Epics and Puranas
Rama in 2 tellings, the Mahabharata and Harivamsha, 5 Puranic works.
The Valmiki Ramayana34 readings
By the Tamasa, a hunter kills the male of a krauncha pair, and Valmiki’s grief becomes the first shloka. All 7 kandas in 34 continuous chapters, true to Valmiki’s original.
A selection from this collection
- Ramayana · The Sacrifice for Sons, and the Birth of Rama
- Ramayana · Vishvamitra, the Slaying of Tataka, and the Guarded Sacrifice
- Ramayana · The Redemption of Ahalya, and Tales Along the Road
- Ramayana · Mithila, the Breaking of Shiva’s Bow, and the Wedding of Sita
- Ramayana · Parashurama, and the Return to Ayodhya
- Ramayana · The Preparations for the Coronation
- Ramayana · Manthara, Kaikeyi, and the Two Boons
- Ramayana · The Exile of Rama, the City’s Lament, Guha, and Chitrakuta
The Ramcharitmanas142 readings, in Hindi
Kanda by kanda, prasang by prasang: all 7 books of Tulsidas, with the original Awadhi verse and a detailed Hindi retelling, in Hindi only.
This catalog entry opens the available Hindi edition.
The seven books
The Mahabharata41 readings
Ganesha writes on one condition, that the dictation never stop; Vyasa asks him to grasp each shloka first. All 18 parvas, 41 main chapters and 11 supplementary.
A selection from this collection
- Mahabharata · The Snake Sacrifice, and the Frame of the Tale
- Mahabharata · Shantanu, Ganga, and the Vow of Bhishma
- Mahabharata · Satyavati, the Levirate, and the Birth of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura
- Mahabharata · The Birth of the Princes, Drona and Kripa, the Training in Arms, and Ekalavya
- Mahabharata · The Tournament, and the Coming of Karna
- Mahabharata · The House of Lac, Hidimba, and Baka
- Mahabharata · The Winning of Draupadi
- Mahabharata · The Division of the Realm, Indraprastha, and the Burning of Khandava
The Harivamsha20 readings
Janamejaya, having heard the whole Mahabharata, asks Vaishampayana for the Yadava story from its start. Selected episodes, 20 in all, 15 of them on Krishna from birth to the Bana war.
A selection from this collection
- The Harivamsha · The First Silence, and the First Sound
- The Harivamsha · The King the Earth Fled
- The Harivamsha · The Woman Who Could Not Bear the Sun
- The Harivamsha · The Jewel That Led Krishna to a Bear’s Cave
- The Harivamsha · The Earth’s Cry
- The Harivamsha · The Birth of Krishna
- The Harivamsha · The Slaying of Putana
- The Harivamsha · The Overturned Cart
The Stories of the Bhagavatam65 readings
With seven days to live, Parikshit sits by the Ganga and asks Shukadeva what a dying man should hear. Begin wherever a title pulls you among the 65 stories.
A selection from this collection
The Shiva Purana32 readings
Suta tells Shaunaka what hearing this Purana can do; the first tale opens near Prayaga. From the Gita Press abridged text, 32 stories, Sati to the 12 jyotirlingas.
A selection from this collection
The Vishnu Purana26 readings
Across the 6 books, 26 selected readings; Book Five includes the birth of Krishna, Govardhana, and the Yadava ending.
A selection from this collection
- Creation, Time, and the Glory of Vishnu
- The Varaha Avatar and the Rescue of the Earth
- Creation, the Prajapatis, and Svayambhuva Manu
- Lakshmi and the Churning of the Ocean
- The Story of King Vena and His Son Prithu
- The Origin of the Prachetas and Daksha
- The Birth of the Maruts and the Glory of Vishnu
- Geography: The Seven Continents, the Netherworlds, and the Hells
The Shrimad Devi Bhagavata27 readings
The three worlds lie lost in one ocean and Vishnu sleeps; Suta tells the sages of Naimisharanya. From the Gita Press text, 27 stories, Savitri to the Devi Gita.
A selection from this collection
- Madhu, Kaitabha, and the Goddess Yoganidra
- The birth and renunciation of Shukadeva
- The Birth of Matsyagandha, Parashara, and Vyasa
- The Tridevi: Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, and Mahasaraswati
- Sudarshan the Devotee and Shashikala
- Rama’s Navaratra Vow
- Nara-Narayana and the Appearance of Urvashi
- Durga Takes Form from the Radiance of the Gods
The Devi Mahatmya13 readings
A deposed king and an exiled merchant come to the sage Medha, and three acts unfold: Madhu and Kaitabha, Mahishasura, Shumbha and Nishumbha. All 13 chapters, 588 shlokas.
