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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 24🌿

        ~ The Secret Of Mistakes ~

                  🌱 Day – 136 🌱

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And do not go on judging yourself. Be aware of your mistakes, but don’t judge yourself and think the mistakes are yours. There is a big difference. It is very delicate, though it makes a big difference. If XYZ made a mistake or you made it, it is the same. Whether someone else or you do it, it is the same! See what you can do to get rid of your mistakes, or what you can do to see that others don’t make them.

What is the difference you perceive when someone makes a mistake and when you make it? When someone makes a mistake, you feel it is not your mistake. You feel you are separate from that mistake. When a mistake happens, do you feel part of that mistake? It doesn’t matter whomever it has been done through. It is beautiful. Wake up to this. When a mistake is made, it doesn’t matter whether it happened through Maya, Catherine, Heidi, Mohan, or Michael. Do you see that you are part of that mistake? When you see you are part of anybody else’s mistake, you create a space for them. Then you are really in love with them all. When you accept the mistakes of others as your own, you will take responsibility to correct it. You also create space for them to rectify it. When you see that it isn’t your mistake but someone else’s mistake, then there is a separation. You get angry with the person. You blame and accuse him. He becomes separate from you. Where is oneness? Where is belongingness?

In the same way, see the good qualities of others as your own qualities i.e. they are part of you. You feel guilty when you make a mistake. Do you feel guilty when someone else makes a mistake? If you do, then why don’t you feel guilty when another person makes a mistake? It’s not you who made the mistake, it’s somebody else. Feel the separation. Feel guilty for others’ mistakes. This shifts your consciousness. When we stop saying ‘he’ or ‘me’, there is more belongingness and we become one. Then you will take a step to rectify what the other person needs.

Everyone here has some wonderful qualities. Everybody is like a unique flower. You can all be together like flowers in a bouquet. When you put everybody together, you make a beautiful bouquet. Have you seen that there are different types of flowers in a bouquet? Some with green leaves and flowers of different colours and a wire binding them. Then, jealousy will disappear from your life altogether. When you recognize a mistake as just a mistake, and not as ‘my’ mistake, then there will not be any guilt. You will see it as a mistake that needs rectification (whether it is yours or someone else’s). Then, your mind will become lighter. It will not be stiff and loaded with tension. Many mistakes are made because of tension. Knowing that a mistake has been made, if you think it is your mistake, then you are not releasing the tension, rather increasing it. Have you noticed this? Tension builds up in you, and you will make the same mistake again and again.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 24🌿

        ~ The Secret Of Mistakes ~

                  🌱 Day – 135 🌱

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हेयोपादेयविरहादेवं हर्षविषादयोः ।

अभावादद्य हे ब्रह्मन्नेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

आश्रमानाश्रमं ध्यानं चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम् ।

विक्लपं मम वीक्ष्यैतैरेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

कर्मानुष्ठानमज्ञानाद्यथैवोपरमस्तथा ।

बुध्वा सम्यगिदं तत्तवमेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

अचिन्त्यं चिन्त्यमानोऽपि चिन्तारूपं भजत्यसौ ।

त्यक्तवा तद्भावनं तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

एवमेव कृतं येन स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ।

एवमेव स्वभावो यः स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ॥

Your concept that things should be in a certain way, causes pain in your mind. Set concepts in the mind are the cause of distress. And nature loves to give you surprises. God loves fun! He always gives you surprises; sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant! You grow because of both unpleasant as well as pleasant ones. In fact, you grow much more because of unpleasant surprises than from pleasant ones. So, behind each surprise there is a big message for you. When you know that all joy and sorrow is the result of concepts, you are able to see the reality as it is, without making concepts out of it also. Nothing is predictable in this world, especially people’s mind. You don’t know who is what, and when, and where. You cannot even predict the weather accurately. Although people do predict it, it is just the opposite, sometimes!

All the other things that we predict in this world is just like a predicting the weather. There is always a chance that things don’t go the way they are predicted. When you are established in your Self, you are not holding onto concepts. You are loose, free, easy, and open like a child. A child may be crying, but a few minutes later it is laughing, smiling, and jumping up and down. You may be surprised at how happy the child is after crying. Yet it does not take much time for it to cry for nothing! Maybe another child sitting next to him has started crying, and he will start crying, too. Have you observed this? So living in the present moment is only possible when you can drop these concepts. Stop judging the past. However, you can learn from the past.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 23🌿

      ~ Stepping Into The Big Mind ~

                  🌱 Day – 134 🌱

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Someone asked Buddha why he still meditated if he was enlightened. Why did he need to meditate if he has realized God? Buddha smiled and said that he was not doing anything but it was happening. And whatever happened there would happen in so many other minds, too. So many things were happening in every mind. Therefore, he was tasting them all and meditating. That was why Jesus had said that he has died for your sins. It means that if you sin, it destroys something inside Jesus. So it is said that it is better not to sin, because your sin puts something into that Infinite Consciousness that you are part of and which you are not away from. Jesus died for your sins. On one level, it is ridiculous if someone makes s mistake and somebody else takes the punishment. But if you probe it, there is another thing that comes up – that he could take all your sins, and destroy them. Disturbances in the small mind vanish when they are in the assembly of the Big Mind, in the Sangha.

Buddha also said this. Sangham sharanam gacchami. If you totally involve yourself and participate, merge and mix into the assembly, in the satsang, all your sins vanish. You are part of the Divine. You will see that is why many people are very strict. In many ashrams, people are very strict, and do not hesitate to give corporal punishment. They carry canes! They say it does not matter if there is some fear as long as there is discipline. Then, your mind will become alert. In some ashrams, the rules are not too strict and play and fun is encouraged. Make life easy and joyful! But if you cross the limit on the spiritual path, then a stick will be used. Know this is the rule for the mind; for your Self.

समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ । What do we do when the mind is distributed? You should not get caught up in thinking that it is disturbed. There may have been something disturbing in the environment; something that may have happened. So you should meditate or chant more instead of yelling, screaming, shouting or blaming other people. You should love more people around you. This is samadhya vyavaharaha, i.e. bringing the evenness in vyavahara, behaviour. That is what service is. Be aware that you’re doing service. Asking people what seva you can do will benefit them. Asking someone what you can do for them, when you are feeling wonderful will benefit the other person but it won’t have that much benefit for you. But the day you feel hopeless and horrible, and that very day you go and ask somebody, ‘What can I do for you?’ Is service and it will bring a revolution in you. It’s very important. Don’t think you should do service only when you feel good. The day when you feel bad is the day you should go out and ask what you can do for others.

This body is there for service. Let this burn like incense. The incense stick itself burns and spreads fragrance all around. A wick burns and spreads light. A tree absorbs all the heat from the sun and gives you shade. A cow eats grass and other waste, and gives you most nutritious milk. It just eats grass! It eats straw ( which has no nutrition in it ) and gives you milk! Whatever is needed for your body is present in milk. And we are human beings much lower in the stage of evolution than them? Are we not even capable of this? This must be constant reminder to ourselves. You should have a yearning to be useful; to let your every breathe be useful to everybody; to let it spread fragrance around you. The ‘I’ has a foul smell. But when you are hollow and empty, the fragrance spreads around you. Then each and every one of you is Divine, and God is ever present in every one of us. Evamevahamasthitaha. Knowing this, repose in your Self.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 23🌿

      ~ Stepping Into The Big Mind ~

                  🌱 Day – 133 🌱

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समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।

एवं विलोक्य नियममेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

Know that the pinch of disturbance in your mind is the cause of the sum total of anything in the world. An enlightened person is more sensitive, and can feel another person’s pain when passing by (and even if he doesn’t pass by). When Jesus walked and saw somebody suffering, not only did that person suffer but the Jesus also suffered along with him. Everyone’s pain is the pain of God. Everyone’s joy is the joy of God. That is why we sing, ‘Jo dhyave phal pave, dukh vinshe man ka, sukh sampatti ghar aave, kashta mite tan ka, Om Jai Jagdish Hare. Bhakta jano ke sankat kshan mein dur karein, Om Jai Jagdish Hare.’ 

Coming into the Divine form, your sorrow, problems and difficulties vanish in a few moment, if you’re totally present and that is why everyone comes into the spiritual fold or path. Because the moment you come in, something happens and you find that an opening appears and all misery vanishes. But, after a while you get used to it and you think it is part of your duty. You get used to it. You sneaky mind, which was hidden, comes up again and starts dominating you. Don’t be trapped by this mind.

If you pray to God with all your heart, (dropping the sorrow which simply means hanging onto the past) then whatever you desire will be given to you.

Spoilt children are always crying. Whatever the mother does to please them they will continue to cry. Their mothers give them toys, toffees, etc but they will not be satisfied. Finally, the mother gets fed up and let them cry on and on. One starts finding joy in crying. Masochism starts here. It should not be encouraged. At the same time, I am not saying one has to be hypocritical when one feels tears coming up. You don’t have to be into mood-making; be authentic. Whenever your mind is restless and disturbed (in vikshiptau) the different practices of samadhi help to stabilize you. Doing the different practices settles your mind, and knowing that you are well established in your Self, you go deeper into your Self. 

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 23🌿

      ~ Stepping Into The Big Mind ~

                  🌱 Day – 132 🌱

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The Divine also feels a pinch if the children are not happy. So the best puja, the best form of worship, is to be happy and grateful. But, if you are not happy (despite your intention to be happy), how do you overcome that? Dance, sing, meditate, and dissolve. The mind settles down if you do these instead of encouraging on your sadness. You are adding manure to the seed of sadness that has arisen in you by blaming yourself. Or, you may think that the others are bad. Then you are adding manure that will make the anger grow in you. When the others are bad towards you, you are angry. And when you are bad, you are sad. Go deep into that sadness, and you will see that it is nothing but a longing. And that very longing with tears is nothing but love, and that love is nothing but gratefulness. Gratefulness is nothing but your very Being. The same emotion flows in, and takes you to a completely different bank; a completely different dimension. When you feel sad, go into the sadness. When you feel it is all love, go deep into it. It is all gratefulness and joy. The same river touches the other bank, which is green and so beautiful. Cross this river of life, and move to the other bank.

However, we do it the other way around. We may be in love with somebody, and feel a pain. We may get frustrated with the pain. Because of the frustration, we will start grumbling, and then we will get angry. With the anger will come hatred. And then we will feel bad. Anchoring in love, we become jealous and possessive. Then, all the negativity flows to the other shore. That shore is heaven. This shore is hell. Life flows between these two shores. Cross over to the other shore, on the boat knowledge, cross over where you belong; from where you have come. Your abode is there. Your home is there. It is waiting. The father, the mother, and the beloved is waiting right there with open arms for you. Everything is ready there for you. That is your original place. That comfort, that sense of belongingness, that sense of oneness with the Divine is what can take you across safely. You can’t tie your boat on this shore. It’s not your home. You can’t be comfortable here at all. One day or another, you have to get back to your home. That’s what Ashtavakra is doing.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 23🌿

      ~ Stepping Into The Big Mind ~

                  🌱 Day – 131 🌱

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Life begins when we step out of the mind. We step out of the small mind through samadhi. There are several kinds of samadhi. Samadhi is silence in the mind through meditation, singing, dancing, intoxicated devotion, and through hundred percent effort in any activity. These are all different flavours of samadhi, and all are present in our very nature just as the ability to sit still, walk straight, jump up and down, dance, lie down and sleep like a rock. When the mind is disturbed, it can be calmed down back into samadhi through these means. When people are worried and tense, they go to a bar and drink. If they go to satsangs and dance, that intoxication can take away all their worries. The mind’s agitation will settle down, if only they ponder over what life is. It is going to end, anyway. It’s going to end any time, any day, at any moment. What is there to worry about? The agitation in the mind settles down realising the very fact that all things are changing in life. Through these means – singing and dancing – the disturbed mind can be settled down. No-one can worry then. This is a principle. This is a law. This is a rule. The mind gets disturbed from time to time, and through these practices the mind can settle down. You can take care of your diet and take medicine when the body is sick. In the same way. The mind get a little shaken; a few ripples rise. What do you want then? Just drop it, surrender, offer, meditate and that ripples goes away.

