Swami Tattwamayananda’s exposition of the Mandukya Upanishad with Karika was given at the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco (founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1900) from April 13, 2012, to December 20, 2013, in a series of 44 lectures.
The Mandukya Upanisad belongs to the Atharva Veda tradition and consists of 12 mantras. According to many modern scholars, it is the first systematic treatise on the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The Mandukya Karika is a commentary in 215 metrical verses by Gaudapada Acharya who is the first well-known exponent of the doctrine of non-origination Ajātivāda (अजातिवाद). He is supposed to have lived around the 6th century A.D, about 150 years before Sri Shankaracharya. Sri Shankaracharya’s (788-820 CE) commentary on Mandukya Karika establishes the superstructure of Advaita philosophy, the philosophy of Non-Dualism.
Before Sri Shankaracharya, the idea of Advaita or nondualistic philosophy existed because it is as old as Rig Veda itself, but the formulation of a complete and compact philosophical structure, expounding its metaphysics, ontology, cosmology, logic, and epistemology, was entirely his contribution.
Swami Tattwamayananda, currently the Minister of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco, (originally founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1900) served in various centers of the Ramakrishna Order in India as editor, publisher, and teacher of Sanskrit, Advaitic texts such as Sri Shankaracharya’s commentaries on the ‘Prasthanatraya’ (the fundamental Sanskrit texts of Vedanta philosophy), Buddhism and Indian philosophy. He underwent traditional training in Hindu scriptures, Sanskrit, Vedic and Vedantic literature for many years, from his early days. Before coming to the United States in January 2012 he was teaching Sanskrit, Vedantic scriptures and Indian philosophy at the Training center in Belur Math, the institution that trains the monks of the Ramakrishna Order at the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, Kolkata, India. Apart from his traditional education, the Swami has also received modern University education in English literature, psychology, European history, and Western philosophy. He is frequently invited for lectures on Yoga, Vedanta, and traditional Hindu scriptures and for participating in interfaith dialogues.
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