Vedanta Sara (Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati's)

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Vedanta holds the key to the essence of life. And the essence of Vedanta is beautifully presented in Sadananda Saraswati's glorious text called Vedanta Sara. Written several centuries ago, this text on advaita Vedanta, continues to inspire spiritual aspirants seeking knowledge of the ineffable Brahman, seeking the absolute truth, seeking freedom from the bondage of not-knowing.

But as is true of most scriptures, it is by no means easy to decipher the meaning in totality. One misses the subtext, the context, the meaning behind the words. And this is where the importance of a living enlightened being, comes in. Having experienced the truth encapsulated in the words, a self-realised person is perfectly placed to explain the nuances, through analogies, through exemplification, through references to daily life. This makes it easier to fathom and digest the complex knowledge.

Anandmurti Gurumaa is one such being who has awakened to the higher reality. Having tasted the wisdom, she makes the flavour accessible to the readers. Her eloquent, insightful and sagacious commentary on this introductory text of advaita Vedanta, showcases the timeless beauty of lofty wisdom, in a packaging that is appealing to readers of modern times. This book is a compilation of live discourses and is intended to enrich lives with the life transforming fragrance of Vedantic wisdom.

Offering obeisance at the hallowed feet of the eternal Guru, I commence my commentary on yet another gem from the rich repository of work inspired by the great master of advaita philosophy, Sri Adi Shankaracharya. May you dive deeper into the ocean of Vedanta wisdom with more profundity and clarity, may you realize your true Self and fulfill the purpose of human life. The text I intend talking about is a prakaran granth (monograph) called Vedanta Sara, written by Sadananda Yogendra Saraswati. As is evident from the title, the text contains the Sara of Vedanta philosophy.

Sara means essence. Say, if you are asked to insert an entire garden into your pocket-you will shrug your shoulders as it is inconceivable. But if you ponder over it for a moment: what is a garden? What image does the word 'garden' bring forth? Flowers. Notwithstanding other things like trees, shrubs etc.; the word 'garden' implies flowers. So, if the essence of the flowers is extracted into a bottle, will you then, not be able to put it in your pocket? Certainly, you can. Essence of any object is always condensed. Even if the original quantity is more, the essence will always be lesser in amount.

Several litters of milk, after due processing, yields only grams of ghee (clarified butter). Moreover, the utility of ghee is different to that of milk. Milk cannot be a substitute for ghee. From the viewpoint of obtaining the essence of ghee, the very purpose of milk is procurement of its essence viz ghee. On a similar vein, Vedanta is the Sara, the quintessence, of all Vedas. There are four Vedas and they are as vast as an ocean with respect to the mammoth knowledge incorporated in the form of multitude mantras, their applications, metaphysical enquiries and their solutions explained through a plethora of analogies and so on and so forth. It can be said that the purpose of the ginormous milk of Vedas is the procurement of its concise essence viz Vedanta.