|
by Jayaram V
How does a liberated person live? What distinguishes him from
others? How
can you determine whether a person is truly
liberated and enlightened or just pretending to look like
one?
The scriptures are a great way to develop discernment and know the truths about
liberated people and how they live in the world,
free from the hold of nature and the delusion of duality. Ashtavakra
Gita is one of the greatest scriptures of Hinduism. Although it
is relatively less known, it contains profound wisdom about
the nature of Self, liberation, detachment, the nature of
reality, means to self-realization and
related topics. Like the Bhagavadgita, the book is a discourse
between Ashtravakra, the sage with eight deformities and king
Janaka about how to achieve liberation. Ashtavakra's answer was
simple. One could attain liberation by knowing the Self as pure
consciousness. We find the same message in several other
scriptures such as Yoga Vashishta. But in Ashtavakra Gita, the
message is delivered in simple but profound manner by the wise
sage. The mind is the obstacle, which prevents us from
experiencing the Self as pure consciousness. If we can make the
mind vacant, empty, detached, disciplined, pure, silent and
still, we have a better chance of experiencing the presence of Self
directly and witness it as an ocean of pure consciousness. In the 17th Chapter of the
scripture, Ashtavakra enumerates the
following qualities of the knower of truth (tattvajna). In the
present day world it is hard to find people who fit into this
description. Next time when you are in the presence of a person
who is known to the world as a great guru or a wise master, please
check and see whether he has any of the following qualities and
whether he qualifies as a liberated person.
1. He takes delight in both the fruit of knowledge and the
fruit of the practice of yoga.
2. He prefers to
remain alone, ever contended and with purified senses.
3. He is never miserable because he identifies himself with
the entire world.
5. He does not take delight in the sense objects.
6. He is completely free from desires. He seeks nothing,
neither enjoyment nor liberation.
7. He has neither attraction nor aversion to the four chief
aims of human life, namely dharma (duty), artha (wealth), kama
(sexual desire) and moksha (liberation).
8. He is interested in neither existence nor dissolution of
the world. He is happy to live upon whatever that comes to him
on its own. His looks are vacant, his actions are without
purpose and his senses do not seek.
9. Forever absorbed in the Self, although he is engaged with
the world, he is not involved with it. He neither keeps aware
nor sleeps, neither opens nor closes his eyes.
10. Pure in heart, and abiding in Self, he is free from
desires under all conditions.
11. Free from attachment, he neither praises nor criticizes,
neither happy no angry, and neither gives nor takes.
12. He remains equal to the sight of a beautiful woman full
of love or the approach of death.
According to Ashtavakra, the knower of truth has equanimity,
detachment, sameness, absence of desires and expectations, who
lives forever absorbed in the Self, with no particular aim, no
particular interest, with a serene mind that is vacant and free
from duality, delusion, dullness, dreaming and conflict. He is without
ego and sense of ownership and therefore he is liberated from
the shackles of desire ridden thoughts. His mind does not engage in any
action because it becomes completely still and vacant. He
annihilates all notions of Self, what he is and what he is not.
He has no distraction, no concentration, no increase of
knowledge or ignorance and no feelings of pleasure or pain.
Existentially, he is non-existent. He is here, but also not
here. He is pure, but neither seeks nor detests purity. Seeking
nothing, he does what comes to him, preferring neither activity
nor inactivity. Free and liberated, he moves about like a dry
leaf.
Suggested Further Reading
|
