Fundamentals of Life - page by page study of book by Swami Anubhavananda Saraswati - based on Shiva Sutra text

Foreword

When the fundamentals are clear regarding the working of life as a principle and not as a personality, then life is fun! When these fundamentals are not clear, life becomes mental. The process of degradation from the sublime to the ridiculous involves lack of understanding regarding the functioning of Life as Mind. We normally function through the mind without knowing the mechanics of understanding. The net result is, instead of living a mindful life, we are fooled by the mind and join the universal mental club 99!!

The present book is based on Shiva Sutra, a fundamental text on functioning of life. These talks were delivered in Australia in three retreats, which were attended by sincere seekers of Truth of both Indian and non-Indian origin. There will be obvious repetition of certain thoughts as a recap from the earlier talks. This is not a commentary on Shiva Sutra but a loud thinking based on Shiva Sutras so that we can translate the knowledge in our experience.

May the students of life learn the art of working on the mind and not working through the mind as Hanumanji did -

देह-बुद्ध्य तु दसोऽस्मि जिव-बुद्ध्य त्वदम्शकः।
आत्म-बुद्ध्य त्वमेवहम् इति मे निश्चित मतिः॥
deha-buddhya tu daso’smi jiva-buddhya tvadamśakaḥ |
ātma-buddhya tvamevaham iti me niścita matiḥ ||

These words attributed to Lord Anjaneya summarize the Fundamentals of Life that will help us regain our sublime glory and save us from the ridiculous quality of the present.

Swami Anubhavananda
Hanuman Jayanti
25th April, 2013.