End Of Knowledge

Category: General Vedanta

  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt.25

    Read Part 24 / Ask a Question / Support End of Knowledge
    CHAPTER 17: Part One

    I really like the Ashtavakra Samhita.  Next to Upadesha Sahasri, it’s one of my all-time favorite Vedanta texts.  That’s why it’s difficult for me to disagree with it.  But I can’t help but find Chapter 17’s description of the behavior of the enlightened person to be problematic.  The reason is simple:  The primary point of Vedanta is to learn to identify with the self that you actually are and to disidentify with the thoughts, feelings, characteristics and behavior of the body-mind that you aren’t. 

    So once you’ve seen that you aren’t the body-mind, then doesn’t it seem counterproductive to continue to look to the body-mind for validation, especially considering that the suffering caused by thinking you’re defined by the body-mind is usually the original reason for seeking enlightenment?  Hint:  It is. That’s why real freedom is knowing that you’re always the unchanging, limitless self regardless of what the body-mind does or doesn’t do.  For that reason, I think describing the behavior or mind state of a so-called enlightened person is almost always unhelpful.  Almost.   

    At least initially, before you know enlightenment has nothing to do with the body-mind, it can be useful to hear a description of the enlightened person’s behavior in order to set the bar high and give you tangible goals to strive for, especially considering that understanding you’re the non-dual self, free of any and all qualities is extremely abstract and hard to grasp.  For me, I was inspired by the concrete examples of greats such as Krishna, Shankara and the Swamis Chinmayananda, Dayananda and Paramarthananda.  Looking to them motivated me to dedicate myself to spiritual practice and to alter my lifestyle in such a way that it fully supported and nurtured my self-inquiry. 

    But eventually, comparing myself to them became problematic because it lured me into thinking along the lines of, “Well, if I act like them, I’m enlightened.  And if I don’t, I’m not enlightened.”  The irony was that I was trying to measure my enlightenment by the standard of these teachers’ behavior when they were clearly saying, “Enlightenment is knowing you’re not defined by the state of the body-mind or what it does.” 

    Yes, good behavior is good.  And a poised and peaceful mind is nice.  Both are possible when you know you’re the self.  But they belong strictly to the realm of the body-mind so you have to remember that if you’re not the body-mind, they ultimately say nothing about you.  Consider this:  How can what you do determine the status of your self-knowledge when many well-behaved, poised and peaceful people have absolutely no idea who they really are? 

    My advice is to use the following lines for inspiration if you like, but don’t take them literally and fall into the trap of thinking that you only know you’re the self if the body-mind thinks and acts in a certain way.  If you know you’re the self, then you know you’re the self.  Period.  If knowing you’re the self improves the thinking of the mind and behavior of the body, it’s an incidental bonus, not a validation of what you already know to be true.         

    Ashtavakra said:
    17:1 – He has gained the fruit of knowledge as well as of the practice of yoga, who, contented and with purified senses, ever enjoys being alone.

    I’ve always liked being alone.  As a kid, I spent hours on end wandering in the woods by myself.  Did that mean I had gained the fruit of knowledge?  No.  At the time I had no idea who I was.  So if you like to be alone, fine.  If you like company, that’s also fine.  Either way, it doesn’t indicate whether or not you have self-knowledge. 

    Still, when you know who you are you do see that you’re alone whether you like it or not, insofar as in a non-dual reality there’s nothing other than yourself.  When I first realized that, oddly enough, I didn’t like it—it made me feel weird and isolated.  But when I looked at the situation from a different perspective, that rather than being isolated I was actually connected with everything around me, I started to enjoy being ‘alone’ in a metaphysical sense.     

    17:2 – Oh, the knower of truth is never miserable in this world, for the whole universe is filled by himself alone.

    The knower of truth is the mind.  That’s where the knowledge, “I’m the self” occurs.  So when the mind knows it’s the self, can it still be miserable?  Yes.  The mind is fickle and subject to subconscious forces that aren’t usually under your control.  That’s why you can never fully predict what the mind will think or feel and why you can’t make it think and feel one way all of the time.  For instance, my mind sometimes feels miserable for no reason I can put my finger on.  The feeling just pops up.  But the key at that moment is not to fall into the trap of thinking, “I’m miserable.”  It’s to remember, “Even when my mind is miserable, I, the self, am not.”  That’s self-knowledge. 

    17:3 – No sense-objects ever please him who delights in the self, even as the leaves of the neem tree do not please an elephant who delights in the leaves of the frankincense tree. 

