Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

There is a very good book called Ashtavakra Samhita. It is also called Ashtavakra Gita. I think it consists of about 24 chapters. It is a very pointed, poignant text. In very few letters and words, it sets forth quite a number of truths about life, about the world, about the human individual, about seeking, what is liberation, everything. Whenever you call any writing as ‘Samhita’, it is literally translated as compendium in English, it will be a full and comprehensive text on the subject it deals with. I think Ashtavakra Samhita is one such. It is in the form of a dialogue between king Janaka and Sage Ashtavakra.

Ashtavakra had eight bends on his body. So you can imagine how he will walk. Janaka had an enlightened, reputed assembly of advisers. Once the king was sitting along with the advisers in his assembly hall. Our sages particularly depending upon their loftiness and self-derived greatness exercise the freedom to go the King. Sage Ashtavakra must have gone to King Janaka without informing him even and then that too when the royal assembly was in session.

When he was approaching the assembly and he had entered within the assembly hall, naturally every one of the pundits and scholars constituting the assembly would have noticed him and he must have been walking with so many bends, very difficult and very rare to see. So the entire assembly burst into laughter seeing his gait. That was alright. It is natural for many people when they see something like a strange figure, they feel like laughing. First of all, it is not in them; it is in somebody else. So they feel, “I am not deformed like this but another person.” That much is okay.

The King was observing how the assembly was treating the arrival of Sage Ashtavakra. But Ashtavakra also burst into greater laughter. That was very unusual. Generally, when people laugh at you, you get angry, become irritated and maybe you shout. But here, Ashtavakra started laughing with greater humor. That made the King get up from his seat, greet him and ask him, “I can understand my assembly laughing together at your arrival because of your form, the gait they have not seen earlier. So whenever when they see something strange and attractive, the tendency is to laugh. But why is it that you laughed? I am not able to understand. Please enlighten me.”

Then Sage Ashtavakra told him, “I have heard that you are a great King and the assembly of people who advise you must be actually greater than you. So it is a very reputed assembly. When I entered the assembly with a view to approach you, all of them together burst into laughter; they did not offer any words of welcome, they did not stand up. They should have had the good sense to know that nobody would easily get into the assembly hall of a King when it is in full session unless one has the confidence and the greatness to do so. So they had no time to think anything about the person inside the bent body. They started bursting into laughter.”

“So I was wondering, after all, what did they see? My body. It is not shaped by me. When I was born, I had these bends and I am not responsible for it; I have not owned it. Everyone of your assembly has got a body like me at birth. It is not shaped by any one of them. So as is their body, so is my body. If theirs is regular, mine is irregular. They must have understood the handicraft of nature. And if at all, they must have wondered why nature makes this so. Instead of that, in derision they started laughing. So I am wondering how foolish your assembly is. They cannot understand the complexity of nature and they only have derision to greet a person like me with. And you are a great King who is acting on the advice of these fools. So I am wondering how will your advice be and how will your rule be. So I pity you and I pity your assembly. That is why I laughed.”

It was too much for Janaka to hear and understand. Instantly he acknowledged the meaning and depth of what Sage Ashtavakra said, fell at his feet and decided, “I will learn from this Sage”.

Janaka asks him a question. The question was on spiritual wisdom. If you list the whole knowledge available in the world for man, all knowledge will be inferior and spiritual knowledge will be at the head of everything. It is called the knowledge of the subject and all other knowledge which you get from the academic and professional centers is knowledge of the object. It is something like this, a very huge circle. In the circle, all are made up of points, the circumference, the space in between, inside, but there is one point there which stands distinctly, that is the centre. It is from the centre that the circle is drawn. The centre is inward to the circle and the circle is external and outward to the centre. But without the centre, the circle can never be. In the same manner, if you treat the world as a circle, then the centre of it is the subject. The knowledge about that centre, how it gives rise to the circle and how it remains controlling the circle, this knowledge is called spiritual knowledge, the subject knowledge.

The centre is always inward, subjective to the circle. Our body is an outward, gross form. The centre is within our body and that centre is the centre of the whole universe. It’s a concentric centre. The knowledge about the subject and centre is called spiritual knowledge. Therefore, it becomes the great, the last and the ultimate. So Janaka asked Ashtavakra, ”Katham jñānam avāpnoti”? How can this knowledge be gained? “Katham mukthir bhavishyati”? How can liberation and freedom be acquired? “Vairāgyam cha katham prāptam”? How can dispassion be cultivated, developed or gained? “Please tell me”. So Sage Ashtavakra started answering him.

If you want liberation which you are enquiring about, jñāna for that, then keep away from the objects of the world. Let your interest be centrally and wholly in your own inwardness. This means you should cultivate a set of qualities. And the qualities are Kshama, ārjava, daya, tosha and satyam. Kshama - Tolerance and patience, ārjava - straightforwardness and sincerity, daya - compassion, tosha - contentment, satya – truthfulness. Cultivate these five virtues as if they are nectar and all other things you dislike like poison.

