Meditations on the Astavakra Gita Part 1
How Advaita addresses the root of our existential hunger.
The 18th chapter of the Ashtavakra Gita describes in vivid detail the qualities of a Master, a knower of the Self in its pure, limitless form. This is different from the qualities of a Stithaprajna, a steadied man as per the Bhagavad Gita, in the sense that the Gita harmonizes multiple paths (Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, etc.) within Herself. The Gita is thought of as Mother, just like the river Ganga is thought of as Mother. Thus, the Master according to the Gita will embody a sweet confluence of many seemingly contradictory qualities, representing a truly great human being. That is a subject I may write about another time. For now, I want to focus on the epitome of Jnana, the Knowledge path, and the qualities of such a One.
It is a great joy to read and dwell on scriptures that have come down to us through Indian (i.e Hindu) sages, for they are known for their unique universal perspective, their deep sense of intimacy, and their optimistic push for everyone to attain a state beyond suffering.
I have yet to find another body of text where we are encouraged to attain freedom while living a life suited for the modern world. As otherwise, most scriptures tend to be highly allegorical or theological. If you wish to gain the higher qualities of life, qualities through which you can enjoy a deep sense of existential freedom while living in the modern world, you are often asked either to believe in a set of dogmas situated in a distant past, or to follow a list of do’s and don’ts. But does that solve the inner existential hunger we all feel? I am not sure it does.
In my experience, only knowledge-based scriptures such as the Ashtavakra Gita, the Mandukya Upanishad, and, more broadly as a practical manual, the Bhagavad Gita, form a triad that has given me a taste of eternity. They have grounded me in solutions to questions that once kept me awake at night, questions I believe everyone must feel in their deepest beings, questions which came to me rather early in life.
Finding no answers in society at large, not through friends, professors of religion, or scientific enquiry, I eventually, through repeated searching, came to two stalwart sages of modern India. Their teachings gave me a foundation for understanding the human condition and helped me resolve the deep unrest I once felt. Now I try to articulate these findings here so others might also benefit, or at least find a way to address these questions. The answers, I believe, are not rooted in the material civilization of the West, but in the spiritual foundations of India and her sages.
Alright, enough of the build-up. Let us dive into some pristine Advaita and dwell there for as long as we can. I have come to see this too as a muscle, just like the ones we build in the gym.
First and foremost, saints such as Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi are living proof of the Upanishads, which tell us again and again that we are, in essence, Divine beings. All Indian saints are manifestations of the principles laid down in the Upanishads, examples of what happens when such knowledge ripens. The first thing that happens when we study their lives is a sudden clarity about the point of this long-drawn existence. At the surface, life can feel confusing. We are told to spend our youth in school, then more years in college, only to work for a company or business so we can earn our bread. Some well-meaning voices tell us to become entrepreneurs so that we have no boss, more control, and more freedom. Others urge us to serve the nation, contribute to GDP growth, be ethical and kind, and be good consumers.
None of this is wrong. There is truth in all of it. But all this is relative tweaking; it is not the solution to the real problem. I see videos of people leaving their 9-to-5 jobs calling them a trap, and then building YouTube channels in the name of freedom. Maybe they have avoided the numbness of corporate life, and now they have the freedom to choose what rabbit hole to dive into for a video. But soon enough, this too can start to feel like a job. I hope it does not for them, that the honeymoon period lasts for life and that they can make enough to stay afloat. There is nothing wrong with that either.
What I am saying is that all these tweaks are immaterial when seen from the standpoint of our true existential thirst. If that thirst is not quenched, the same morbid banality of life will return, given enough time. The only solution then seems to be to find flaws in the current way and try something new. But is that a real solution, or just a band-aid over a problem we have not truly understood?
Let us then face the common existential problem that all of us share, which is death. I am sorry if I have disturbed any hope of physical immortality, but what I mean is that we are actually Immortal, not in terms of the body, but in terms of our real nature, our essence, which the Upanishads call the Self, or Atman. This Self is the true nature of all of us. It is simply hidden, and there is a process to uncover it, called sadhana.
The natural next question is: what is the outcome of such practice?
The answer is pure, unalloyed bliss, not in a personal sense, but as a deep joy that radiates from within and touches everyone in your sphere. This state is called JivanMukti, liberation while living. Once understood and seen in living examples, this knowledge can completely free us from our deep-seated existential fears.
The two examples I mentioned, Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi, were born in different parts of India, separated by only a few decades. Their legacy is such that anyone who came into contact with them realized they were not ordinary beings, but ones entirely established in Self-Knowledge. Their influence was so profound that one gave rise to a monastic order and the other to a great ashrama and a doting set of devotees.
