Sandilyasutram: With The Commentary Of Svapnesvara

This work is based on the text edited by Ballantyne and published in the Bibliotheca Indica, New Series in 1961. The translation has been very much facilitated, and in many places, considerably improved by E.B. Cowell's work published in the same series in 1878. Nothing definite is known regarding the author or the date of the one hundred aphorisms of Sandilya, "They are the work of some anonymous teacher" according to Cowell, "who ascribed his doctrine to the ancient Sandilya partly because he wished to conceal its modern origin under a name belonging to Vedic times, and also because the Sandilya-vidya supplied a convenient vantage ground for his main doctrine of the necessity of faith. "However this theory must be rejected. The one thousand aphorisms of Sandilya does bot profess to teach an original doctrine of devotion. it is a Mimamsa of Bhakti, that is, a compilation and exposition of illustrative authoritative texts on the main points in the doctrine of devotion. It also explains creation and desolation, the causes of samsara and mukti, the nature and function of the Atman and Manas, the relation of the world, the jiva and Brahman, and sources and objects of knowledge.