JOY OF SELF REALISATION IN ASHTAVAKRA GEETA

[Vijay Kapoor]

Raja Janak after realisation says:

I am now spotless and at peace--

Awareness beyond Consciousness.

All this time

I have been duped by illusion.

As waves, foam and bubbles

are not different from water,

so the universe emanating from Self

is not different from Self 

As sweetness

pervades sugarcane juice,

I am the essence of creation.

Not seeing Self, the world is materialized.

Seeing Self, the world is vanished.

A rope is not a snake,

but can appear to be.

As a pot returns to clay,

a wave to water,

a bracelet to gold,

so will the universe return to Me.

I am wonderful indeed--

beyond adoration.

Even with a body I am One.

I neither come nor go.

I am everywhere at once

I am wonderful indeed--

beyond adoration.

I am astounded at my powers.

The universe appears within me

but I do not touch it.

I am wonderful indeed--

beyond adoration.

I am everything thought or spoken,

and have nothing.

Looking at One and seeing many

is the cause of all misery.

The only cure is to realize

what is seen is not there.

I am One—aware, blissful, immaculate.

I am neither free nor bound.

The illusion of such things

has fallen into disbelief.

Though I contain creation,

it has no substance.

The body exists only in imagination,

as do heaven and hell,

bondage, freedom, fear.

Are these my concern?

I, who am pure Awareness?

I am not the body.

I do not have a body.

I am Awareness, not a person.

My thirst for life bound me

to a seeming of life.

And how wonderful it is!

In the limitless ocean of Myself,

waves of beings

arise, collide, play for a time,

then disappear--as is their nature.

Tests of Self realisation

Ashtavakra Says:

Having realized yourself as One,

being serene and indestructible,

why do you desire wealth?

Just as imagining silver in mother-of-pearl,

causes greed to arise,

so does ignorance of Self

cause desire for illusion.

Having realized yourself as That

in which the waves of the world rise and fall,

why do you run around in turmoil?

Having realized yourself as pure Awareness,

as beautiful beyond description,

how can you remain a slave to lust?

It is strange

that in a sage who has realized

Self in All and All in Self

this sense of ownership should continue.

Strange that one abiding in the Absolute,

intent on freedom,

should be vulnerable to lust

and weakened by amorous pastimes.

​

Strange that one who is unattached

to the things of this world and the next,

who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless,

who yearns for freedom,

should yet fear the dissolution of the body.

A great soul

witnesses his body’s actions

as if they were another’s.

How can praise or blame disturb him?

Translation of Excerpts of Ashtavakra Geeta