A selection from this collection
The Gitas
Gitas spoken by Krishna, Ashtavakra, Dattatreya and Rama, 5 in all.
The Bhagavad Gita18 readings
Between the armies at Kurukshetra, Arjuna sees his uncles, teachers, and kin; his hands tremble and the bow slips. It takes 18 chapters before he lifts it again.
A selection from this collection
- Chapter 1: Arjuna’s Despair
- Chapter 2: The Yoga of Knowledge
- Chapter 3: The Yoga of Action
- Chapter 4: The Yoga of Knowledge and the Renunciation of Action
- Chapter 5: The Yoga of Renunciation
- Chapter 6: The Yoga of Meditation
- Chapter 7: The Yoga of Knowledge and Realization
- Chapter 8: The Yoga of the Imperishable
The Ashtavakra Gita20 readings
Bent in eight places, the young Ashtavakra answers King Janaka’s question at Mithila: how does knowledge come, how will liberation come? In all, 20 chapters and 298 shlokas.
A selection from this collection
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 1: The Witness
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 2: Wonder
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 3: The Non-dual Self
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 4: Everywhere
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 5: Dissolution
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 6: Consciousness
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 7: Peace
- The Ashtavakra Gita · Chapter 8: Liberation
The Avadhuta Gita8 readings
Dattatreya the avadhuta sings his own song of the Self, every shloka returning to one center: I am, I am That. In all, 8 chapters and 264 shlokas.
Available readings
The Rama Gita8 readings
After the coronation Lakshmana asks his brother for the knowledge of Brahman, and Rama answers as teacher. From the Adhyatma Ramayana, 62 shlokas in 8 parts, with commentary.
Available readings
- The Rama Gita · Part 1: The Question and the Beginning
- The Rama Gita · Part 2: Knowledge Versus Karma
- The Rama Gita · Part 3: Discerning the Five Sheaths
- The Rama Gita · Part 4: The Nondual Nature
- The Rama Gita · Part 5: The Play of Illusion
- The Rama Gita · Part 6: The Path of Sadhana
- The Rama Gita · Part 7: The State of the Liberated
- The Rama Gita · Part 8: The Close
The Vibhishana Gita6 readings
On Lanka’s battlefield Ravana rides a chariot and Rama stands on foot; Vibhishana doubts, and Rama describes the chariot of dharma. From Tulsidas’s Lanka Kanda, in 6 parts.
Available readings
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 1: The Chariotless Raghuvira and Vibhishana’s Doubt
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 2: The Wheels of the Dharma-Chariot: Valor and Fortitude
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 3: The Four Horses and the Charioteer of Devotion
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 4: The Inner Weapons and the Impenetrable Armor
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 5: The Chariot of Dharma and Victory Over the World
- The Vibhishana Gita · Part 6: Vibhishana’s Surrender, the Heart of the Teaching
Vedanta and darshana
Sutras, the Vivekachudamani, the great sayings, and teaching stories.
The Brahma Sutra16 readings
Now, therefore, the inquiry into Brahman: Badarayana’s 555 sutras open with these words, in 4 chapters and 16 padas, read through Shankaracharya’s commentary.
A selection from this collection
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 1: Convergence
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 1: Convergence · Pada 2 · Refuting the idea of other principles
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 1: Convergence · Pada 3 · Further proofs and the question of the deities’ eligibility
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 1: Convergence · Pada 4 · Refuting Samkhya, and Brahman as both causes
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 2: Non-Contradiction
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 2: Non-Contradiction · Pada 2 · Refuting the rival schools
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 2: Non-Contradiction · Pada 3 · The origin of the five elements and the jiva
- The Brahma Sutra · Book 2: Non-Contradiction · Pada 4 · The senses and prana
The Vivekachudamani19 readings
A disciple asks what bondage is and how it came, and the guru’s answer is the whole of Advaita: 580 verses ascribed to Adi Shankara, in nineteen parts.
A selection from this collection
- Vivekachudamani · The Rare Human Birth
- Vivekachudamani · The Fourfold Preparation
- Vivekachudamani · Refuge in the Guru
- Vivekachudamani · The Not-Self, the Body, the Mind, and Maya
- Vivekachudamani · The Nature of the Self
- Vivekachudamani · The Five Sheaths, First Half: Food, Breath, Mind
- Vivekachudamani · The Five Sheaths, Second Half: Intellect and Bliss
- Vivekachudamani · The Witness and Brahman
The Mahavakyas1 reading
Prajnanam brahma, aham brahmasmi, tat tvam asi, ayam atma brahma: the four great sayings of Vedanta, one from each Veda, with their Upanishad sources and meaning.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali4 readings
Patanjali’s 196 sutras tie the whole tangle of the mind into short threads: what the mind is and how it grows still. All 4 padas, with commentary.