    The point here is that the bitter neem leaves of transient, unreal sense objects can never be a steady source of satisfaction the way the apparently delicious frankincense leaves of the ever-present self can.  While I don’t have any experience eating neem or frankincense leaves, I agree with the sentiment.  Regardless, that doesn’t mean you won’t—or shouldn’t—find temporary enjoyment in something like a good movie, a nice meal or an interesting conversation.  Because why would anyone seek enlightenment if it robbed everyday life of meaning?  Not everyone wants to sit in a cave meditating on their transcendental nature all day, waiting for the body to die.  Why not simply enjoy life for what it’s worth, all the while armed with the understanding that no matter what happens, you’re always okay as the self?          

    17:4 – Rare in this world is one on whom experience leaves no impression and who has no desire for things not yet experienced.

    I won’t argue that a person like this isn’t rare.  In fact, since it’s impossible to know the inner-workings of another person’s mind, I have no idea if a person like this even exits.  But even if they do, it doesn’t mean they have some special form of self-knowledge that others don’t.  It just means that have a particular kind of mind, affected by self-knowledge in a particular way.  If your mind is affected by self-knowledge in a different way, it doesn’t mean you don’t know who you are.  Because if you really know you’re the self, you understand that the state of the mind doesn’t determine your status as the self.               

    17:5 – Those desirous of worldly enjoyment and those desirous of liberation, both are found in this world. But rare indeed is the great-souled one who is not desirous of either enjoyment or liberation.

    The idea here is that when you know you’re the self, the joys of the world lose their appeal.  This is true to a degree, especially considering that the self is always available for satisfaction whereas worldly joy is fleeting.  But just because you know that worldly enjoyment doesn’t last doesn’t mean that the body-mind won’t periodically want something.  That’s normal.  In my experience, I’ve never met a single enlightened person who didn’t want something.  Not even the wise and peaceful Swamis.  Because how could they not want something when they’re part of international organizations with an explicit agenda to travel around the globe sharing the teachings of Vedanta?  I’m not saying that wanting to teach Vedanta is a bad thing.  I’m doing it right now.  But I’m simply making a point that rare indeed is the one who doesn’t want anything—and that wanting something doesn’t mean you don’t know who you are. 

    One thing, however, that enlightened people definitely don’t want is liberation.  Why?  Because they know that as the ever-free self, they were never bound.  Frankly, the absence of feeling like you need to continue seeking freedom is probably the biggest benefit of self-knowledge.  Spiritual practice and self-inquiry are good and necessary things but they’re difficult and they often put you at odds with the people around you that don’t understand what you’re doing.  So to realize you’ve always been free and to no longer feel like you have to do something to get free is a big relief.  You can stop endlessly studying texts and hanging out with the neurotic weirdos in the ‘spiritual world’—myself included—and go back to being a normal person, albeit a normal person who knows they’re not really a normal person.       

    17:6 – Rare is the broad-minded person who has neither attraction for, nor aversion to, dharma (duty), artha (worldly prosperity), kama (desire), and moksa (liberation) as well as life and death.

    This verse is based on the idea that when you seek fulfillment by doing your duty, acquiring wealth, satisfying desire or seeking liberation, you’re really just seeking the fulfillment of being the self.  So when you understand that you already are the self—and therefore that you already ‘have’ what you’re seeking—you lose your attraction to those pursuits. 

    To a degree this is true.  But even while enlightened people don’t have an interest in seeking liberation, they probably still need money and have responsibilities like everyone else.  They may even have a desire or two.  That’s because enlightenment isn’t a golden ticket that suddenly changes the particulars of your world.  It only changes how you view and relate to that world insofar as knowing you’re not the body-mind, you don’t have to feel aversion (or attraction) to its responsibilities, needs or desires.     

    17:7 – The man of knowledge does not feel any desire for the dissolution of the universe, or aversion to its existence. The blessed one, therefore, lives happily on whatever subsistence comes as a matter of course.

    If you watch a movie, you may dislike a particular scene and want it to end.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t know who you are, that you don’t remember you’re a person unaffected by the film.  Similarly, you may feel aversion to, and desire for the dissolution of, certain experiences in the world.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t have self-knowledge, that you don’t know you’re the self, unaffected by the world.  It just means that ‘your’ mind, like all minds, has preferences—it likes what it likes and doesn’t like what it doesn’t like. 

    But if self-knowledge is clearly understanding that the mind—along with its preferences—has nothing to do with you, then how can the mere presence of preferences in the mind be a determining factor in whether or not you have self-knowledge?  It can’t.  The real proof would be whether or not you recognize that likes and dislikes belong solely to the mind—and not you, the self—when they arise. That’s self-knowledge. 

    Otherwise, you’re still trapped in the same predicament as everyone else, judging yourself by the workings of the mind (or the characteristics and actions of the body).  “If my mind thinks a certain way, I’m okay.  If it doesn’t, I’m not.  If my body looks or acts a certain way, I’m okay.  If it doesn’t, I’m not.”  That’s samsara.  Simply trading regular worldly samsara for a ‘spiritual’ form of samsara where you judge your enlightenment according to what the mind thinks is no solution to the problem.  You’re the self, free of the mind.  Just own it. 

