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Gita as told by ashTavakra Rishi to king Janaka Source - Digital Library of India 247 Pages Date Added Category Tags Groups Awards Copyright

04/27/2008 Uncategorized. Philosophy, spirituality, Gita, hinduism, Vedic, Religion-Spirituality Mata Amritanandamayi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak sangh (R.S.S.) Rising Attribution Non-commercial

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Remember, you can always fine-tune which notices you receive here, or opt-out completely here. Scribd Inc. 539 Bryant St Suite 200, San Francisco CA 94108, USA Original Message----> From: K Kathirasan ADM NCS [SMTP:kathirasan@...] > Sent: Friday, June 04, 1999 7:15 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ramakrishna] Ashtavakra Gita > > From: K Kathirasan ADM NCS > > Namaste > > "If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of > oneself > as bound, one is bound. Here this saying `Thinking > makes it so' is true " 1.11 Ashtavakra Gita [Madhava Replies:] My praNAms to you all: Let me share my thoughts on this particular verse of Asthavakra Gita. My fellow seekers may be wondering --- why only on this single verse! I shall explain: This is what is called "sthAlee pulAka nyAya". If you want to know whether the rice is cooked or not, you just need to touch one of grains out of those thousands of cooked rice grains. The one grain alone can tell you whether the whole rice is cooked or not. Same way, if we knew what it means by this verse alone, we will know what kind of great text is "Asthavakra Gita"! The king Janaka (Note: this is not Lord Rama's father-in-law) has

got a genuine doubt. Though at the outset this doubt sounds bizarre, we always tend to get this doubt. ashTavakra, though a small boy, is trying to answer the mighty king. King Janaka wakes up from a nightmare and puts this question to all the scholars in his court: "Am I a beggar who is dreaming that I am a king, or Am I a king who is dreaming that I am a beggar, WHO AM I??". This is a wonderful question. And Asthavakra's simple answer is: "Oh Mighty one, you are neither the king nor the beggar. You are someone else. Someone other than these two states that you are feeling." *I* AM --- a king (in your waking state) *I* AM --- a beggar (in your dream state) *I* AM --- nobody (in your deep sleep state) *I* is the witness of all these three states. But the *I*, being bound to the false attachments, perceiving/feeling/thinking that I am -- a king, a beggar, a nobody. Now, let us go back to the verse: "If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying `Thinking makes it so' is true " 1.11 Ashtavakra Gita In the beginning, Sri Ramakrishna PramahaMsa was not at all interested in forgetting his divine mother, even for a wee bit of time. Totapuri's attempts to transcend Ramakrishna into deep samadhi were all getting futile. Because, Ramakrishna had been refusing to forget his mother kali. He says "my mother is real, how can I forget her, how can I transcend even her thought"! Then Totapuri advises him to take mother kali's permission. Mother Kali instructs ramakrishna to do as what Totapuri has been saying. Finally, totapuri was able to put ramakrishna into samadhi. After that, the great paramahaMsa never turned back. Though he kept talking to mother Kali, he used to go into samadhi at his will. Perhaps, the Astavakra Gita, being full of this kind of verses, must be reminding ParamahaMsa of all those advises of Mother Kali and Totapuri. The *I* being bound to the false imaginations, being bound to the maya, always thinks that *I* am this. This thinking makes you bound. In Sanskrit we call this attachment as "paSu vRtti". "paSu" means that which is bound. a) jeevaH paSavaH uktaH (jAbAla upanishad) -> The individual (jeeva) is called as paSu b) tasmAdahaM paSupASa vimOcakaH (bhRhadAraNyaka upanishad) -> That is why I make them free from their attachments (pASa). c) svatassiddhaM paSutvaM mE, yushMAkaM paSupatApica tadEtadhaDayAmyadya varabandha vinOdanaiH || (Siva purANaM) "I am a paSu (animal?) by nature, and in the same way your mastership. This is all nothing but divine play." AsTAvakara is teaching that "O mighty one! if you think you are fee, you *are* free". This verse echoes our entire Hindu dharma. Hari Om! tat sat! > Doesn't the above verse remind you of Swamiji's teachings? Many a time > you > would have found the gist echoed in his teachings. Does anyone in the > list > know why this text in quite unpopular? Thanks. [Madhava Replies:]

In my humble opinion: Not only this, there are many other geetas which have become unpopular. e.g. Siva gita, kapila gita, nArada gita. "Lack of time to read" - has made them unpopular. How many of us really studied our upanishads? our Mahabharata in its entirety, our Ramayana, our puranas, our vedas? We don't have time to read all these texts. Anyway, there is a choice of Bhagawad Geeta, for somebody who could not read all other Geetas - including AsTavakra Geeta. Bhagawad Geeta is an echo of our entire dharma. Reading all other text books, in my humble opinion, is not that important. One can read other books, out of interest. But following the drarma is very important. Having the "adhyAtma jAna" (knowing who am *I) is very important: adyAtma jnAna nityatvaM tatva jnAnArtha darSanaM Etat jnAnamiti prOktaM ajnAnaM yatatOnyadhA || (Bhagawad Geeta) Your questions/comments are most welcome. Best Regards, mAdhava > Om Shanti > Kathi > > = Notes Guruji has called the Ashtavakra Gita "the most unique conversation that has taken place on this planet". The Ashtavakra Gita documents the unveiling of the highest knowledge from a saint to a wise king many thousands of years ago. Guruji shows how, step-by-step, King Janaka is taken to deeper levels of understanding and how we can apply this knowledge to our own lives. It is one of the most beautiful and profound discourses of Gurudev! The simplicity of the knowledge imparted and its practicality in our life is really astounding. And the most amazing part is the experience of the knowledge itself during the week.