Available readings
The Stories of Vasistha39 readings
King Lavana mounts a horse, closes his eyes, and a whole lifetime passes in one night. From Vasistha’s dialogue with the young Rama, 39 stories to read in any order.
A selection from this collection
- King Lavana: Sixty Years in Two Muhurtas
- Lila and Padma: Worlds Within the Pavilion
- Karkati: From Hunger to Self-Inquiry and Mangala Devi
- Punya and Pavana: From Grief to Self-Knowledge
- Gadhi’s Chandala Dream: Two Muhurtas and Many Years
- Chudala: Queen, Yogini, and Guru
- Bhushunda: Memory Across Ages on the Wish-Bearing Tree
- Janaka: From the Siddhas’ Song to Steady Wisdom
The Tripura Rahasya3 readings
From the Jnana Khanda, 3 selected readings, with passage-specific sources.
Available readings
The Upanishads
Under a banyan or before the fire, a student sits close and the teacher speaks. Besides the front page, this collection holds 12 Upanishads with commentary: 11 read whole, the Isha in selected mantras.
The Isha Upanishad1 reading
Six discussion sections · mantras 1, 2, 4 to 7, 9 to 11, 15 to 18; not the full 18-mantra text.
The Kena Upanishad1 reading
A long Sama chant has just ended, and in the silence someone asks who sends the mind. All 4 khandas, verse then story, with commentary.
The Katha Upanishad1 reading
A boy sits three nights unfed at Yama’s door and asks, with his third boon, what nobody asks. Both chapters and all 6 vallis, with commentary.
The Prashna Upanishad1 reading
Six seekers arrive with firewood in hand, wait a year, then receive Pippalada’s answers. All 6 questions, from the edge of creation to the purusha of 16 parts.
The Mundaka Upanishad1 reading
Shaunaka sits by Angiras and asks what, once known, makes everything known. All 3 mundakas and 6 khandas, Om as the bow, two birds on one tree.
The Mandukya Upanishad1 reading
In the third watch of the night one sleeper passes through three worlds in turn. All 12 mantras, waking, dream, deep sleep and the fourth, mapped onto Om.
The Taittiriya Upanishad1 reading
A student’s farewell day after years in the teacher’s house: speak the truth, walk in dharma. All 3 vallis, from the 5 sheaths to Bhrigu’s 5 returns.
The Aitareya Upanishad1 reading
Homeless gods in a great ocean refuse a cow and a horse, then accept the human being. All 3 chapters, closing on 4 words for who am I.
The Chandogya Upanishad8 readings
Shvetaketu comes home proud after twelve years of study, and his father asks one question. All 8 chapters, from 3 Sama singers before dawn to Prajapati’s door.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad6 readings
Yajnavalkya, who silences a full assembly, faces eight questioners in Janaka’s court for a thousand gold-horned cows. All 6 chapters, opening with the sacrificial horse at dawn.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad1 reading
At the forest’s edge an assembly asks what causes everything: time, nature, necessity or chance. All 6 chapters, through maya and Rudra to the first note of bhakti.
The Kaivalya Upanishad1 reading
Ashvalayana comes before the grandfather Parameshthin and asks for the highest knowledge; the answer begins with faith, devotion, meditation. Both sections, 26 mantras, ending in identity with Sadashiva.
Bhakti and Stotra
Narada’s sutras, 2 sahasranamas, and 7 more hymns.
The Vishnu Sahasranama1 reading
Bhishma on his bed of arrows gives Yudhishthira the thousand names after the war. The whole hymn with meaning: nyasa, dhyana, 108 name-verses, phalashruti and uttara-pithika.
The Lalita Sahasranama10 readings
Agastya asks and Hayagriva answers with the Goddess’s thousand names. All 1000 names in 10 parts with commentary, a hundred of them telling the war against Bhandasura.
A selection from this collection
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 1: The Divine Mission and the Divine Form
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 2: The Mantra-Body and the Ascent of Kundalini
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 3: Majesty and the Three States
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 4: Cosmic Form, Kamakala, and the Levels of Speech
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 5: Primal Nature and the Yoginis of the Chakras
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 6: The Form That Pervades the Cosmos
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 7: The Bond with the Seeker
- The Lalita Sahasranama · Part 8: Consonance with the Vedanta Vision
The Narada Bhakti Sutra5 readings
The Sanakadi rishis ask Narada what bhakti is, and he answers in short sutras: supreme love for God. All 84 sutras in 5 chapters, with explanation.
Available readings
The Saundarya Lahari2 readings
The tale opens at Kailasa: Shankara receives the hymn from Shiva, a gatekeeper snatches it, forty-one verses survive. All 100 verses and a 3-verse appendix, in 2 parts.
