Neera Manchanda

Vedanta The Priceless Jewel Neera Manchanda

It is my attempt to bring before you the magic of the Bharatvarsh spiritual essence. After we look at some essential Vedantic concepts of 'I am Infinite', 'The Divinity I Am', 'Why Vedanta' and Exclusivity to Inclusiveness; we get a cursory grip of the Vedas. Here 'What Vedanta Is', followed by 'The World is an Appearance' and 'Prakriti and the Three Gunas' together convey the intrinsic message of Vedanta to the reader to work towards the goal of life, which is to achieve Self Realisation in this life itself! Gurus from the authentic Vedantic tradition, steeped in the Upanishads and themselves Realised persons, left behind a legacy of talks, books and discourses, enabling the seeker come face to face with his Atman. Some of these stalwarts such as Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharishi, Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Tejomayananda are mentioned in interesting write-ups. Notes on Mantras, Fear and Maya bring further clarity to the reader's mind. The word Vedanta is explained as 'end of the Vedas', the Upanishads, the philosophical portion of the Vedas. The realisation that the Atman within each one, being the same as Brahman, was shared by Rishis with their disciples by word of mouth; till these experiences were put down on paper and became the Upanishads now available to us. I am pleased to offer my understanding of the Kathopanishad, Mandukya Upanishad, Kenopanishad and Bhagwad Gita Upanishad. Poems written by me, relevant to the subjects will hopefully delight the reader.