About the Book

His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Bhāratī-tīrtha Mahāsvāmin, the 36th Shankaracharya of the Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sharada Peetham observed the cāturmāsya-vrata in Chennai from 3.7.2012 to 30.9.2012. Acquiescing to the prayers of His disciples, His Holiness delivered benedictory speeches on all Wednesdays, Sundays and on special occasions, except on ekādaśī days on which the Jagadguru observed silence. A nonpareil scholar of various śāstras, inclusive of Nyāya and Vedānta, His Holiness blessed His audience with 11 benedictory discourses on select portions of the Brahma-sūtras along with Bhagavatpāda’s bhāṣya thereon. The talks were delivered in Tamil and each was of 30 minutes duration.

Notwithstanding the profundity and technicality of the subject matter, His Holiness, in His inimitable style, ensured that the import of the sūtras and the bḥāṣya expounded by Him was easily intelligible to everyone who had the great good fortune of hearing Him. This book contains the aforesaid 11 speeches, edited and rendered into English. It is dedicated at the lotus feet of His Holiness, with namaskāras and apologies for the inadvertent errors in it.