“Non-dual Reality” could be built in its place in Part 3. Now, in Part 4, the important task 

taken up is to provide an intellectual buttress to protect the new structure. 

Alaata-Shanti Prakarana undertakes the vital role of Defence that would ensure that 

the structure of Non-duality, so arduously built up, will resist any effort to undermine it. 

Philosophical undermining is a threat that all valuable systems of thought are bound to face. 

The most solid way of protecting the treasure-house of Non-duality is through the pure, 

subtle minds of sages and saints. However, some intellectual measures are also needed to 

ward off the irrational attacks which challenge the very foundations of the philosophy.

The metaphor of Alaata-Shanti is introduced in the very centre of this Part, like the 

special decorative arrangement that is threaded in the middle of a flower-garland. The 

metaphor is no doubt an excellent aid in explaining the illusoriness of Duality. But, in a 

figurative sense, it serves the key purpose of this Part: The firebrand signifies a defence 

weapon being wielded in the face of all opposition to the Non-dual Truth. The waving of the 

firebrand symbollically represents the brandishing of a sword against all attacking forces 

that attempt to pull down the new structure just built. Sri Gaudapadaji’s work, when seen in 

this light, can be appreciated as a solid effort to ward off the attacks being faced by Vedanta 

during his period from certain quarters of the Buddhist camp.

Great courage was needed by Sri Gaudapadaji to accomplish this huge task. At the 

risk of being labelled a “Buddhist in the guise of Vedanta”, Sri Gaudapadaji has patiently 

used terms familiar in Buddhist writings in order to make his point clear. The Alaata-Shanti 

metaphor itself has its roots in Buddhistic literature prevailing at the time. These matters 

are taken up in detail with compelling authority and skill by none other than Sri Swami 

Chinmayananda, who has himself stood up as a tower of support of the philosophy of 

Vedanta in modern times. 

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Next

Invocatory Prayer 

From: Atharvana Veda 

To be continued

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