[ramakrishna] Ashtavakra Gita

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>

> K Kathirasan ADM NCS [sMTP:kathirasan]

> Friday, June 04, 1999 7:15 AM

> Ramakrishna

> [ramakrishna] Ashtavakra Gita

>

> K Kathirasan ADM NCS <kathirasan

>

> Namaste

>

> "If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of

> oneself

> as bound, one is bound. Here this saying `Thinking

> makes it so' is true " 1.11 Ashtavakra Gita

[Madhava Replies:]

 

My praNAms to you all:

 

Let me share my thoughts on this particular verse of Asthavakra

Gita. My fellow seekers may be wondering --- why only on this single verse!

I shall explain: This is what is called "sthAlee pulAka nyAya". If you

want to know whether the rice is cooked or not, you just need to touch one

of grains out of those thousands of cooked rice grains. The one grain

alone can tell you whether the whole rice is cooked or not. Same way, if we

knew what it means by this verse alone, we will know what kind of great text

is "Asthavakra Gita"!

 

The king Janaka (Note: this is not Lord Rama's father-in-law) has

got a genuine doubt. Though at the outset this doubt sounds bizarre, we

always tend to get this doubt. ashTavakra, though a small boy, is trying to

answer the mighty king.

 

King Janaka wakes up from a nightmare and puts this question to all

the scholars in his court: "Am I a beggar who is dreaming that I am a king,

or Am I a king who is dreaming that I am a beggar, WHO AM I??".

This is a wonderful question. And Asthavakra's simple answer is:

"Oh Mighty one, you are neither the king nor the beggar. You are someone

else. Someone other than these two states that you are feeling."

 

*I* AM --- a king (in your waking state)

*I* AM --- a beggar (in your dream state)

*I* AM --- nobody (in your deep sleep state)

 

*I* is the witness of all these three states. But the *I*, being

bound to the false attachments, perceiving/feeling/thinking that I am -- a

king, a beggar, a nobody.

 

Now, let us go back to the verse:

 

"If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of

oneself

as bound, one is bound. Here this saying `Thinking

makes it so' is true " 1.11 Ashtavakra Gita

 

In the beginning, Sri Ramakrishna PramahaMsa was not at all

interested in forgetting his divine mother, even for a wee bit of time.

Totapuri's attempts to transcend Ramakrishna into deep samadhi were all

getting futile. Because, Ramakrishna had been refusing to forget his mother

kali. He says "my mother is real, how can I forget her, how can I transcend

even her thought"! Then Totapuri advises him to take mother kali's

permission. Mother Kali instructs ramakrishna to do as what Totapuri has

been saying. Finally, totapuri was able to put ramakrishna into samadhi.

After that, the great paramahaMsa never turned back. Though he kept talking

to mother Kali, he used to go into samadhi at his will. Perhaps, the

Astavakra Gita, being full of this kind of verses, must be reminding

ParamahaMsa of all those advises of Mother Kali and Totapuri.

 

The *I* being bound to the false imaginations, being bound to the

maya, always thinks that *I* am this. This thinking makes you bound. In

Sanskrit we call this attachment as "paSu vRtti". "paSu" means that which

is bound.

 

a) jeevaH paSavaH uktaH (jAbAla upanishad) -> The individual

(jeeva) is called as paSu

 

b) tasmAdahaM paSupASa vimOcakaH (bhRhadAraNyaka upanishad) -> That

is why I make them free from their attachments (pASa).

 

c) svatassiddhaM paSutvaM mE, yushMAkaM paSupatApica

tadEtadhaDayAmyadya varabandha vinOdanaiH || (Siva purANaM)

 

"I am a paSu (animal?) by nature, and in the same way your

mastership. This is all nothing but divine play." AsTAvakara is teaching

that "O mighty one! if you think you are fee, you *are* free". This verse

echoes our entire Hindu dharma.

 

Hari Om! tat sat!

> Doesn't the above verse remind you of Swamiji's teachings? Many a time

> you

> would have found the gist echoed in his teachings. Does anyone in the

> list

> know why this text in quite unpopular? Thanks.

[Madhava Replies:]

 

In my humble opinion:

 

Not only this, there are many other geetas which have become

unpopular. e.g. Siva gita, kapila gita, nArada gita. "Lack of time to read"

- has made them unpopular. How many of us really studied our upanishads?

our Mahabharata in its entirety, our Ramayana, our puranas, our vedas? We

don't have time to read all these texts. Anyway, there is a choice of

Bhagawad Geeta, for somebody who could not read all other Geetas - including

AsTavakra Geeta.

 

Bhagawad Geeta is an echo of our entire dharma. Reading all other

text books, in my humble opinion, is not that important. One can read other

books, out of interest. But following the drarma is very important. Having

the "adhyAtma jAna" (knowing who am *I) is very important:

 

adyAtma jnAna nityatvaM tatva jnAnArtha darSanaM

Etat jnAnamiti prOktaM ajnAnaM yatatOnyadhA || (Bhagawad Geeta)

 

 

Your questions/comments are most welcome.

 

Best Regards,

mAdhava

 

> Om Shanti

> Kathi

>

>