Do not feel or think the ripple should not rise in the mind at all. We have a concept : we think the enlightened body can never get sick. It is not true. The body follows certain physical laws, and it can also get sick. There is no mind in the enlightened, but the enlightened person still has feelings, and is sensitive to everyone’s feelings. If one person or one devotee in the satsang is not feeling well, it immediately reflect in the Big Mind also, because the Big Mind is the sum total of all the small minds.

We say that God is our Father or Mother. If the children are unhappy, can the father or mother be very happy? If the children are sad and unhappy, can the father have a party? The mother and father also feel a pinch!

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 130 🌱

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प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेरदृश्यत्वेन चात्मनः ।

विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदय एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

You may not be interested in anything wordly, but you may be interested in something spiritual – perhaps listening to music, chanting bhajans, or meditating for long periods. You may become obstinate about doing these things.

Suppose you are meditating and somebody drops a plate or dog starts barking. This is sufficient to keep you agitated for next two days! The dog has come and gone but you have caught hold of that event, and started getting worked up and agitated.

You are used to listening to some chanting, reading the Bible or Koran (to some holy scriptures). And one day you are unable to read it, and you feel awful! You are in the same boat. Either, you were agitated, maybe, because you did not have money, because of a relationship or something else. Now, you are agitated because you are unable to chant, meditate or do another spiritual practice. You are in the same boat!

Janaka said even the agitation for attaining God calmed down and left him. He was at peace with himself. All the agitation and restlessness in his mind had disappeared. His heart has become one-pointed. This is very beautiful. Your mind has to be one-pointed to achieve anything in the world. The mind becomes restless to achieve things, but to attain self-realization your heart has to be one-pointed. Usually your mind is one-pointed in work, and your heart is divided into many pieces. So many things occupy your heart. Janaka said that his mind has undergone a change. He had undergone a metamorphosis, and his mind was free from restlessness, his heart has become one-pointed. He was at rest and could say that God’s Will will be done in a natural and spontaneous way.

This is the love of an intoxicated devotee, one who does not even bother whether he attains God or not. He feels that it is His will. If He wants, He will come. That he will not force or demand that God come. But that the devotee is always ready to receive Him; the candle is lit, the home is cleaned, and the flowers are ready. He is ready. God can come right away or after a thousand years. A devotee lives with that infinite patience, confidence and love. Janaka was like this. एवमेवाहमास्थितः । His mind is free from restlessness, and the heart is one-pointed. At the feet of Ashtavakra, Janaka began to open up, petal by petal. He said that he was not running around in search of enlightenment, knowledge or anything else. He was totally, ‘here and now’ (in the present moment).

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 129 🌱

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जनक उवाच

कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वं ततो वाग्विस्तरासहः ।

अथ चिन्तासहस्तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेरदृश्यत्वेन चात्मनः ।

विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदय एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥

Then it was Janaka’s turn. He said that he had done so many things in the past. But, at the moment, he was at rest; that he had no interest in doing anything. He was not the doer. He was not interested in lengthy conversations; that they had tired him. And that he was enjoying a deep rest. He realized that.

Have you observed when you sit and talk for a long time? You feel nauseous and tired. People are interested in explaining past events. They say, “I have never met anyone like you in all my life.” They would have said the same to so many people! You can observe what people talk. It is such an entertainment! They would have met a short time ago, and feel a lifetime’s connection. And they buy their ears, as that person becomes very sympathetic and keeps listening. And then, they go on talking and talking – endless and meaningless talk explaining the past. When you go deeper, what do you find in every talk? You will find self justifications and accusations; either concerning someone, a situation or an event. They accuse and justify. Behind everything is the implication that they are right. Even if a person says he is wrong, he says so in order to make the other person say that he is right. They want you to be sympathetic and praise them. Even behind saying, “I am not good”, there’s an expectation that others should console me that “I am Good”.

Janaka had said that all the mental games, bodily actions and verbal gymnastics had tired him. That he was not interested in them. Even a little bit tired him. He was also tired of his thoughts. He did not even want to think; the thoughts had become big for him. Peace is that state of transcendence, of being without thoughts. He says, ‘I am established in silence.’ In that silence, even a thought is a weight. It is something disturbingly big. Words and actions are too much. There is no use in all the talking. Be in silence. A thousand words cannot replace a glance or a look from you. And many thousands of looks cannot convey one minute of silence. Just stay silent. The more ‘in’ you are, the more consolidated you are. In the very core, of your being, in the center of your being, you speak the language of existence. Then you do so much good, and so many wonderful things happen around you. Weigh your words, and then spend them. Weigh your words before speaking. They are the pearls of your life. Do not throw them about, and lose them for nothing. It is a waste of time. It’s pardonable if people do it without awareness i e. those who do not know, and who have not come in touch with this knowledge. But it is unpardonable if people still engage themselves in it after coming one step in knowledge! Janaka said that too much talking has tired him. It is so beautiful.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 128 🌱

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What happens when you become enthusiastic? For example, something arises in you when you see a person. Then, you forget what is happening around you and get involved with that person. Instead of this, observe what that person kindled in you – be with it, dance with it and move through it. This is Radhe – being with it and moving through it. You are just enthusiasm, the source of enthusiasm – स्फुर्तिमात्रो – as though you have had a relationship. That’s why Ashtavakra had said to have that relationship inside, i.e. Radha – Krishna – inner relation, inner union. That’s why it is said that the Guru is inside you. Have an inner union with the Guru. Krishna is inside you. God, the Divine is inside you. Have an inner connection with the Divine, so that there is a fountain of bubbling enthusiasm inside you – unending and uninterrupted.

न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति । Rest as being the consciousness and nothing else. When you go to bed, feel as though you are just a glow of light and nothing else. You are just a flame – a candle flame. Your mind is a flame. You are a flame, your body is a wicked and your karma is the wax. As long as the karma is there, the body and your mind, the glow sticks to it. Your soul sticks onto it. By feeling that you are a glow, you will see every cell of your body becomes alive. It is an uplifting experience. ‘I am just the glow, chittasvarupa.’ Such a person rests in much ecstasy and joy, day in and day out. So when you go to bed, do not be somebody and sleep, but be a cloud of light, a glow of a candle, full of life. Feel that you are nothing but consciousness. Feel that you are nothing but light. Do not think that you like something and hate something else. Do not think that you like a person and do not like another. Anybody or anything that you hate is going to bug you. If a rat hates a cat, it is born as a cat. If a cat hates a dog, it is born as a dog. So you will be reborn as whoever or whatever you hate. It is best not to hate anything. Drop all your hates now. Don’t be angry at anybody for anything. Throw out all your anger and hatred. This is a place to be in love and joy.

In life there is just love and love. Live as though you are nobody. Live as though you are a glow of light, and you will see that bliss that you get cannot even be compared to any other joy through any of the senses. It’s nowhere near that.

All the Upanishads and all the Enlightened Masters have declared that the joy of Self uniting with the Self, with the inner Being is a hundred times more than any other joy. The joy of the Self being with the Self is hundred times more than the joy in a relationship. This is how we go up and up, step- by-step to our Self.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 127 🌱

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निर्वासनः स्फुर्तिमात्रो । It is very beautiful. Vasanas are impressions, or cravings. A vasana is a limited pull in a limited direction. Suppose, you are used to drinking coffee every morning. So, as soon as you wake up in the morning, you must have coffee otherwise you might get a headache. This is a vasana. Limited or small attractions as from smell, touch, tatse, or sight, are called vasana.

The five senses draw you into a small and limited awareness. You do not just enjoy them, but your mind gets entangled, thinking about them all the time. It is normal to eat food at the prescribed times. But to think about food all time is a vasana. It is the same with sex and other interests and preoccupations. A vasana is that in which you get entangled, which limits your potential to small limitations, leaving you empty and without joy afterwards. It does not completely satisfy you. निर्वासनः स्फुर्तिमात्रो । You may take nirvasana to mean having no interest and enthusiasm in anything, a totally unenthusiastic and dull sort of behavior – very cold or disinterested. In fact this results out of vasana. When the vasanas are fulfilled, disinterest follows. When your stomach is full you will not want to eat even the tastiest food. You will not be able to enjoy it. So disinterest and apathy is the other extreme that results if one is not in vasana.

There are two poles we swing between. Either we are apathetic, dull and inertia-bound, or we are engaged in a vasana that grips our mind with feverishness, and which clouds our whole consciousness. At this time, all that you can think about is your vasana, you want coffee or ice cream. There is nothing else in your mind. So, either your mind gets clogged by vasana or complete disinterest. These are the two opposite poles. Neither gives any joy. There is no end to the fulfilment of vasana. It’s like addiction.

स्फुर्तिमात्रो । Be the source of enthusiasm. निर्वासनः । Be away from the void of vasana, and then be a source of enlightenment, a source of light, joy, bliss, enthusiasm. It’s very beautiful – just enthusiasm, joy, sensation and experience. You experienced bliss by eating ice cream. Now, having the bliss without the ice cream is स्फुर्तिमात्रो । Just the thought of it should bring the bliss. Something happens inside just by thinking about ice cream. Your bliss – which was connected to ice cream – is rising. Now drop the ice cream, and observe. Just watch the bliss. You’ll see that bliss overcomes you. You become just bliss, only bliss. If you think of someone very near and dear to you, immediately bliss engulfs you. Just be with that very bliss that has arisen inside you, then you become स्फुर्तिमात्रो ।

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 126 🌱

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Look at the people around. Push one button in them and see what happens. Fumes come from their ears and noses. A fuse blows and people can become so furious. Observe and watch. If you are not involved in it, you can have great fun with it. When you’re not amazed by it all, you will get trapped and get caught up in the phenomenon. It’s a beautiful technique by which you can really live in this world without being tarnished by it. How can you live? When you are amazed by the events, amazed by the actions and reactions of people. But, instead of being amazed, you begin to question. Every question can be turned into a wonder when you keep wondering about the world, the entire universe. You’ll see it is all nothing but wonder. नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदितिनिश्चयी । There is nothing other than wonder in this world. Everything is a wonder. How a human being is born. How he grows and develops. As a child, he makes various sounds. As he grows older, he starts communicating using a few words. And then he becomes more mature and as he is talking, he collapses and dies. Five minutes earlier he was healthy. What happened to him? You can’t understand how he died. The end has to come, in some form or another. It is not necessary for one to be sick all along, and then die. One can die instantly! 

Many times, people think those who are sick are going to die in two or three days. They wait for them to die, booking their funerals and everything else. Then, that person becomes quite well and returns home. People feel very embarrassed about what they had done.

नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं । His entire creation is amazing. It is a wonder. It is amazing how a child is born. A man and woman come together and in a few months that woman gives birth to a child (another living and talking form just like them). Everything is amusing. People cry, laugh, jump up and down, are happy, or unhappy. What is all this? Wonder about it all. There is nothing here other than wonder. It is all empty. There is so much fullness in this emptiness.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 22🌿

           ~ Live In Amazement ~

                  🌱 Day – 125 🌱

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नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदितिनिश्चयी ।

निर्वासनः स्फुर्तिमात्रो न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति ॥

Just open your eyes, shake your head, and look at the world. What’s happening? It’s amazing! This universe is amazing! Everything happening here is a big wonder. Sow a seed and keep watering it, and see how a plant grows from it. The plant grows and grows. Small leaves sprout and in a few days, big leaves sprout. Look how just one seed sprouted and became a tree. Then a flower bloomed. It’s amazing!

