Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita
S. Revathy
ASHTAVAKRA GITA OR ASHTAVAKRA SAMHITA — The Song of the Self Supreme: M. S. Venkatachalam — Tr. in English; Pub. by Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Satsangam, New Delhi.
The Indian systems of thought do not rest content with the mere discovery of truth but emphasise the need for realising that truth in one's own experience, for such direct realisation constitutes the true goal of life termed Mukti.
The present book, Ashtavakra Gita also called Ashtavakra Samhita, comprises 298 verses in 20 chapters of varied length. The story of this treatise is mentioned in the Vanaparva of the Mahabharata and it glorifies the state of Self-realisation. It is in the form of a dialogue between King Janaka and his preceptor Ashtavakra.
Ashtavakra was born to Kahola and Sujata, the daughter of Uddalaka, the Upanishadic seer. Ashtavakra means one who was born with eight deformities in his body.
Nevertheless, even as a young boy, he had absolute mastery of all the Vedas and scriptures. When King Janaka performed a sacrifice, Ashtavakra challenged the royal pandits on scriptural matters and defeated them. Later, the king accepted him as his preceptor and was taught this Samhita by him.
The text is exclusively related to matters regarding the nature of the Self, means of realising the Self, state of mystic experience and the state of realisation in the embodied state.
Throughout, it insists on detachment to worldly objects as essential to Self-realisation.
One striking feature of its style is that it mostly weaves the words of the Upanishads and the Gita into its verses.
The translator has taken care to provide the relevant Gita verses wherever they occur in the text. The English rendering of the verses is clear and accurate and the notes are quite useful. The author rightly states in the preface that this work could be called "Philosophy made easy," as it insists on the need for Self-realisation.
Indeed, it is only the final direct insight into the Self in all the grandeur of its non-duality and inherent divinity that is the summum bonum of life which culminates in the complete termination of all evil and suffering.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Book Review
