Table Of ContentATMANANDA TATTWA SAMHITA
The Direct Approach to Truth as Expounded by
SRI ATMANANDA
— Sri Krishna Menon —
Ss
Compiled, edited and Malayalam portions translated by
SRI ADWAYANANDA
— Sri K. Padmanabha Menon —
ADVAITA PUBLISHERS
1991
Copyright © 1973, 1983, 1991 by Sri Adwayananda (Sri K. Padmanabha
Menon)
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Third Printing
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 83-205573.
ISBN 0-914793-13-6
For information, address the Publisher: Sri Vidya Samiti, Malakara via
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Contents
Page
Preface
Life Sketch of Sri Atmananda
1. Where We Stand
2. Diversity
Name 21
w
s Misery 31
The Answer To Suffering 44
The Dream State 56
nN
Karma Yoga 85
Knowledge 110
9. Thought Without Thinking 134
10. Happiness 146
11. Beyond All 148
12. Bliss 168
13. Sahaja 175
14. The Guru-Disciple Relationship 203
15. Love 222
Glossary 225
Preface
This is a transcribed copy of the tape-recorded talks of the Sage
Sri Atmananda (Sri Krishna Menon). They are mainly in the
form of answers given to the questions asked by His disciples.
But the questions serve only to bring Him out. When you are
listening to a Karana Guru, as said in one of the talks, “Some
part of the Reality within you will come up to grasp it. You
will understand it, you will be taken beyond in order that you
may grasp it. You are knowing Atma by Atma. Not by means
of the mind.” To keep up the atmosphere of the talks and to
maintain a living presence, as far as possible they are reproduced
without much editing and some of the repetitions which occur
in the course of the talks are left as they are. You are shown
where the Reality expresses itself in your thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, and doings just as you are. You have only to
visualize it at every step. Things, which appear separate from
you, are brought nearer as means by which Consciousness is
established and one is able to get established there.
The Sage’s life was the perfect example of His teachings and
in contact with Him you see the Truth lived. On the phenomenal
side He was a householder and a responsible officer in the
Government service. But no line could be drawn between His
phenomenal and spiritual life. The phenomenal is perfectly har-
monized with the life as a Guru, showing thereby that life itself
is used as a meditation towards the realization of Truth.
A good portion of the questions and some of the answers are
in Malayalam. The disciple who put the questions in Malayalam
is a deep scholar in Sanskrit and in the Shastras. I have translated
all the Malayalam portion into English.
The approach is the same as in the Sage’s works Atma Darshan
and Atma Nirvriti, which were published previously. I present
these talks with the hope that it will be of great help to earnest
seekers of Truth. The approach being very direct, simple, and
new, it will surely have its natural appeal.
In the capacity of both son and disciple I place this before
earnest seekers.
Koval AAA alhya IE M0
Life Sketch of Svi Atmananda
by Sri Adwayananda
Sri Atmananda was a great Sage and Guru. He was a householder
and showed by his life and teachings that no way of life is an
impediment to the realization of Truth. “It is not the objective
world that presents obstacles to one’s spiritual progress, but the
false stand one has taken up.” (Atma Darshan, Chapter 20)
To know the life history of a sage will be of interest to
spiritually-minded people; but at the same time it is difficult
to give his life sketch. His birth and activities are not like those
of an ordinary person. Even from childhood signs can be seen,
if observed, of how he will blossom in the future. It is not the
historical or geographical details that are pertinent in his life.
Still, some details of general interest can be given. Sri
Atmananda (official name Sri Krishna Menon) was born in
Tiruvella, Peringara village, in middle Travancore. His house
name was Cherukulathu. His father was a brahmin, a vedic
scholar, and a teacher of vedas, who regularly did his brahminical
rites from 3 A.M. to 10 A.M. His mother was a mentally strong
woman. Reading puranas was a daily practice in the house.
Almost all his family members were poets.
Sri Atmananda, even from childhood, led a reserved life. He
ATMANANDA TATTWA SAMHITA
used to go to the nearby Krishna temple precisely at 3 A.M.
There a boy, Krishna Iyer by name, met him and they played
together till daybreak. Nobody knew anything about the
brahmin boy nor his house. It was later, during his sadhana
period when he got the vision of Krishna, that he came to know
this Krishna Iyer was nobody else but Krishna himself.
When he was a student in the English school, a siddha-
sanyasin happened to come to his village. Unlike other boys,
though he was only ten years old, he got attracted to this siddha
and began associating with him. His mother and other family
members resented this company, fearing that the boy also would
take to sanyasa. The sanyasin told them that he had no idea to
take the boy with him. He told them also that the boy was not
the ordinary boy they took him to be. Before the sanyasin left
the village, he initiated a mantra to the boy, which he practiced
till the serious spiritual turn came in his life.
He continued his studies and matriculated as first in the
state, receiving a gold medal from the then Maharaja of Travan-
core. After that he became a teacher in a convent in Thalavadi,
not very far from his village. He did not depend on his family
for his further studies. A few years later he joined the C.M.S.
College, Kottayam for his F.A. (now pre-degree). After passing
his F.A. he became a teacher in the M.G.M. School, Tiruvella.
While remaining there he took his B.A. degree privately.
The then Commissioner of Police, one George (an English-
man), had the idea to improve the department by absorbing
some educated hands. As graduates were few in number, this
new degree-holder was called to join the department. Though
he did not have the required height or build, he was recruited
vi
