List of some popular Vedanta books held locally for Sale. 

Note the inventory fluctuates as books are bought/sold.  Here is the spreadsheet:   AVC_books_June 2018a

Arsha Vidya Center’s library consists of:

  1. Books published by Arsha Vidya Center
  2. A subset of books available from the  Arsha Vidya Bookstore  ,  are available locally,   such as
  3. Books in Hindi written by Swami Maheshananda Giri Ji Maharaj from Shankara MaTabooks pdf

We have our annual book sale at end of June and early August at the Jain temple in Milpitas. However, you can buy a book or tape anytime by contacting Meera Paripatyadar, meerapari@gmail.com, 408 623 6698 who is responsible for books & tapes at the Arsha Vidya Center.

Books published by Arsha Vidya Center: Arsha Vidya Center has published the following two books:

Vakya VRtti: 53 verses by Adi Shankara. Word-for-word and English translation by Shri Vijay Kapoor, based on classes in 2014, 56 pagesVakya VRtti is a relatively concise text of 53 verses composed by Adi Shankara. Conciseness is in fact indicated by the Sanskrit word vRtti. Vakya refers to Mahavakya, or the great sentence. For this text Adi Shankara chose the famous Mahavakya Tat Tvam Asi, You are the Total. There are many Mahavakyas found throughout the Vedas, but they are great because they show the identity between the individual being and the total being. Once this identity is understood, one reaches the ultimate goal of life, which is to attain absolute freedom from all limitations.

 

 

Bhagavad Gita: Set of four books. Translated and commentary by Swami Parmarthananda. Shri Vijay Kapoor is using these book in his Bhagavad Gita class.

 

 

 

 

 

Recoomended Books written by Pujya Swami Dayanandaji, Swami Viditatmanandaji and Swami Tattvavidanandaji

Introduction to Vedanta by Swami Dayananda: We spend all our lives in the pursuit of varied pleasures, wealth and fame expecting these will give us total fulfillment. Yet, each moment of joy is only that: momentary, showing up the rest of our lives to be unsatisfying, somehow lacking and incomplete. On the other hand, Vedanta, the body of knowledge found at the end of the veda, asserts with breathtaking boldness that one’s true nature is completeness and limitlessness. Vedanta also promises that moksa, liberation from all forms of limitations that seem to bind a human being, is possible here and now.In this lucid, lively introduction to Vedanta, Swami Dayananda shows how man’s constant struggle to overcome these limitations through the ceaseless pursuit of security and pleasure are pre-destined to failure for the simple reason that they are misdirected: they stem from a failure in understanding the real nature of the fundamental problem itself. All effort howsoever great or unremitting being limited, the result of such effort is also bound to be equally limited, inadequate. The road to freedom from limitation, then, can scarcely lie that way. Indeed, asserts Vedanta, it is only to be found in the correct knowledge of one’s true nature as absolute. This vital first step, a clear understanding of man’s fundamental problem of ignorance and error about his real nature is what this book is all about.

 

The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Dayananda: A classical interpretation for the modern mind. For centuries the Bhagavad Gita has remained the single most influential philosophical text shaping Indian thought and life. It addresses itself foursquare to the universal limitations each human being is confronted with : ignorance, sorrow and death.The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita opens with the audacious statement that all these are illegitimate problems caused by ignorance about the real nature of the self. Drawing upon the essence of all Upanishads, Gita explains how the self, the atman, is limitless, indestructible, unborn. This knowledge, Brahmavidya, frees one from all sense of limitation. This is the principal teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.

 

Value of Values by Swami Dayananda: This book unfolds the definition and place of values in the teaching of Vedanta. Values such as truthfulness, non-injury, etc. have to be understood and assimilated by a person for him to become spontaneous. Twenty different values from the Chapter XIII of the Bhagavad Gita are commented upon by Swamiji which include absence of pretence, mastery over the ways of the mind, accommodation, etc.It is not that these values are necessary only for spiritual seeker, they are equally necessary for anyone who wants to live a life free from conflicts. That means, understanding and assimilating these values is essential for day to day living, and compromising them, due to a lack of understanding, costs us the happiness we are seeking.

 

Satsanga with Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati (vol 1 & 2) : This straightforward collection grew out of e-mail question-and-answers in which Swamiji shed light on many topics in four main areas: Vision of Vedanta (human pursuits, nature of self, and knowledge); God, Surrender & Prayer (including japa); Karma, Duty, Destiny, & Free Will; and Living Intelligently (Vedanta in every day life). The last section looks at Vedantic terms and concepts, yoga, and the role of a traditional teacher of Vedanta.

 

 

Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram of Shri Shankaracharya by Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati:Of the monumental literature by Shri Shanka, the Shri Dakshinamurti Stotram, comprising strotras in praise of the glory of Ishvara, holds a significant place. Singing the importance of nirguna nirakara parameshvara, the text elaborates on Lord Dakshinamurti as embodiment of atma-dharma and knowledge and describes the essential nature of Vrahman.Here, Swami Tattvavidananda offers his critical, verse-to-verse detailed commentary on the Dakshinamurti Stotram along with its translation.