Episode Details

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

In today's podcast, we are doing something different. I will first read out a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita, which is a very popular non dualistic text, which talks about the nature of reality. And then I will try to summarize it and explain the teaching of this text. So this text is a conversation between King Janaka and his guru, astavakra. And it goes like this. Oh master, tell me how to find detachment attachment, wisdom, and freedom. Astavakra answers, child, if you wish to be free, shun the poison of the senses. Seek the nectar of truth, of love and forgiveness, simplicity, and happiness.

Speaker A [00:00:47]:

Earth, fire, and water, the wind, and the sky, you are none of these. If you wish to be free, know you are the self, the witness of all these, the heart of awareness. Set your body aside. Sit in your awareness. You will at once be happy. Forever still, forever free. You have no caste, no duties bind you. Formless and free beyond the reach of the senses, the witness of all things.

Speaker A [00:01:15]:

Is so be happy. Right or wrong, joy and sorrow these are of the mind only. They are not yours. It is not really you who acts or enjoys. You are everywhere, forever free. Forever and truly free, the single witness of all things. But if you see yourself as separate, then you are bound. I do this.

Speaker A [00:01:39]:

I do that. That the big black snake of selfishness has bitten you. I do nothing. This is the nectar of faith. So drink and be happy. Know you are one pure awareness. With the fire of this conviction, burn down the forest of ignorance. Free yourself from sorrow and be happy.

Speaker A [00:01:59]:

Be happy for your joy, unbounded joy. You are awareness itself. Just as a coil of rope is mistaken for a snake, So you are mistaken for the world. If you think you are free, you are free. If you think you are bound, you are bound. For the saying is true. You are what you think. The self looks like the world, but this is just an illusion.

Speaker A [00:02:22]:

The self is everywhere. One, still, free, perfect, the witness of all things. Awareness without action, changing desire. Meditate on the self, 1 without 2, exalted awareness. Give up the illusion of the separate self. Give up the feeling within or without that you are this or that. My child, because you think you are the body for a long time you have been bound. Know you are pure awareness.

Speaker A [00:02:51]:

With this knowledge as your sword, cut through the chains and be happy. For you are already free without action or flaw, luminous and bright. You are bound only by the habit of meditation. Your nature is Pure awareness. You're flowing in all things and all things are flowing in you. But be aware the narrowness of the mind. You are always the same. Fathomable awareness.

Speaker A [00:03:17]:

Limitless and free. Serene and unperturbed. Desire only your own awareness. Whatever takes form is false. Only the formless endures. When you understand the truth of this teaching, you will not be born again for god is infinite within the body and without like a mirror and the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere flowing around the pot and filling it so God is everywhere, filling all things and flowing through them forever. So like this, the gita.

Speaker A [00:03:53]:

I have just read a part of the translation of this text. Basically, what The guru Astavakra is telling Janaka in this text is simple. He's explaining the nature of reality. If you have been following this podcast from episode 1, you would have some understanding about consciousness about the nature of reality, about awareness, and about who we truly are. What this text is telling us is that we are not who we think we are and this world is not what we think it is. We are pure awareness. We are beyond body and mind. What we truly are