Ashtavakra Gita Sanskrit-English translation with Commentary By Sushil Soni Introduction My true identity is my Pure Existence and as individual I am the Awareness of all things. When I touch Reality, the Knowledge, the Knower and the Knowable dissolve in me. All that appears before me are not objects but my own mental projections which arise through my own ignorance. I reject them all, since I am the Self who is transparent. Kkua Ks;a rFkk Kkrk f=r;a ukfLr okLroe~A vKkukn~ Hkkfr ;=sna lks·gefLe fujatu% AA Ashtavakra Gita, II.15 Ashtavakra wants us to accept that we are not only enlightened and liberated, but that we are also free – only that we do not know it yet. The operative word here is “accept”. Once we have transcended this phenomenon, then we will have reached our original state. We do not accept because we are conditioned to walk on a given path, to follow a tested method, to experiment within the confines of the methods and experience what has already been experienced before. Here, society is satisfied in repetition of experiences since that verifies the correctness of its conditioning. Society needs to reconfirm that what it is doing is the right thing because that brings orderliness in chaos and orderliness means peace. Thus, society needs to manacle our thought-processes, society needs to put shackles around our bodies, society needs to impose rules and regulations upon us with a reminder that if we do not follow them then we will be responsible for breaking the order and bringing chaos and, therefore, sorrow. Little do we realize that this society is the result of a choice made by people like us. Little do we realize that this order that the society speaks of is actually a mirage that we have imposed on nature. The order that we speak of here is actually a book of manual to live in a particular, categorized organization. And this manual and the organization have not been given to us on a platter by someone from out there. You and I have created this order, thinking that there is a chaos which has to be set to an arrangement of our liking. This arrangement teaches us to think and live the way this book of manual instructs. In this way, this society owns our thoughts. We cannot think beyond a limitation set by the society; in fact, our thinking is continuously regulated by the norms set by the society which categorizes the thinking processes into religion, spirituality, science, technology, law and politics. All these keep us confined to the limitations of our body where the outer skin is supreme, where the beauty of an individual lies in what he wears rather than in what he is. In order to itself survive, the society ensures that every individual continues to indulge in the limitations of the body by remaining attached to earthly desires, worries and cares. This is a merry-go-round of attachment leading to greed and greed leading to attachment. You always say “My shirt, my wife, my house, my car, my phone, my religion, my country”, but no one hears you saying “My world, my solar system, my milky way, my galaxy”. After all, there is limitation to your thinking. Since your mind is crammed with thoughts, your organs clogged with toxins and your bodies stiffened with neglect, do you think there is space for anything else? Ashtavakra says, yes, there is always space for that thing. The space for that “anything else” was already there, only that you were not aware of it. He asks us to consider a simple situation: Now, if New Delhi burns, nothing that is mine is actually burnt. He further says that this is possible because nothing belongs to me; or in another way, everything belongs to me. Once you have transformed your thinking process by moving out of the box in which society has imprisoned you, then you’ll know that you were already free but did not have the realization that you were free. vgks vga ueks eáa ;L; es ukfLr fdapuA vFkok ;L; es loZ ;n~ ok³eulxkspje~AA Ashtavakra Gita, II.14 vgks vga ueks eáa - The problem with me is that since my childhood I have been conditioned in such a way that I cannot accept that “I am wonderful” and “beyond adoration”. It is the separation from all that is and my identification with the worldly attachments that forces me to think in terms of happiness and sorrow, in terms of good and not good, in terms of adoration and hatred, in terms of wonderful and dreadful. “You are innocent”, Ashtavakra says. Since you permeate this whole cosmos, how can you sin? You are a part of the whole; in fact, you are the whole. There is nothing which is not in you and there is nothing in which you are not. You are present everywhere, in all things, organic or inorganic. Physicist Alain Aspect in 1982 established that subatomic particles such as electrons were able to communicate instantly with each other regardless of distance between them, which means that each particle somehow knew what the other particle was thinking, even if that particle was 10 to 12 billion miles away. This gives credence to the ancient belief that the universe is a living entity. However, David Bohm went a step further to say that these particles seem to remain in contact with each other because their separateness was an illusion. While the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) defines astrobiology as the “study of living universe” – that includes everything from extremophilic microbes (those microbes that can live in extreme conditions) to the evolution of intelligence as well as search for extraterrestrial life, including future of human civilisation – our ancient rishis were of the opinion that Brahman, the supreme cosmic spirit, is not only the life-sustaining force, but also the foundation of existence. Brahman is the infinite being, the infinite consciousness. Nature does not stand on its own feet but is grounded in Brahman. In this context, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj says: “The entire universe contributes incessantly to your existence. Hence the entire universe is your body.” Ancient wisdom says that what is inside is outside, or what is above is also below. The atoms and the chemicals that reside and fluctuate or rather vibrate in me are also vibrating outside in the entire universe. These particles do not die but only get transformed. We can even go to the extent and say that you are today breathing the same breath that was exhaled by Lord Krishna or Lord Buddha several millennia ago. Every thought that arises in my mind affects not only me but also my surroundings. Ever noticed how you are able to attract or repel individuals and objects only by your personal likings and dislikings? This is to say that “Every presence resides in the greater being.” If this is the case, it follows that there is no difference between me and the entire universe around me. I am inside the universe and the universe happens to be inside of me because both I and the universe are made up of the same matter as well as intelligence. This body in which I reside is composed of the constituents that make up the universe, the five elements that form the nature. These elements come and go and therefore my body comes and goes. Now there is something that knows that these elements come and go. This is the Self. Now, this Self which is in this body is not separate from the Self that resides in creation. There are no two different entities, called Self but only a Single entity called Self. This Self resides in Itself. Brahman is in all existence and all existence is in Brahman. Thus we reach the Pillar of Truth: “My being is the Ultimate Being.” Ashtavakra tells Janak that: vgks vga ueks eáa n{kks ukLrhg eRle%A vlaLi`”; “kjhjs.k ;su fo”o fpja /k`re~AA - Ashtavakra Gita, II.13 When the universe is not different from you, then how can the ideas of acceptance and rejection arise? These are qualities of the mind. And the mind is where the thoughts reside. The mind is where you undergo fluctuations, where you get distracted, where you feel that you are in bondage. The mind wants to perform. The mind understands birth, activity and ego-sense. It is here in the mind that the universe appears like the waves of the ocean creating all the turbulence. However, when you stand at the shore and watch the waves, what do you see? You see the waves breaking on the shore at your feet. They do not disturb you because here you have become the Witness. Similarly, Ashtavarka says above that the “universe appears within me but I do not touch it”. In fact, you have never touched the universe at all, you never do. It is only your mind that thinks that the universe is affecting you. In reality, the mind is beyond bondage and liberation. When you have not touched the universe at all, how can you liberate yourself from it? Ashtavakra Gita is probably the most astounding of the works created by any living individual in any age. Nothing is known about this great book apart from the fact that it contains a dialogue between Janak, the king of Mithila and Ashtavakra, a 12-year-old boy who is now a master. His story occurs in Mahabharata’s “vana parva”.