    The good news is if you do own that knowledge, it can pacify the likes and dislikes of the mind.  And a mind with less—or at least less intense—likes and dislikes is more peaceful, which is nice.  Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if your mind is more peaceful that you’re somehow more enlightened or if it isn’t peaceful that you’re less enlightened.  Self-knowledge is knowing you’re the self, period.  It’s not manipulating the mind into being a particular way. 

    The second part of the verse shows the author’s predisposition to a monastic lifestyle.  In a traditional setting, a person would first be a student, then go on to a life of marriage, kids and career.  Afterwards they would give up their domestic life and become a monk so they could devote their time fully to self-inquiry.  As a monk they would beg for subsistence or just wait for some to show up.  If you choose to follow the traditional route, it’s completely fine.  That system has been around for a very long time and has some well-thought out reasoning behind it. 

    My only objection is that the path to self-knowledge isn’t one-size-fits all.  Most people studying Vedanta will never become monks and never want to become monks.  They lead regular lives and have commitments to fulfill and that’s completely fine to them.  So to judge their self-knowledge by a monastic standard is inappropriate and misleading, especially considering that self-knowledge is knowing that as the self, you’re unaffected by the lifestyle of the body-mind.       

    17:8 – Being fulfilled by the knowledge of the self and with his mind absorbed, and contented, the wise one lives happily, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and eating.

    This is the best verse in the chapter, the only one I think is truly accurate.  Even when you know who you are, you can still act like a regular person.  Because self-knowledge is simply knowing you’re the self, not the body-mind thinking or acting in a certain way.   

    17:9 – There is no attachment or non-attachment in one for whom the ocean of the world has dried up. His look is vacant, action purposeless and the senses inoperative.

    When you know you’re the self, there may still be attachment or non-attachment in your mind.  Your look may be vacant or otherwise.  Your actions may have purpose or be purposeless (although who does anything for no reason?).  Your senses may be operative or inoperative.  But all of this is irrelevant seeing that as the self, you’re free from the mind and its thoughts, free from the body and its actions.    

    17:10 – The wise one neither keeps awake nor sleeps, he neither opens nor closes his eyes. Oh, the liberated soul anywhere enjoys the supreme condition.

    As the self, the wise one neither sleeps nor wakes, although their body will mostly certainly go through periods of rest and activity.  And as the self, the wise one doesn’t have any eyes to open or close.  But their face definitely does.  Regardless, the wise one can appreciate that they’re the self in whatever situation or condition the body-mind happens to be in.  That’s freedom.    

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 24

    Read Part 23 / Ask a Question / Support End of Knowledge
    CHAPTER 16
    Ashtavakra said:
    16:1 – My child, you may speak about various scriptures or listen to them being taught.  But you cannot be established in the self unless you forget all.

    Scripture is an invaluable aid to self-inquiry because it tells you about the self.  But hearing about the self and knowing that you are the self are two different things.  So if you want to “be established in the self” (have self-knowledge) you must “forget all,” meaning at some point you have to stop taking what the scripture says at face value and investigate its claim for yourself until you see that they’re true. 

    16:2 – O wise one, you may enjoy, or work, or practice mental concentration. But your mind will still yearn for your own nature which is beyond all objects and in which all desires are extinguished.

    When you have self-knowledge, your body-mind can continue doing what it’s always done.  But knowing full well that that none of the body-mind’s pursuits lead to lasting satisfaction, the mind will still “yearn for your own nature” meaning it will want to dwell in the knowledge that as the self, it’s always okay no matter what happens.     

    16:3 – All are unhappy because they exert themselves [in an effort to get what they want]. But no one knows this. The blessed one attains emancipation through this instruction alone.

    Exerting effort to get what you want is a hassle.  And it ultimately doesn’t grant any lasting satisfaction because once you get what you want, you usually start wanting something else. Despite what the verse says, knowing this won’t get you enlightened.  But it can help you develop dispassion towards seeking fulfillment in the world, which is a key prerequisite for undertaking the inquiry that will lead to enlightenment.  Because if you’re no longer excessively preoccupied with seeking answers in the world around you, you can properly devote your attention to seeking answers within through the investigation of your true nature.       

    16:4 – Happiness belongs to that master idler to whom even the closing and opening of the eyelids is an affliction, and to none else.

    Personally, I don’t find opening and closing my eyes to be a problem, let alone an affliction.  Does that mean I’m not happy?  Hardly.  So this verse is simply using hyperbole to point out that no action—big or small—leads to lasting satisfaction.  When you see this to be true, you may become averse to doing so-called normal things that you previously didn’t think twice about.  Or not.  Because if you know that you’re the self, regardless of what the body-mind does or doesn’t do, you can continue doing what you’d normally do—without even batting an eye.     

