Tripura Rahasya - The secret of three cities

[Shanmugam]

Tripura Rahasya, an old text of Advaita talks about what we call today as ‘Hedonic treadmill’. Human beings are miserable not because they are not happy; but because their happiness is limited and they crave for more! One keeps chasing for happiness in the objective outcomes of life. But his happiness always remains limited, leaving him in discontent. If that limited happiness recedes, misery creeps in. The text deals with the path to moksha (liberation), that puts an end to this misery.

Tripura Rahasya was an ancient text that Ramana Maharshi recommended seekers to read. Parashurama, an ancient sage, is said to have got the essence of this text as a upadesa (teaching) from Dattatreya, in Gandhamadhana mountains situated in Pamban islands, Tamil Nadu, India. Parashurama then attained Atma Jnana (Self-realization or spiritual enlightenment) and then moved to Pothigai hills near Papanasam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. (The hills are just one hour travel from my place!)

 

 

 

 

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An English translation of Tripura Rahasya has been translated by Ramana Maharshi's ashram and is available for free online: https://ia802701.us.archive.org/23/items/TripuraRahasyaEnglishTranslation/Tripura Rahasya - English Translation.pdf

Ramana Maharshi once regretted that this book was not available in English. That is why his followers translated the book and currently to my knowledge, this is the only English translation available. This book is quite different from other ancient texts. It is free of dogma and explores many aspects of spiritual seeking and spiritual enlightenment. So, I recommend people to add this book to their reading list. This book can also give some introduction to the Indian culture. 

[Prabhaker]

Thanks for sharing!

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