Look at the birds. It is so amazing how birds live. A particular species of bird takes fireflies into its nest, and puts them inside so the small young ones inside get light at night! 

It is amazing the way some birds weave straw and use particular types of stick for making their nests. It is not an architect or an engineer, yet it builds a thoroughly planned nest. The nest has a beautiful shape, and has two storeys inside, a double-stories nest. There is a partition dividing the nest into two parts – one for adult birds and one for the small ones!

Who taught the birds this whole art of weaving nest like that, and catching hold of fireflies and sticking them inside for light? It is amazing, mind-blowing! And then look at the sounds frog make. Look at water and how it has its own function. See how the clouds rise and get condensed. They rain down water which flows as rivers. This one earth got so many kinds of minerals, salts, oils, layers, liquids and fluids.

The entire subject of chemistry is developed from what is available on this earth. Man is trying to study these subjects and they are expanding more and more. How many elements are there in this world? Isn’t it amazing? How many types of insects are there? All the insects do not eat everything. And how those insects know what to eat and what not to eat? Is this not mind-blowing? It is amazing how cats care for their kittens. They know exactly where to give birth to the kittens, and how to take them where they want them to be. TV, films and everything else is nothing compared to watching monkeys! They are the best entertainment on this planet! You can watch for hours what a monkey does. People’s eyes are glued to the television, especially when they have a remote control, potato chips and a couch. People sit on the couch and go on using the remote control to change channels. Their eyes remain glued to the television.

A monkey does the same thing. Sit somewhere and watch a monkey jump here and there; the way it behaves and acts. Watch how carefully it peels a banana and eats it. It does not eat the banana skin. It is very curious. It wants to open everything. If it gets a purse, it will carefully open to zip. It takes things one-by-one and looks at them. It will like it or throw it away if it does not like it. It is amazing how a monkey behaves. It knows what to eat and what not to eat. It is amazing the way a dog behaves; the way a snake behaves. This entire creation is amazing! It is a big amusement park.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 124 🌱

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All knowledge is present in the one small little cell of the brain. It’s the way the enormously big sun can be captured in a small mirror. In the same way, all the phenomenon in this universe can be captured in this brain, this mind, this small body. This is Brhama consciousness or Brhama awareness. There’s nothing beyond Brhama. Brhama means the biggest and the greatest. It is a inclusive. अाब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी । It’s me, alone. नर्विकल्पः Then where is the choice? Where is the fighting in the mind? Where is the conflict? There is no second thought. There is no विकल्प, or obstruction in doing anything. शुचि । You are ever pure and nothing has touched you. Many moments of joy have come and passed. They have not touch nor destroyed you. Many moments of misery, sorrow and sadness have come and passed,but they could not touch you, stain you or destroy your wholeness. So you remain ever whole, and completely pure. शुचि । This awareness dawns – you are pure. Nothing, no experience has really touched your inner being. All experiences come and float in the mind, whether yours or someone else’s

When you sleep in a new place like a hotel room, you have dreams or experiences which have nothing to do with your life. It feels very strange. Experiences come and go. You should not care much about them. None of them can touch you. The virgin Self is inside you, from which the Christ is born. Nothing can touch you. No event can really spoil you. You are so pure, शुचि । Be peaceful, शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविर्निवृतः । Don’t be worried about what has come and what has not come. Move through everything.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 123 🌱

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विहाय कामान्यसर्वान पुमांश्चरति निह्स्पृहः ।

निर्ममो निरहंकारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति ॥

अपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत ।

तद्वत् कामायं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे सशान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥

Like all rivers flow into the seas and the oceans, for the one who is satisfied, all desires, even before they arise, get fulfilled. All his needs are taken care. The person who can see everybody in terms of himself will have so much peace and joy. See everything in terms of yourself. ‘I am this grass, this leaf, these coloured flowers… Everything is in terms of me, my own Self’. The same consciousness is present all over, all over; everywhere, melting and dissolving into reality. So beautiful.

When you lie on your bed sometime, think that there are no people at all in this world. Who is there? There is just you, and all others are just puppets; shells. Your own karma and experiences will get into those shells, and reflect back to you. Have you seen sparrows before a mirror? Seeing their own reflection, they think there is another sparrow there. It goes on pecking the mirror, thereby hurting itself and getting its blood all over the mirror. This is exactly what is happening. It is so true! We are also fighting in the world. We are fighting with ourselves. If we are angry, we are angry at ourselves. Anything we do, we do it with ourselves.

निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविर्निवृतः । Ashtavakra says that it was him all over – from a stone to the Brhama. They enunciated the whole range of creation. From a stone (the most inert) to Brhama (the most live). Brhama is the total awareness of there being only one life. There are no men or women. There is nobody, only me. Awareness of that one big mind, the ocean of consciousness, is Brhama, which is so alive and lively. So sitting here, you know what is happening in Australia, or in USA. There is no need for any telephone or any other communication. Wherever you are, just tune your own mind in and everything is known, from A to Z. Everything is known.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 122 🌱

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नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी । You are the mind, the consciousness, you are the energy inside the body, you are neither the body, nor this body is yours. The body has come into existence through the parents; they made this body for you and this body will go back to and remain in the world. When you have an eye on this reality, the energy, and the consciousnesses feels itself separate from the body, and experiences the body as a third factor – as something separate, as the second thing, as an object. Then also joy and happiness will dawn on you. You will feel that you are knowledge,the awareness,the light and the consciousness. कैवल्यमिव संप्राप्तो । Ashtavakra says that the awareness that you are not this body will be like enlightenment. Even being aware of this will give you a glimpse of what is Being, is just your Self [कैवल्यम].

Walk as though you are already enlightened. The iva is very meaningful, is as though you have attained enlightenment. You will not worry. You will not think about things you have done, or things you will have or want to do. There is one more technique to do this. Think you are enlightened. Move like a cloud. Everything is done and finished! The whole journey is complete. Go to bed blissfully. Act as though you have been enlightened. Although your acting now if just a play, enlightenment is already there in you. In fact, the Divine is deep inside you. So, it does not matter if you act as though you are enlightened. कैवल्यम । All your worries will disappear. It’s very beautiful.

Your wants arise when you feel you are not that enlightened. You want a particular shawl which you feel is not yours. You buy it and hang it in your closet. If it is in the closet, you feel satisfied that it is yours. It gives you a sense of possession. A wrong sense or thought that you possess it right now. Alternately, you may think that the shawl is yours, anyway. The other person has it and you let her have it. Your desire for it disappears and dissolves in the mind. अाब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी । See that everything is only you. It’s you. It’s you. You are there. You are in this role or that role. Then how can you feel jealous? Getting this satisfaction is just a knack. It is a skill. Otherwise, the mind goes on comparing endlessly.

Understand that it is only you in the form of the people you are jealous of. Otherwise, you will feel isolated from them. This will cause all the commotion inside you. Then, competition, jealousy and discomfort arise, one after the other, and you start blaming yourself. Your self-esteem goes down. You think you are bad, and then you try to show off said you are something great.

In trying to do something and showing off, you lose your naturalness. All these complications arise in your mind. Drop them. Don’t try to show off. It is all you. Becoming aware of this, just relax. You know that fulfilment itself is so beautiful! And it’s the fulfilment that draws everything towards you.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 121 🌱

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नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी ।

कैवल्यमिव संप्राप्तो न स्मरत्यकृतं कृतम् ॥

There are only two things that come into our mind; what we have done or what we want to do. When you are in meditation, you may want to do something simple. Maybe you want to put your meditation aside, and do your laundry, pack your bag, or iron your clothes. Thus, you are not able to meditate. The mind is on ‘doing’ something. What you want to do is insignificant. You know you can do it later. Now these thoughts are restricting your ability to sink deep, dissolve and meditate. You’re sitting with your eyes closed but wanting to do something stops you from meditating. Or the memory of an event stops you from relaxing. This is such a beautiful explanation of the inner phenomenon.

When can you be peaceful, relaxed and restful? Is there any end to work in our lives? The moment you wake up (even if you don’t do any work) there will be some work that you will have to do. You will have to go to the toilet. You have to comb your hair and wash yourself. You will have to eat. You have to do something. When you sit quietly, then you feel restless, and you have to walk. The laziest person cannot always lie on the bed. Even if he lies on the bed, he doesn’t keep quiet. He goes on doing something : shaking his legs and hands, turning, twisting, and rolling up and down, this way and that way, left to right. He cannot just be lying still. The laziest person in the world cannot lie like a rock or a statue for a long time. It’s wonderful if he can do that, because that itself is a job! By your very nature, your body keeps moving this way and that. Some activity is constantly happening. The things we have done bug and bother us. And things which we have to do, bug us, too. These are the two things due to which the memory machinery in you gets jammed like the brakes getting jammed in a car. And that is the cause of worry. If you feel you do not care and that you are not going to do anything, then alone can you have peace. Even a single thought (called sankalpa), or want can restrict the ability to go deeper and relax.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 115 🌱

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ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी ।

अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते ॥

Everything is done by God, including the managing of your body, the way your heart beats. Even its maintenance is done by God. The power behind the beating of your heart, is God. If you had control over your heartbeat, nobody would die! Who would want to die? Even an old woman of ninety-nine, or a man of one hundred and ten does not want to die. Everybody wants to live on and on. But it’s not in your control! Your heart does not ask for your permission to beat. Your breath does not flow by your willingness or unwillingness. The growth and decay of your veins, your brains and every cell in your body is happening by itself! And how can we not see this? Everything in the body happens by itself. Everything in the Creation happens by itself. The flowers are blossoming – the leaves are becoming green and the petals are becoming colourful. The whole creation is progressing!

The sun rises and sets. How can one be so blind as to not see an unseen hand behind this whole creation? Who is managing it? Even children are curious about things like who makes the sun go round. ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी । There is nothing other than God. Be very firm about this! Open your eyes and see. You think you are in control of a situation. What are you in control of? What situation? Where are you? Everything is happening, and you are in God. God is all that ‘is’. ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता । Everything is done by God. There is nothing other than Him. 

Feelings, lack of feelings, distorted feelings, or negative feelings by their very nature. Earlier, we spoke about the three natures of vata, pitta and kapha, about sattva, rajas and tamas, and then about the five elements: earth, water, air, fire and water. These elements rise and fall and, so, different moods rise and fall in you. This is its very nature. Beyond this, become a witness to it all and rest peacefully; repose in your Self.

Ashtavakra so beautifully tells Janaka to cool down. He further told him that he had run enough behind this and that, good, bad, right or wrong. It was enough. He just needed to rest. Ashtavakra is a revolution. After Krishna, only Ashtavakra has asked to drop even the dharma and relax. (Krishna had also told Arjuna to drop dharma and to take refuge in Him. That He was there for him).

