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by Jayaram V
Ashtavakra was a famous scholar of the early Vedic period. He is
known for his
composition of The Ashtavakra Gita
which is considered to be a standard work on advaita
vedanta or theory of monism. According to tradition, he was born to Kahoda and
Sujata, both of whom were students of Uddalaka and also related to him.
Sujata was Uddalaka's daugher, while Kahoda was originally his student,
whom he made his son-in-law, impressed by his excellent qualities. Nothing much is known about the life of Ashtavakra except that
he was born in a family of eminent teachers and that he himself was the
teacher of Patanjali, the author of
Yogasutras. According to tradition
he was a precocious child who was born with eight deformities, which earned him the name Ashtavakra.
It is possible that he received his initiation into advaita
vedanta
from his eminent grandfather Uddalaka, who was one of the early
authoritative sources on the subject. Uddalaka Aruni belonged to a
special group of priests known as Charakas. The Charakas were wandering
teachers who traveled from one part of the country to another spreading
the knowledge of the Vedas
and very popular for their knowledge and teaching ability. The young
Ashtavakra must have spent considerable time traveling with his parents
and grandparents and learning the secrets of the Vedanta from them.
The Ashtavakra Gita was composed in the form of a dialogue between
Ashtavakra and King Janaka on the nature of soul, the
nature of reality,
the cause of the bondage and the means of liberation. It contains 20
chapters and 298 verses of which some are spoken by Ashtavakra and some
by Janaka in response to his teachings. It becomes clear from the
composition that king Janaka became enlightened with just one hearing.
It is incorrect to say that the composition is a mere summary of the
already existing texts such as the Upanishads or the
Bhagavadgita. The
information contained in the text is very direct in its appeal and
simple to understand.
Whatever may be the truth, the Ashtavakra Gita
seems to be the work of a
self realized seer who has experienced oneness with the supreme
self. Advaita
Vedanta was subsequently made more popular by the effort and
writings of Adi Shankaracharya. There is also another argument that
Ashtavakra was a mythical person and that the work was probably composed
by a disciple of Sankaracharya at a much later date presenting the best
principles of advaita
vedanta in summary form.
Summary of Teachings
There are two ways to live in this world. Either to watch and be
happy or get involved. The deeper the involvement, the greater the stress
and the pain. Many religions teach us not to get involved, but just be a
pure witness to what goes on inside and outside. The Buddhist practice
of mindfulness is a step in
this direction.
Not to get involved with samsara or remain passive is difficult for
ordinary human beings, because we have the tendency to feel important,
to be part of something, to identify ourselves with some event or
movement or other people. The ego is so deceptive in its mechanism that
it will somehow drag us into the middle of the worldly activities
through some dubious means. We see this happening in many areas of our
lives especially in the religious world.
If you see some religious people fighting for a religious cause or
fighting for God physically or emotionally as if God is a helpless
being or a political leader, who needs these people to protect his teachings, you can be sure
of the play of the ego there. The snobbery of a religious man is a
direct display of ego. The attempts of a few followers of a guru or
spiritual person to prevent others from reaching him without the
latter's instructions is an example of a puffed up ego.
Possessive as ordinarily we are, these people want to own their
religion or God or their spiritual masters!
Ashtavakra advises us not to get involved, but simply watch. This noninvolvement
should be practiced not in the physical sense but from a spiritual
point of view. You can still get involved, settle disputes, help some
body, resolve some one else's problem, teach the religious scriptures or
write about them or be an arbitrator or even fight
for a righteous cause, but all this has to be done unemotionally,
without any particular aim or desire, with detachment, without feeling
important and egoistic or as a sacrificial offering to God. We know that
without
adequate preparation, without inner spiritual advancement and without
proper training under an adept or enlightened person this is not simply
possible.
We have made available the entire
translation of the the Ashtavakra Gita
which you may go through or the brief summary
presented below.
- Know that you are neither the body nor the mind nor the senses,
but pure witnessing consciousness
- The world appears because of your ignorance and it will disappear
when you truly know who you are.
- The whole reality is one. The duality between the subject and the
object, the knower and the known arises because of ignorance.
- When you achieve the supreme state of non duality by realizing
that your are in everything and everything is in you and know who
you truly are there is nothing that can bind you to this world.
- Abandon desire and gain and look on everything like a dream with
dispassion, equanimity and detachment
- Live with a sense of abandon, with an empty mind, freed from
deliberate action, setting aside all preferences and pairs of
opposites, without interest in action or inaction, renunciation or
acquisition, gain or loss and the very need to become liberated.
This is the mark of a truly liberated person who is at peace
wherever he is.
- Know that you are God himself and that everything is in yourself.
Live with this faith.
Suggested Further Reading
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