BE HAPPY AND FREE FOREVER

Ashtavakra Gita, a dialogue between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka, emphasises that true freedom comes from detaching oneself from the material world and its transient nature. It addresses those seeking direct, non-dual insight into Absolute Truth. Sage Ashtavakra's teachings articulate the fundamental principles of the exclusivity of Jnana marg (path of knowledge), Advaitavada (non-duality), Atma-vichara (self-enquiry), Atma-sakshatkara (self-realisation), Santosha (contentment), Karuna (compassion), Arjava (simplicity and straightforwardness), Satyatvam (truthfulness) and Kshama (forgiveness), aiming to illuminate the intricate nature of the essentiality of our existence as one inseparable from Absolute Existence. It is the way to be happy and free forever. Ashtavakra Gita says and insists that you are nothing but Atman, or self of yours only. Recognise that you have your own identity, one with Cosmic Self or Brahman and nothing more or less. You are pure awareness; live as you please, bereft of any other transient identity or phenomenal dimension of names or forms. There is only one reality, Atman, or Self, and the external world is not something separate but an unmanifest manifestation of this oneness of inseparability, imperishability and eternity. The Upanishadic aphorisms are succinctly put as "Vijnanam Anandam Brahma", or Knowledge, Bliss, and Brahman, a concise statement by Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.9.28). Taittirya Upaniṣad (2.1.1) tersely expresses it as Satyam-Jñānam-Anantam Brahma, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity. In a similar vein, Tejobindu Upanishad (3.11) echoes as Sat-Chit-Anand, or Existence-Conscious-Bliss. This Self, Ashtavakra Gita declares, is our true nature that is unbounded freedom, beyond the limitations of the body, mind, and phenomenal identities. It focuses on the single, direct path of knowledge and non-dual insight into the nature of reality. It calls for a complete transcendence of the world.

1. Outline 

The world only arises from ignorance, proclaims Ashtavakra Gita (15.16-17). You alone are real. Your self is pure awareness, and no one, not even God, is separate from it. The world is an illusion, nothing more. When you understand this fully, desire falls away. You find peace. Indeed, nothing exists. You are not your body. Your body is not you. You are not the doer. You are not the enjoyer. You are pure awareness, the witness of all things. You are without expectation, Free. You are pure awareness. Distinctions like "this is me" or "this is not me" vanish when you are established in pure consciousness. If you wish to be free, pronounce Ashtavakra Gita (1.3-4) and know you are Atman, or Self only, the witness of all these, the heart of awareness. Set your body aside. Sit in your awareness. You will at once be happy, forever still, forever free. It says, 'Know you are one, pure awareness.' You are what you think. Atman looks like the world. But this is an illusion. Atman is an omnipresent, effulgent, imperishable entity that embodies pure awareness and serves as the witness consciousness. It is one, still, free. It is perfect, free from action, clinging, or desire (Ashtavakra Gita, 1.9-12). You are nothing but Atman; your true Self rests in detachment, desirelessness, uncaused and beyond the phenomenal conditioning and limitations (Ashtavakra Gita 15.4-15). Therefore, you exist within everything you observe. You alone. Bracelets, bangles, and anklets are all made of the same gold. Distinctions evaporate and identification establishes, like "I am not this,” but “I am He.” Know that everything is Atman. Rid yourself of all purposes and be contented. Wherever you go, be happy! Desire and aversion are of the mind. The mind is never yours. You are free of its turmoil. You are awareness itself, never changing. Wherever you go, be joyful (Ashtavakra Gita, 15.4-5). My nature is light, nothing but light. When the world arises, I alone am shining (Ashtavakra Gita, 2.8). I am not the body, nor is the body mine, nor am I separate, but I am awareness itself, bound only by my thirst for life (Ashtavakra Gita, 2.22). Knowing yourself as That in which the worlds rise and fall like waves in the ocean, why do you run about so wretchedly? For have you not heard? You are pure awareness, and your beauty is infinite! So why let lust mislead you? The wise man knows himself in all things and all things in himself. Yet how strange! He still says, "This is mine.” (Ashtavakra Gita, 3.3-5). The wise man knows the Self, and he plays the game of life. However, the fool endures life as a burdensome beast (Ashtavakra Gita, 4.1). You are pure. Nothing touches you. What is there to renounce? Let it all go, the body and the mind. Let yourself dissolve. Like bubbles in the sea, all the worlds arise in you. Know you are the Self. Know that you are one. Let yourself dissolve. You are one and the same. You are united in both joy and sorrow, hope and despair, and life and death. You are already fulfilled. Let yourself dissolve (Ashtavakra Gita, 5.1-5). 

