Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati's Magnum Opus on understanding Gaudapada and his teachings.

On the philosophy of Gauḍapādakārikā, commentary on Māṇḍukyopaniṣad.

Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati's classic explaining the science of Being.

Not being satisfied with the interpretation offered by Sankara and his followers, or some other teachers the author has attempted in the following pages to present to the readers his own interpretation of the work as he has understood it. But in no way does he claim that his interpretation is the interpretation, i.e., the interpretation intended by Gaudapada himself. In the present volume the author has given a new edition of the text of the Agamasastra based on a number of MSS and different editions, followed by an English translation. After this comes his annotation. At the end there are Appendixes including the text and English translation of the Mandukya Upanisad, VAriants of the MSS used for the edition of the text of the Agamasastra, and different indexes.

This book clarifies the relationship between God and the creation for Gaudapada, Bhartrhari, and Shankara, and by doing so, demonstrates a major continuity of thought from Gaudapada through Bhartrhari to Abhinavagupta and Kashmir Shaivism.

Gaudapada was one of the world’s greatest philosophers in seventh-century India. He invokes the mystical symbol ‘AUM’ (pronounced as ‘ohm’) pointing to the three states of consciousness (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) and the nature of reality itself. In the text on which this book is based, he writes that the waker, dreamer and deep-sleeper are like the roles that an actor plays at various times. All three states are the result of ignorance and error. Who we really are is the fourth aspect – the actor himself. If you see or feel a ‘thing’, then that ‘thing’ is not ‘real.’ So the waking world is no more real than the dream. ‘You’ have never been born. Nothing has ever been created. Causality is a myth. Discover your true nature to be Existence-Consciousness, without limitations, undivided and infinite, prior to time and space. Incredible? Read...and be convinced by the irrefutable logic of Gaudapada.

According to Advaita-Vedanta, God or Brahman is identical with the inner self (the Atman) of each person, while the rest of the world is nothing but objective illusion (maya). Shankara maintains that there are two primary levels of existence and knowledge: the higher knowledge that is Brahman itself, and the relative, limited knowledge, regarded as the very texture of the universe. Consequently, the task of a human being is to reach the absolute unity and the reality of Brahman--in other words, to reach the innermost self within his or her own being, discarding on the way all temporary characteristics and attributes.