The Naiskarmyasiddhi of Suresvara: A Monograph (Sri Garib Dass Oriental Series) (English and Sanskrit Edition) Hardcover – January 1, 2016

I wanted to read the original text in the English translation, the second part cointains the text but not in English. Disappointed... Will have to search for translation in a new book.

For a firm understanding of Advaita Vedanta, one must read the Niashkarmya Siddhi of Suresvara. John Grimes' monograph is a welcome help for a beginner who wants a primer before one takes up the study of Suresvara's text. The organization into topical essays will orient one towards the main questions of Advaita Vedanta addressed in Suresvara's text. I have listened to the audio lectures of Svami Dayananda of Arsha Vidya and it helped me to comprehend the summary more clearly.The only problem of Grimes' book is that the sentence structure and punctuation are bad at several places, giving rise to wrong meaning, confusion, or at least being an irritant. The topics on mahAvAkya-s is not well done. It looks like a loose collection of technical terms without providing any comprehensible meaning. Whatever may be the defects of Grimes' book, one would benefit by reading this monograph, before taking up the original text.Here are a few sentences picked from the book:From front cover:The central question that the book deals with is `liberation from transmigratory existence and the means thereto'. Ignorance of the Self (Atman) is the cause of bondage and it can be removed only by right knowledge of the Self which is obtainable from Sruti texts.Grimes book is an attempt to present a lucid account of The Naishkarmyasiddhi by grouping the dialectics from various parts of the work into topical sections. These topics consist mainly of : action (karma) versus knowledge (jnana), distinctions between Self (Atman) and not-Self (mAyA) and various interpretations concerning the Great Saying (mahAvAkya): aham brahmAsmi and tat tvam asi.Page 10:According to Advaita, the universe is not said to be created. It is only the way in which Brahman appears under the limiting conditions of space and time. As an appearance, the universe is but a projection of Brahman as invested with names and forms.Page 13:Like every appearance, the world is not real (because, to the enlightened individual, it ceases to exist in its multiplicity). But, it is not unreal (for it appears to the senses). Being neither real nor unreal, it can only be said to be non-real or mithya / sadasadvilakshaNa, anirvachanIyA.vivartavAda is spoken of as ajAtavAda (theory of non-rigination) by Gaudapada in his mANDUkya kAriKA 4.5Page 14:The rope never ceased being a rope, even while it appeared to the deluded individual as a snake. This is the very essence of the idea - a thing appearing differently without ceasing to be itself even during the different appearance.Page 36:The Self is not revealed by Sruti. The Self is self-luminous (sva-prakASa) and self-established (pra-Siddha). The work of the valid means of knowledge called Scripture (verbal testimony) is to remove all the false notions which have been superimposed upon the Self. Its work is purely negative.Page 60:The liberation or enlightenment is but the dispelling of the illusion that there is something to be newly attained or voided. Action cannot give this liberating knowledge. It is not action, but knowledge which dispels ignorance. Ignorance is the only obstacle to attaining the `lost' necklace or of avoiding the demon. One obtains the objects of the world through action, but the Self is `attainable' solely through knowledge. Since ego-hood or jIva-bhava doesn't really exist, it is already avoided. The Self eternally is, and thus is already attained. It is through ignorance that one does not realize this.It is through knowledge that one attains the already attained (prAptasya prAptih).Page 82:SravaNa or hearing the Upanishadic text removes any doubts that an aspirant may have in regards to the correct source of knowledge (pramANa). Manana or reflection removes any doubts one may have in regards to the correct object of one's knowledge (pramEya). `O.K., there is Brahman but what is this Brahman like, i.e saguNa or nirguNa?'. Finally nididhyAsana or contemplation is for removing any errors or the `opposite stream of thought' (viparItabhAvanA). It is for making the mind firm in its one-pointed fixity upon Brahman.Page 103:In reality, the `I' - notion belongs to the inner organ (antaHkaraNa) and not to the Self.Page 112:It is the sAnkhya school which recognizes the Self as a witness (sAkshin). There, both the Self (purusha) and what is witnessed/the not-self (prakriti) are equally real. The changeless purusha witnesses the various changes, which the prakriti undergoes. But in Advaita, the Self alone is real and the not-self is unreal.Page 115:In the case of a mukta, neither his body nor other's bodies are any longer considered real. Thus, a mukta is not subject to the sufferings of either his own body or the bodies of the others. All pain is then known for the illusion it really is.Page 121:According to Suresvara, the knowledge that one obtains from Sruti texts like tat tvam asi and aham brahmasmi is immediate and non-relational.Page 131:"This view (that there is duality) is only for the sake of instruction. When the truth is known, all this duality is gone." - mANDukya kArikA - 3.18Page 153:avidyA implies some entity to whom it belongs and some object to which it refers - at least from an empirical point of view. The disagreement comes over the locus of avidyA - for all advaitins posit that Brahman is its content (object). This is obvious because the nature of avidyA is to conceal and concealment is possible only with reference to a self-luminous entity. As everything except Brahman is inert and insentient, nothing but Brahman possesses the capability of necessity of being concealed.Page 157:Thus, Suresvara holds that Brahman/Atman is the locus of avidyA, even as darkness is in the house which it conceals. He says, "Hence, we conclude, as the only remaining alternative, that it is the Self alone which is both the locus (Asraya) of and the object (vishaya) concealed by ignorance.Page 158:avidyA is unreal, from any advaitin's perspective. Thus, in truth, it does not need a real residence anywhere. It is only from an ignorant individual's perspective that the question arises at all. This point cannot be stressed enough.* * * * *