I am the ocean. All the worlds are like waves. This is the truth. Nothing to hold on to, nothing to let go of, nothing to dissolve (Ashtavakra Gita, 6.2). When the mind is attracted to anything it senses, you are bound. When there is no attraction, you are free (Ashtavakra Gita, 8.3). Nothing lasts. Nothing is real. It is all suffering, threefold affliction! It is all beneath contempt. Know this. Give it up. Be still (Ashtavakra Gita, 9.3). All things arise, suffer changes, and pass away. This is their nature. When you know this, nothing perturbs you; nothing hurts you. You become still. It is easy. God made all things. There is only God. When you know this, desire melts away. Clinging to nothing, you become still. Sooner or later, fortune or misfortune may befall you. When you know this, you desire nothing, and you grieve for nothing. Subduing the senses, you are happy (Ashtavakra Gita, 11.1-3). The world with all its wonders is nothing. When you know this, desire melts away. For you are awareness itself. When you know in your heart that there is nothing, you are still and tranquil, says Ashtavakra Gita (11.8). I am detached from desires, action, and thought itself. Now I am here. Meditation is needed. Only when the mind is distracted This distraction is caused by false imagination. Knowing this, I am here. (Ashtavakra Gita, 12.1-3). The mind is never yours. You are free of its turmoil. You are awareness itself, never changing. Wherever you go, be happy. In you the world arises like waves in the sea. It is true! You are awareness itself. So free yourself from the desire and aversion of the mind and the fever of the world. You are the infinite sea in which all the worlds, like waves, naturally rise and fall. You have nothing to win, nothing to lose (Ashtavakra Gita, 15.5-11).

2. Scriptures 

 The Scriptures articulate very concisely and bluntly, as well as aphoristically, that you are Atman, or Self, ever pure, eternal, infinite, effulgent, unattached, and without any name or form. You are happy and free forever, as your identity is Atman, or Self, one with Brahman, or Supreme Self. Your existence is Absolute, your reality is Ultimate, and your journey is beginningless; your end is infinity, and you are complete in every respect. You need to recognise and be aware of it. You are not this, not that, implying Self is not an object but rather beyond all ascriptions, descriptions, titles, forms, identifications, or any limitations (Brihadaranyak Upanishad, 2.3.6). The same is articulated in Ashtavakra Gita (1.12-19). You are Self—the solitary Witness. You are perfect, all-pervading, One. You are free, desireless, forever still. The universe is but a feeling within You. Meditate on this: “I am Awareness alone—Unity itself.” Give up the idea that you are a separate person and that there is something within and without. You have long been bound, thinking, “I am a person.” Let the knowledge, “I am Awareness alone,” be the sword that frees you. You are now and forever free, luminous, transparent, still. The practice of meditation keeps one in bondage. You are pure consciousness—the substance of the universe. The universe exists within you. Don’t be small-minded. You are unconditioned, changeless, and formless. You are solid, unfathomable, cool. Desire nothing. You are consciousness. That which has form is not real. Only the formless is permanent. Once this is known, you will not return to illusion.

3. Remarks 

Sage Ashtavakra establishes that you are your Self only. You need only to recognise that and establish yourself in pure consciousness and awareness as enduring happiness and freedom for humanity. Sage Ashtavakra (Ashtavakra Gita, 1.4-9) set in motion consciousness and pure awareness as lasting happiness and freedom for mankind. As he teaches that lasting happiness and freedom come not from acquiring or striving, but from the recognition that you are already boundless, pure consciousness. The path to this realisation involves releasing your identification with the body-mind complex and the phenomenal world, revealing your true nature as the eternal and blissful Self. Set your body aside. Sit in your own awareness. You will at once be happy, forever still, forever free. Know you are One, pure awareness. He says it is thinking that makes one happy and free when one recognises oneself as pure awareness only; otherwise, one is in bondage or chains.

-Asutosh Satpathy