The Philosophy of the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

The Panchadasi is a standard text on the philosophy of the Vedanta, consisting of fifteen chapters, written by Sage Vidyaranya. This treatise stands as an unparalleled compendium expounding the fundamental principles of the Vedanta propounding the non-dual existence of Brahman, the supremacy of the Absolute. In accordance with the accepted definition of the Ultimate Reality as Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss), the fifteen chapters of the Panchadasi are grouped into three sections of five chapters each, which are designated as Viveka, or Discrimination, Dipa, or Illumination, and Ananda, or Bliss, corresponding to the Existence, Consciousness and Bliss aspects of Reality, which is the theme of the fifteen chapters.

The Panchadasi is usually, and perhaps invariably, prescribed as a pre-condition of study before one takes up the larger initiations into the Upanishads, the Brahmasutras and the Bhagavad-Gita, inasmuch as this basic text acts as a fitting introduction to the central doctrines of the Vedanta philosophy in general. The present book consists of the lectures delivered on the philosophy and the teachings of this great work to audiences of students at the Headquarters of the Divine Life Society.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Discrimination of Reality
• Discrimination of the Elements
• Discrimination of the Five Sheaths
• Discrimination of Duality
• Discrimination of the Mahavakyas
• Light on the Analogy of a Painted Picture
• Light on Supreme Satisfaction
• Light on the Internal Self
• Light on Meditation
• Light on the Drama Theatre
• The Bliss of Yoga
• The Bliss of the Self
• The Bliss of Non-Duality
• The Bliss of Knowledge
• The Bliss of Objects.