Ashtavakra Gita
Ashtavakra Gita
Translator's Preface
In Vietnam when I was twenty-one a hand grenade or mortar round -- the circumstances made it difficult to determine which -- blew me into a clear and brilliant blackness. For the next thirty-seven years that glimpse of infinite emptiness, so intimate, so familiar, kept me looking almost obsessively in esoteric books and far corners for an explanation of myself. Then, "suddenly," the veil, as they say, was lifted.
A few months after that occurrence, as my interest in reading began to slowly return, I found myself drawn mainly to the sayings and writings of old masters. What did Buddha have to say? What did Christ? Lao Tsu? Patanjali? I wanted to read them with new eyes.
Oddly, in those thirty-seven years of seeking, I had never read the Ashtavakra Gita, and indeed was barely aware of its existence. Then recently, as I sat at the bedside of a dying friend and teacher, another friend placed it in my hands. I opened it and was astonished. Here, in one concise volume, was all that needed to be said.
I immediately acquired other versions and poured over them. Each had its good points, but none of them spoke the way my inner ear was hearing.
The literal transcriptions from Sanskrit were valuable as reference but required patient study to understand.
English translations by Indian scholars made the meaning more clear, but tended to lack a certain rhythm, poetry and nuance of language I felt need of.
Translations by native English-speaking scholars were better in this regard, but sometimes ranged too far from the original, or just didn't hit the notes I was hearing.
Then one day I wrote down a verse the way I heard it. I liked what I read. It was infectious. I couldn't stop.
There are a few conventions worth mentioning. Capitalized words like Self, Awareness, God, Absolute, Consciousness, Knowledge, Witness, That, This, Void, Light, All, One, Everything, Nothing, No-thing, Being, Me, You, It, Himself, Bliss, Supreme, Unity and Truth are used as synonyms, although sometimes in context subtle-and ultimately non-existent -- differences may be intended. These words all point to What Is-the true nature of Reality.
The words universe, world, creation and illusion are synonyms referring to the apparently real (but not) manifest world of physical objects, people, personal self, ideas, thoughts, gods, knowledge, concepts, myths, religions, history, memories, emotions, time, space-everything we perceive through the mind and senses, including the mind and senses themselves. Maya.
Synonymous words and phrases used to denote a "person" who has realized Self, who knows Truth, who perceives the Real include: wise one, desireless one, liberated one, liberated soul, great soul, sage and yogi.
Translator's Introduction
Translator's Introduction
The Ashtavakra Gita is an ancient spiritual document of great purity and power. Pure, because it is relentlessly one-pointed. Every word is aimed at triggering Self-realization -- no suggestions for self-improvement, no rules for moral behavior, no practical wisdom for daily life. Powerful, because the mere reading-or repeated reading -- of it can be enough to send a ripe mind reeling into Truth.
Little is known about the Ashtavakra Gita. Ashtavakra is a name that appears in Indian lore, but almost certainly he did not write it. The author, likely an anonymous sage, merely uses the characters of Ashtavakra and King Janaka to set up a classic dialogue between guru and disciple. It quickly becomes a guru-guru dialogue, however, because after the first salvo of wisdom from Ashtavakra, Janaka realizes his true Self, and from then on they get into an advaitic jam session of the highest sort.
Because of this, some translators have done away with the dialogue format and attributed everything to Ashtavakra. Indeed, since all the verses of the Ashtavakra Gita exist at the highest possible level of spoken wisdom, it would appear meaningless to attribute some to the teacher and some to his newly-enlightened disciple. There is nevertheless a story line set up in the Ashtavakra Gita, and for me it goes something like this:
Chapter One: It all starts when King Janaka asks the sage Ashtavakra how he can attain Knowledge, detachment, liberation. Ashtavakra tells him.
Chapter Two: It works! Upon hearing Ashtavakra's words Janaka realizes his True Nature. Enraptured, he describes the joy and wonder of his new state.
Chapter Three: Ashtavakra is delighted for Janaka but sees inconsistencies. He fires off a series of confrontational verses about attachment to worldly pleasure.
Chapter Four: Janaka asserts that the Lord of the Universe can do as he pleases.
Chapter Five: Ashtavakra does not disagree, but in a terse four verses points to the next step-dissolution.
Chapter Six: Janaka says "I know that already," matching him in style and number of verses.
Chapter Seven: Unable to leave it at that, however, Janaka goes on to further describe his enlightened state.
Chapter Eight: Still hearing too much "I" in Janaka's language, Ashtavakra instructs him in the subtleties of attachment and bondage.
Chapter Nine: Ashtavakra continues to describe the way of true detachment. Chapter Ten: Ashtavakra hammers away at the folly of desire-no matter how elevated or subtle.
Chapter Eleven: Ashtavakra further describes the state of desirelessness to which he points.
Chapter Twelve: Janaka replies by describing the state of timeless stillness in which he now finds himself.
Chapter Thirteen: Janaka, having been instructed by Ashtavakra in Chapter One to "be happy," reports that he indeed is.
Chapter Fourteen: Janaka then summarizes his exalted state with calm indifference.
Chapter Fifteen: Impressed but not through teaching, Ashtavakra relentlessly points to the vast emptiness of Self.
Chapter Sixteen: Ashtavakra attacks the futility of effort and knowing.
Chapter Seventeen: Ashtavakra describes the nature of one who is truly free.
Chapter Eighteen: Finally, Ashtavakra hits him with everything he's got-one hundred verses of pure non-duality. If this doesn't do it, nothing will.
Chapter Nineteen: It works! Janaka no longer describes his enlightened state, but can speak only in questions revealing absence.
Chapter Twenty: In a final flurry of questions pointing only at their own meaninglessness, Janaka burns off the last vestiges of personhood and enters dissolution. He ends with: "No more can be said."
Ashtavakra smiles, nods approvingly, and says no more.