Ashtavakra Gita - 1

 

Ashtavakra Gita 

 

Verse 1

The Verse starts with a question by Janaka to Ashtavakra, on how one can acquire knowledge? How do I get liberated? and What leads to renunciation?

The verse has three question which needs to be discussed in detail. The first question is to know how to acquire knowledge. But first, what is this Knowledge that is being discussed here?

Knowing about Who am I? What am I? How am I related to the universe around me? Who is God and How am I related to God? Knowing about this is the knowledge that is being discussed here.

The above point comes with two broad categories being Who am I and Who is God? and how these two are interlinked?

Coming to the first part of the question i.e. Who am I? we usually tend associate ourselves to the body mind complex. But we are neither the body nor the mind, but the silent witness of these two. This is what is called as Atma and Paramatma (God) is all pervasive existence, consciousness and Bliss.

The true knowledge here is to know that Atma and Paramatama is one and the same. Realization of this is true knowledge. To acquire this knowledge, we can read various scriptures, like Bhagvat Gita, Upanishads etc.

Atma is our true self which witnesses everything that is happening. When something stings us, the body feels the pain and we say My body is paining. When I say my body is paining, it means that I’m different from my body and it is the body that is in pain and this is observed by me, hence I’m not the body.

Then we think that the I’m the mind, mind and thought go hand in hand and they are the same, mind does not exist if there is no thought and hence when the body gets sting it feels sad and the thoughts comes up that it is suffering. But again here we say that my mind is disturbed due to pain and therefore I’m not the mind, as it is my mind that is disturbed and I’m witnessing it, in-turn I’m the true witness of mind and body or the one who illuminates the this event is the true self or Atma (Consciousness).

This true self is neither afflicted by the pains and pleasures of the body mind complex and remains the same irrespective of the situation that its body and mind undergoes, for this Self the body/mind is just like an illusion that appears in-front of it. Meaning for the Atma the pains of the body and mind appears in it and hence it’s an appearance, pain is either an appearance.

The existence of body and mind is dependent on Atma and Atman is independent of the these two. Atma can exist without these two but mind and body can’t (Imagine existence of anything without consciousness, it is not possible, without consciousness nothing cannot exist, how can one quantify of existence of something without existence itself without consciousness). By this way we can understand the Atman has the quality of Existence, consciousness and Bliss (bliss because there is nothing other than atman when everything is in atman, then it means that everything is perfect, you don’t need anything, as source of pleasure for everything everything is atman, hence it’s bliss, as atman is independent and body mind is an appearance to itself, it is perfect and hence blissful by itself)

God is traditionally described as Existence, consciousness and bliss and by above interpretation of Atman, both are one and the same

The second point touched upon in the verse after Knowledge is Liberation, the logical conclusion of the right knowledge leads to liberation, which freedom from bondage, misery, Liberation completely eradicates misery. A Jeevanmuktha (Liberated while living) does not experience any misery irrespective of any situation that he experience, it is important to note that realization does not take away the Karma that needs to be experienced but rather removes the pain (mind level/ no mind state) associated to it.

Finally, the third point which is spoken here is about renunciation, this is an important quality that one needs to develop for acquiring knowledge about Brahman (God) and obtain Liberation. A person who is attached to world or otherwise enjoyment will never be able to go beyond it as Brahman is beyond all these things, if one wants to attain liberation (beyond all bondages and limitations) can happen only with renunciation and associated qualities

 

 

The Fool Tarot card

The Fool card explained

Initiation and Guru

Initiation is important because when a Guru initiates into mantra, what he effectively does is that he transmits some amount of his energy from his body to another. The receiving person’s conscious mind is cleansed from the impurities. Thereby removes blocks in the mind.

This is important because an uninitiated person will not get this benefit and he must put in more effort to overcome the hurdles by himself by doing more sadhana. He will spend more time to reach the stage what the initiated one has reached.

It is more like giving initial boost to your practice, which coupled by sincere practice makes sadhana fruitful.

Other than this initiation creates a bond between a Guru and student. Where he can regularly get his doubts clarified and move faster as he would get guidance on how to proceed with the sadhana.

The uninitiated person will not get this benefit. Sometimes without proper guidance the person will stop the sadhana even though he is progressing. For example when the meditation becomes intense sometimes we start hearing sound in the ear, this is a good indication and goes away after sometime. But a person does not know this would feel that there is something wrong and its because of meditation this problem arose, thereby stops the practice.

We one is blessed with a realized Guru, one can be assured that he life is protected, as his Guru will advice and help him through his life. But getting such Guru Is rare.

What is emphasized here is that Guru and initiation is important, but if one can't find one, he should not be discouraged and should surrender to God and start the sadhana. Eventually when a practitioner is ready he will get a Guru or will be guided by the Self within.