Ashtavakra said the same. ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता। He said that everything is being done by Ishwara,by the Lord, by Divinity. नेहान्य इति निश्चयी । There’s no-one other than Him.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 120 🌱

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Ashtavakra says that it is a different type of joy. Be happy, peacefully; with melted desires and ambitions. तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः । A person who is very ambitious is not committed. He becomes an opportunist. He is not committed; not focused. He’s not living in love. Opportunism or ambition is the other side, the other end of love. A very opportunistic or ambitious person cannot be in love or love anybody. He cannot give. He cannot be without fear. He cannot be peaceful, because he is always thinking about himself. There is no trust in an ambitious person. A person who is an opportunist, who has a lot of ambition, knows that he does not have trust in himself, or trust in the Divine. He thinks that his desires and wants are bigger than himself. What is bigger, you or your desire? Ignorance is thinking that your desire is bigger than you. But, you are much bigger, because you are the source of several thousand desires. All desires arise in you and get fulfilled in you. Even if they are fulfilled, it leaves you untouched.

You still remain bigger than that, because you are the very source of joy. Everything has come from you; and you are so sad, if one desire is not fulfilled. That is why I say – ‘So what?’ You’ll get many more such desires, bigger desires! Joy doesn’t come by the fulfillment of some little desire here and there. Joy is your very existence. And you will remain very small when you hang on to a little desire here and there. Your heart freezes when your desires become hard, like ice blocks, inside you. When your heart is filled with desires, and they become very hard, there won’t be any love flowing in it. When the desires in your heart melt, love dawns and dominates in life.

There is a harshness in you. This harshness is there because you’re unaware of the security that has been given to you. You are unaware of the love that is being given to you by God and by Nature. There is some very fragile and delicate aspect deep inside you. Each and every one of you is very fragile and delicate in your deepest center. But you are not in touch with that. When a desire arises, the body gets stiff, the mind gets stiff, the heart gets stiff, and emotions get stiff. If the desire does not get fulfilled, anger follows it. Anger cannot arise by itself. It arises when desires get curdled – just like buttermilk or yogurt is formed when milk gets curdled.

Ashtavakra did not say not to desire, because that is out of our control. Desires arise in you as a natural phenomenon. When they arise, don’t make them stick to you; just let them go. Let them evaporate and leave you. The right desires will get fulfilled. And if the desires are not congenital to your growth or evolution, they’ll simply dissolve and disappear.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 119 🌱

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You will see your mind gets blown, and the worry stops. When the worry becomes too much, people go very blank. If it is really insignificant, it goes on bugging the mind. But if it is something very big, one gets stunned. It becomes a shock. It’s like the mosquito that goes on making a noise in our ears. Have you noticed a mosquito bite does not itch while it is biting you. It only starts itching after it has bitten. You only feel the pain after being bitten. Even there nature has made a provision. Otherwise all the mosquitoes would starve. The mosquitos have so been created! First they bite, and when they get away you start itching.

So split your worry. Cut it or expand it. Think or worry big – what will happen after about five thousand years? What will happen to you? Where will you be? In the present world there is no space and there is so much pollution. What will it be in five thousand years? So many people would have come, dirtied this world much more and gone. What should you do. A bigger worry will be if you will get a job after five thousand years. Will you be able to sell your car? Will you even have a car then? I’m giving you so many options! How can we arrest the mind that is going in this way? Look back at the periods when you have worried. Just remember and imagine how you were on a particular day, five years ago. Were you not worrying about what will happen? How you were so worked up during a particular examination period. You were worried if you would be able to fulfil your desire. You were sick. So many stupid thoughts were rolling in your mind. You were so tensed. Remember the times when you have worried in the past.

Every time you worry, you worry afresh! You don’t remember your past worries, and how you got over them. Every time you worry, you think that worry is fresh and new. You don’t want stale worries. Look back and see. All those stale worries are there no more. You will find that your current worry is also stale. It is nothing. You will get over it, too. We have the most wonderful technique to stop this chattering mind that doesn’t allow any peace. Super bomb. Doesn’t allow any mind to exist? Kriya.

If you do Kriya sincerely the worry gets blown out! How can you be worried in satsang? When so much assurance of all kinds is given to you, how can you be worried here? If you are worrying here, too, it means you are sleepy, and don’t know where you are. It’s like starving when you are having food in front of you, and not knowing it. There’s plenty of food in front of you! Being unaware of the grace, love and joy that the Divine is pouring on us all the time, is the cause of worry. Become aware of where you are, then the worry will simply drop and vanish! तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः You become so happy and peaceful, void of these worries.

This is important. Ashtavakra did not say just to be happy and leave it at that. He said to be peaceful. Many times people are happy, but not peaceful. They are restless. Outwardly, they seem happy, but the joy of happiness is not there. Happiness also brings more misery. Haven’t you seen happy people being miserable? That’s why all wise and enlightened people on the past have said that sorrow and joy are two sides of the same coin. They are like the peak and the base of a mountain. If there is a peak, there has to be a base and if there is a base, there has to be a peak. Consider excitement – if you laugh too much, you will cry more. There is a proverb which cautions that you should not laugh too much, because you will start crying. That means it has both sides. Excited joy and sorrow are the sides of the same thing.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 118 🌱

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Thoughts come and go in the mind. Many of them are not yours. In fact, none of the thoughts are yours. They have their own wave. Thoughts come and go. You may get hold of one of the thoughts that are going, and not allow it to go easily. That is called worrying. The gramophone needle moves for a few seconds in each groove. Then it goes into another groove, and then another. It keeps changing grooves. If the needle is stuck in one groove, the same thought comes in the mind again and again. You get up in the morning, and the same thought hits you. You drink tea and the same thought hits you. You sit at the dining table and the same thought is bugging you. It’s like a mosquito trapped in a mosquito net in a dark room, and you don’t know where it is. You try to catch it all night, making sounds and disturbing your neighbors.

चिन्तया जायते दुःखं नान्यथेहेति निश्चयी । One thought that is stuck in your mind is the cause of your sorrow. You are stuck with one thing. You feel that something should be one way or it should be the other way. The you are sad! All sorrow arises out of getting stuck in one thought,one event, one instance, or one desire. It is getting stuck with something that is past. Look at what happens in cartoons. Mickey Mouse’s tail gets stuck somewhere. He tried to go forward and becomes big, and suddenly gets released. In the same way,the mind is stuck in one event, and then at a particular time it gets released. It is elastic like rubber. It goes back and forth, trying and struggling to get rid of particular thought. That is worry. That is sorrow. That is sadness. This is such a precise explanation to understand what sorrow is. You cannot have the same intensity of sorrow over a period of time. If somebody is sad for one reason, they cannot have the same intensity of sadness or sorrow continuing for several days. It is all like a perishable flower. You have to continuously renew your worries. You can’t have the same old worry constantly in your mind. Maybe it will repeat but, even then, the intensity will be different. All the problems and sufferings in your life are coming and going. You go on chewing them. 

तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः । How do you drop these worries? This is the question. We have formulated many ways for it and there are two components in each of these ways. One way is to be aware of the reality of the truth that everything is changing. And the other way is to be more centered. And practices. This is called dispassion. Your illusion is what makes worry stay with you longer – the idea in your mind that you are going to live forever in the world. Just think you are going to kick this world and get away from here in no time! Where is the worry then? What you will be worried about then? You’re going to drop this whole thing in no time. Everybody has to, one day or another. You are going to take off from here! How can you worry or what will you worry about? The reality of your short life-span, and it’s insignificance in this enormous universe. What is our life? Nothing, but a few years! What are a few years? Billions of years have gone past; what is fifty, sixty, or a hundred years? The futility of worry becomes very evident then. Take that very thought and analyze. Agree to be with it, word by word and the worries disappear. For instance, you are worried because you cannot find your handbag. This bugs your mind continuously. Now, think about it, telling yourself repeatedly that you cannot find your handbag! Say it several times and you will start laughing! What is it that you cannot find? You cannot find your handbag. Where is the handbag?

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 21🌿

          ~ Letting Go Of Worries ~

                  🌱 Day – 117 🌱

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चिन्तया जायते दुःखं नान्यथेहेति निश्चयी ।

तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः ॥

नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी ।

कैवल्यमिव संप्राप्तो न स्मरत्यकृतं कृतम् ॥

अाब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी ।

निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविर्निवृतः ॥

नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदितिनिश्चयी ।

निर्वासनः स्फुर्तिमात्रो न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति ॥

चिन्तया जायते दुःख । Worrying causes sorrow. What is a worry? Look at old gramophone records. Sometimes, the needle gets stuck in one particular groove. So the same part of the song is repeated again and again. Just like that, streams of thoughts come and pass through your mind. Many thoughts are not even yours. They come and go. 

There’s a nice story. There was a mound with lots of grass on it in a garden. It was very beautiful. The chief gardener would stand on top of this mound and look at the people in the garden. He would see them going here and there around the garden. Then, he would call out to everybody saying that there were lots of fruits in the garden like mangoes, bananas, and papayas. He would invite them to have some. People are, generally, fond of fruits and would go when he called them. But when they went there, he would come down the hill. Then he would change his mind. He would ask them why they had come, and that they should go away. That is was not a place for them. It was his garden, and he had grown the fruits. Did they think that he would just give it away to anybody? He further said that he had worked hard on that soil and that he was not going to sell the fruits. Even if they paid ten times the price, he was not going to give it to them. That they were to go away from there. Then, he would go up the hill.

Sitting there, he would again call out the same invitation. Adding what he would do with all the fruit. That he was there to offer it to everybody. And, if they were happy, he would be happy, too. He would talk philosophically, but the moment he came down, it was back to square one. He would fight with the people. They thought he was little crazy. He lost all his credibility. Even he, himself, was surprised, and didn’t understand what was happening to him.

A wise man in the town suggested that the people dig below the hillock and see what was there. They dug the place up and they found the throne of a very well known king called Vikramaditya. He was known for his generosity, righteousness, and his high spiritual life. When he died, they could not find anybody else fit enough to sit on his throne because it was such a powerful seat. So, the people finally buried it under that mound.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 116 🌱

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अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते । अन्तर्गलित – means inside. There are two types of desire. One is a surface desire which is essential for any activity. There is a desire to drink water and you do so. You want to go to sleep and you sleep. You can call it an intention. All your actions are prompted or instigated by your intentions.

But there is another desire which is very deep within you. This is called a craving. A craving is like a whirlwind, creating anger, restlessness, depression or distress in you. That anger which has penetrated deep inside. अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः । Desires which are deeply rooted in you should melt away. If they remain intact they bother you. It is like a block of ice; it irritates you.  

अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते । So you can really have internal peace when you know that you have already achieved what you should achieve; and whatever you need, will be given to you. When this trust has dawned – you will be given whatever should be given to you. You will have whatever you’re supposed to have.

Ashaha means that the desire in you has dissolved. He doesn’t say you should not desire at all. But your desire is like a stone when you think it is bigger than your ability. You may think that your ability is limited, and that your desire is bigger than your ability. You may think that you can only do a particular job, but your desire is to do that much. Your desires become hard like stone. When you know your desire is smaller than your ability or your capacity to desire and deserve, then that desire is no longer there like a rock irritating you. In the same way that sand in your eye irritates you and blurs your vision, your desire irritates you and does not allow you to be in love. It blocks your love. It blocks your peace. It blocks your joy.

अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः । These words are pregnant with meaning. They have much depth. Antar means inside and galita means dissolved. All the desires inside you has melted away in the depth of your heart. What is desire? Desire is the beat of a heart; of your heart. You want and want. People say they dissolve in the linga; or disappear into Shiva. You will dissolve into whatever you think about. If you think of a currency note, you will dissolve into a currency note. If you think of a factory all the time, you will dissolve into your factory. If you’re thinking of money, business and transaction, you’ll dissolve into that. If you think of the Divinity, you’ll dissolve into the Divinity. This is because there is no way you cannot get what you want. You will have to get it, whether now or later, maybe with a time gap of maybe several lifetimes. It doesn’t matter.

अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः । When all the desires inside you become fluid, when you know you have much more capacity,when you know you are much more than your desires and that your desires are very insignificant then you will repose in peace in your heart. Suppose you have a desire to eat ice cream. You don’t lose your sleep thinking about eating ice cream! If it happens, good. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter! So what? In the same way, let desires be light. Let them not be like blocks of ice in your depths. शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते । Then you will repose in the peace in your heart! 

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 114 🌱

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भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी ।

निर्विकारो गतक्लेशः सुखेनैवोपशाम्यति ॥

This is wonderful. Just these words are sufficient. With this thorough understanding – not just thought – you will stop blaming yourself for having feelings; or for not having feelings, for having bad feelings or self pity, and praising yourself for your good feelings. You will never get into any of these mental trips. You will go through and see this is caused by nature. Nirvikaro. Then, you will become devoid of any flaws. You’ll be the flawless consciousness at any time and at all times. Gatakleshaha. All the sadness, sorrow and distress will disappear from your consciousness. They will not be able to come near you. They will not be able to touch you. That type of consciousness will dawn on you.

Joyfully and happily you will repose in the Being. निर्विकारो गतक्लेशः। It is such a cool and deep sense of peace and joy. It’s not the joy of excitement, but the joy of inner tranquillity; a joy which cools every bit of your being. Your eyes are cool, your mind is cool, and your intellect is cool. Your innermost Self is at peace. It has rested after all the hustle and bustle. Desire is hustle and bustle! Desire is agitation, activity. And all that is dropped. Peacefully, repose in the innermost core of your being – as though you are dead! You will see that your desires are gone, because they are just an illusion. That’s all they are. Will they ever give you that cool, tranquil, peaceful joy? You may have seen many successful people. Maybe they appear to be happy to you, because you have a desire inside, a hankering for this. Want, want, want…..

So Ashtavakra said to repose in that peaceful, cool, calm, serene depth of your being. This is something immensely valuable and precious. If you could get rid of a few layers from your depth; if for a few moments, you could repose in your Self, and be very cool and desireless, then those moments will be very precious in your life. Those moments strengthen your inner being in such a way that it goes with you for lifetimes! That’s why it’s called sadhana i.e. the real wealth that doesn’t leave you. Dhana means wealth. Sadhana is ‘the’ wealth. Other wealth will not stay, for instance if you take Indian rupee outside India, it will not have any value. If you bring Polish money to India, it has no value. If you take Russian money to America, it has no value. You will have to take basketfuls to get a litre of gasoline! It will have no value. American money still has value, because it says, ‘We trust in God!’ I think it has value because of that sentence. It’s God who makes money valuable, otherwise even that is nothing!

Repose in your Self. Let other things also happen. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be concerned about tomorrow. And that you can spend all your money today. And can think about tomorrow when it comes. Until you get so soaked in your being, keep all your life’s paraphernalia and plan about things, finances, etc. But never allow them to penetrate you. Neither health, nor wealth, nor any concern should penetrate deep inside you. Otherwise, you will be reposed in it. You will attain that. Drop other concerns. That is Nirvikaro. Vikara means distortion of emotions or negative emotions. We can say negative emotions are vikara – sex, greed, jealousy, anger, lust, obsessions, entanglement. How can there things be got rid of? They can be got rid of when there is repose in the innermost being – when you are joyful and clam. Because you can’t deal with anger on the surface level! How can you? Behind anger is the desire which is the cause of the anger. Unless you root out the desire, you can never be devoid of anger. Behind all the anger is a desire.

You can show anger. Even if you get angry, it should not be for more than a few seconds, like drawing a line on the surface water. If a very angry person is around, the atmosphere will have the air of anger and many times it makes the others angry, too. भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी । That’s why it is said these are Vikaras because then they don’t get impressed in you. You become निर्विकारो गतक्लेशः – all the vikaras have left you. They are not yours in the first place! When you know they are not in you anymore, all the sadness, sorrow, everything negative leaves you. And in joy, in peace, in that very soothing inner state, you will find happiness. You will repose there. सुखेनैवोपशाम्यति । Ashtavakra orders to repose there.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 113 🌱

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The doshas change all the time. They even change during the morning, the afternoon and the evening. They change with the sun. During the mid-noon the pitta increases. So everyone should eat at that time. People should eat something before one o’clock. Between the breakfast and lunchtime, too, one must eat. That’s when the pitta is higher.

Everything is a unit. Doshas changes. They change in your body in so many ways. Weather changes the doshas e.g. if it is a little hotter pitta increases of if it’s colder vata increases. What can you do about that? You think if you sit in an air-conditioned room you’ll be rid of it? It is not possible! These doshas keep changing, but some degree of health can be maintained by doing your practices (asanas), drinking water, having showers, and eating proper food. And there are moments of perfect health for everybody. Observe the doshas, take some Ayurveda powder medicines and tonics now and then. Food, spices, etc. are all to be taken in such a way so as to see that the doshas are in balance most of the time. Still, if they go out of balance we don’t have to be agitated.

That’s what Ashtavakra says, भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी ।Having feelings and having no feelings – some say that they have no feeling at all. They cry about having no feelings. How can one cry if there is no feeling? Crying is a feeling! Abhava (lack of devotion) is very painful. If you have had a taste of devotion, you feel that something is missing when it is not there. Something is missing for no reason. Abhava means lack of it. Bhava means the feeling, so Abhava is lack of the feeling. Vikarashcha means distorted feeling. Ashtavakra speaks about three things : feelings, lack of feeling and distorted feeling.

The three types of feeling come naturally. भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी । What is the nature? Vata, pitta and kapha are the nature. And the doshas, the changes in the body keep going up and down. Have this firm understanding in the mind. It’s very beautiful having a confirmed understanding about what is happening! There will be some twists and turns somewhere. Attend to them by doing asanas. To keep the body healthy, we shouldn’t neglect the asanas totally.

Have you noticed sometimes when you just do the asanas – even doing the neck roll properly – you feel very good? You have a good meditation. By doing the neck-roll, some dosha or impurity which was clogged somewhere in the mind is released. Immediately the mind felt better. It is the same with Kriya. Whatever dosha was there is purified by the waves of Kriya energy. The pulse-rate at the end of the Kriya will be even. Kriya brings the balance back.

There are various ways to bring the balance back. Surrender brings the balance back. Devotion washes off all the doshas. The moments when your are devoted, when the tears roll out of your eyes, there is focus in one thing. What happens in those moments of single-pointed and focused devotion? You are so alive. The Tamogun and Rajogun is gone. Your entire being is vibrant. Sama dosha (balanced dosha) has happened. That’s why it is called doshas. Dosha means imperfections. When three imperfections are in balance that is perfection! 

It’s like putting three people who fight with each other in three corners. You don’t put any one of them above another; so there’s a balance. If you put them in such a triangle or corners, they fight with each other, keeping their places. Otherwise, one starts to dominate the other two. Then there is a discomfort in the body, and in the mind.

All these things happen. But don’t hanker for an ideal situation in the mind all the time. That very hankering creates an impression in the mind, and then it becomes a chain reaction. So know it is not you. It is only the nature of the maya, of the prakriti, of the thing. It has nothing to do with you.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 112 🌱

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There is a sutra in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras where Patanjali says to meditate on the Realised One; on the Master. This means, when you meditate on the Realised One, a change beings to happen in your own body physiology. Check your pulse, and then think about somebody who is very lustful, or very jealous, or extremely agitated. That very thought creates a sort of chemical reaction in your body and the whole system and the vibration change.

Even the body, which we think is very solid, is not so! It is changing on a regular basis. Blood changes every twenty-four hours. In three months the bone marrow changes. The skin changes every seven days or less. Similarly, all the fluids in the body change. You are not the same person within three months. That means this body is like a river. Nothing is constant in it.

So when changes take place, gunas dominate. Sometimes one guna dominates and at other times another. Sometimes one dosha is more and sometimes another. We don’t need to get worked up about these changes. This is body’s nature. Nothing can remain the same in the physical world.

You sometimes wonder how people who had a particular serious illness got well. You think that being healed from diseases is a big thing. Every day I get three or four letters dealing with health problems. After writing to me, the concerned person feels completely well. And then they tell somebody else about it. And it snowballs. People make a big deal about it all. However, it is nothing! Is it a very big task for the consciousness (which makes everything, which is the basis of this existence) to repair a bit here and there? Is it a big deal for that power which created flower, to ensure that the leaves grow again? Healing is nothing! We think it is a big deal; that a big thing has happened. We don’t need to place so much value on it.

We should wonder about the creation. The consciousness itself is enough to be wondered about! स्वभावादिति निश्चयी । This is all in the nature. One gets sick, and then gets well again. Some food, situation, karma, or vibration get mixed up and there is an illness. There’s health, then illness, then health again. We don’t need to be bothered too much about this cycle! It should be considered on the level of the body. Do not allow this to penetrate deeper in you. Inside all this is consciousness – pure consciousness, Shiva; call it whatever you like. Om, Infinity.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 111 🌱

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अष्टावक्र उवाच

भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी ।

निर्विकारो गतक्लेशः सुखेनैवोपशाम्यति ॥

ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी ।

अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते ॥

भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी । These few words contain a huge amount of knowledge wealth. All science is contained in this one sentence. What do those who are well aware of the science of life [Ayurveda] do? They look and observe. They may feel that Pitta or Kapha is increasing in people and that could be the reason for their feeling of dull or stiff. Or may be Vata is increasing, and that could explain their restlessness. They attribute illness to the imbalanced in the doshas. This imbalance immediately affects our activities, our mind, the way we feel and everything else!

Now the whole thing is simplified. Otherwise, you would blame somebody else or you blame yourself for the situation. Now you know immediately that the imbalance of vata, pitta, or kapha is responsible. And you know how to rectify the imbalances. But then, all your time is spent observing your own Self. You have no time to complain or even think about others! Because every moment, every minute there are changes in the doshas and the prakritis.

Once someone asked Bramhananda Saraswati, ‘What do you think about me?’ He said, ‘Where do I have time to think about you? I have no time to think about you! I have to observe myself all the time!’ He gave a reply that appeared to be very rude and selfish to other people, but that is the reality! Do others have the time to think about you?

Observe this very body and maintain this very body. Observe and observe every time, and the whole world is maintained. But that is a different state of awareness. We can’t say we are observing our own body. If everybody starts saying that, then it will sound very selfish! But Guru Dev’s state of awareness was very different. He said that we knew everything. That if we felt our nadi,we could even feel the pulse of people around. It is amazing to see the methodology of a very good Ayurvedic physician, or nadi specialist. They can feel your nadi [pulse diagnosis] and tell you which group – even to which organization – you belong! By feeling pulse, they can determine if you are doing Kriya. If you think about somebody, your pulse and your doshas will change.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 20🌿

               ~ Repose In Being ~

                  🌱 Day – 110 🌱

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This creation is made up of five elements. Our body is made up of five elements, seven substances, three qualities and three modes. The *five* *elements* [gross classification] are; earth, water, ether, fire and air. The *seven* *dhatus* *or* *substances* are rasa (blood plasma), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), meda (fat), asthi (bone and skeleton), majja (bone marrow and nervous tissue) and shukra (reproductive tissue). The *three* *gunas* *[qualities]* are : sattva guna, rajogun and tamogun. The *three* *doshas* [distortions, modulations or variations] : vata, pitta and kapha. When they are in balance, you feel very well, wonderful. When they are imbalanced, then the system is imbalanced, the body is imbalanced and the mind is imbalanced; the intellect is overshadowed. The *eight* *prakritis* are earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. The entire creation is made up of the eight prakritis i.e. five elements and mind, intellect and ego.

