Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada has blessed the world with an enormous legacy of invaluable gems. These can be grouped under three broad categories. The first category, meant for the intellectually most advanced, comprises his commentaries (bhaashya) on the Upanishads, Brahmasutras and the Bhagavadgita, known collectively as the prasthaanatrayam. The second category consists of independent works, known as prakarana granthas, which expound the gist of the upanishads in simple language. These vary in length from half a verse to one thousand verses. In the third category fall devotional hymns addressed to various deities. Through these devotional hymns also the teachings of Vedanta are conveyed. There is a wrong impression among some persons, particularly Western scholars, that Sri Sankara did not attach importance to devotion to a personal God. On the basis of this view they conclude that the devotional hymns cannot be works of Sri Sankara. This view is belied by Sri Sankara�s own statements in his commentaries, which are accepted by all to be his works. For example, in his commentary on the Gita, 2.39, he explains Krishna's words to Arjuna thus-"You will become free from bondage by the attainment of knowledge through God's grace". Again, in 18.65-"Knowing for certain that liberation is the definite result of devotion to God, one should be intent only on surrender to God". Moreover,  Sri Sankara is well known for having re-established the worship of the supreme God-head in His six aspects, and is referred to as the Shanmatasthapaka.   

   Unlike the Sankhyas who gave importance only to the Jnaanakaanda and the Purva Mimamsakas who dismissed the Upanishads as mere arthavada or eulogy, Sankara established in his bhaashyas that both the kaandas have validity, though at different stages of the aspirant�s spiritual progress. In his bhaashya on Br. Up. 4.4.2 he says-�All the obligatory rites serve as means to liberation through the attainment of Self-knowledge. Hence we see that the ultimate purpose of the two parts of the Vedas, that dealing with rites and that dealing with Self-knowledge, is the same�. In many places in the Karma kanda there are clear indications that the ultimate goal of life is liberation.

   What is Advaita Vedanta? Dr. T.M.P.Mahadevan says in his book �Ramana Maharshi and His Philosophy of Existence���We believe that Advaita is not a sectarian doctrine. It is the culmination of all doctrines, the crown of all views. Though other views may imagine themselves to be opposed to Advaita, Advaita is opposed to none. As Gaudapada, a pre-Sankara teacher of Advaita, says, Advaita has no quarrel with any system of philosophy. While the pluralistic world-views may be in conflict with one another, Advaita is not opposed to any of them. It recognizes the measure of truth that there is in each of them; but only, that truth is not the whole. Hostility arises out of partial vision. When the whole truth is realized, there can be no hostility. (Mandukya Karika, III. 17 & 18; IV. 5)�.

   The core of Advaita is that Brahman is the only reality. �Reality� is defined as that which does not undergo any change at any time. By this test, Brahman, which is absolutely changeless and eternal, is alone real. The world keeps on changing all the time and so it cannot be considered as real. At the same time, we cannot dismiss it as unreal, because it is actually experienced by us. The example of a rope being mistaken for a snake in dim light is used to explain this. The snake so seen produces the same reaction, such as fear and trembling of the limbs, as a real snake would. It cannot therefore be said to be totally unreal. At the same time, on examination with the help of a lamp it is found that the snake never existed and that the rope alone was there all the time. The snake cannot be described as both real and unreal, because these two contradictory qualities cannot exist in the same entity. It must therefore be said that the snake is neither real nor unreal. Just as the snake appears because of ignorance of the fact that there is only a rope, this world appears to exist because of our ignorance of Brahman. Thus the world is also neither real nor unreal; it is �mithya� or �anirvachaniya�, meaning �indescribable�. Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, the world is superimposed on Brahman. Our ignorance of Brahman is what is called avidya or ajnana or nescience. This nescience has two powers, the power to conceal the reality, known as aavaranasakti and the power to project the unreal, known as vikshepasakti. Because of these two powers, nescience not only covers Brahman, but it further projects the universe and makes it appear real. The world has no reality apart from Brahman, just as the snake has no reality apart from the rope. When the knowledge of Brahman arises, the world is seen as a mere appearance of Brahman. Another example may be taken to explain this. Ornaments of different sizes and shapes are made out of one gold bar. Their appearance and the use for which they are meant vary, but the fact that they are all really only gold, in spite of the different appearances and uses, cannot be denied. The appearance may change, a bangle may be converted into rings, but the gold always remains as gold. Similarly, on the dawn of the knowledge of Brahman  (which is the same as the Self), though the different forms continue to be seen by the Jnaani, he sees them all only as appearances of the one Brahman. Thus the perception of difference and the consequences of such perception, such as looking upon some as favourable and others as the opposite, and the consequent efforts to retain or get what is favourable and to get rid of or avoid what is not favourable, come to an end. This is the state of liberation even while living, which is known as Jivanmukti.