Only when we take a step forward in spiritual life things will happen, waiting for a Guru without and effort will not help. Always remember our intense longing and personal qualities decide what will happen to us. So have faith in God and proceed.

Subduing Ego

Subduing Ego

I’m the doer of everything, from getting up in the morning to sleeping in the night, all activities that are performed are only done by me, there is no one other than me who is the doer.

I’m the enjoyer of actions and the same person who suffers, I’m attached to worldly pleasures and try to acquire everything to become happier. I suffer as I did not get my desired objects. I’m attached my kids, parents, wife etc, I live with them for my happiness and fight when unhappy.

I’m the doer of everything.

Why am I say this? Why do I feel that I’m the doer, what am I doing and most importantly whom an I that is doing everything? I keep saying to everyone that I’m the doer, I fight with all for my happiness. So, who am I? who is involved in such multitude of emotions and actions.

I think I’m the doer, for example I’m the writer of this article, but at the same time when I think it over, I’m using this body to write this article. So, then who am I, if this body is not me, then who am I?

How can I be the body as I know by direct perception that I’m using the body to write this article, so the body is just an instrument for me to do the action. Therefore, I’m not the body. If I’m not the body, then what am I?

Let me analyse this further, I’m writing this article, so now I know I’m not the body which is writing the article, then I must be the mind who is writing this article. Wow this must be true!
But if I’m the mind, why do I say that my mind is thinking about these thoughts and the body is writing the article on the computer? I don’t know what is happening here. I thought my mind is me, that’s is I’m the mind. But at the same time my intellect is not agreeing with this logic.
How can I be the mind if I say that my mind is writing this article or is coming up these thoughts which are actioned by the body. Based on this I cannot be the mind nor the body. I’m using both the body and mind to get this article out. Then what am I or who am I?

If I’m not the body or mind, then I must be my Ego, I must be the name that is called by others. I think I’m the doer of everything, Ego is what drives me to do this action, without ego I do not exist. Only with ego I know what is happening, I perceive everything, and I know that I’m the doer. Then I’m must the ego otherwise there is nothing left and without ego I’m nothing.

But how I can be the ego, when I’m saying that I’m the ego, who is this I saying that I’m the ego? What!!! This is strange I’m not able to understand this line of questioning within my mind. If I say that I’m the ego everything makes sense, but when I question about my ego. Then nothing makes sense.

Why am I saying it as my Ego instead of me? Why can’t I say that I’m the ego, why do I see ego as an instrument just like the body and mind, which is executing this action of tying?

If I’m saying that my body, my mind and my ego, all these are mine, but they are not me. Its like buying a land/toy etc, the land/toy etc is mine but I’m not the land etc.

So, I’m what I’m which is excluding all these things, I’m neither the body/mind or ego all these are instruments for me to do or not to do anything. I’m independent of these and these instruments are dependent on my existence for its existence.

Then who am I? I’m what I’m. Only when I relinquish all of the above I will know myself and I’m that.

Body/Mind and Ego in Self enquiry

Body/Mind and Ego in Self enquiry

To progress in spirituality, one must enquire about his own self and understand “Who am I? “. This is very important as unless we know who we are then there is no progress spirituality. We should know who we are and what is God and how we are related? Etc.

In Advaita Vedanta to answer this question we have Mahavakyas which encapsulate the entire teachings of Vedanta in to a statement like “Tatvamasi”, “Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi” etc.

We will try to analysis and understand the statement “Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi” here. The phrase consists of two parts one being “Aham” and second part “Brahmāsmi”. What is Aham ? In short it is nothing but Self that is within us. Self is nothing but the Atman. So, the statement clearly says that the Atman within and the universal God (Brahman) are one and the same.

Now you may say that hold on how can you say that I’m Brahman, where the person is always with many imperfections and Brahman is supreme and perfect. So, it is at this stage Self enquiry becomes important.

To discern and understand that I’m Brahman now we will investigate who we (our true nature) are as opposed to our assumed self. When the mahavakya says “I”, it is not referring to the body, mind or the ego which is appears from it. This simply refers to the source of body, mind and ego as we can consciously drop the notion of these and still exist.

If we do a simple exercise now, we can clearly discern that we are not the body as we perceive it, we say this is my hand, leg etc., so the perceiver/observer is different from observed, similarly we can observe the mind undergoing so many thoughts and we say that I have a good thought or bad thought, who is this I that is having good or bad thought? When we understand this, we know that we are neither the body or mind.

So next thing that comes up is the ego, now we will argue that the “I’m” the ego because it is for the ego that everything is done. Or is it really? If I say my name is Deva, I’m identifying myself as Deva and finally say that Deva did everything or doing everything. But stop, here I’m calling myself as Deva, so who is that I calling itself Deva? So again, ego is different from the true “I”. Meaning we neither the body, mind or ego. Then what are we? Is the question that needs to be understood.