Mā was suggesting that I should talk to you on sincerity. When I read Ashtavakra Samhita in Calcutta many many years back and read this verse, the word ārjava, straightforwardness, whatever you have, you speak and divulge it. Don’t twist and turn, let there be no corruption in your heart. Why this ārjava is listed as a qualification for getting liberation? Liberation is very high attainment and that is spiritual. But he says ārjava. We speak about ārjava, sincerity and straightforwardness in common parlance. So it is listed here. That means it is paramount, it’s very great. Is it so? Is ārjava very rare to find? This is the reaction I had in my mind. Nevertheless, I took it to my heart, started reflecting upon it and what I felt then I have been speaking to people.

Whenever I introduce the word ārjava, I used to speak about it in this manner. I think sincerity and straightforwardness go together. They are the same. But that sincerity cannot be one-sided. I am very sincere in what I do. Understand that others also are sincere in what they do. The thief is very sincere in thieving and he wants to do it honestly, efficiently, sincerely, wholeheartedly and in a masterly manner. The only point is he is thieving; you are doing something else.

I had always a problem in my younger age especially when I was working. Whenever anybody spoke untruthfully, I was not able to tolerate; my blood would boil. But what can I do? Others are speaking like that. I cannot sit inside their heart and turn. Very soon I came to know that as I am sincere in what I am doing, they are sincere in what they are doing. Sincerity is not a prerogative of myself. It is equally the selection and prerogative of others. Everybody is doing what he likes, what he wants to do and he is quite sincere and earnest about it. If I start allowing this sincerity of others, it may be misdirected, I think I will feel much better. So as I am right, they are right in their own way. Right from then on, I don’t remember when, in all my interactions with others whenever I am speaking and others are countering or speaking something from themselves from their own side, I always felt tolerant and receptive about it.

Whenever somebody says something, I don’t discount it, I don’t disapprove of it. Why are they doing so? So I am prepared to place what they say on one side of my heart and I have my view or my position on the other side. So that intolerance was not there in me. This is something very important. As you are, so are others. As you want a place in this world, others also want a place. Either coexist or co-destroy. So sincerity cannot be one-sided, selfish. The same sincerity you should appreciate on the others also.

Rama was very sincere in abandoning Sita and Valmiki was very sincere in adopting her. As soon as the disciples reported to him that “A good-looking woman, apparently pregnant is crying just outside the entry of our cottage”, Valmiki went there and said, “My dear daughter, I don’t blame your husband who must have abandoned you and I don’t blame you because you have been abandoned. Don’t worry. I shall arrange for your pregnancy and maternity care through my householder disciples, don’t worry” and simply accepted. That was what Rama inwardly wanted also.

So Rama was sincere in abandoning. Rama’s abandonment and Valmiki’s patronage, can you weigh these two in your minds and tell me which was superior in sincerity? This Valmiki was a person who had abandoned his wife and children and now he decided to have another daughter. So should he have accepted her or should he have gone back and accepted the wife and children? Questions can be raised. I think sincerity can never be one-sided. It is multi-faced.

A sincere person will accept the world as sincere. India has so many mistakes, so many lacks, so many defects, but still I love this country called India. For me, India is very dear and my dearness makes her beautiful to me. But she has so many defects. Will you ever say looking at your mother, “My dear mother, you are ugly. I would have preferred to have another mother, not you.”?

We have so many wrongs, so many defects. But still this is our country. I think my sincerity makes me love India in spite of all the defects. To provide a check and a balance for my sincere approach, I have spiritual knowledge also which makes me tolerant, which makes me patient, which makes me understand the imperfections and be in harmony with them. I think sincerity can be stretched to any extent and you can define it, define it and define it. So one point that I wanted to stress is don’t think that sincerity only belongs to you. Others also are sincere.

Very recently we find many judgments of the High Court are invalidated by the Supreme Court. Recently we had an agitation by the SC/ST people. They say that “We are ill-treated” and the blame was the Supreme Court. Supreme Court says “Our order is not read by the people and it is all vested interests who misunderstand. We are not going to change our order but we will hear your petition.” When the Supreme Court says that “Our order is not read by the people properly”, I think there is a lot of meaning in what they say. The people feel hurt because the law doesn’t come to our help. So they are sincere. The Supreme Court is sincere and also wise. Maybe the wisdom is lacking on the other party.

I think it is worthwhile for you to think about what are the limits of sincerity and what is it truly like. Sincerity means all-sided, all-fold. If you are sincere, you cannot hate your children. If you are sincere, you cannot simply enter into a divorce discussion. Sincerity means a lot of expanse, a lot of depth, a lot of loftiness, to include, to include, to include, others others, others, others, others and it can grow to any extent. I think everyone of you should think about what are the standards and the styles of sincerity.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.