  The Jiva, or individual, is none but Brahman, but because of identification with the body, mind and senses he looks upon himself as different from Brahman and as a limited being, subject to joys and sorrows caused by external factors. This identification with the body, mind and senses is what is called bondage. In reality the Jiva is the pure Brahman and is different from the body-mind complex. When this truth is realized as an actual experience, the identification with the body-mind complex ceases. This is liberation. Thus liberation is not the attainment of a state which did not exist previously, but only the realization of  what one has always been. The illusory snake never existed. What existed even when the snake was seen was only the rope. Similarly, bondage has no real existence at all. Even when we are ignorant of Brahman and think of ourselves as limited by the body, we are really none but the infinite Brahman. Liberation is thus only the removal of the wrong identification with the body, mind and senses. The attainment of the state of liberation-in-life or Jivanmukti is the goal of human life according to the Upanishads.                    

   The method followed in Vedanta to explain the nature of Brahman is known as �superimposition and denial� (adhyaaropa and apavaada). Only an object that has a quality or an activity or a relationship with some other known object can be described by words. Brahman is devoid of all these and so it cannot be described directly. The world, with which we are familiar, is therefore taken as the starting point and we are gradually led from the known to the unknown and unknowable that is Brahman. It cannot be known because it can never be objectified. It is the eternal subject in whose mere presence the body, mind and the sense organs function. It is pure consciousness and it is the reflection of this consciousness that makes the body, mind and senses appear to be conscious.  

   The world is called prapancha because it has five characteristics, namely, existence (asti), manifestation (bhaati), lovability (priyam), name (naama), and form (roopa). Of these, the last two are different for each entity or object. They are always subject to change and are the products of maaya. The unenlightened person looks upon this aggregate of five characteristics as the world. The first three constitute the essential nature of Brahman (or the Self) which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. The enlightened person knows that this Brahman is the only reality and that the world is only an appearance on this Brahman which is the substratum. The Upanishads speak of Brahman as the cause of the world, but this is only to enable us to understand the ultimate truth that the world has no reality. Sri Sankara makes this clear in his bhaashya on Br.up.2.1.20 : �Therefore, the mention in all the Vedanta texts of the origin, sustenance and dissolution of the universe is only to strengthen our idea of Brahman being a homogeneous entity, and not to tell us that the origin, etc, is real. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that a part of the indivisible, transcendental Supreme Self becomes the relative, individual self, because the Supreme Self is intrinsically without parts�. This is the method of superimposition and subsequent denial. Ultimately the nature of Brahman as the only reality is brought out by the famous words in the Br.Up, �neti, neti�, (�not this, not this�). When the whole universe, which is only a projection by nescience, is negated what remains is the eternal, immutable, non-dual Brahman.

   Vivekachudamani is a prakarana grantha. It consists of 581 verses. It is not divided into chapters or sections. It is in the form of a dialogue between an ardent seeker and his Guru. The fundamental principle in Vedanta is that its teachings should be imparted only to those who sincerely seek it and approach a Guru with deference and faith. In this work the Guru proceeds step by step, answering the doubts of the disciple with patience until at the end the disciple attains realization.

   The actual text will be taken up in the subsequent pages. Though this is entitled 'A Summary�, what is proposed is not only to give the meaning of the verses, but to further supplement it by explanatory notes wherever necessary.