    16:5 – When the mind is free from such pairs of opposites as “this is to be done” and “this is not to be done,” it becomes indifferent to religious merit, worldly prosperity, sensual enjoyment, and liberation.

    You become indifferent to action (“this is to be done”) or inaction (“this is not to be done”) when you understand that as the self you’re 1) Not the doer, the ego and 2) Not affected by the actions of the body-mind.  So while the body-mind may continue to pursue religious merit etc., you know they have absolutely nothing to do with the real you, the self.  That way, when the pursuits of the body-mind don’t pan out, you can rest easy in the knowledge that as the self, you’re still completely fine.         

    16:6 – One who abhors the sense-objects becomes non-attached, and one who covets them becomes attached to them. But he who does not accept or reject, is neither unattached nor attached.

    You can become non-attached to sense objects by avoiding or developing a distaste for them.  And you can become attached to sense objects by pursuing or desiring them.  But to what “you” does this attachment or non-attachment belong?  The body-mind.  So when you realize that “you” actually refers to the self which is unaffected by the body-mind, you see that you neither accept nor reject, that you’re naturally neither attached nor unattached.      

    16:7 – As long as desire continues, which is the root of the state of indiscrimination, there will verily be the sense of attachment and aversion, which is the branch and shoot of the tree of samsara.

    While it’s true that desire can be a painful thing that keeps you caught up in the web of everyday life (samsara), the root state of indiscrimination is simply not knowing you’re the self.  Realize that you’re the self and desires will still naturally arise in the mind.  While you may no longer feel obligated to pursue those desires, their presence doesn’t mean you don’t know who you are.     

    16:8 – Activity begets attachment, and abstention from action begets aversion. The man of wisdom is free from the pairs of opposites, like a child, and indeed he lives on like a child.

    Pursuing something (activity) increases your chances of becoming attached to that thing, for instance a relationship.  And avoiding something (abstention), say meat-eating, causes aversion to it.  Both of these mental states can cause agitation in the mind and leave you feeling distressed, which is certainly undesirable.  But if doing something can make you feel bad as well as not doing something, what’s the solution?  It’s to understand that as the self you’re neither attached nor averse, that you’re naturally free from the pairs of opposites.  

    Knowing that, how will you act? Hint, it’s a trick question.  Why?  Because if the conclusion of self-inquiry is that you’re not the body-mind, then what good does it do to describe how someone with this knowledge acts?  None.  If nothing else, it only encourages continued identification with the body-mind.  When your body-mind acts in a certain way you think, “I’m enlightened!” and when it acts another way you think, “I’m not enlightened!”

    But the point is to know that 1) You’re never the body-mind and 2) You’re the self regardless of what the body-mind does.  So take the descriptions of the so-called “man of wisdom” with a grain of salt.  The point is that when the mind is informed by self-knowledge it can become more peaceful.  But if the mind doesn’t get more peaceful, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t the self or that you don’t know you’re the self.     

    Perhaps, being a monk, Ashtavakra didn’t have much experience with children.  Because I’ve never met a single kid who wasn’t extremely aware of the pairs of opposites e.g. what they like vs. what they don’t like.  So if wisdom is crying when my favorite balloon pops or when I don’t get the kind of ice cream I want, I don’t want to be wise.      

    16:9 – One who is attached to the world wants to renounce it in order to avoid sorrow. But one without attachment is free from sorrow and does not feel miserable even in the world.

    The world is full of sorrow.  When you’re attached to the world—meaning when you believe that the world is a real entity affects you—you may attempt to deal with that sorrow by running from it.  Perhaps you’ll eschew ‘worldly’ things in favor of ‘spiritual’ things, retreating into a life of contemplation and spiritual practice at the expense of your normal pursuits and obligations. 

    While contemplation and spiritual practice are good things, they don’t solve the problem of sorrow because once you get up from the meditation seat, finish your yoga session or leave the temple, the world is still there waiting to give you trouble.  The real solution is to see, through self-inquiry, that the world is a harmless illusion and that as the self you’re always completely okay.  That way, you’re not obligated to feel miserable even when the world presents you with miserable circumstances.        

    16:10 – He who has an egoistic feeling even towards liberation and considers even the body as his own, is neither a knower of the self nor a yogi. He only suffers misery.

    If you think, “I’m liberated” then you’re not really liberated.  Why?  Because ‘liberation’ is knowing that you’re the self that was never bound in the first place.  Also, if you think, “I’m the body” you’re obviously not liberated because the body can never be free; it’s always subject to the woes of everyday life.   

    16:11 – Let even Hara, Hari and the lotus-born Brahma be your instructor, but unless you forget all, you cannot be established in the self.

