Am I Handsome? Is She Beautiful?--Insights From Astavakra

Embodiments of Love!

It is not in the form; it is all about what is inside the form!

Once,  when  Janaka  King of Mithila, was on a tour, he  saw  on  the  way, Astavakra  (a  great  saint who had eight  bends  in  his  body right from his birth ). 

Janaka  Maharaja dismounted his horse and paid his  long obeisance to him.  Seeing the sage’s peculiar  crippled condition,  the king  thought within his mind distressfully how the Supreme  Lord has  created  his  body;  When the sage  walked  it  was a loathsome scene to Janaka ;

Since the saint’s body was deformed in 8 places his father gave him the name Astavakra( Asta in Sanskrit means eight, Vakra means deformity), but he was greatly knowledgeable  in the  science  of self realization and  expert  in  transcendental education.   Due to his transcendental knowledge, he   could understand   the hateful mind of the king and because he was a great saintly king, Astavakra soberly spoke, "Oh king, just as, if a temple is built round, the sky will not become round.  If the temple is built crooked, the sky will not become crooked. Similarly, if the body is deformed, the soul, the occupier of the body cannot be deformed because the body and soul are not made of the same materials.   The soul is eternal and the body is perishable   Therefore Oh king, those who are  situated   in knowledge see everyone as spiritual souls and part of the Supreme Lord and those who are in ignorance see the body only.  Therefore I request you to give up your bodily consciousness and come conscious of the soul.  If you do so, the hatred you have within will be removed”. 

        Hearing the words of sage, KIng Janaka developed a desire to achieve the science of self-realization, therefore, he  prayed to the sage, O sage, please come and purify my house, remove  the doubts  of  my  mind  and give me  self  realization.   The sage accepted the prayers of the King and reached the palace of him.  By achieving the knowledge of Astavakra, the king achieved the realization of transcendence. 

Let us see a slogam from the Great Astavakra’s Upadesa:

अश्टावक्र गीता---2-4

यता न तोयतो बिन्नास्तरङागाः फेनबुद्बुदाः

आत्मनो न तथा भिन्नं विश्वमात्मविनिर्गतम्

Transliteration

yata na toyato binnaastarangaaha phenabudbudaaha

aatmanoa na tatha binnam vishwamaatmavinirgatam

Word by word meaning:

yata— यता --like

na— न -no

toyato— तोयतो -water

binnaha—बिन्ना:--different /alien

tarangaa—रङागाः-tides

phena—फेन--foam/froth

budbudaha—बुद्बुदाः--bubble

atmana— आत्मन: --the soul

na— न -no

tathaha— तथ: -thus

binnam— भिन्नं --fraction

viswamaatma—विश्वमात्म--universal soul( vishwa stands for universe)

vinirgatam—विनिर्गत—come forth

        Just as the water in wave's foam and bubbles is not different, the soul residing in all the creations is also not different from the Supreme soul!

As the wave, shooting itself as waves with foam and bubbles is just water, so all creations, Streaming out of the Self, is only the Self.

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धन्यवाद:

See you in the next episode

With lots of love

rajagopal

25 3 2012