INTRODUCTION TO THE DARSANA MALA
Some preliminary remarks on how the Darsana Mala of Narayana Guru is presented on this website.
The Darsana Mala is not an easy work to understand. This is due, in large part, to the fact that it presents a description of every possible philosophical viewpoint in one hundred short verses, divided into ten chapters, whereas, in the West, a philosopher would more likely fill ten volumes.
The term “Darsana” does not translate precisely into English, but the German “anschauung” is close. “Mala” means a necklace or series.
To get to grips with this difficult work, we suggest a progressive approach.
On the Darsana Mala Index page, we first present Nataraja Guru’s English translation, so that the reader may get a clear overview of the work.
Next, the same translation is accompanied by a word-for-word translation of the original Sanskrit verses, so that the reader can get a clearer idea of how the translation corresponds with the original.
Then we have a short commentary by Nataraja Guru to give some idea of the poems context and scope.
Lastly, we have the “Didhiti” commentary, which was composed by a disciple of the author, under his close supervision, and corrected by him.
If the reader wishes to delve deeper into the complexities of the Darsana Mala, he may go to the Contents page and click on “Science of the Absolute”, which is Nataraja Guru’s monumental commentary on the poem.
The Editor.