Ashtavkra Gita : Chapter X1 : SELF AS PURE INTELLIGENCE

My Dear Husband does a lot of heavy reading, and happily likes to discuss things which he finds worth contemplating on!

He saves me a lot of reading hours by giving me a gist of his learnings:

Here is one such lesson, hope you will enjoy it as much as I did

:)

Ashtavkra Gita : Chapter X1 : SELF AS PURE INTELLIGENCE

I.
He who has understood with certitude (nishchaya) that change in the form of existence and destruction is inherent in things, he becomes unperturbed and free from this pain - and easily finds peace.

II.
He who has understood with certitude that God (Self) is the Creator of all, and there is none else here, becomes calm with all his inner desires melted away. He is no longer attached to anything whatsoever.

III.
He who has understood with certitude that misfortune and fortune come in their own time, thru the effects of past actions, becomes ever contented and has all his senses well under-control. He neither desires nor grieves.

IV.
He who has understood with certitude that happiness and sorrow, birth and death, are all due to the effects of past actions, does no more seek after the ordinary goals of life. He becomes free from care. He is not attached (tainted) even though engaged in action.

V.
He who has understood with certitude that it is anxiety and nothing else that brings sorrow in the world, becomes free from it and is happy and peaceful everywhere - with his desires melted away.

VI.
"I am not the body, nor is the body mine, I am Pure Intelligence" - he who has understood this with certitude, does no longer remember what he 'has done' or what 'he has-not-done', as if he has attained the state of aloneness (Kaivalya).

VII.
"I am indeed in everything from the Creator down to a tuft of grass" - he who has understood this with certitude becomes free from all thought-oscillations; pure and serene he withdraws from what is attained and what is not attained.

VIII.
He who has understood with certitude that this manifold and marvelous universe is nothing (unreal), becomes desire less and Pure Intelligence. he finds peace - as if nothing exists.


...translated by Swami Chinmayananda