    The meaning here is similar to that in Verse One.  You can be taught about the self.  But that information is useless, even if comes directly from Siva (Hara), Vishnu (Hari) or Brahma, until you see for yourself—through reason and analysis—that you are the self.   

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 23

    Read Part 22 / Ask a Question / Support End of Knowledge
    CHAPTER 15: Part Two
    Ashtavakra said:
    15:11 – In you, the infinite ocean, let the waves of the universe rise or fall according to their own nature. It means no gain or loss to you.

    The waves in the ocean continuously change but the water remains fundamentally unchanged.  In the same way, the circumstances of the body-mind and world are always changing, but as consciousness-existence you’re always the same.  So essentially, you can let the world be as it is.  This doesn’t mean you have to passively accept whatever comes to you, good or bad.  But when you understand you’re always okay as consciousness-existence, you can live your life not feeling obligated to ride the roller coaster of elation and depression that normally accompanies the changes in your personal circumstances.  Granted, this is no easy task; it takes diligence to remember who you really are amidst personal struggle.      

    15:12 – My child, you are pure consciousness.  This universe is nothing other than your self.  Therefore, how can you have the idea of acceptance or rejection?

    You can’t accept the self because you are the self.  And you can’t reject the universe because it too is you, the self.  The statements in this verse may seem confusing since they contradict the preliminary teachings of Vedanta that instruct you to reject the universe as ‘not-self’ and accept yourself as the self.  I’ll discuss this seeming contradiction further in Verse 15. 

    15:13 – How will there be birth, action or egoism for you who are the one, immutable, peaceful and all-pervasive consciousness?

    Birth—and the inevitable death that follows—along with action and egoism (the notion of being an individual, separate “I”) belong to the body-mind alone.  As non-dual, unchanging, imperturbable and omnipresent consciousness-existence, you’re free from them all.   

    15:14 – You alone shine in whatever you see, the same way that gold alone shines in gold jewelry. 

    Any time you see gold jewelry, regardless of the form it assumes, you’re seeing nothing but gold.  Similarly, whatever you see in the world, regardless of its form, is nothing but yourself. 

    15:15 – Completely give up such distinctions as “I am this” or “I am not this.” Having seen that all is the self, be desireless and happy.

    Initially, self-inquiry instructs you to completely reject all physical and mental phenomenon (the body-mind and world) as ‘not-self’ and accept yourself as consciousness-existence, the self.  But since this practice is based on the fundamental duality of ‘self’ and ‘not-self,’ in the later stages of the teaching it must be given up.  At that point it’s not a matter of “I am this (the self)” or “I am not this (the body-mind and world)” but “The body-mind and world are me but they’re merely appearances that don’t affect me.” 

    As I mentioned at Verse 12, it seems like Vedanta contradicts itself here.  And technically it does.  But Vedanta is a practical teaching that takes into account where the student begins the process of inquiry.  And for most, it’s at the stage where they naturally—albeit falsely—identify with the body-mind.  From there, to simply jump to the vision of non-duality is nearly impossible.  So an intermediate step is set up to gradually lead the student to that conclusion.  If you want to skip the first step, be my guest.  There’s no rule saying you can’t.  But for everyone else, I recommend starting at the beginning. 

    15:16 – It is through your ignorance alone that the universe exists. In reality you are one. There is no individual self or supreme self other than you.

    The universe exists—meaning it’s taken to be real—simply because it’s believed to be real, similar to the way a dream is believed to be real while it’s happening.  This is what’s referred to in this verse as “ignorance.” But just as a dream is seen to be unreal upon waking, the universe is seen to be unreal upon ‘waking’ to the knowledge that everything is yourself, consciousness-existence.  At that point it no longer ‘exists’ as an objective reality but is seen as the transient appearance it really is.

    At the beginning of the teaching, Vedanta divides the self into two parts, the individual self of the inquirer (atman) and the ‘supreme’ universal self (brahman).  Like the categories of ‘self’ and ‘not-self’ discussed in the previous verse, these distinctions are conditional and therefore temporary.  The reason for this is the same as above:  It’s easier to start your inquiry from the point with which you’re most familiar; in this case it’s the point of viewing yourself as an individual.  From there you can inquire into the nature of the ‘individual’ self, eventually seeing it’s none other than the ‘supreme’ universal self.      

    15:17 – One who knows for certain that the world is an insubstantial delusion becomes desireless.  Shining alone, come to peace as if nothing exists.

    I think it would be more accurate to say that the one who knows for certain the world is an insubstantial illusion may have less desire.  Because what living being has no desire, even if it’s just the desire to have no desire?  Besides, the conclusion of Vedanta is that you’re the self, unaffected by the presence or absence of desire in the mind.  Furthermore, if desire is part of the insubstantial delusion of the world then the presence of desire is insignificant seeing as it too is insubstantial. 

