aSTAvakra said :
- Be free of the idea that you are your appearance, and your internal and external ideas of yourself.
- Regard yourself as the कूटस्थ, one who stands in the middle, the knower (bOdha), the अद्वैत (advaita) the peerless One without a second, the only one.
- Oh child! You are bound by the अभिमान, the love/regard for your body, destroy that bond with the sword of knowledge.
- You are unattached, without actions, self-luminous, without stain.
- Your fault is that you sit in samAdhi (a state of meditation, where you feel one with the one that is above).
Ashtavakra teaches us that meditation enhances the feeling of dvaita – us and God and it is counter-productive. It implies that you are bound and bound shall you stay. Since it has been said forever – “you are free of you think you are free and bound if you think you are bound”. Thus we see that patanjali does not subscribe to aSTAvakra’s teaching. According to patanjali, you have to practice the eight part yOga system to even approach samAdhi of which there are many kinds – the temporary, the mind-destroying and the natural.
I-this-mind is very clear that Ashtavakra’s way is correct, and patanjali’s way is risky somewhat. That means I-this-mind prefers gnyAna to yOga. The mind must be taught and illumined through study and thinking and not destroyed, just as the body must be maintained well through nutrition, hygiene and exercise.
Ashtavakra said,
- By you is this universe expanded, you pervade this universe, your form is that of the pure knower, do not attain a lower cit.
- Be – With no expectations, with no changes, with no vehemence (निर्भर, nirbhara), with a cool disposition of mind, with a deeply knowledgeable mind, with no disturbance, with a liking only for the cit (cin-mAtra-vAsana).
- Know that, the one with form is anRta (a lie, अनृत, without Rta (rythym, right)).
- That which is formless is निश्चल, nis’cala, unvarying.
- With this teaching there is no possibility of coming into being again (re-birth).
- Just as the same form is seen outside and reflected inside a mirror, the same paramEs’vara is seen inside and outside this body.
- Just as the one space (vyOma) which is everywhere is inside and outside a pot, the constant, boundless brahman is in all beings (sarvabhUtagaNE).
satyA s’AradA kandula
