SELF- WITNESS TO ALL

If you detach yourself from the body and abide in consciousness you will at once become happy, peaceful and free from bondage.

Meditation is a method of withdrawing ourselves from our gross, subtle and causal bodies and abide ourselves in consciousness.

Astavakra, Sankaracharya and other like minded saints declare that the realization of the self is possible even when a saint lives in his body and functions like any other mortal. This is known as jeevan mukti.

According to Yoga Vashishtha in case, renouncing all, without any vasanas, you can stay, then right now you have attained liberation. Astavakra Gita lays the foundation and indicates the path that expounds infinite oneness and the theory of non creation of the universe.

If we possess wealth it is okay, but if the wealth possesses us then it is wrong.    

If we enjoy good food it is okay but if the food starts enjoying us then nit is wrong.

Similarly if we control our body then it is okay but if the body begins to control us then it is wrong.

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SELF- WITNESS TO ALL

One should realize that he or she is not the gross, subtle or causal body. He or she is the embodiment of the pure consciousness which is actually a witness to all these bodies made of ether, air, fire, water, earth, senses, mind, intelligence and false ego. The subtle and causal bodies function through the gross body that is made of the five gross elements. The residual vasanas in each one of us swell up to express and exhaust themselves. A vasana sprouts first as a desire disturbance in the intellect which in the mental zone produces thought disturbances and they in turn precipitate at the body level as the exhausting activities of the individual in the society. The gross and subtle equipments of one’s existing vasanas are fabricated by the nature out of these five great elements. Once the vasanas have been exhausted the gross and subtle bodies do not have any function and the individualized ego sense awakes itself to rediscover as the pur infinite consciousness the self.

To complete the process of negation of our gross and subtle bodies, a positive assertion of our spiritual nature is necessary. In order to liberate oneself from the delusory sorrows of the body and of the mind one should learn to experience the self within.

Just like the sunlight illuminates the objects in a room, the consciousness within us illuminates our experiences through our gross, subtle and causal bodies. Similarly just as the sunlight does not get involved with what it illuminates, the consciousness within us is unattached to all these experiences. This relation less-relationship between the self and the bodies is emphasized to help the student of self realization to meditate on his self. When through meditation the student withdraws himself from these bodies, in the resulting inward stillness all these vasanas get burnt up, uplifting the student into the plain of the pure consciousness itself.

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SELF- WITNESS TO ALL

When one aspires for liberation, he should reject all sense objects as poison and seek forgiveness, straight forwardness, cheerfulness, kindness and truth as nectar.

In other words all matters that relax the mind should be cultivated and all that agitate it should be avoided. We are surrounded by sense objects and we should exercise our discretion to reject them. Besides this the mind should also be guarded against its own innate and inherent sensuality by inculcating the healthier values of life and by reeducating the wayward mind. These healthy values are forgiveness, straight forwardness, cheerfulness, kindness and truth.

The sense of angry vindictiveness  brings endless disturbances to the mind. Whereas when we forgive those who have wronged us, we at once become happy and peaceful.

 Similarly crookedness in our relationship with others brings unnecessary tension but straightforwardness gives peace.

Kindness and cheerfulness bring poise and grandeur to the mind.

And finally truthfulness or intellectual honest is a prerequisite for any form of spiritualism.

Spiritual development and higher meditation are possible only in an integrated 

inner personality.

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                      SELF- WITNESS TO ALL

According to Astavakra the pure effulgent self is ever unattached and it is a peaceful all knowing witness of all that is happening in all the creatures. It is the one supreme and eternal God, the Brahman, the ultimate reality. This one universal consciousness supreme which is the substratum for the changing world of phenomena should be realized through the practice of meditation till we rise above the misconception that we are the limited ego- the self reflected in our thoughts.

In the dim light of the dusk, the long post may look like a ghost. But this vision of the ghost is a mistake of the seer and not of the post. Similarly due to the deluded vision of a human being, a universe is visualized. But in reality there is only one all pervading pure effulgent self. In other words the ignorance of the self gives birth to the sense of duality just like the ignorance of the post gives birth to the ghost. Ignorance is a combination of non apprehension of reality and misapprehension of the self. And knowledge is the antidote for ignorance.

As long as the individual recognizes this world of objects, emotions and thoughts through is gross, subtle and causal body, he can not escape his sense of limitations and his experience s of suffocating sorrows. Only when one liberates himself from his identification with his body and his ego, will he realize his infinite divine status.

Attachment springs forth from ignorance and detachment springs forth from knowledge.

                                       

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SELF REALIZATION

The Astavakra Gita systematically deals with the mystical experiences of an 

individual in his flight towards transcendental peace and b.liss. The subtle philosophical truths are expounded in the form of a lucid dialogue between the Raja Rishi or King Seer Janaka as the disciple and Astavakra as the teacher. The thoughts of this Gita are compatible with the “Dialoues of Pluto” and “The Bhagavad Gita” as all of them truthfully record the universal insight and the spiritual experiences which a seeker gathers during moments of intense meditation.

Like in the Holy Gita here too the teacher constantly directs the entire attention of the student towards the spiritual reality behind life and its expressions.     

As an unrelenting non dualist rooted in the vivid experience of the transcendental spiritual oneness, Saint Astavakra completely rejects the worlds of objects, emotions and thoughts perceived through the delusory body, mind and intellect. As such he totally rejects the principle of Maya.

According to Astavakra there is no ego(Jiva), no creator(Isvara) no delusion (Maya) and no universe(Jagat).

There is only one infinite consciousness – The Self.

According to Astavakra there is only one goal to be aspired for and reached, and that is self knowledge through direct mystical intuition- Vijnana.

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