Tripura Rahasya

It is an ancient prime text which is one of the treatises on Advaita school of classical Indian metaphysics.

The three cities or states of consciousness are waking (Jāgṛat), dreaming (Svapna) and deep sleep (Suṣupti).

Jamadagni was a Brahmin saint who lived in the forest with his wife Renuka and his sons, of whom Parashurama was the youngest, the most renowned and valiant.

On the son’s return, the mother narrated the unprovoked murder of the saint; she also desired that her husband’s body should be cremated on the banks of the Ganges and that she might perform Sati by mounting the funeral pyre.

While passing through a forest an Avadhuta, by name Dattatreya, saw Renuka and stopped the young man who carried her.

By the force of her intense loyalty to her husband she resisted the curse of the Rishi: The Sun could not rise, and the Gods were rendered impotent.

The Gods in council resolved to approach Anasuya — the ideal of wife-hood — to ask her to prevail on the other lady to relent.

Later a Brahmin Sumedha, son of Harita (hence the name "Haritayana") sought Parashurama to learn the highest good from him, who in turn imparted to him the knowledge which he had gained from Dattatreya.

Parashurama told him also that his Master had predicted the compilation of the knowledge of the Highest Truth by Haritayana for the benefit of mankind.

As a consequence Munagala Venkataramaiah (now Swami Ramanananda Saraswathi) took up the work of translation in 1936.This was first published in parts in the Bangalore Mythic Society's Journal (Quarterly) from January 1938 to April 1940 and afterwards collected into book form.

Mahatmya Khandam of Tripura Rahasyam has been translated into English by T B Lakshmana Rao (2011) and published by Sri Kailasamanidweepa Trust, Bangalore.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait translated the Sanskrit original into easy to follow English, while also retaining the spiritual gravity.