Ashtavakra Gita - Sloka 1.8 - The antidote
Introduction
In Ashtavakra Gita, Sage Ashtavakra helps King Janaka as the later attempts to realize who he is in his innermost essence, transcending time, period and actions. We can name this attempt as “Atma Smaranam” for our understanding.
“Atma Smaranam” is not a mental exercise; it is not about reminiscing certain memories or events from the past, trying to erase bad memories and reinforce good ones. It is an attempt to step back from one’s body mind complex, contemplating inward to stay rooted in the unconditioned, free, peaceful, omnipresent, blissful existence consciousness (which we call it as Brahman, Atma, Ultimate Reality etc) that gives light to the mind and senses.
In this process, the Sage has commenced his lectures that will help the King to dismantle the wrong ideas, notions about his body mind complex and provides crisp words and sentences that will ignite the mind of Janaka.
In this Sloka 8, Ashtavakra provides a clue about “doership” of an individual. Let us study the Sloka.
Sanskrit Sloka
अहं कर्तेत्यहम्मानमहाकृष्णाहिदंशितः ।
नाहं कर्तेति विश्वासामृतं पीत्वा सुखी भव ॥ ८ ॥
Transliteration in English
ahaṃ kartetyahammānamahākṛṣṇāhidaṃśitaḥ |
nāhaṃ karteti viśvāsāmṛtaṃ pītvā sukhī bhava || 8 ||
Meaning of the Sloka
Since you have been bitten by the black cobra “I am the doer”, drink the nectar of faith in the fact that “I am not the doer”, and be happy.
Explanation
Two important words in this Sloka are “aham” and “karta”.
John Grimes in his “Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy” denotes
“aham” as “I”; the individual soul; self consciousness ; “I” Consciousness; the pure inner Self. There are said to be Two “I”s; the lower self or egoistical individual and the higher self or the pure Self. “karta” means “doer” or agent.
Each of these two words by themselves is a big subject for investigation in Advaita Vedanta. As a learner of Ashtavakra Gita which is an advanced treatise on Advaita Vedanta, one is expected to have fairly good knowledge of Advaita Vedanta after intense study under guidance of a Guru. We are not going into the details of these two topics as our focus is on understanding what Sage Ashtavakra advises King Janaka.
Our true nature is pure Existence-Consciousness which is Divine, the omnipresent, omniscient, eternal Ultimate Reality. That is our universal ID, the “Capital I”, the only most powerful single alphabet ID that one can ever have.
The consequences of not having/loosing/forgetting one’s ID in this modern world can be catastrophic. No need to argue about that for sure. Now, stretch this argument to our current subject. What happens if we don’t have/lost/forgot our Universal ID?
Let us quickly recollect Swami Chinmayananda’s BMI chart and understand that the individual self (the small “i”) “aham” is an integration of body, mind and intellect. In the words of Swamiji,
“through the body-mind-intellect, the “perceiver-feeler-thinker” becomes enmeshed in the world of objects-emotions-thoughts.
There is no way out till you establish beyond reasonable doubts your identification, “the big I”.
Don’t panic. Advaita Vedanta provides guidance for you to get back your ID. It doesn’t provide you a new one or provide a certified duplicate; it helps you to recover your ID by yourselves.
Sage Ashtavakra is in that process of helping King Janaka. He drops a clue to Janaka through this Sloka.
“If you think that you are the doer, that is as good as being bitten by a black cobra. The only way to get yourselves out of this poison is to go for the antidote called “you are not the doer”.
This is the clue that he has provided to King Janaka and through him to us.
If I am not the doer, who am i?
Time to ponder!
If you need assistance from Sage Ashtavakra, you can get it in the subsequent Newsletters.
Until then……..
God Bless