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CONTENTS i
PREFACE iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v
ABBREVIATIONS vi
INTRODUCTION: STUDYING THE TEACHER 1
Identifying the teacher (2); Method in studying _amkara (7);
The shape of the study (16)
NOTES 20
CHAPTER 1 THE TEACHER HIMSELF 28
The views of _amkara's pupils (28); The Traditional Lives (33); The quest for _amkara the teacher (40); _amkara's major works (44); Questions of authenticity (51); Dating _amkara's life (57); _amkara's historical background (58); The rise of devotion (60); The intellectual climate (64)
NOTES 70
CHAPTER 2 THE NEED FOR THE TEACHING 82
The human condition (82); The commentator's task (90); Knowledge and ritual action (93); The fit pupil (100); The one to be known (109)
NOTES 116
CHAPTER 3 THE SOURCE OF THE TEACHING 123
Methods of acquiring knowledge (123); The nature of scripture (129); Narayana, founder of the teaching tradition (141); Interpreting scripture (143); On reason and personal experience (155)
NOTES 164
CHAPTER 4 THE METHODS OF THE TEACHING 170
The Upanisadic basis of _amkara's teaching methods (170); Questioning (172); Renunciation (180); Examples (185); Story (194); Interiorization (199); The framework of superimposition and elimination (203)
NOTES 210
CHAPTER 5 THE CONTEXT OF THE TEACHING:
THE WORLD OF NAME AND FORM 216
Ultimate and conventional truth (219); Origination stories (229); Name and form (namarupa) (233); The clay-pot example (245); The rope-snake (250); Magician and magical illusion (257); Complementarity and mutual restriction (265)
NOTES 270
CHAPTER 6 THE CONTEXT OF THE TEACHING: THE LORD 284
The debate about the Lord (285); The higher and lower brahman (288); The Lord and the cosmos (298); The place of Visnu (311); The context of the Lord (323)
NOTES 328
CHAPTER 7 THE LANGUAGE OF THE TEACHING 335
The wider context (339); Tat tvam asi ('You are that') in BSBh 4.1.2 (342); Neti neti ('Not thus, not thus') in Br Up Bh 2.3.6 (346); Satyam jnanam anantam brahma ('Brahman is reality, consciousness, infinite' in Tait Up Bh 2.1.1 (349); Tat tvam asi ('You are that') in Upadesasahasri metric chapter 18 (363)
NOTES 383
CHAPTER 8 THE END OF THE TEACHING 404
The methods at work: _amkara's commentary on the Taittiriya Upanisad (404); Remaining problems? (418); Corrective readings (420); The culmination of the teaching (429); The supersession of the teaching (433); What remains? (436); Summarizing the argument (437); Is duality overcome? (442); The study of _amkara the teacher (446)
NOTES 457
GLOSSARY 464
BIBLIOGRAPHY 474
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication:
âSaçnkaråacåarya.
Advaita.
Vedanta.
Philosophy, Hindu.