    All the same, the idea is that if you see the world is an insubstantial delusion, why would you desire anything in it?  Or alternately, if the world is nothing but yourself then what’s to desire seeing as you can only want something you don’t already have?  While this is true, it may or not help you be a happier person in your everyday life.  Why?  Because, for instance, even though you may already ‘have’ that new job insofar as it’s nothing but yourself, it doesn’t mean you’re going to feel more fulfilled in the bad job you currently have and feel stuck in.  Change is still needed.  So I would argue that it’s a matter of perspective.  Go about your business, trying to accomplish what you feel needs to be accomplished, all the while keeping in mind that you’re ultimately fine no matter what happens.           

    15:18 – In the ocean of the world, one alone was, is and ever will be.  There is no bondage or liberation for you.  There is nothing to be done or not done. Live happily. 

    You’re the self.  You’ve always been the self and you’ll never not be the self.  This means you were never bound and never will be bound.  And if you’re never bound then you can never be freed from the bondage that never existed in the first place.  The problem is that initially, you don’t know this.  So paradoxically, you have to seek liberation from your non-existent bondage though self-inquiry.  Only then can you truly see that the whole venture is an ironic farce.  At that point there’s nothing to be done or not done and you can relax. 

    15:19 – Do not disturb your mind with affirmations or negations.  Be calm and abide happily in your own self which is bliss itself.

    When you understand that you’re the self and that you alone exist, the practice of affirming yourself as the self or negating the body-mind and world as ‘not-self’ loses its value, at least as far as the question of, “Who am I?” is concerned.  But to “be calm and abide happily” in that knowledge (assuming that’s what you want) is no easy task.  Even though you know who you are, you may need to periodically remind yourself of what it means to be who you are.  In other words, you may need to affirm that you’re always alright even when things aren’t going your way and negate any belief to the contrary.  When thinking of yourself like that becomes more habitual, you can “disturb” your mind less and less with affirmations and negations and “be calm and abide happily in your own self.” 

    In this verse, Ashtavakra describes the self as being of the nature of bliss (ananda in Sanskrit).  Whether or not this description is literal is a hotly debated topic in the Vedanta world.  Considering that 1) Bliss is a transient feeling produced by the mind and 2) Vedanta clearly states the self is the permanent substratum of the mind, not a temporary product of it, I think it seems most reasonable to interpret the word bliss metaphorically.  In that case, to say the self is bliss itself means that the self is the essence of all bliss, seeing as anything sought for the sake of bliss is none other than the self. 

    Could this be viewed as a stretch, a bit of creative interpretation?  Absolutely.  But consider this:  when a feeling of bliss comes into existence, do you come into existence along with it?  No.  You already exist, otherwise a feeling of bliss couldn’t arises to you.  And when that feeling of bliss disappears, do you disappear?  No.  You continue to exist while another thought, feeling or emotion arises.  If you continuously exist before, during and after the feeling of bliss arises, how could you literally be the feeling of bliss which exists temporarily?

    15:20 – Completely give up meditation and hold nothing in your mind. You are verily the ever-free self.  What will you accomplish by thinking?

    Meditation, if you choose to do it, is a good practice for overall health, the same as exercise and healthy eating.  So just as you don’t have to give up jogging or good nutrition in light of self-knowledge you don’t have to give up meditation. 

    What really needs to be given up is the belief, held by some proponents of self-knowledge, that by meditating you can somehow become the self or merge with the self.  Why?  Because you can’t become what you already are or merge with what you already are by focusing the mind and directing its thinking (or by any other means for that matter).  So use meditation as a tool for self-inquiry until you know who you are.  After that, if you want to keep doing it simply for the sake of mental health, go for it.  But do so knowing that you’re the self whether the mind is meditating or not.   

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 22

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    CHAPTER 15: Part 1
    Ashtavakra said:
    15:1 – One of pure intellect realizes the self even by instruction casually imparted.  One of impure intellect is bewildered in trying to realize the self even after enquiring throughout life.

    A pure intellect—meaning a clear, focused mind—is an essential component in self-inquiry. For some, this comes naturally.  For others a bit of work is required.  In that case, Vedanta recommends meditation and various spiritual practices.  But while meditation etc. are extremely helpful tools for improving the mind’s ability to inquire, they aren’t necessarily mandatory (as some teachers and texts make them out to be). I personally know several self-realized people who didn’t meditate or have a formal spiritual practice while they did self-inquiry (I am not one of them). 

    They key is not to assume you’re such a person right off the bat.  Be open to the idea that your mind may need work and save yourself the grief of inquiring—sometimes for years—to no avail (I know several people like this as well).  Inquire, and if it comes to you easily then it’s a sign that your mind is properly prepared.  If it doesn’t, then work is needed.  The practices for preparing the mind for inquiry don’t fall under the scope of an advanced text like the Ashtavakra Samhita, so I won’t go into them here.      