Beyond the ego, the intellect and the mind, is Self, para – the transcendental. The mind experiences pleasantness and unpleasantness. Have you experienced the difference between the mind and your intellect? The mind experiences while the intellect judges. While the mind experiences a situation, the intellect judges it as good or bad, right or wrong. When you meditate, just observe the mind and intellect. There is a clear distinction between these two. The mind experiences through the senses, while the intellect just observes and judges.

So intellectually you know and you decide, but your mind overpowers the intellect, and then you get overshadowed. Beyond that intellect is ego. Ego means, ‘I am’, ‘I am somebody’. But beyond ego is Being.

Two types of food are given to the body. One is the gross food – the food that you eat and the other is the subtle food, environmental food – the air you breathe, the situation you are in, your thoughts. All these subtle currents in you.

So when there is an imbalance in the system, either rajogun or tamogun will be dominant. Sattva means balance. When *sattva* is dominant, there is balance in you. When *rajogun* is dominant then restlessness, desires and fear comes. When *tamogun* is dominant, then dullness, inertia and dejection comes. A feeling of dejection and depression is the nature of tamogun. Sattva guna dominates, then rajogun dominates and then tamoguna dominates. There is never an ideal situation where the gunas and doshas don’t change at all. It is in the very nature of the universe that the gunas and doshas change. This is the very next sutra.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 19🌿

    ~ Without You Where Will I Be? ~

                  🌱 Day – 109 🌱

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कृतं न कति जन्मानि कायेन मनसा गिरा ।

दुःखमायासदं कर्म तदद्याप्युपरम्यताम् ॥

You have been working with your body for several lifetimes; working with speech, with words, with your mind. These are the three places for action: body and mind, and speech between the two. If you are physically not working, the same energy is diverted into talking. People who talk a lot, work less. People who don’t do any physical work and don’t talk much either, lose their mind. You may notice, some people are very quiet. There is a volcano inside them. A dormant volcano! People who talk a lot are less dangerous than those who don’t talk at all, because their minds are ever cooking and cooking. You are tired because of your mind.

You get tired of talking. You get physically tired. If you do an excess of physical work, you get tired. If you talk excessively, you get tired. If you think too much, you get tired. You have been on these trips (mental, physical and vocal workshop) for lifetimes! Now, rest my dear.

What is the effect of your work on you? Sorrow and fatigue. You have become very tired. If you want the mind to work less, you should do physical work. Then, you will see the mind will become less active, because you are physically in the moment (action). This is better because the body needs that work; the action. The body cannot be without some physical activity. But the mind can be without thinking. Some amount of speech is also needed. You have to exercise your vocal cord except during the silence period! Even during silence we have the chanting of OM and the singing of bhajans. This helps to open up your lungs. So, if your mind works too much. Channel all that energy into the body – work physically. Then, when the body gets tired, you will be able to rest well. Have you noticed what happens if you talk too much and unnecessarily? You feel nauseous and very uncomfortable. It is very fortunate that we have known and experienced this . Many people go on doing it all their lives without even being aware of how awful they feel. Most of the sorrow in the world is because of speech. If people were silent, ninety percent of the problems in the world would be over. When something bothers you mentally, do some physical work! You’ll see this gives a big relief. For years you have been doing this – reeling in these three fields, in activity. It has not led you anywhere. It had worn you down, and you have become very tired. Now just rest and relax! Uparamyatam! 

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 19🌿

    ~ Without You Where Will I Be? ~

                  🌱 Day – 108 🌱

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Ashtavakra reminded Janaka that he had had this experience over and over again in so many lifetimes with his wife, son, daughter, family. He was not against Janaka having a family. But, he wanted to know how many times Janaka had fallen in love with x, y or z? They had come and gone, and he had wasted several lifetimes like that. He has wasted several years on ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Maybe, he had been trying to do many religious deeds or services like making a pond here and a traveller’s bungalow there; building hostels for people. You have done a lot of charity, too. Ashtavakra said that Janaka could not rest with none of this. He was continuously occupied, never leaving his mind hollow and empty. He could never just drop everything even for a while and rest in peace. Even when he sat for meditation, it was with a desire to achieve some goal; some higher state of consciousness. Something lingered on in his mind (some desire or something to be done), and he was not at total rest.

Ashtavakra said that enough was enough. Janaka had gone from one teacher to another teacher. They had always told him to do various practices. And he had been doing them regularly with a hankering in his mind that he would go to heaven or achieve liberation. His mind was never free from the desire of achievement. Unless and until he could be free from that desire of achieving, acquiring, or accomplishing something, how could his mind be restful?

And if it was not restful, how could the union with the Infinity, with the Divinity take place? How could he be hollow and empty with the hankerings?

Ashtavakra very lovingly patted Janaka on the back, and told him to rest and to be hollow and empty – that he had all that he needed. Just rest, you have come to your goal.

You have come home now. Get out of your car. You have been driving for a long, long time. The car has reached home now but you are still sitting in it with the engine running! How long are you going to sit in your car? As long as you are in the car, you will not be home. You have returned. It is enough now! Enter your home and take rest.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 19🌿

    ~ Without You Where Will I Be? ~

                  🌱 Day – 107 🌱

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त्वमेकश्चेतनः शुद्धो जडं विश्वमसत्तथा ।

अविद्यापि न किञ्चित सा का बुभुत्सा तथापि ते ॥

राज्यं सुताः कलत्राणि शरीराणि सुखानि च ।

संसक्तस्यापि नष्टानि तव जन्मनि जन्मनि ॥

अलमर्थेन कामेन सुकृतेनापि कर्मणा ।

एभ्यः संसारकान्तारे न विश्रान्तमभून्मनः ॥

कृतं न कति जन्मानि कायेन मनसा गिरा ।

दुःखमायासदं कर्म तदद्याप्युपरम्यताम् ॥

Here, Ashtavakra talks about the nature of purity and impurity. He says the life is purity, and inertia is impurity and impermanence. Whatever is inert, is impure. And whatever is dynamic or active, is pure. When you are dull, you are impure. When you are alive, you are pure. When you do Kriya, you might have experienced a feeling of cleansing; a feeling of purity. This is because every cell in your body has become so alive! So, you feel very pure. A feeling of impurity arises because of inertia and sleepiness. After doing Kriya, every cell becomes alive. Even after meditation, every cell is alive. In pranayama, too, every cell becomes alive. Then along with this, there is a feeling of being purified. Consciousness is pure.

Ashtavakra says that there is nothing in all your hankering and concerns. Your concerns are nothing, because everything is changing! How can you hold anything if everything is changing? Everything is like a river. All the events are ever flowing. People come and go. The world changes. Everything in the entire world is moving except you! What is it you are trying to hold on to?

Ashtavakra told Janaka enough was enough! He needed to realize that he had come to this planet in so many lives; and how many times he had been a king; how many people he had made love to; how many wives, lovers and children he had had. How many times he had gone through all these experiences.

Ashtavakra asked Janaka to wake up and realize! Janaka had done the same things over and over again in so many lifetimes, and had gone through the same experiences.

You may like ice cream. You may have eaten it. Just remember how many times you have eaten ice cream. Remember and recollect your experiences of eating it. How you felt before, during and after eating it. Similarly, recollect all your experiences and how you felt. How you felt before a desire was fulfilled – feverishness; while you had the desire – discomfort; if it had been fulfilled – whatever joy you felt. After the desire was gone, there is inertia.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 19🌿

    ~ Without You Where Will I Be? ~

                  🌱 Day – 106 🌱

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Without you where will I be?

A fish without water 

Sky without the stars or the sun

A tree without sap

A microphone without sound

A word that doesn’t sound

Without you where will I be?

A body without life

Mud without moisture

Air that doesn’t blow

Fire that doesn’t light

Without you where will I be?

A body without life

A fish without water

Without you where will I be?

A devotee cannot even imagine his existence, without the Divine. It is so intoxicating. The intoxication never reduces. It is such an addiction. It is hard to put into words. Without you, where will I be? Eyes without sight, ears that cannot hear, a tongue that cannot taste. I can go on adding.

Only a devotee is eligible to go to Ashtavakra. Ashtavakra is a grounding force. A devotees goes so high up in the air and Ashtavakra holds him together and sharpens his intellect. Again, this is a rare combination. There are devotees and enlightened people on this planet who are intoxicated, there have been and there will be. And then there are highly intellectual people with great wisdom, insight, and awareness. They are poles apart. A devotee does not bother to enrich his intellect or wisdom. Those who are very aware do not bother about being intoxicated and to dance with joy. Not that they are incomplete, for instance, Buddha was complete – totally enlightened, but he would not dance. He would sit still. He would not laugh loudly; a smile was sufficient for him. And that was Buddha. There have been other enlightened souls, who sung and danced, like Chaitanya, Meera, and several others. They are also complete. But both together are multi-dimensional: the depth of silence and dynamic action; the sharpness of intellect and wisdom, and the peak of ecstasy. Both are possibilities in our very body. Do not think this body is not fit for either (still meditation or dance). This body is fit for both. You can do both together. You are the consciousness.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 105 🌱

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वासना एव संसार इति सर्वा विमुञ्ज ताः ।

तत्त्यागो वासनात्यागात् स्थितिरद्य यथा तथा ॥

Drop these impressions of the past experiences with different people. They may have been wonderful. They may have seemed to be your soulmate for so many lifetimes! You may never felt like that with anybody else before. When you talk of your soulmates, you talk in terms of lifetimes; not today! The mind goes on empty talk. It’s the vasana (your expectations) that propel you. There is no weight behind them. Even when you tell somebody you love them, make sure that you are not saying out of your vasana, your own impressions, your own cravings for some joy. You say that you love somebody. But do you really love the person? Is it coming from your space of love, or out of your craving? You will wonder. You will see that it’s all because of the vasana, the impressions in you.

True love will not bring sadness, sorrow, misery, or problems. But with vasana a tail is always attached i.e. pain, problems, misery, and discomfort. When you drop the vasana (all these past impressions) from your mind, you become free right away. Ashtavakra says that you become established, not in so many lifetimes, but right now, at this very moment. The world has ceased to exist for you in that limitation. Your world has expanded and become bigger. This is very beautiful and could be used as a technique.

Many people always have the problem of relationship. When you feel you are stuck with somebody, observe Nature. What are the stones and trees? When you drive, see how vast this land is. When you go out see bigger, go further and further. So many people have come and gone here. The same consciousness has taken form in many bodies, and they have all died. This world is a burial ground. Everybody has died here. They have come and gone. And you are going to go. You are going to go alone. At that moment, your mind will relax and open up. All the misery will drop. Just observe the Nature. Nothing is permanent here. Somebody is very beautiful (some boy or girl) and they have been very good and loving to you. So what! They will not be here in another fifty or two hundred years. Where will they be? They are going to be ashes in fifty years or hundred years! They are ashes right now! Then, you will be at peace. Get free from vasana. The Being is immortal; the consciousness is immortal; the Guru is immortal; the rishi, the maharishi is immortal. And so, you are also immortal and eternal. Expand your world, and your shrunken vasana will drop away. The world is so big. Have more experiences. Be open to new experiences.

