Panchadasi by Vidyaranya (1386 CE)

The Panchadasi of Vidyaranya Swami (Sringeri Sharada Peetham)

Prime Minister Hakka and Bukka of Vijaynagar Empire

Madhava was the old name of Vidyaranya. He also wrote Madhava Nidanam (माधवनिदानम्), a medical book. Madhava must have spent a large part of his life in Royal Courts either flattering others or being flattered by them and that feeling sorry for such a misuse of life, he retired from court and turned his attention to a study of Vedanta.

His salutation addressed to Sri Sankarananda at the beginning of “Panchadasi” shows this work to have been taken up after his retirement from the duties of his Viceroyalty and after his initiation into Sanyasa Asrama by Sri Sankarananda His renunciation of the world must have therefore taken place sometime after 1368 the date of Bhikarpur inscription when he was about 54 or 55 years old The Guru that admitted linn into the order of sanyasins conferred on him the title of Vidaranya (forest of learning) not so much as a compliment to his erudition as because Aranya is one of the ten recognised titles which a Sanyasm can assume at the time of initiation (Diksha).

श्रीमद्विद्यारण्यमुनि विरचिता पंचदशी

Namah Sri Sankarnanda guru pādāmbu janmane, savilāsa mahā moha grāha grāsaika karmaṇe

“I shall endeavour to write a textbook on the discrimination of Reality, as distinguished from unreality,
for the benefit of students who always wish to have easy textbooks, not with technicalities galore and very hard to understand. I shall free this text from unnecessary technicality and make it easy to understand: sukha bodhaya. It is for students who are free from mala vikshepa avarana—that is, their minds are cleansed from the usual dross of desire and attachment to things, students who are devoted to Guru Sankarananda.”

“Brahman alone is real the world unreal and
Jiva is identical to Brahman and no other”

सच्चित्सुखात्मकं ब्रह्म नामरूपात्मकं जगत् । तापनीये श्रुतं ब्रह्म सच्चिदानन्दलक्षणम् ।

The object of the author is to show that what is described as Brahman in the Vedas is identical to
the self.

विवेक-दीप-आनन्द (15 Chapters)

विवेक-पचंक (1570 Slokas)

१. तत्वविवेकप्रकरणम्

२ महाभूतविवेकप्रकरणम्

३ पन्चकोशविवेकप्रकरणम्

४ द्वैतविवेकप्रकरणम्

५ महावाक्य विवेक प्रकरणम्

दीप-पचंक

६ चित्रदीपप्रकरणम्

७ तिृप्तिदीपप्रकरणम्

८ कूटस्थदीपप्रकरणम्

९ ध्यानदीपप्रकरणम्

१० नाटकदीपप्रकरणम्

आनन्द-पचंक

११ योगानन्दप्रकरणम्

१२ आत्मानन्दप्रकरणम्

१३ अद्वैतानन्दप्रकरणम्

१४ विद्यानन्दप्रकरणम्

१५ विषयानन्दप्रकरणम्

जीवात्मा परमात्मा चेत्यात्मा द्विविध ईरितः । चित्तादात्म्यात्त्रिभिर्देहैर्जीवः सन्भोक्तृतां व्रजेत् ॥ रूपं रूपं बभूवासौ प्रतिरूप इति श्रुतिः । उपमा सूर्यकेत्वादि सूत्रयामास सूत्रकृत् ॥ एक एव हि भूतात्मा भूते भूते व्यवस्थितः । एकधा बहुधा चैव दृश्यते जलचन्द्रवत् ॥

श्रीमत्परमहंसपरिव्राजकाचार्य श्री विद्यारण्यमुनिविरचितः पञ्चदशी ग्रन्थः

The Panchadasi connection

Aitareya Upanishad
Amritabindu Upanishad
Brahma Sutra
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Chhandogya Upanishad
Isavasya Upanishad
Katha Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad
Manu Smriti
Mundaka Upanishad
Nasadiya Sukta
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
Purusha Sukta
Svetasvatara Upanishad
Taittiriya Upanishad

Read also

[display-posts tag=”vedanta” posts_per_page=”10″ include_excerpt=”true” ]