Ashtavakra Gita
Song of Ashtavakra
by Ashtavakra | 1994 | 8,560 words
The Ashtavakra Gita (अष्टावक्रगीता; aṣṭāvakragītā) or the 'Song of Ashtavakra' is a classical Advaita Vedanta scripture. Ashtavakra Gita (or 'Ashtavakra Samhita') is a dialogue between Ashtavakra and Janaka (king of Mithila) on the nature of soul, reality and bondage. It offers an extremely radical version of non-dualistic philosophy. The Gita ins...
Chapter XII
Janaka:
1 First of all I was averse to physical activity, then to lengthy speech, and finally to thinking itself, which is why I am now established.
2 In the absence of delight in sound and the other senses, and by the fact that I am myself not an object of the senses, my mind is focused and free from distraction - which is why I am now established.
3 Owing to the distraction of such things as wrong identification, one is driven to strive for mental stillness. Recognising this pattern I am now established.
4 By relinquishing the sense of rejection and acceptance, and with pleasure and disappointment ceasing today, Brahmin, I am now established.
5 Life in a community, then going beyond such a state, meditation and the elimination of mind-made objects - by means of these I have seen my error, and I am now established.
6 Just as the performance of actions is due to ignorance, so their abandonment is too. By fully recognising this truth, I am now established.
7 Trying to think the unthinkable, is doing something unnatural to thought. Abandoning such a practice therefore, I am now established.
8 He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of life. He who is of such a nature has done what has to be done.