anand, story of asthavakra

[Guest guest]

here is the story of asthavakra ( crippled child

bent in eight places)<br><br>Once upon a time there

was a student of the scriptures who could not

support<br>his family. He would work hard all day every day and

then read aloud the holy<br>language of sacred verses

late into the night. His wife, round of belly

with<br>their coming child, would sit beside him in the dim

room, listening as her<br>weary beloved chanted the

ancient words.<br><br>One late night in her eighth month

a voice from inside her belly said to

the<br>father: "Sir, please be attentive- you are mispronouncing

that verse." Tired<br>and short-tempered, without

thinking why he would feel so enraged at

being<br>corrected by an unborn child, the father cursed the voice-

and because the<br>father had built up merit, his

curse took hold: the child was born deformed,<br>with

eight crooks in his body. That child was called

Ashtavakra, a name<br>which<br>means `eight bends'. Everyone

who saw him laughed in derision.<br><br>That crippled

child was an enlightened master who took birth in this

family<br>to <br>reveal in simple words the essence of

mystical experience. Janaka, king of<br>the <br>known

world, father of the bride of God, Sita, daughter of the

earth, that <br>very King Janaka became this crippled

boy's disciple. The book based on that<br><br>event is

called The Song of the Eightfold Cripple, or Ashtavakra

Gita.<br><br>Asthavakra was not keen on accepting students, and so had

few. When King <br>Janaka came to hear of the wisdom

of the crippled child he approached the

boy<br><br>as a humble student, not a commanding king. The boy

accepted the king <br>instantly as his disciple. This

caused some talk in the sangham. ~Ah,<br>Ashtavakra does

have favorites after all, he accepted the king without

any of<br>the trials he had all of us face!~ This

grumbling became a quiet force, and <br>Ashtavakra knew of

it.<br><br>One day the King was late and so the boy delayed his

discourse. The moment<br>the <br>king arrived, Ashtavakra

spoke: `This day I have had a vision, the capitol

<br>city will erupt in terrible fires and earthquakes- all

there will die. Those<br>who have loved ones or

valuables there must hurry now if they wish to save

<br>anything!'<br><br>All the monks left. As the dust settled, only the boy

and the king were <br>sitting. The boy said softly,

`Great king, is there nothing you would save?`<br>Janaka

replied, ~My lord and my friend, you are my only

treasure.~ The<br>cripple <br>nodded and softly said, ~Well

then if I am indeed your treasure, mount your

<br>horse now and go and gather my students back to me,

tell them I have been<br>mistaken, the capitol city is

in no danger. Take your horse, and

go.~<br><br>Rising to do as bidden, the King put his foot into the

stirrup, and as he <br>swung up over the saddle,

realization dawned in his mind. He swallowed,<br>looked

<br>about him at this new earth, heard new birds singing

for the first time, and<br>then looked at the cripple

at his feet. The two looked at one another, and

<br>then the king left to find the other

students.<br><br>Once back, the other students grumbled at being sent

about here and there on<br><br>foolish errands. One or

two howeverd did soon understand why the master had

<br>chosen the king as a student in his own way.<br><br>This

is what was said that day, as all sat about and

heard these words of<br>nectarine wisdom.<br><br>from a

web source<br><br>your friend, dk

[Guest guest]

Tks dkny for the story it was indeed

inspiring.<br><br>dear Devan when we become a real aspirant, whole

universe becomes our guru, each word, each action of

others starts a chain of thought in us, and this stage

is a sure sign of spiritual progress. Pls do share

your views, answer others and ask questions without

worrying for what people will think !<br><br> Dear Budhha,

NO we do not take a buddhist as an intruder here,

rather we are happy to share our views, provided mutual

respect is maintained. Bhagwan Buddha is considered an

Avtaraa by Hindus and buddhism is a practical explanation

of Samkhya Philosophy of Hinduism. We will be

eagerly waiting for informative posts, particularly,

practical aspects of Sadhna in buddhism.<br><br><br> Dear

anand i write hereby another story concerning Janaka

and Ashtavakra, as listened from a great

saint.<br><br> King Janaka was sleeping and was having a dream.

In the dream he saw that he was a pauper. He was

wandering in the deserted places...his clothes were torn

and he was hungry and thirsty. when his thirst became

unbearable...he wept and cried and finally woke up and found

himself in satin bed. Servants ran towards him as he

cried and woke up. some started comforting him and some

stood with many glasses of different juices to quench

his thirst.<br><br> King Janaka was surprised...he

thought," Oh god what is happening...a moment ago i was a

poor man hungry and thirsty..and now i am a king. In

dream i had no idea if i was powerful king. BUT how can

i be sure that this moment is also not a dream. In

that dream, i not for a moment knew i was a king. Is

it not possible that this king's life is a dream and

that is my real life... <br><br> He went to the

court...and seeing him worried his ministers asked him the

reason...he murmurred,"if that was the truth...or this is the

truth. The Ministers were surprised. All the learned

pundits of the court thought over the riddle but could

not answer.<br><br> Then came Ashtavakra, a sage with

8 deformities in the body. All the courtiers

started laughing at seeing him to which he replied,"

Janaka I thought your court is full of pundits but they

are lower-castes as they care for the body not for

the soul".<br><br> Janaka repeated his question," I

apologise on behalf of them o learned one....please tell me

That was truth...or this is truth" Ashtavakra knew at

once, about the dream of Janaka and replied," O learned

King....neither that is truth..nor this is truth....these are

only two states of your soul Jagruti and Swapana

(waking and dream state). I will tell you what the truth

is...<br><br> and thus he explained the truth to Janaka which

is complied in the book Ashtavakra Geeta.

<br><br>Hari Aum<br><br>PS: I heard Audra declaring she speaks

a lot!<br> why is she so silent ?

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much, Dear DK and Silentsoul for taking up much of your time to

search Ashtavakra's story for me.<br>With best regards!<br>Anand Prabodh

[Guest guest]

Yes, Silent soul, Astabakra gita is one of the

best books on Gyana yoga. There are also a few

others:<br>Atma gita <br>Vairagya Satakam etc<br>They all sing in

the same tune, that as humans we seem to regard

things as our posessions or permanent, but with respect

to eternity they are so unreal, Temporary. Thus the

Neti , Neti, of gyana yoga. <br>I love the Atma gita

most it sings so confidently of the truth without any

recourse to advise or instruction as does other

texts.<br>But gyana yoga is difficult, Sri Ramakrishna used to

say there will be few gyana yogis, everyone cannot be

like king Janaka who could drink milk as well as keep

it. That is, be in the Samsara with fully bloomed

gyana.<br>Yet when one achieves, he achieves in whole, the

sthita prajyna is qualified in all yogas.

[Guest guest]

tks arghya, i hv never read atman gita...will it be possible for u to post some

portion of this great book, to enable us have an idea of its

philosophy<br><br>tks