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shays860
31 December 2013, 11:23 PM
and why? Unless I'm persuaded otherwise I guess I'm going to get all of Gambhirananda's translations. I would like them all from one source to hopefully get a more coherent understanding. Anyone read his works? Do they strike you as true to the Advaita tradition?

shays860
31 December 2013, 11:26 PM
looks like he only translated the commentaries though... anyone know if any individual translated all of his commentaries plus his original works competently?

Lokavidu
01 January 2014, 08:35 PM
namaste shays860

yes you can read swami gambhiranandajis's english translation as an overview but if you want a coherent understanding then you need to study the works of shankaracharya with the guidance of qualified teachers because not only the upanishads are easily misinterpreted but also the commentary of the upanishads, brahma sutra and bhagavad gita can be also misinterpreted. so we need to learn it carefully to arrive at the correct understanding. the works of shankaracharya are in sanskrit just merely reading its translation without understand the background of the translation will reduce its efficacy. so you can learn the works of shankaracharya through the teachers lecture, you can learn it from chinmaya mission, arsha vidya or sringeri sharada peetham or shinningworld teachers.

shays860
01 January 2014, 09:32 PM
Thank you. I've been reluctant to sign up for one of these courses but I'm starting to come around to the idea... can you tell me anything about them. Are they effective by correspondence because I doubt there are any in realistic frequent travel distance from me.

shays860
01 January 2014, 09:44 PM
I looked at the Chinmaya mission site... I can't afford to pay $100 bucks for it

shays860
01 January 2014, 09:52 PM
Maybe I can. Do you know anything about the Chinmaya correspondence course in particular. Know any one that's tried it or how well it worked for them?

shays860
01 January 2014, 10:46 PM
Well, I had pretty much talked myself into taking the chinmaya correspondence course but all the links to sign up seem to be broken

Amrut
02 January 2014, 12:39 AM
Namaste

GambhirAnanda's Translations are good, but at times there are lapses. This is going ot happen with all translators.

I prefer translations by Gita Press, then followed by translations by Swami Chinmaya, but Swami chinmaya has not done translations of Shankara Bhashya.

Any works by Sri Alladi Mahadeva Shastri and then by MahAmahopAdhyAya Sri Ganganath Jha are in general good.

You may also try some publications published by shringeri Math. I guess they too have branches in USA, but the main website (http://www.sringeri.net/branches) does not show.

Swami Chinmaya and Swami Sivananda (of Divine Life Society) have written commentaries on Gita and Upanishads and their commentaries closely follow Shankara Bhashya

Hari OM

silence_speaks
02 January 2014, 06:07 AM
Dear shays860,
:)

There are two valid and useful options:
1. Learn Bhagavad Gita with Shankara Bhasyam from a teacher who "Teaches" it with Shankara bhasyam.
2. Learn Bhagavad Gita from a teacher who teaches it based upon shankara bhasyam.

[please note the subtle difference: first teaches shankara bhasyam itself. while the second teaches based on shankara bhasyam].

Swami Chinmayananda ji's teachings belong to 2. You can also find swami dayananda saraswati : bhagavad gita home study course or swami paramarthananda saraswati BG classes [available online in www.sumukamblogspot.com]. All these are "based on shankara bhasyam" -- they do not teach shankara bhasyam verse by verse.

For verse by verse teaching of shankara bhasyam i have only one resource: swami tattvavidananda ji's teachings in telugu. Unfortunately in english i do not know any equivalent teaching.

Gambhirananda ji's translations wont be of much help unless you have already learnt Bhagavad Gita from a guru [atleast based on shankara bhasyam], quite thoroughly. For people who are not already well learnt in sanskrit and BG itself, gambhirananda ji's translations would not be of any help.

if you have been patient enough with me for all this long... here is what is freely available online:
1. Swami Paramarthananda ji's BG classes:
http://sumukam.wordpress.com/discourses/swami-paramarthananda/

2. Swami Chinmayananda ji's BG classes:
http://sumukam.wordpress.com/discourses/swami-chinmayananda/

3. Swami Ranganathananda ji's BG classes:
http://sumukam.wordpress.com/discourses/upanyasams-assorted/swami-raganathananda/

These are all "based on shankara bhasyam" ... but they will give you a very good understanding of Bhagavad gita. Listening is better than self study.


Love!
Silence

Lokavidu
02 January 2014, 06:41 AM
Maybe I can. Do you know anything about the Chinmaya correspondence course in particular. Know any one that's tried it or how well it worked for them?


you can try to listen this lecture first:

http://www.livestream.com/advaita_sadaji/video?clipId=pla_a839adc9-fe11-485e-88eb-f651b437b73e

or

http://www.arshabodha.org/SadhanaPanchakam.html


if you feel that the above lectures are helpful then you may also get the benefit from the chinmaya course.

shays860
02 January 2014, 10:57 AM
Thank you all. Silence speaks, I am of course a complete novice but your emphasis on the Bhagavad Gita seems unusual in the study of Advaita Vedanta. I was under the impression that it was not a particularly central text to Advaita and that Shankara commented it almost solely as a deference to it's popularity...

Amrut
02 January 2014, 11:19 PM
Listening is better than self study.


+1

I agree

silence_speaks
03 January 2014, 03:10 AM
Dear shays860,
:)
For beginners tattvabodha is suggested as the first book :) by most teachers of vedanta.
Upadesha saram of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi also is a good work to start with.

Bhagavad Gita is good because it is really a holistic teaching ... :) its the essence of upanishads !

Love!
Silence

silence_speaks
03 January 2014, 03:21 AM
To start with you can read this :

http://www.atma-jnan.blogspot.in/

its not mine, :) its a book called who am i written by swami dayananda saraswati --- a friend has typed it here.

Love!
Silence

shays860
07 January 2014, 10:14 AM
Thank you for your suggestion. I have since went ahead and signed up for the Chinmaya correspondence course though. I made a thread about this but maybe it won't hurt to ask here as well. They emphasize choosing a deity and I assumed they would either supply me with one or not deal with a personal deity so now I feel kind of stuck at the introduction... It doesn't seem wise to just choose a deity on a whim. but I'm on a schedule with these courses... Any feedback? I've always leaned toward Shiva but I don't know that much.

Thank you.

Ps I noticed that I wrote in my last post that Shankara translated the Bagavad Gita and my intellectual pride will not let me go without saying that I know he didn't translate them, he commented on them...