Janki Parikh - 29 Sept

The Song of the Avadhuta

Translated by

Janki Parikh

ISBN 978-981-09-7112-0

Copyright 2015 Janki Parikh

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

Publisher contact:

www.jankiparikh.com

Contents

The Avadhuta Gita is a majestically lofty masterpiece of an Advaitic Sanskrit song as ancient as it is lyrically eloquent, as profound as it is elevating, as undeniably compelling as it is sublime!

Advaita Explained

Who or what is God? Would you be surprised to know that in spite of reference to thousands of gods in Hinduism, the highest and final conception of God is not a figure with multiple heads and a thousand arms bearing weapons, it is not Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva or their avatars, it is not even a He or a She! God in the highest sense of the term is a formless, genderless, inanimate principle! God is, in fact, the Supreme Universal Principle, or the Ultimate Universal Reality. In other words, God is Brahman , also known as the Absolute, the One Universal Consciousness, Supreme Reality, Sat-Chit - Ananda (Truth, Consciousness-Bliss). Brahman is the all-pervasive, infinite, unchangeable, indestructible, eternal Reality, the single binding unity behind all the diversity that seems to exist in the universe.

If God is Brahman, then who are you? The other major metaphysical concept in Hinduism is Atman , or the Self. Narrowly seen, Atman may be taken to mean the individual soul, but in Hindu Vedanta, Atman is the very foundation, the first principle, the essence of an individual, the true Self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena.

Advaita ( not-two in Sanskrit) refers to the recognition that the true Self, Atman, is the same as the highest Reality, or Brahman.

Advaita posits everything there is, is Brahman, and nothing but Brahman. (Brahmaiva Kevalam Sarvam.) And this Brahman is the same as Atman, or the Self. There is no difference between Brahman and Atman, and no real existence of, or division amongst the myriad characters, objects, emotions, ideas, places and concepts that make up the universe. All these things that seem to exist separately, are in fact, illusions that are spontaneously but very temporarily projected within Brahman. All projections ultimately end, what remains is always Brahman never-ending, eternal, imperishable, all-pervading, all-knowing, supreme, always pure, always beyond all forms and dualities!

The three principle source texts of Hindu Vedanta the Upanishads, the Gita and the Brahma Sutras all present Advaita as their central, unifying philosophy in multi-faceted ways. For example, the bold, audacious, supreme spiritual philosophy of Advaita is characterized in several Mahavakyas , or the Great Sayings of the Upanishads

Aham Brahmasmi I am Brahman (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad of the Yajurveda)

Prajnanam Brahma Consciousness is Brahman (Aitareya Upanishad of the Rigveda)

Tat Tvam Asi Thou art That (Chandogya Upanishad of the Samaveda)

Ayam Atma Brahma This Atman is Brahman (Mandukya Upanishad of the Atharvaveda)

So ham I am That (Isha Upanishad of the Yajurveda)

The idea of the non-duality of Atman and Brahman is the very fabric and the soul of Vedanta, and it has been expressed in myriad ways for thousands of years!

The Goal of Life and the Process

According to Vedanta, realization of the absolute oneness of Atman and Brahman through direct, independent, cognitive experience (Anubhuti) is the final goal of all human life, the climax of mans spiritual evolution! This self-realization is what leads to Moksha (liberation), it is what frees mankind from rebirth, karma, misery and every kind of bondage, and leads man to eternal bliss.

How does one achieve independent self-realization?

The thousands of Hindu scriptures that are available talk about very scientific, logical, rational, sequential methods of achieving self-realization. Though not necessarily written by those who have direct experiential awareness, these writings serve the noblest purpose of making Brahman or God available to mankind

BUT THEN

There are those writings that flower (I cannot think of any other word but flower ) straight from the writers direct experience of the truth, from his own blissful awareness of Advaita or Non-Duality! And how tremendous the difference between these writings and those based on logic and process! What a wonderful taste of bliss these give us! What a glorious, uplifting glimpse into the realms of the writers exalted state!

The Avadhuta Gita

The Avadhuta Gita is not only a text flowering from the writers direct experience it is the most beautiful, the most profoundly poetic piece of Sanskrit writing I have ever come across! The sheer qualitative height of its Sanskrit vocabulary is matched only by the depth of the ideas it expresses; the final result is eloquent Sanskrit poetry that rolls off the tongue like butter, depositing deep within the reader a powerful series of ideas that are unbelievably rich, lofty, uplifting, freeing, ecstatic, blissful, FINAL!

The Avadhuta Gita is the attempt of an illumined, self-realized sage to describe in words the indescribable experience of the realization of Brahman! His name is Dattatreya, but he calls himself an Avadhuta one who has seen the truth of the Self-as-Brahman, as a consequence of which, the world has fallen away from him. Imagine the state of the one who is alive in this world but free of all its bondage! He lives in bliss and laughs in bliss, with not even a scrap to call his own! He needs nothing from this world, because he is Brahman! He is ever-eternal, unchanging, ever-blissful, abundant, supreme Reality! He is Absolute Universal Consciousness what can he need from this flimsy, insubstantial world?

I hope you really enjoy immersing yourself into this beautiful song, which is so powerful that even a few lines are enough to give you a taste of the nectar of life lived as Brahman! Read the rest at your own risk there is no coming back from the Avadhutas path of freedom and bliss!

Indeed, it is by the grace of God that the understanding of non-duality arises in man, and rescues him from the great fear of birth and death! ||1-1||

Everything that is, is filled by the Self, and nothing but the Self. How then, do I worship that formless, undivided and limitless Shiva? ||1-2||

The five elements of which this universe is composed are illusory like water in a mirage. To whom then, shall I bow? I myself am that stainless one! ||1-3||

The Self alone is everything, it does not know division or unity. How then, can I say whether it exists or not? I can only gaze at it with wonder! ||1-4||

The final essence of all Vedas, all knowledge and all wisdom is only this I am the formless Self, all-pervading by my very nature! ||1-5||

That God which comprises everything there is, who is undivided like the sky, who is pure and now that the Self is continuous, one, infinite, everywhere. I am the seeker, but I am also the object sought. Where then, is the division in this one unbroken whole? ||1-12||

You are neither born nor do you die, nor are you ever the body! It is well-known that Everything is Brahman. The scriptures have stated this often. ||1-13||

You are that which is both outside and inside, you are Shiva, eternal and all-pervading. Why then, do you run here and there, wandering around like a ghost? ||1-14||

There is no union or separation for me or for you. There is no you, no me, no world! There is only the Self everywhere! ||1-15||