[Advaita-l] Roadmap Vedanta study

[Vivek]

Dear Ramesh,

Thanks for the nice reply. I agree with what you say but also feel like once vedanta is really grasped it’s good to keep a daily study of the scriptures for refreshment and inspiration. 

I’m going to have a look at the books of Ramana you mentioned.

Vivek

PS: still hoping for more replies in regard to study order :)


> On Jul 2, 2015, at 9:27 AM, RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> Dear Sri Vivekji,
> 
> Pranams,
> 
> Sri Ramana Maharishi never used to encourage people who wanted to go on endlessly. The upanishads also says that after having grasped the essentials one should throw away books like blades of grass or straw. Kunju Swami , a disciple of Sri Ramana wanted to learn Vedanta from someone outside the Ashram. He sought Sri Ramana's permission for the same. Sri Ramana said: "Today, Vedanta, then Nyaya, then Tarka and then something else. What books did I read? Read yourself. If you can abide in your natural state, everything will come of its own accord. You are the treasure-house of knowledge. There is no need to go out and seek knowledge from printed books. Just abiding in one's natural state without any interruption is sufficient and it is the most excellent task on hand. The time available is limited and one should not fritter/waste it in reading too many books, if your goal is self-realization.
> 
> The sage Bharadwaja. (disciple of Sage Vasishta) was excessively fond of reading all the Vedas and so, he got a boon to live for 300 long years practising Brahmacharya. To Teach him a lesson on the futility of excessive reading, Indra came in the shape of a crow or something and started lifting all the drops of water from the ocean to try it (It is impossible). When Bharadwaja saw this and remarked that the crow was being foolish, Indra came in his original form and told him that it was much better than reading too much of the Vedas. He also lifted some handfuls of a mountain and showed to Bharadwaja and told him that after living for 300 long years, Bharadwaja had managed to grasp only that much of the Vedas. Then, Bharadwaja realized that abidance in the natural state was the goal and nothing else should interfere with it. So, he gave up his addiction to book-reading. Sri Ramana says that a heavily read man becomes arrogant and is no better than a donkey carrying too much luggage. He also said that a heavily read man has too many families in his mind (in the form of books) and will mistake heavy reading as a substitute for genuine spiritual practice, whiich will be a total tragedy and waste of precious human birth, the sole purpose of which should be the attainment of and abidance in one's natural state WITHOUT any interruption whatsoever at the earliest. 
> 
> But if your goal is only to achieve scholasticism and to participate in philosophic discussion related competitions and debates, it would be nice to have a thorough knowledge of the various doctrines, dogmas, creeds etc. But then, you will have to excel in advaita, dvaita, vishishtadvaita and all other schools like Tarka, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Meemamsa, Shaareeraka etc. To learn all these, you may be required to master Sanskrit, as most critical texts are in Sanskrit. It is for you to decide what you want to do with your life and I am nobody to advise you on that. 
> 
> In my view, The following books relating to the teachings of Sri Ramana 1) Who am I 2) Self-enquiry 3) The Path of Sri Ramana (two volumes) and 4) Essence of Enquiry (This has been published by Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, Bangalore and is not available online- RMCL website: www.ramanacentre.org, email: office at ramanacentre.org, phone: 080-2351-2369, 080-23514930) 5) Sri Ramana Gita 6) Upadesa Saram 7) Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi and 8) Sat-darshanam are more than enough for one to grasp all the spiritual truths and abide in one's natural state. Almost all of these books are available freely online in Adobe Acrobat pdf format and you need not shell out excessive sums of money to grasp the spiritual truths.
> 
> Pranams once again, 
> 
> Regards, Ramesh Ramanan.
> 
> 
> 
> On Thursday, 2 July 2015, 7:08, Vivek via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Hari Om,
> 
> Greetings to all. 
> 
> Since I started my study in Vedanta I learned a lot of things and am grateful and feel blessed to thread this path. 
> 
> One thing I always enjoyed doing is mapping things out, getting a solid understanding on the complete picture. 
> 
> I'd like to get a general idea as what should be studied (in a whole lifetime) and in what order to mastery of the vedantic texts for the goal of Self Realization. 
> 
> Starting with Prakarana Granthas, then moving on to the Prasthana Traya and then more advanced works and different commentaries. 
> 
> I like to make a clear and full roadmap to mastery and also hope it might inspire others  to have a clear direction as in what order to proceed. 
> 
> I know this is a personal journey for everyone but I'd like to create a general road map. 
> 
> So far it's this what I've come up with
> 
> Tattva Bodha
> Vivekachudamani
> ---
> Prasthana Traya (moolam)
> Prasthana Traya (Shankara Bhasya)
> ---
> Pancadasi 
> ---
> Anubhuti Prakasha
> 
> I encourage all that feel compelled to add your version of this list so that we can come to and excellent roadmap. Maybe more commentaries on Prasthana Traya could be added to this list?
> 
> Thanks for your contribution,
> Vivek
> 
> 
> 
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