The Ashtavakra Gita (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: अष्टावक्रगीता; IAST: aṣṭāvakragītā) or Song of Ashtavakra is a classical text in the

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ( ...

tradition in the form of a dialogue between the sage

Ashtavakra Ashtavakra ( sa, अष्टावक्रः, ) or Ushtaavukruhu is a revered Vedic sage in Hinduism. His name literally means "eight deformities", reflecting the eight physical deformities he was born with. His maternal grandfather was the ...

and

Janaka Janaka is a character who appears in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is an ancient Hindu king of Videha, which was located in the Mithila region. His name at birth was Sīradhvaja, and he had a brother named Kushadhvaja. His father's name was Hras ...

, king of

Mithila Mithila may refer to: Places * Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state ** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha * Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepal ...

Dating

Radhakamal Mukerjee Radhakamal Mukerjee (1889–1968), a leading thinker and social scientist of modern India, was Professor of Economics and Sociology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lucknow. Mukerjee played an important and constructive role in the Ind ...

, an Indian social scientist, dated the book to the period immediately after the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita (c. 500–400 BCE). J. L. Brockington, emeritus professor of Sanskrit at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, places the Ashtavakra Gita much later, supposing it to have been written either in the eighth century CE by a follower of

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...

, or in the fourteenth century during a resurgence of Shankara's teaching. Sri Swami Shantananda Puri suggests that since the book contains the seed of the theory of non-creation Ajata Vada developed later by

Gaudapada Gauḍapāda (Sanskrit: गौडपाद; ), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya ("Gauḍapāda the Teacher"), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the ''Advaita'' Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details o ...

in Mandookya Karika, this book comes from a period prior to that of

(6th century CE) and hence prior to Shankara.

Identification of Ashtavakra

is probably identical to the holy sage with the same name who appears in

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

, though the connection is not clearly stated in any of the texts. Mukherjee identifies

as the father of

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

and disciple of the sage

Yajnavalkya Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya ( sa, याज्ञवल्क्य, ) is a Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE)., Quote: "Yajnavalkya, a Vedic sage, taught..."Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), ''A comparative histor ...

in the

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad The ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' ( sa, बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्, ) is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the first Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the ''Br ...

. Janaka is also depicted as a king who has attained perfection in vedas.

Overview

Ashtavakra Gita is a dialogue between Ashtavakra and Janaka on the nature of Self/Atman, reality and bondage. It offers a radical version of non-dualist philosophy. The Gita insists on the complete unreality of the external world and absolute oneness of existence. It does not mention any morality or duties, and therefore is seen by commentators as 'godless'. It also dismisses names and forms as unreal and a sign of ignorance. In a conversation between Janaka and Ashtavakra, pertaining to the deformity of his crooked body, Ashtavakra explains that the size of a temple is not affected by how it is shaped, and the shape of his own body does not affect himself (or Atman). The ignorant man's vision is shrouded by names and forms, but a wise man sees only himself:

Structure

The book comprises 20 chapters: * I

Saksi ''Saksi'' () formerly ''Saksi: GMA Headline Balita'' and ''Saksi: Liga ng Katotohanan'' is a Philippine television news broadcasting show broadcast by GMA Network. Originally anchored by Mike Enriquez and Karen Davila, it premiered on October ...

- Vision of the Self as the All-pervading Witness * II Ascaryam - Marvel of the Infinite Self Beyond Nature * III Atmadvaita - Self in All and All in the Self * IV Sarvamatma - Knower and the Non-knower of the Self * V Laya - Stages of Dissolution of Consciousness * VI Prakrteh Parah - Irrelevance of Dissolution of Consciousness * VII Santa - Tranquil and Boundless Ocean of the Self * VIII

Moksa ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriologica ...

- Bondage and Freedom * IX Nirveda - Indifference * X

Vairagya Vairāgya (वैराग्य) is a Sanskrit term used in Hindu as well as Eastern philosophy that roughly translates as dispassion, detachment, or renunciation, in particular renunciation from the pains and pleasures in the temporary materia ...

- Dispassion * XI Cidrupa - Self as Pure and Radiant Intelligence * XII Svabhava - Ascent of Contemplation * XIII Yathasukham - Transcendent Bliss * XIV Isvara - Natural Dissolution of the Mind * XV Tattvam - Unborn Self or Brahman * XVI Svasthya - Self-Abidance through Obliteration of the World * XVII Kaivalya - Absolute Aloneness of the Self * XVIII Jivanmukti - Way and Goal of Natural Samadhi * XIX Svamahima - Majesty of the Self * XX Akincanabhava - Transcendence of the Self

Appreciation

The work was known, appreciated and quoted by Ramakrishna and his disciple

Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...

, as well as Ramana Maharshi.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

refers to it with great respect. Ashtavakra Gita continues to inspire people. The first musical form of Ashtavakra Gita Saksi I (Chapter 1) was set in the raga Svadhya by Composer Rajan.

Translations and commentaries

Nath (1907) opened the discourse of this Gita into the English language. Swami Nityaswarupananda has written a word by word translation from 1929 to 1931.

(1889–1968) continued the discourse into English with his work

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

published in 1971. Stroud (2004) wrote on the Astavakra Gita as a work of multivalent narrative. Swami Chinmayananda wrote a commentary on the Ashtavakra Gita, which has references to the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

to help convey the meaning of the text. John Richards published an English translation of the Ashtavakra Gita in 1997

Osho Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...

has given commentary on Ashtavakra Gita in a long series of 91 discourses named as ''Ashtavakra Mahageeta'', given in his Pune Ashram.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (born 13 May 1956) is an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yoga guru, a spiritual leader. He is frequently referred to as Sri, Sri Sri (honorific), Guru ji, or Gurudev. From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an Apprenticeship, apprentic ...

has given commentary on Ashtavakra Gita in Hindi and English. Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai has given commentary on Ashtavakra Gita through 60 discourses totalling more than 116 hours. The Book has also been translated into Urdu language with the title of Mehak-e-Agahi (2021).

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Original text

*
In original Sanskrit as PDF

In Devanagari

In Romanized Sanskrit

Ashtavakra Gita in Devanagari with English translation side by side

Translations

* *

Poetic translation of Ashtavakra Gita in Hindi by Dr Mridul Kirti

''The Heart of Awareness'', poetic translation by Thomas Byrom, pdf
* s:Ashtavakra Gita Translation at Wikisource by John Richards
Ashtavakra Gita
translation by John Richards
John Richards translation

First in a series of 41 Discourses on Ashtavakra Gita, available for free downloading

''Astavakra Samhita'', translation by Swami Nityaswarupananda

Swami Nityaswarupananda (1940): ''AshTavakra Geeta'', Sanskrit text with word-for-word translation, English rendering and comments''
* ''Asthavakra Gita - Awareness is Everything''. Translation and commentary by Mansoor (2010). {{ISBN, 978-1-4467-1442-3 ; audio books
Ashtavakra Gita English Audio Book

Ashtavakra Gita Hindi Audio Book
* Ashtavakra Gita Marathi Audio Book
Translation by Ramana Maharshi
(audiobook) Hindu texts Ancient Indian literature Advaita Vedanta