When I began my own questions along existential lines, I found, through the grace of the internet and the fact of living in New York, a connection to ardent followers of both saints. Over the past seven or eight years, I have enjoyed their company deeply. In the process, my “I” has been churned so that more of the blissful Self shines through, and less of the ego remains. I cannot claim to be fully established in the Immortal Self. Indeed, no one can truly claim that, for even to make the claim requires the ego. Rather, I write here simply so that whatever benefit I have received may be shared wholeheartedly with other seekers of truth, wherever they are in their journey.
Alright, back to my original point, which was to dwell more on chapter 18 of the Astavakra Gita. It has 100 verses in total, which is quite a lot, so perhaps the best approach is to start with a few verses at a time and offer a free explanation of them. These verses, even if read without any explanation, can have a profound effect on you, the reader, since the premise of the discussion is nothing but Us—our Real Nature!.
My personal, selfish reason for writing a free-flowing commentary on these verses is that it allows me to spend more time with the elixir-like words of this chapter, and to soak in more of the clean, purifying waters of Advaita. Let’s begin.
The specific English translation I am using here is by Thomas Byrom, from the book The Heart of Awareness. Swami Sarvapriyananda, one of the best teachers of Advaita in my view in this age, recommends this translation for its modern interpretation, clarity, and refusal to be bogged down by overly strict literary correctness—while still maintaining a natural, enjoyable flow in the English language.
Ch - 18 | The Master
Love your true Self,
Which is naturally happy
And peaceful and bright!
Awaken to your own true nature,
And all delusion melts like a dream.
The first verse starts with the statement “The Master loves himself”. What does this mean?
A novice student of Vedanta would think that this teaching is promoting self love in the most banal sense, that is - take a selfie, post in Instagram stating that you are focusing on self-love these days and generate some sort of self-appreciation through this method.
No!
Immediately, the first correction here that should happen to a mature student of Advaita is that the true Self is impersonal. Thus, this statement doesn’t mean—say my name is Adam, and if I have attained Knowledge of my True Self—then “Adam” starts loving himself as a person.
No!
The moment Adam became Self-Realized, and thus indirectly the Master, what happens is that the being who was appropriating himself as Adam no longer (or for the want of a better term - loosely) associates itself with the name and form of Adam anymore.
So the statement “Master loves his true Self”, means that the Master has disassociated from the name and form of Adam, knowing it is just a mask, a mere idea on top of the “naturally happy, peaceful, and bright True Self ”. Rather, Adam now associates firmly with the True Self first and then the name and form of “Adam.”
The last two lines of this verse directly ask the reader to awaken to their true nature, just like Adam did above. Adam realized he is not this person “Adam” who was born in such and such a place, was born to such and such parents, had a terrible childhood because of the breaking apart of his parents while growing up, and had reasonably good high school years but was socially inept (alright, I am just making this up, but this is a story I hear from a lot of posts on Substack. I hope you get the idea here.).
This whole life story is of Adam, and not You! This is true awakening, and this is what Astavakra is asking you and me to make: this leap from the gross association with the body and mind, the personality, and the banality of everyday life to the love of our True Self, which is naturally Happy.
Now without knowing or understanding the above process, people try to fix their lives by throwing bandaid solutions to their inner hunger. It could mean doing anything from getting married to gain happiness, or getting divorced later again to gain some happiness, or begetting children to have a family life, or running away from the 9–5 to build a solopreneur job, or become an entrepreneur to boost up the economy etc. You see—the list goes on and on. These solutions are at the level of the personality of Adam which is completely alright depending on the stage/situation one is in, but the thing to note is that these are not existential solutions or rather there are no true solutions available at this level for questions which are much deeper.
The solutions mentioned here will fulfill certain needs and urges of that stage in life. Though, however much a person tries to solve existential problems through such acts, one is bound to come to a dead end soon. And why is this the case?
Because this level, the level of personality, is a mere dream and technically has no relation to our Infinite Nature, which is the True Self—the precious treasure that sages such as Maharishi Ramana and Sri Ramakrishna, and the Upanishads, and the Astavakra never get tired of speaking about! The True Self is hiding in plain sight, and the process of discovering our Real Self and slowly, loosely dissociating from the regular, personality-driven self is the mark of the churning of “I.”
And thus, the master cherishes his True Self—naturally happy, peaceful, and radiant. Having awakened to his True Nature, all delusions have dissolved like a dream. He has stepped free from the tangle of notions that once bound him. For such a one, the problems of personality are not ultimately real. This knowledge changes everything. It grants a deep freedom, allowing one to live fully, whatever the shape of life may be in that moment. This is the promise of Advaita: that is freedom while living.
Let’s take a break now. We can start with the next set of verses in the next post. This is a lot for a single post given I do feel the most important section has been covered in some details. Worth sitting with this for some time before we start again!