After negating everything what is left is “I”, anything that can be imagined or cannot be imagined, anything that exist or does not exist, anything that we perceive or not perceive is not “I” (Brahman), then who am I becomes more confusing as it seems like there is not solution to this problem. For this the answer is simple, who am I is nothing but the witness of all of these and you are that witness, consciousness and bliss [Bliss because the I is everything and there is no second thing other than it, at material level we try to acquire more and more and think that we will be happy, when only Brahman (“I”) exists and there is nothing other than Brahman which is complete, there nothing to acquire, when there is nothing to acquire we are complete and blissful].

Fatty Liver Diet

Below is the diet for stage 2 fatty liver. Nash condition.

No oil, sugar and salt should be used much. 

Waking up	Alo vera Juice + Lemon water	Use Patanjali Alovera – 100 ml only
Green Juice	Celery alone or Celery+ Carrot	Celery has good salts – helps in digestion and joints
Breakfast	Steel cut oats with stevia	Limited use of Stevia
After Breakfast	Eat 2 whole green cardamom	For Fatty liver and Pancreas
Lunch	Veggies  + Rice+ Dhal
Dinner	Veggies + Rice+ Dhal
Greens	Methi, Amaranthus,	Limited use of Palak
Oil	Cold pressed ground nut oil, sunflower oil and Olive oil	Limited use of Desin ghee
Sprouts	All sprouts are good – either cooked or raw
Tea	Can continue hibiscus tea
Nuts	Limited Almonds	No cashew, walnuts and pine nuts
Rice	Brown rice	Use rosemary while cooking rice
Dals	Masoor dhal with chilka Moong dal – especially the kichadi Rajma -for spleen enlargement	Use limited Urad dal and thor dal – they are acidic especially in idly and dosa preparation
Sourness	Use Tamarind – especially Thai Tamarind	Reduce Tomatoes – especially remove the seeds
Veggies	Veggies - Lauki, Karela, BhindI, Lufa Lufa, Cabbage, Cauliflower, beans, carrot, capsicum- all are good. Use sweet potatoes, white pumpkin good	No red pumpkin
Soup	Drumstick soup/Moringa
Fruits to take -	2 Apple, Pomegranate. Limited use of papaya and ½ banana per week if you feel like eating Berries – Straw berries, Amla, Blue berries	No Banana, Pineapple, grapes, mango and sapota ,dates and kishmish
Supplements	B12  and Magnesium	Not to take anything continuously – take and stop for Sometime – Let the body adjust
Juices	Alovera and Pomegranite for Iron in the body - Transferrin

1. – No fruits – no grapes, pineapple( not at all good), no sapota , no banana
2. – Limited papaya
3. Eat Oat meals – rolled – use stevia limited for break fast
4. Limited use of dates
5. Eat apple –2 to 3
6. Drink alovera juice with Lemon jucie – buy Patanjali – to increase transferrin in the body
7. Eat peanuts – ground nut,
8. No cashew- increases cholesterol,
9. No pine nuts, walnuts – use almond – limited
10. Use olive oil, sunflower oil for cooking
11. Moong dal and Whole masoor dal – use regulary
12. Use limited Urad dal and thor dal – they are acidic
13. Eat Rajma for spleen enlargement
14. Eat green cardammon 2 in the morning after break fast
15. Eat brown rice – not red rice.
16. Limited idly and dosa as it has urad dal
17. Limited tomotoes- especially the seeds are not good
18. Use tamarind – The best is Thai tamarind
19. All vegetables – the best is Bhindi,
20. Drink pomegranate juice to increase iron in the body
21. Sprouts are really good
22. Vitamins and Magnesium- take for some time and then give a gap
23. Fruits – eat apple, carrot, watermelon, pomegranate, berries – strawberry, amla, blue berry
24. In greens – Methi is good, Amaranthus is good, Palak is limited
25. Use Brown rice – mix rosemary in rice to reduce startchness
26. Use sweet potatoes, No red pumpkin , white pumpkin good
27. LOKI, KARELA, BHINDI, LUFA LUFA, Cabbage, cauliflower,beans, carrot,capsicum- all are good
28. Soup of drumstick – moringa is good.
29. Mix rosemary with brown rice while cooking to reduce starchiness

Some Mantras

Surya Mantra

OM ghRNiH sUrya Aditya

ॐ घृणि:सूर्य आदित्य

om ghriṇih sūrya āditya

Tara Mantra

OM tAre tutAre ture svahA

ॐ तारे तुतारे तुरे स्वहा

om tāre tutāre ture svahā

 More will be posted