Some masters in the past would do this in their ashrams. They pushed the unpushed buttons. They would do the opposite of what was liked. And it had to be liked. If a person liked silence, he would be put in a noisy place. If he liked cleanliness, he would be put in a dirty place. If he was dirty, he would be punished and asked to wash ten times a day. If he loved order, he would be given a chaotic situation. If he was chaotic by nature, he would be disciplined to be orderly. Actually we have been very mild in pushing buttons. We are just touching them, not pushing them. Those masters were not crazy. This was done for a person’s good; to pull his small shrunken mind out of the small pocket of limited experiences it had got into.

How big is the balloon actually? It is shrunk to a small rubber piece that needs to be blown up to see how big it is. तत्त्यागो वासनात्यागात् स्थितिरद्य यथा तथा ।

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 104 🌱

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वासना एव संसार इति सर्वा विमुञ्ज ताः ।

तत्त्यागो वासनात्यागात् स्थितिरद्य यथा तथा ॥

What is your world? How big is your world? Have you ever really thought about it? Your world is very small. Your world is bundle of your experiences. Have you observed this? You may have eaten pizza from your childhood. Now when you crave food, you only crave the food you have had so many times e.g. pizza. (if you offer pizza to some Indians, they’ll say that parathas are so much better. They like masala dosa and much better than pizza. Pizza doesn’t taste good to Indians. They go for masala dosa which tastes better for them.) The world is so big, but you have a set of experiences that your mind is caught up in; even regarding food. It shrinks to those experiences ; those experiences of food and does not expand. It does not move forward. It does not go further.

What music do you like? You began liking one kind of music (western, eastern, jazz, Hindustani, or Karnatic) and now you only like listening to that music. You only listen to other music because it’s forced on you by a situation or a circumstance. You try to listen and tolerate it, but if you are given chance to choose for yourself you’ll pick the music you have always listened to. What do you feel is the most beautiful music? Maybe the Beatles, because you listen to them over and over again! Many of you sing bhajans at satsangs. But in your room, you listen to Beatles! You enjoy it because your experience of music is limited. Your taste for music is shrunk.

It’s very difficult for programmers to make radio programs in India because they have to balance various types of music. They put on music from all the languages, one after another. All people wait to hear music they like and then they turn the radio off. They don’t listen to any other music. People do not like to listen other music because their experiences are shrunken.

It is the same with fragrances. Even with people.

Who do you think of regularly? You think of only those people who have been in touch with you – your friends. The same friends will turn into enemies and the same enemies will turn into friends. This is because your world is so small, that there is no space for new friends or enemies. It is the same person who turns from friend to enemy and from enemy to friend. This Is because your mind has shrunk! Millions of people are coming into this world every day. And million are leaving. Have you connected yourself with this entire world and all the people here? At least with the people; leave alone the other creatures and animals? At least with the people of one nation or one nationality? Or at least with the people you have seen with your eyes – met and spoken to. Do they all occupy your mind? In fact, it is stuck with not more than four people. These four or five people reel in your mind, and bother and trouble you. Your world is so small, so limited. Anyway they are going to die and you are going to follow or precede them, either way. The whole world is going to be finished and you are so bothered! This is called vasana. You have had some pleasant or unpleasant experience with them and that experience has stuck with super glue in your mind.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 103 🌱

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Arjuna was a friend of Krishna and knew him quite well. (He thought he knew Krishna well). So, Krishna could tell him to be with him totally. Krishna said that he would take care of everything for him. Normally, you strive to get something that you don’t have, and you want to preserve what you already have. So Krishna promised Arjuna that he would do both for him. That he would get him what he needed, and he would maintain what he had.

Such promises can only come from a crazy or an enlightened mind. Otherwise, one does not make such promises! An enlightened being, so hollow and empty, can speak with the authority of the entire universe. That is the fight. The fight is always between the small little mind and the big universal mind. That’s why we say, ‘Jai Guru Dev’ i.e., victory to the big mind. It happens so many times that the small mind wins. Whenever the small mind wins, the result is misery. Inside you have both the big and small mind. It is like a mother going with a child to a store. The child goes on wanting this and that. Sometimes the mother agrees and allows the child to give one or two more chocolates. After eating more chocolates, the child gets toothache, a cough or a cold. Why did the mother allow the child to eat more in the first place and get sick? But a child was so adamant sometimes that the other had to agree. And when the child is sick the mother also cares for it. It is part of the game.

In the same way, the big mind allows the small mind to play for a little while, and win for a change. But when it wins, it is miserable and comes back to big mind. That is why we say, ‘Jai Guru Dev.’ It means victory to the Guru, to the big mind; victory to the infinity. This is because when the big mind wins over the small mind, even the failure of the smaller mind is a joy. It has always happened that way. Turn back and see – some of your failures have been very good. They made you progress somewhere and made you stronger.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 102 🌱

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After listening to Ashtavakra’s points never feel low in front of any holy or enlightened people. Never feel low, but be very humble. It is different. Don’t become stiff and egoistic. It’s very easy to misinterpret the whole knowledge. This is what has happened. Many saints, the sanyasis, are not suppose to bow down before anybody other than Shankaracharya. And many people and sanyasis mistake it totally. They become so stiff! They don’t need to bow down to anybody other than Shankaracharya. And sanyasis of other groups don’t even do that. They don’t even bow down to Shankaracharya. It’s not the physical bowing down, but the inner state of consciousness that matters. It is hollow and empty – full of love and flowing consciousness; the recognition of the same Divinity in everybody, all over. This is supreme knowledge. People are afraid to even talk about Ashtavakra. He keeps everything open. The concern for the growth of a devotee into the Divinity was all that mattered for Ashtavakra.

Everyone says to surrender only to them. A husband will say to the wife to surrender only to him. And the wife will say that he dare not look at anybody else. That he should surrender only to her. Krishna also said the same thing; mam ekam sharanam vraja. That surrender should be done only to him. But this is very different from the stand taken by a wife or a husband. The words are the same. But, he intentions are different. Krishna was not just interested in making more devotees or followers. A true guru is not interested in making more followers. But he is concerned with the growth of the person. His only concern is how well the flirting mind can be arrested and established in its source. How can this mind, which is so blind, and seeking here and there, be put into Self, and made to open its eye to its Self. Krishna said mam ekam sharanam vraja, surrender only to him. Only a very hollow and empty person can say this. Otherwise it could be mistaken. Buddha could not say to surrender only to him. He said to bow down to the enlightened one. Buddham sharanam gacchami. Then he said to bow down to the assembly of practitioners. Sangham sharanam gacchami. When neither are available bow down to the righteousness, the dharma or religion. Dhammam sharanam gacchami. Buddha was dealing with very intelligent, intellectual, and highly sophisticated minds. Buddha had a very elite class of disciples. They were not just ordinary people. They were highly educated. They were very sophisticated, people who thought they knew everything. So, he had to tell them in a very different way. It also worked.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 101 🌱

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पश्य भूतविकारांस्त्वं भूतमात्रान् यथार्थतः ।

तत्क्षणाद्बन्धनिर्मुक्तः स्वरूपस्थो भविष्यसि ॥

You will be able to get into your Self when you see this distortion of consciousness. The entire universe is the distortion of one consciousness; the modification of one consciousness. तत्क्षणाद्बन्धनिर्मुक्तः स्वरूपस्थो भविष्यसि । Don’t get down from your royal seat. Don’t be tempted by anything in this world, whether material or spiritual. The smile on your face, the evenness in you and the royalty in you will establish you in your Self, free from all bondages.

There are two things. One is being humble and the other is feeling low. They are very different. None of our practitioners, teachers, sadhaks, or devotees should feel low in front of anybody. But they should be very humble before anyone. If you feel as though you are nothing, before the Pope or any other saint very well known all over the world, then you have lost. You have forgotten to see the hollow-empty unity everywhere – inside that person and inside you. Instead, you got caught up in the outer paraphernalia i.e. the pomp and show around these personages… This is very delicate. If you don’t follow it properly you will misinterpret me, and then miss the whole point! You will take it in a wrong sense!

Once I was touring, and an older man, a saint came and saw me. He said ‘What should I do, should I bow down to you, bless you, or hug you? What shall I do? I am confused.’ I slapped him and asked him, ‘Is this a question to ask? Do whatever you want to do!’ He bowed down. So I said, ‘Yes, there is no need to ask such a question.’ It was fun! He laughed and laughed whole time. And I slapped him! People were shocked, and wondered what was going on, as I never behave like this towards such elderly saints! I slapped him on his cheek in front of all the people and he liked it! 

Once, Kabir and Farid ( contemporary saints) stayed in the same traveller’s bungalow. All their disciples were so excited. Two great saints were meeting that day. Something great would happen. They could have wonderful discussions. They thought they were going to have a feast of knowledge. Nothing happened. Two days passed by. The two saints just looked at each other maybe with a smile and maybe not even that. On the third day, both departed without even saying a word. It was so confusing for the people. Everybody wondered why they had not talked to each other. There was no need for words. What was there to talk about? It was all the same. Kabir knew and Farid knew. So there was no need to talk. And, therefore, nothing happened!

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 16🌿

          ~ Three Types Of Purity ~

                   🌱 Day – 89 🌱

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The sky is there. Ashtavakra said, ‘I am infinite like the sky.’ The body is like a pot. Inside the pot is hollow space. Now, when you buy a pot, what do you pay for, the hollow space or the mud around it? What is important? If the same pot is given to you as a solid ball – the same amount of clay or glass – will it be of any use to you? It is the hollow space inside it that is valuable. A house is valuable because of the hollow space inside. If it was all just blocks of bricks, and there was no hollow space inside, is it of any value?

You know, in this world, if you pay money for anything of value, it is for the hollow and empty space! Yes, even a cup – you pay for the hollow empty space inside the cup. A bucket – you pay for the hollow-empty space inside the bucket, depending on the capacity and how much it can hold. If a house is not hollow inside, nobody will buy it. A house needs a door, and the doorway is hollow and empty. It’s got to be, otherwise, how can you go in? You pay for the hollow-empty space available to you inside a building, in a vessel, or a piece of cloth! Your pants should have holes in it so your legs can go through. Your shirt should have holes in it so your arms can go through. That hollow empty space is what is valuable in the world.

If your stomach was not hollow and empty, what is the use of having food in front of you? It may be very tasty, but it has no value or worth if you are not hollow and empty. What is more important – your stomach or the food outside; the hollowness inside you or the wonderful food you see outside? If you don’t give importance to the hollow stomach, you are in trouble the next day. If you eat more and more, and it’s already full…..You have already experienced it. The tongue says, ‘Let me have a little more’, but the stomach says, ‘No, I’m full!’ The hollow and empty space is very valuable.

आकाशवदनन्तोऽहं घटवत् प्राकृतं जगत् ।

This whole universe is like a border; the mud that surrounds the space in the pot. Space is Infinity. The world is there in the space. In the same way, the body exists inside the consciousness; inside the mind.