    15:2 – Non-attachment for sense-objects is liberation; love for sense-objects is bondage. This is knowledge.  Now do as you please.

    Being attached to sense-objects can certainly be unpleasant.  But it isn’t true bondage.  True bondage is to believe that you’re the body-mind.  Therefore liberation is to divest yourself of that notion.  Because anyone can rid themselves of desire for certain sense-objects and increase their peace of mind.  But being unattached to sense-objects doesn’t mean you know you’re really consciousness-existence, the self. That’s true liberation because it shows you that regardless of whether the mind is attached or non-attached to sense objects, you’re always the ever-free self, beyond both attachment and non-attachment. 

    15:3 – Knowledge of truth makes an eloquent, wise and hardworking person mute, inert and idle.  Therefore it is shunned by those who want to enjoy the world.

    Or it doesn’t you make mute, inert and idle.  Why?  Because since self-knowledge shows you that you’re not the body-mind then whether the body-mind is eloquent, wise and hardworking or mute, inert and idle is immaterial.  The action or inaction of the body-mind says absolutely nothing about you.  This is good because self-knowledge is about freedom, not about accepting another set of rules and regulations—from either family, society or scriptures—about how the body-mind should or should not be.  So if you know who you are and you want to do something, then do it.  Or don’t do it.  Just remember that as the self you’re not involved one way or the other.  Identifying with the actions of the body-mind is the problem self-knowledge aims to fix, not specifically what the body-mind does or does not do.  

    However, taken in a less literal sense this verse means that self-knowledge makes the normal aims of life seem less important or altogether unimportant. Because if you realize that you already are what you’re seeking, you don’t have to feel so compelled to accomplish things in life for the sake of feeling fulfilled.  As the self, you’re always full.    

    15:4 – You are not the body, nor is the body yours; you are not the doer nor the enjoyer. You are consciousness, the ever-free witness.  Go about your life happily.
    15:5 – Like and dislike belong to the mind.  But the mind does not belong to you.  You are consciousness, changeless and free of thought.  Go about your life happily.

    I have a dog.  While it’s clear that me and the dog are two different entities, I still feel like the she ‘belongs’ to me.  And because of that I sometimes take credit for her good behavior and feel responsible for her bad behavior.  But really, the actions of the dog—good or bad—have absolutely nothing to do with me. 

    In the same way, while Vedanta makes it clear that you’re not the body-mind you may still be tempted to identify with it thinking it somehow belongs to you.  But Ashtavakra is quick to point out that it doesn’t.  You aren’t the self that owns a body-mind.  You’re the self that appears as a body-mind.  But that appearance doesn’t affect you in the same way that the appearance of waves doesn’t affect water.  So you can relax.  Or not, as long as you remember that the state of the body-mind doesn’t have anything to do with you either way.   

    15:6 – Realizing the self in all and that all is in the self, free from egoism and free from the sense of ‘mine,’ be happy.

    Understanding that everything is you helps you to shift from a very particular, personal perspective of yourself—the perspective of the “I” e.g. the ego—to a universal, impersonal perspective.  At first this can be daunting because of the habitual conditioning to value one’s personal sense of self.  But what does identifying with this personal self, the ego, have to offer?  Nothing, other than the feeling that you’re disconnected from everything around you and that you’re completely defined by the ideas of “I am this” and “I am not that.”  If you can see the value in that, then seeking self-knowledge is for you.        

    15:7 – You are indeed that in which the universe manifests itself like waves on the ocean. You are consciousness; be free from the fever of the mind.

    Like waves in the ocean, the world arises and resolves in you.  And just as the fundamental nature of water is unchanged by the appearance of waves, your fundamental nature as consciousness-existence is unaffected by the appearance of the world. 

    15:8 – Have faith child, have faith. Never confuse yourself in this. You are knowledge itself, you are the lord.  You are the self and you are beyond the material world.

    No faith is actually required in Vedanta because it gives you the tools to investigate its claims for yourself, allowing you to validate them with reason and personal experience. You can see firsthand that you’re knowledge itself—consciousness-existence.  As consciousness-existence you’re the ‘lord’ insofar as the appearance of the world depends on you to exist and not the other way around.  But because you have no location in time or space—and furthermore because there’s nothing other than you that exists—you can’t literally be ‘beyond’ the appearance of the world as if it were something separate from you existing in a different place.  So in this context, ‘beyond’ means that you’re always unaffected by the appearance of the world.         

    15:9 – The body, composed of matter, comes, stays for a while and goes. The self neither comes nor goes. Why, then, do you mourn it?
    15:10 – Let the body last to the end of the universe or let it go even today. Where is there any increase or decrease in you who are pure consciousness?

