aSTAvakra gIta or aSTAvakra samhita is a treatise on advaita – the conversation is between rAja janaka, the vidEha king and young aSTAvakra.
Janaka asks Ashtavakra how a person can attain
1. gnyAna
2. mukti &
3. vairAgyam.
Ashtavakra says, Sire,
1. Avoid Perceptions fed by the senses like poison.
2. Regard forgiveness, sincerity, compassion, satisfaction as Nectar.
He says,
3. You are not the earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air nor space
4. You are the Witness of all these, and your form is cit.
(cit is always translated into english as consciousness and I will use that word till a better one strikes me, hopefully soon. We have previously studied that manas is that part of your mind that engages with the senses, dhI is that part that thinks, buddhi is that part that is taught or has learnt, smrti is that part that remembers. cit is the part of your mind that is conscious and possesses sankalpa or will. ahankAra is the feeling of I-ness often linked to the body-mind.)
Ashtavakra said,
5. You can be instantly free if you seperate your identity from the dEha (body) and remain in the cit.
- that means your manas must disengage from the dEha and engage with the cit.
And you are free at once!!
Many people reject this instant freedom.
They want to be bound to whatever their favorite illusion is.
Ashtavakra said,
6. You are not a brahmin or of any other varNa, nor are you from any As’rama, nor are you even visible.
7. You are without attachment, without form, the witness of the universe. Be happy! (sukhI).
He said,
8. dharma and adharma, sukha and duhkha are of the manas not of you.
9. you are not the karta (doer) nor the bhOkta (enjoyer), you are the ever free.
10. Your bondage is this – you perceive that the draSTa (seer) is something else.
You don’t see yourself as the draSTa, but as the body-mind-doer-enjoyer etc.
11. You who have been bitten by the great black serpent of I-ness, drink this nectar – I am not the kartA, and be happy.
12. Know yourself as the ultra-pure knower (vis’uddha bOdha).
13. You are the supreme Ananda (bliss), the knower wherein this made-up universe is super-imposed, like a snake on a rope.
14. The popular saying that – one who considers himself free is free and one who considers himself bound is bound – is true.
15. The self is the witness, the Lord, the perfect, the One, the free, the conscious, the non-doer, the detached, the untouched peaceful one. The illusion is that it belongs to samsAra.
Satya Sarada Kandula
