Shankara's Vivekachudamani is a popular Vedanta text which gives its basic principles. This translation, a work by a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, was transcribed from notes taken by Ida Ansell, an American devotee who attended Swami Turiyananda's classes at the turn of the century. Text in Sanskrit, transliteration, and English translation. A verse index in Sanskrit is included.
I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher. That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done.
-Swami Vivekananda