It is to be noticed that in places where Barhaspatyamanam is in use
Krishnapaksham (or the fortnight of waning moon) commences first and is
followed by Suklapaksham (period of waxing moon).
Consequently, the next day after the 15th day of the waxing moon of
Aswina will be the 1st day of the waning moon of Kartika to those who
are guided by the Barhaspatyamanam calendar. And therefore the latter
date, which is the date mentioned in the inscription, was Wednesday in
the year 4362 of Kaliyuga.
The geocentric longitude of the sun at the time of his meridian passage
on the said date being 174 deg. 20' 16" and the moon's longitude being
70 deg 51' 42" (according to Suryasiddhanta) it can be easily seen that
at Gaya there was Padyamitithi (first day of waning moon) for nearly 7
ghadias and 50 vighadias from the time of sunrise.
It is clear from the foregoing calculation that "Kartik I Badi"
coincided with Wednesday in the year 4362 of Kaliyuga or the year 1261
of the Christian era, and that from the standpoint of the person who
wrote the inscription the said year was the 1819th year of the Buddhist
era. And consequently this new inscription confirms the correctness of
the date assigned to Buddha's death by Buddhist writers. It would have
been better if Major-General Cunningham had carefully examined the basis
of his calculation before proclaiming to the world at large that the
Buddhist accounts were untrustworthy.
Discrimination of Spirit and Not Spirit
(Translated from the original Sanskrit of Sankara Acharya.)
by Mohini M. Chatterji
[An apology is scarcely needed for undertaking a translation of Sankara
Acharya's celebrated Synopsis of Vedantism entitled "Atmanatma Vivekah."
This little treatise, within a small compass, fully sets forth the scope
and purpose of the Vedanta philosophy. It has been a matter of no
little wonder, considering the authorship of this pamphlet and its own
intrinsic merits, that a translation of it has not already been executed
by some competent scholar. The present translation, though pretending
to no scholarship, is dutifully literal, excepting, however, the
omission of a few lines relating to the etymology of the words Sarira
and Deha, and one or two other things which, though interesting in
themselves, have no direct bearing on the main subject of treatment.
--T.R.]
Nothing is Spirit which can be the object of consciousness. To one
possessed of right discrimination, the Spirit is the subject of
knowledge. This right discrimination of Spirit and Not-spirit is set
forth in millions of treatises.
This discrimination of Spirit and Not-spirit is given below:
Q. Whence comes pain to the Spirit?
A. By reason of its taking a body. It is said in the Sruti: * "Not in
this (state of existence) is there cessation of pleasure and pain of a
living thing possessed of a body."
Q. By what is produced this taking of a body?
A. By Karma.**
Q. Why does it become so by Karma?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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