Form of Visnu as guru

[Ashok Aklujkar]

I do not recall exactly when I read Bodha-saara but I remember finding a
copy of it by chance in a Pune/Poona library (probably that of the Bal
Mukund Sanskrit School of the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapitha) and going
through it, because I was charmed by the author's style, about 40+ years
ago. I do not have a specialist's knowledge of it, but, at least at present,
I do not find its Skt unusually difficult. The Benares Skt Series edn I have
does not display a consistent printing style (punctuation, sandhi etc. are
irratic), which probably poses a big hurdle for a newcomer to Skt
philosophical texts.

As one of the earlier posts says, the Yoga-vaasi.s.tha (or its older form,
the Mok.sopaaya, on which Prof. Walter Slaje and his associates have done
impressive work) provides a good parallel to the Bodha-saara as far as
confluence of poetry and philosophy is concerned. However, the poetic
temparaments of the authors still come across as different (I do not have
the time to elaborate on this).

For punning etc. figures of speech, the following can provide initial
guidance: Gerow, Edwin. 1971. A Glossary of Indian Figures of Speech. The
Hague and Paris: Mouton.

a.a. 


On 25-05-2006 14:22, "Jenni Cover" <jenni.cover at URNET.COM.AU> wrote:
> 
> Thankyou for your profound insights. It sounds like you know this text. Do you
> know it well? Do you know anything about its sampradAya, or the author, or
> where it was written? You are the second person I've found who has even heard
> of it.
> 
> The whole work is full of puns, metaphors etc. Can anyone suggest any
> background reading on "religio-philosophical poetry", or punning? What other
> works are written in the same style?