    The body is a temporary collection of matter. This is plain to see whether or not you know you’re the self.  But when you do know that you’re the self that never comes and goes, you can take the transient nature of the body in stride knowing that its presence, absence or current state neither adds nor takes anything away from you. 

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  • A Conversation with Ashtavakra Pt. 21

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    CHAPTER 14
    Janaka said:
    14:1 – One who is void of mind, whose thoughts of sense objects are spontaneous and who remains awake while sleeping has their recollections of worldly life exhausted. 

    In Swami Nityaswarupananda’s excellent translation of the Ashtavakra Samhita he interprets “void of mind” to mean that the mind of one with self-knowledge is devoid of desires, habitual mental tendencies and knowledge of objects.  Unless I’m misunderstanding his words, I politely but heartily disagree.  Because how could a self-realized person write, teach—or do anything else for that matter—without the desire to do so?  How could they have a personality without habitual mental tendencies?  How could they function in the world without knowledge of objects?  Either self-realized people do have desires, habitual tendencies and knowledge of objects or those with the desire to teach self-knowledge, using their personality and knowledge of objects to do so, aren’t actually self-realized. 

    The latter scenario is problematic, seeing as there would be no living proof that enlightenment is possible.  So I contend—and I think Vedanta supports this contention—that “void of mind” means despite the fact that self-realized people have desire etc. in their minds, they are void of the belief that the contents of their minds either belong to them or affect them.  

    The idea that a self-realized person’s thoughts of sense objects are “spontaneous,” meaning they simply come to that person’s mind rather than being the product of a deliberate desire-based thought process is rooted in the theory that a self-realized person is free from the karmic cycle of cause and effect.  In other words, once they give up the notion of being the doer, the body-mind, they’re passively reaping the effects of past karma created by the doer rather than actively creating new karma. 

    If the theory of karma is true, then perhaps this is correct.  But if self-knowledge clearly demonstrates that you’re not the body-mind—and therefore never involved in the cycle of karma in the first place—what does it matter?  The fact is that regardless of self-knowledge, the body-mind is going to keep functioning as it always has until it dies.  The key is to know it has nothing to do with you either way. 

    To “remain awake while sleeping” can mean two things: 1) A self-realized person is ‘awake’ to the knowledge of their true nature even while appearing to still be ‘asleep,’ meaning while appearing to still be a regular person ignorant of who they really are and 2) A self-realized person knows that they’re always ‘awake’ as consciousness-existence, even though the body-mind may be asleep. 

    To have your “recollections of worldly life exhausted” is not to develop amnesia upon gaining self-knowledge.  Rather, it’s to no longer identify with the sum of your past actions, thinking they somehow define or affect you.   

    14:2 – When desire has melted away, where are my riches, where are my friends, where are the robbers in the form of sense-objects, where are the scriptures and where is knowledge?

    Self-knowledge puts things in perspective.  It demonstrates that money, relationships and sense objects—while they all have relative value in the everyday world—don’t offer any lasting happiness, owing to their transient nature.  For those who eschew such mundane pleasures and instead seek peace in so-called spiritual things such as scriptures, Janaka is quick to point out that they too have no lasting value.  Even though the scriptures can be useful guideposts on the path to self-knowledge, once you’ve ‘arrived’ at the goal, they no longer serve a purpose, the same way a map is useless once you’ve reached your destination.     

    “Knowledge” here can be taken in two ways.  The first is as worldly knowledge, which suffers the same drawback as money etc.  The second is as indirect knowledge of the self obtained from either the scriptures or a teacher.  “Indirect” means you’re told about the self.  But once you understand that you are the self, these indirect statements are no longer useful.      

    14:3 – Realizing I am the self, the witness and the lord, I have become indifferent to both bondage and liberation and I no longer think of my own emancipation.

    Bondage and liberation are dualistic concepts that only apply when you think you’re the body-mind.  But when you know you’re consciousness-existence you understand that the desire for liberation—although a necessary component in the process of self-inquiry—is ultimately irrelevant seeing as you were always the self, the witness of the body-mind seeking liberation, and therefore never bound in the first place.   

    14:4 – The state of one inwardly free of doubts but who outwardly moves about at their own pleasure like a deluded person can only be understood by others like them. 

    Self-knowledge doesn’t dictate certain behavior precisely for the fact that it demonstrates you’re not the doer in the first place.  So just because someone’s body-mind goes about their life in a completely normal way, just like those without self-knowledge, doesn’t mean they don’t know who they really are.  Although this fact can be used by unscrupulous individuals to justify their bad behavior, it’s nonetheless true.  So if you know who you are, your body-mind can still act like an asshole.  But I certainly don’t recommend it.  Because if you truly know that everyone is actually yourself and that you’ve got nothing to gain or lose, what’s to be accomplished by abusing or taking advantage of ‘others’? 

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