Vivekamrtam of Sri Gopala (An Unpublished Text with English Translation on Monistic Vedanta)

It is a pleasure to place Sri Gopala’s unpublished work "VIVEKAMRTAM" translated into English with suitable explanatory notes wherever considered necessary, before the field of scholars’ kingdom.

The "VIVEKAMRTAM" by Gopala is a metrical treatise on monistic Vedanta dealing with the cardinal tenets of Advaita Vedanta. "Brahman alone is real, the Universe is unreal and the individual soul is no other than the universal soul.’ Only by means of discrimination between the real one and unreal universe one can attain the absolute knowledge, the knowledge of the Supreme Self.

While undergoing studies on manuscriptology under the supervision of venerable guide Prof. Subuddhi Charan Goswami, the then Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, the present editor came to find out two manuscripts of Vivekamrtam preserved one in the Govt. Sanskrit College Library, Calcutta and the other in the Adyar Library, Madras. ‘The authority of the Sanskrit department, Rabindra Bharati University became pleased to allow the humble editor to prepare a critical edition of the aforesaid text for Ph. D. Degree.

Copies of both the manuscripts of the present work ‘VIVEKAMRTAM' have been collected after pursuance. A sincere endeavor has been made to give a shape of the text with the help of these two manuscripts.

There may be shortcomings and inconsistencies in the work but it can be safely declared that the editor has tried his best to construct the original text and to make the same intelligible to the scholars with modifications whenever necessary. How far the editor succeeded is left to the readers for their consideration.

Saram tato grihyamapasya phalgu

Hamsair yatha ksiramibambumadhyat.

The English translation is intended to make this valuable work intelligible to those unacquainted with Sanskrit language.

**Contents and Sample Pages**