Available readings
The Purusha Sukta1 reading
A body larger than the earth, thousand-headed, made the offering of the first yajna. An introduction to the 16 verses of Rigveda 10.90, with diagram and reading list.
The Hanuman Chalisa1 reading
A folk tale has Tulsidas composing it in a prison cell, in Awadhi anyone could learn by heart. The opening 2 dohas, 40 chaupais and a closing doha, with meaning.
The Shiva Mahimna Stotra1 reading
The gandharva Pushpadanta, invisible, steals flowers for Shiva from a king’s garden; caught, he composes this hymn in remorse. All 43 verses with meaning and their Puranic stories.
The Sri Rudram1 reading
Rudra as the Rig Veda sees him: storm, mountain, physician of physicians. An introduction to the Namakam and Chamakam, 11 anuvakas each, with the story of Daksha’s yajna.
The Ganesha Atharvashirsha1 reading
An Upanishad of the Atharva Veda that names Ganesha as Brahman itself. All 14 sections between 2 peace invocations, each explained, with the fruit of recitation.
The Bhaja Govindam1 reading
In Kashi, Shankara hears a pandit of eighty drilling a grammar rule, and the hammer that breaks delusion is born. All 33 verses in titled pairs, with commentary.
Characters and reference
Characters, 40 in all, with episodes and relations, and a 965-term glossary.
The Characters40 readings
Glossary965 terms
Amrita: that which does not die. Terms that recur across the texts, 965 in all, sorted A to Z, each with the original and a one-line meaning.
More teachings
From the Mahabharata, 3 teaching episodes, each retold as a story.
The Yaksha Prashna · Vana Parva1 reading
Four brothers lie fallen beside a forest lake; Yudhishthira alone answers the unseen voice, question after question, the greatest wonder among them. One Vana Parva episode retold as story.
The Vidura Niti · Udyoga Parva1 reading
War one step away, the blind king, sleepless at midnight, summons the brother who never feared to speak truth. Vidura’s counsel from the Udyoga Parva, retold as story.
The Anugita · Ashvamedha Parva1 reading
After the war, in the Indraprastha hall, Arjuna admits he has forgotten the Gita’s teaching; Krishna returns its essence through old stories. From the Ashvamedha Parva, retold as story.
Sikh scripture
Sukhmani Sahib, 4 banis whole, the Adi Granth; 4 in Hindi only.
Anand Sahib1 reading
Guru Amardas, seated as guru at seventy-three, calls to the mother: bliss has come, the guru is found. All 40 pauris in Raga Ramkali, angs 917 to 922.
Salok Mahalla 91 reading
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s saloks: the world passes, only the Name stays, a refrain that keeps returning. All 57, the last 5 turning from counsel to prayer.
Japji Sahib1 reading, in Hindi
Guru Nanak’s morning prayer, the opening of the Guru Granth Sahib, asking how one becomes true. Mool Mantar, all 38 pauris and the closing salok, in Hindi only.
This catalog entry opens the available Hindi edition.
Sukhmani Sahib25 readings, in Hindi
Guru Arjan Dev’s composition beside the Ramsar pool, opening on the line that simran brings peace. All 24 ashtapadis, 192 pauris, each with commentary, in Hindi only.
This catalog entry opens the available Hindi edition.
Asa di Vaar1 reading, in Hindi
Sung by the sangat each morning in Raga Asa; Nanak offers himself to his guru a hundred times daily. All 24 pauris and 59 saloks, in Hindi only.
This catalog entry opens the available Hindi edition.
Adi Granth1,474 readings, in Hindi
The first ang holds the Mool Mantar and Japu’s opening; compiled under Guru Arjan Dev in 1604. All 1430 angs with Hindi meaning, by ang, author or raga.
This catalog entry opens the available Hindi edition.
A selection from this collection
Foundations and reading paths
A first course, the canon mapped and in time, and guided paths.
Foundations4 readings
Groundwork in 4 readings: what Hinduism is, the eighteen Puranas, a first reading from the Guru Granth Sahib, and what Sanatana Dharma is, with a first course that takes one question from the canon map back to its source.
Available readings
A Map of the Canon1 reading
A library of palm-leaf bundles on stepped shelves, and one first dividing line: shruti, the heard, and smriti, the remembered. The 4 streams and a bridge, drawn and explained.
The Canon in Time1 reading
A long shoreline marked wherever a text was set down, every date held as approximate. The 38 texts set in order, with the second clock of kalpa and yuga.
Reading guides10 readings
The sorrow path, 3 stops: Arjuna’s question, Nachiketa, Chitraketu’s grieving house. In all, 7 feeling-paths, timed guides of 30 minutes to 2 hours, 8 theme routes and 4 text-family paths.