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Bhagavad Gita

Set in the context of the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita begins with a moving description of Arjuna’s anguish and conflict at the sigh of the people he held dear, arrayed against him on the battlefield. The Gita proceeds to unfold, in the form of a dialogue between Lord …

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Brahmasutra (Part-1)

With commentary of Adi Shankara, the first four sutras of the Brahmasutras covers the essence of the entire vision of the Vedanta sastra. They also state that all the Upanisad reveals this same vision.In these classes Swamiji profoundly discussed the Adyasabhasya and first sutra of Brahma sutras. An Audio Course on Vedanta Texts- Brahmasutra : …

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Chaturtha Maitreyi Brahmana

In this course, the dialogue with Maitreyi and Yajnvalkya takes place. In Chapter 2.4 of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, Swamiji follows Shankarabhasya sentence by sentence. Here Yajnavalkya wants to leave his wealth with his wife, Maitreyi and take up a life of Sannyasa, a pursuit of self-knowledge alone. In this dialogue the qualifications of an aspirant …

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Aitareya Upanisad

Aitareya Upanishad is the only one of the ten Upanishads commented on by Shankara that hails from the Rig-Veda. It forms the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the second Aranyaka of Aitrareya Brahmana. The first reveals Atma as the creator that creates the world and enters into it as the experience. The second chapter …

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Brhadaranyka Upanisad (Video)

The longest, oldest, and one of the most often quoted Upanishad, Brhadaranyaka unfolds the knowledge of the self through a wide variety of dialogues. It contains the doctrine netineti (neither this, nor that). It also offers methods of worship and upasanas (meditations) that prepare the mind to receive the knowledge. Its three sections address the …

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Bhaja Govindam

Bhaja Govindam (To Seek Govinda) was originally known as Moha-Mudgara, which means “mallet of delusion.”  In these thirty-one verses, Shankara delivers some strokes of the mallet in order to rouse us from delusion and restore objectivity.  The current title, Bhaja Govindam, means “To seek or know Govinda (Lord Krishna) as the purpose of life”. A distinguishing …

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Four Mahavakyas

The great sayings of Upanisads as characterized by the Avaita school of Vedanta with Maha meaning great and Vakya a sentence. Aham Brahmasmi – I am Brahman (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad) Ayam Atma Brahma – This Self (Atma) is Brahman (Mandukya Upanishad) Prajnanam Brahma – Consciousness is Brahman (Aitareya Upanishad) Tattvamasi  – You are That ( Chandogya …

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