Janaka jumped out of his seat and said, ‘Aho! All these days I thought my mind was inside the body. Now I know the body is inside the mind. It’s the other way around.’ And this emptiness is not just empty. It is also so full. Consciousness is as empty as the sky and as full as the ocean. Ashtavakra says that the whole is like the sky, and then he left a little bit for Janaka to express. Janaka added that it’s also full like an ocean. This is very beautiful. Everything is mine. It all belongs to me. I am everything. Or, nothing belongs to me. I am nowhere. These are the only two ways to comprehend the reality. One – nothing is mine, not even this body. If this body is mine, it should listen to all that I say but it doesn’t. If it did, nobody would want to grow old. People would like to stay in their twenties or as teenagers. They would stop aging. But that doesn’t happen. Not even this body is mine. Not even the breath. It goes in and out all by itself. The heart beats by itself. The stomach digests on its own. Thoughts come by themselves. None of this is mine. The other way – everything is mine. Even the clouds will obey my orders. The sun, the moon, and the stars and the entire creation are within me. These are the two ways, and they happen simultaneously. If one happens, the other definitely starts happening.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                  🌱 Day – 100 🌱

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कृत्वा मूर्तिपरिज्ञानं चैतन्यस्य न किं गुरूः ।

निर्वेदसमतायुक्तया यस्तारयति संसृतेः ॥

It is the Divine that has come in front of you and taken the form of a Guru. And the Divinity inside that form is imperishable; full of consciousness. It has become a need for you to experience that God, that the Divine loves you so dearly. Though He has told you so in many ways with the flowers, the birds, the clouds, the rain, and with all the friends, folks, and relatives, you are still unable to experience the Divinity. So the Divine, itself, takes the form of a saint, a maharishi, a Guru, or a Master and gives you a glimpse of the reality and the truth – that the Divine loves you very dearly. And that consciousness is pervading, in all manner and in all respects. It is all pervading. That consciousness is the Master; is the Divinity, It is the Guru. It is yourself. So in the beginning we recite, ‘Ishwaro Gurukatmeti murtiveda vibhagini vyomavata vyapta dehaya dakshinamurtaye namaha.’ You may call it God, Ishwara, or the Creator of the Universe, that which is unseen and unheard oheard and unseen, my very Self or Guru. They are synonymous.

निर्वेदसमतायुक्तया यस्तारयति संसृतेः । It is expressed in the creation for one’s own benefit. With this, you rest and abide in yourself with equanimity. Otherwise, the moment you think someone is greater or more powerful, your balance is lost. You think you are lagging behind. You are after gaining something. You are not established; you are not equanimous. Again, this knowledge is very precious, and should be given only to those who have already surrendered themselves totally to the master, and who have already done some practices. This is very important otherwise one can become very egotistical. One might feel why he should bow down to anybody. That if everything is him, then he is everybody. Why does he need to listen to anybody at all.

Ashtavakra says that when the difference has ceased to exist, be established in the evenness of one’s being. Do not be shaken by it, even if you look at some power, wisdom or knowledge. All is that is the inexpressible of the same. Do not even be shaken by the glamour of any power or siddhi.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 18🌿

   ~ Be Happy And Dispassionate ~

                   🌱 Day – 99 🌱

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नाना मतं महर्षीणां साधूनां योगिनां तथा ।

दृष्ट्वा निर्वेदमापन्नः को न शाम्यति मानवः ॥

कृत्वा मूर्तिपरिज्ञानं चैतन्यस्य न किं गुरूः ।

निर्वेदसमतायुक्तया यस्तारयति संसृतेः ॥

पश्य भूतविकारांस्त्वं भूतमात्रान् यथार्थतः ।

तत्क्षणाद्बन्धनिर्मुक्तः स्वरूपस्थो भविष्यसि ॥

वासना एव संसार इति सर्वा विमुञ्ज ताः ।

तत्त्यागो वासनात्यागात् स्थितिरद्य यथा तथा ॥

Ashtavakra says that the joy is in the Self. So where are you running? What are you running behind in this world? The essence of the world is Divine. He arrested the mind from being distracted by other things. But, in the name of spiritual practices, one can still go from here to there. The way they say is different, but the substance is same. Maharishis, yogis and saints, have different opinions. This can become an excuse for the mind to still go on existing, and to jump from one thing to another; from one guru to another guru; from one saint to another saint. When you hear about a saint, you think you should go and see him. The mind is on the same trip again. The ways and methods of the saints are different, but what they say is the same. It is the same Divinity in different bodies. People go from one person to another, being caught up by the outer. They do not perceive reality – the truth – as it is. They see the outer i.e. the body and the behaviour, the methods, and words. They don’t look beyond. They don’t see the hollow-empty. It is no better than going from this thing to that thing. The jumping nature of the mind still continues. So Ashtavakra said that every saint preaches in a different manner. Their ways are different. Their words are different. Their methods are different. Everybody is different. No two enlightened people have said the same thing on the path. Although they have said the same thing, it is not said in the same way. This craving for more in the field of spirituality and collection of spiritual data by going to this saint or that saint can become a hindrance.

Ashtavakra says that if one can see beyond appearances, he will get firmly established in the reality and the Divinity. He will realize the truth, that it is the hollow-empty Divinity speaking through the body. This realization will be enough. He will not wander here and there.

Arjuna’s mind was like monkey mind – jumping to this to that. Mam ekam sharanam vraja. So Krishna said to Arjuna : ‘Surrender only to me. If you have surrendered to me, you have already surrendered to everybody. It is finished.’ You sit here and think of somebody else somewhere. Then, you go to another Ashram and sit there thinking of someone else. This is what happens. The mind jumps; it compares. Mam ekam sharanam vraja. So, arrest this jumping tendency of the mind. Get focused. Don’t be affected by different sayings, ideas, opinions, methods, ways of various maharishi, saints and yogi. It can put you off the track and destroy your confidence. Your consciousness is shaken, and you doubt your practices. दृष्ट्वा निर्वेदमापन्नः को न शाम्यति मानवः । Knowing that it is unknowable, it is the inexpressible that is here in the form of a particular maharishi, Guri, yogi or saint, that it remains inexpressible though it is said in many ways, firmly established one in one’s Self.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 17🌿

         ~ Honouring The Secret ~

                   🌱 Day – 98 🌱

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तान्युपेक्ष्य यथा प्राप्तवर्ती सिद्धिमवाप्नुयात् ।

Contentment, perfection and siddhi dawns in that person who is happy and contented with whatever has come; who does not hanker for something more. It is so strange, and yet very true! Be contented with what you have and you will see perfection or siddhi dawning in you. If you hanker for siddhi, you will not attain it. You may think you will be fulfilled and satisfied when you have siddhi. But it’s the other way around. When you are satisfied, you will get siddhi. You may think that achievements follow siddhi, i.e. when you get fulfilled then you will achieve. Or when you achieve something, then you will be fulfilled. But Ashtavakra says, ‘Be satisfied now’. Achievements will dawn in you. Siddhi will dawn in you. He was revealing a big secret to Janaka. Be satisfied and perfection will dawn. You will become a siddha. You cannot ever achieve siddhi by your hankering, your restlessness. Be happy with what you have.

Your hankering is always for what you don’t have. And there will always be something you will not have. So your hankering has a continuum and, thus, there is a postponement of your perfection. Ashtavakra says that by dropping the hankering and being fulfilled and satisfied, perfection will come rushing to you!

Krishna said the same, that when you are fulfilled then all the desires and their achievements will flow towards you, just as all the rivers flow into the ocean. And this is our practical experience! Just look at your life. Take one step back and look at your life. Has this not happened?

Then, Ashtavakra goes on, taking layer by layer, taking all those points which needed a final touch for Janaka. Ashtavakra had such a refined level of understanding and communication. He did such a refined work on Janaka. Almost everything had been already done. Ashtavakra just worked on the small little details and decorations that were needed to bring out the total perfection that Janaka was.

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 17🌿

         ~ Honouring The Secret ~

                   🌱 Day – 95 🌱

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Knowledge dawns as not just in the intellect,but as an experience. An experience dawns in your whole Self; in your whole body. A nuclear scientist may say that everything is quantum and vibrations; just energy. But when a saint says it’s all energy, there is joy and bliss because a saint knows it as energy. A saint knows himself as energy in the experiential level. These dualities have never stopped. The ocean has never been without waves. The waves come and go. The wind blows and waves rise according to their strength and disappear.

Knowing and also being aware that knowing why it happens is useless, you will attain peace. You will be able to drop the past. Do you know what makes you not to drop the past? Your mind which wonders why did something happen, and why did you become so restless; you might have been doing something wrong. You have not left what happened but are carrying it on, hooking it with the question ‘why’. ‘Why’ is like a hook; question mark is like a hook. It means you are hooked to the past. You hook the past with a question,and you’ll go on grumbling it in your mind. Know that this is nature of the world. There are thorns in the world. It’s a rose bush and it is very obvious,the stem has thorns. So never try to find joy here. This is a thorny bush. Crawl up – through it to the top. You will see the flowers blossoming there. Your eyes are stuck down below. They don’t look up to see the beauty of the flowers. The flowers have not yet blossomed. Wait a while. The buds are already there. This is a thorny bush, don’t get stuck here. Crawl your way through and see the rose blossoming.

You look down with every question ‘why’. You hook yourself to the past. Have you noticed when you get very tense, you immediately want to ask a question? It doesn’t matter what the time is. You want to ask why something is happening. ‘Why? Why? Why?’ 

Ashtavakra says, ‘एवं ज्ञात्वेह निर्वेदाद्भव त्यागपरोऽव्रती ।’ Take the vow of dropping the past. Whatever happens, remain in ‘now’, ‘now’, ‘now’…. Cultivate the habit of dropping the past! Then you can smile all the time. All these different desires – for experiences, for living , for knowing – arise, get fulfilled and move on. Is there anybody who has not fulfilled any desire? Or is there anybody who has fulfilled every desire? Is there any end to it? Ashtavakra asks not to anchor yourself to this; not to think that this is ‘the thing’ for your life. Be light. Smile. Drop. Learn the tendency to drop, smile and move on. 

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        🌺 ASHTAVAKRA GITA🌺

    

                🌿Chapter – 17🌿

         ~ Honouring The Secret ~

                   🌱 Day – 97 🌱

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We sing : Nissar yeh samsara mein shiva naam ek hi saar hai. Samsara saram bhujagendra haram. It means that Shiva, the consciousness, is the only real juice or essence of this whole world. When this becomes confirmed in your mind, you will become peaceful. You will become quiet. Till this does not get confirmed, you will run here and there, biting this bone and that. They cause scars and wounds. And when you cannot take another bite, you’ll rest. At least at some time or the other, you will have to realize there is no essence anywhere else. There is no juice anywhere else. Your very divine nature is the only juice. That is the only love possible on this planet. Then, dispassion will dawn on you. Then nothing on this planet can shake you. You become like the sun. Until you flower into your ultimate nature, there is no fulfilment. There is no satisfaction.

So don’t wait for the time. Tell me at which age in your life were you free from conflicts and choices. At every age, you have had choices. Even a small child of two or three who wants chocolate, will have to make a choice. Have you seen children in a toy shop? They drive their parents crazy! Initially, the child will choose a doll. While the mother is billing for it, they will change their mind. Then, halfway home they will suddenly change their mind again. The mother will refuse and the child will, maybe, go on a hunger strike! Children are very good at pushing the buttons of their parents. Parents get very embarrassed. They may not have enough money with them, but the child wants the doll immediately. In India they do much more! The parents have to tell them so many lies or pull the children out of the shop.

Where is there no choice to be made? You grow up and have so many choices. You go to a shop and buy a dress. You come home and decide you don’t like it. So the next day you go to change it. Even in the shop, there’s a conflict : Should you buy this or that? Would it suit you? This is true for even the clothes worn everyday! You should see this difficulty of people who have so many clothes hanging in their wardrobes. They are confused. These conflicts of the mind have never left. They go on and on in all age groups. Items may change but the conflict remains. You are not choosing toys now but dresses. And if you are not choosing that, you are choosing something else. You are choosing company. You are choosing this or that.

Even in spiritual practices, you choose what to do each day – siddhi, kriya or pranayama. Sometimes it is better to do nothing. Otherwise, the mind is busy trying to choose. We create conflicts even in practices where all conflicts should be dropped. If there is no shraddha, nothing is going to benefit you. And if you do nothing and there is shraddha, that in itself becomes a sadhana, the practice for you.

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