Previous Posts :
- aSTAvakra samhitA (gItA)
- Ashtavakra Gita – 1.1 to 1.12 : Your true nature and freedom
- Ashtavakra Gita : 1.13-1.20 : You cannot meditate your way to advaita! Knowledge is the only way.
- Ashtavakra Gita : 2.1 – 2.14 : ahO aham, namO mahyam : Wonderful I! Salutations (namah) to me!
- Ashtavakra Gita : 2.15 – 2.25 : Misery is rooted in duality, there is neither bondage nor freedom, the worlds are created by the cit
- Ashtavakra Gita : 3.1- 3.14: Ashtavakra expresses surprise at Janaka’s Involvement even after Realisation
- Ashtavakra Gita : 4.1 – 4.6 : The difference between samsAra as a play of a knower and a burden of the deluded.
- Ashtavakra Gita (Samhita) : 5.1 to 5.4 : evam eva layam vraja : In this way attain लय
May this work which enlightened rAjA janaka and swAmI vivEkAnanda enlighten us too!
Aum! Now the 6th chapter!
Janaka said :
- I am endless like AkAs’a (sky).
- This moving world (jagat) with its tendencies to action (prAkRta) is like a pot.
- This is gnyAna (knowledge), thus there is neither renounciation (tyAga) , grasping (graha) nor laya of this world. (see लय)
- I am like that large water mass (the ocean). The world [प्रपञ्च, prapanca, that which tends to the five (tattvAs - earth, fire etc)] is like (संनिभ) a wave (वीचि).
- This is gnyAna (knowledge), thus there is neither renounciation (tyAga) , grasping (graha) nor laya of this world. (see लय).
- I look like that mother-of-pearl (शुक्ति) and v’isvakalpana, the concept of the universe, is like silver. [There is no silver in the mother-of-pearl, the to see silver in a mother-of-pearl is a mistake in perception].
- This is gnyAna (knowledge), thus there is neither renounciation (tyAga) , grasping (graha) nor laya of this world. (see लय).
- I am in all beings as they are all in me.
- This is gnyAna (knowledge), thus there is neither renounciation (tyAga) , grasping (graha) nor laya of this world. (see लय).
Notes :
- There is a bit of us, our bias, our projections etc in all we see/perceive. And all that we perceive is in our own head. What we feel as the ground beneath our feet – we are not even ‘touching’ in reality, it is as we understand it today all electromagnetic repulsive forces. (‘Untouchable’ Universe : Pushing : Colliding, The Standard Model : Strong and Weak Forces)
- Depending on the number, kind and range of senses that we possess, the world looks different to every species.
- Depending on what we have learned and were taught, the same world looks different to each human being. We do not all inhabit the same world, even when we are in the same place.
- I am in all beings as they are all in me.
- aSTavakra and janaka predate kRSNa and arjuna.
- This concept is also discussed and expressed in the bhagavad gita.
- The bhagavad gita summarises all previous knowledge upto the end of dwApara yuga and then also adds jagadguru s’rI kRSNa’s take on each of those philosophies. You may see : Is God in Me? : 9th chapter, Bhagavad Gita
- This concept is also expressed in the Isa Vasya Upanishad,
- Raja Janaka and kRSNa were like an ocean in which the whole universe was a wave. Many people are like tiny twigs or shells tossed around by the ocean of life – or samsAra sAgara. I’d rather be an ocean than a twig.
- By the way, if you tell people that is your inner state they may think you are either arrogant or foolish or a fraud or all of the above. See : aham kAra vs aham brahma. The best part is that once you feel like this, you may not care a) to tell them and b) what they think. So you will be OK!
satyA s’AradA kandula
