I am Pure Consciousness - Gleanings from Ashtavakra Gita (Select Verses)

“I am Pure Consciousness”

Select Slokas from Astavakra Gita along with Swami Chinmayanandaji’ s commentary

Reference: https://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Astavakra-Gita-Swami-Chinmayananda/dp/8175970626

na prthvi najalam nagnima vayur-dyauma va bhavan

esam saksinam-atmanam cid-rupam viddhi muktaye - 1.3

You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space. In order to attain freedom know the Self as the ‘witness’ of all these—the embodiment of Pure Consciousness itself

SC: The teacher advises the student that in order to liberate himself from the delusory sorrows of the body and the mind, he should come to experience the Self within. The principle of Consciousness in everyone of us is the illumining factor that brings into our awareness all our physical and mental experiences. We are constantly conscious of our experiences without and within us. In the light of Consciousness all happenings are brought into our knowledge, or our awareness.

Just as in the light of the sun, the objects of the room become illuminated for us, so in the light of Consciousness our experiences become vivid to us. Just as the sun-light does not ever get involved in, or conditioned by, the objects that it illumines, the Consciousness in us also is ever apart from and unattached to the illusory dance of the objects, outside and to the delusory sport of the rollicking thought-disturbances inside.

ātmā sākṣī vibhuḥ pūrṇa eko muktaścidakriyaḥ

asaṁgo niḥspṛhaḥ śānto bhramātsaṁsāravāniva – 1.12

The Self is Witness, All-pervading, Perfect, Nondual, Free, Consciousness, Actionless, Unattached, Desireless and Quiet. Through illusion, It appears as if It is of the world (i.e. subject to the ever-repeating cycle of birth and death).

kūṭasthaṁ bodhamadvaitamātmānaṁ paribhāvaya

ābhāso'haṁ bhramaṁ muktvā bhāvaṁ bāhyamathāntaram – 1.13

Having given up all external and internal fluctuations, and the illusion : “I am the reflected- Self (ego),” meditate upon the Self, as Immutable Non-dual Consciousness

SC: A mechanical mental repetition of the qualities of the Self is not meditation. An intellect that has been soaked with its reflections upon these suggestive terms, must come to a point where it has no more any doubts to disturb it... And so it halts.

The term “Kutastha” employed in the verse is a very suggestive term, rich in its meanings. The Samskrta term 'kuta' has three distinct meanings : (a) mountain top, (b) mystery, (c) anvil; all these three meanings are suggested in this term. The Brahman, the Self, (a) is the highest Reality, (b) is the mystery behind all the play-of-Maya; (c) is the One that changes not while everything in the universe gets changed in contact with It, and thus serves like an anvil.

yathaiv-adarsa-madhya-sthe rupe’ntah paritastu sah,

tathaiv-asmin sanre’ntah paritah paramesvarah - 1.19

Just as a mirror exists inside and outside the image reflected in it, so too, Parameswara exists inside and outside this body.

SC: The very idea of inside and outside is only with reference to the meditator's body-awareness. Similarly, the seeker, so long as he is within his conditionings, he meditates upon his Self, as the Pure-Subject within himself. But on apprehending the Self, he experiences Its All-Pervading-Infinite-Nature.

The very existence of the three-bodies is brought about by one's own illusions. They are superimposed upon the Self by “ignorance.” As the post is within the ghost-vision, the Self is within the body.

But the Infinite Self, the Consciousness, is within and without the individualized-ego and its matter-wrappings. Just as the reflection cannot in any way disturb the reflecting medium, so too the Self is not affected by the superimposition of the equipments, or the reflection of the ego.

In this eloquent and striking metaphor employed here, the teacher in Astavakra deliberately employs the word ‘Paramesvara' (God) in the place of Supreme Consciousness. In fact, the individual (Jiva), the universe (Jagat) and Lord, the Creator (Isvara) are all different manifestations of the same Infinite Consciousness.

(Ch. 62-19) Tathatma-jnana-hinatma kalo jhasya na labhyate.

“Thus to the man-of-wisdom there is no time when he is not aware of the Self-in-Him.”

nirapekṣo nirvikāro nirbharaḥ śītalāśayaḥ

agādhabuddhirakṣubdho bhava cinmātravāsanaḥ - 1.17

You are unconditioned, changeless, dense, of profound intelligence, serene and unperturbed. Desire Consciousness alone

SC: As Pure Consciousness You depend upon nothing (Nirapeksah) : You are unconditioned. Everywhere, at all times, You are full and so the term is used here “dense” 0nirbharah). As a contrast to the burning passions that constantly agitate the ego-centric-life, the Infinite Self in Its Supreme Peace and Perfection is ever-serene—“of cool disposition” (Sitala-asayah).

This great spiritual centre, Consciousness, is indicated by some Masters by explaining the conditions under which the Self can be experienced. Very often this technique is employed in the Upanisad-s, wherein an adjectival-noun, indicating the Self, can in itself be a discourse upon an exercise in realising the Self. Here the Self is declared as “profound Intelligence— serene and unperturbed” (Agadha-budhih aksubdhah): meaning when the intellect is devoid of all its thought-disturbances, the Self, as Pure Consciousness, comes to manifest in a clear and direct experience.

The common advice of all Masters to the seekers is one and the same: “Desire this Consciousness alone.” (Bhava Cinmatra Vasanah). As our desires, so our thoughts; as our thoughts so our experiences. Desires of world-of-objects, shall create sensuous thoughts and we shall come to experience the world-of-plurality. Ardently desire for a direct apprehension of the Pure Consciousness alone; our thoughts shall be of the Divine Self only—and we shall come to experience the Great Grand Reality of the universe and the life therein

prakAso me nijam roopam nAtirikto’smyaham tatah

yadA prakAsate visvam tadA-ham-bhasa eva hi.- 2.8

Light is my very nature; I am nothing other than that Light. When the universe manifests, indeed, it is I alone who shine.

SC: The life, as Consciousness, brings to our awareness all our experiences, physical, mental and intellectual. In this sense of the term, the Upanisad-s very often indicate the Self as ‘Light’ (Caitanya). In Vedanta the Self is considered as Light because of its essential expression, in all living beings, as Consciousness.

Janaka from his own inward experience of this transcendental Self identifies himself with the Infinite Consciousness and declares : “Light is my very nature; I am nothing other than that light.” This Tight’-nature is inexpressible for the human intellect, and when this Consciousness is viewed through our disturbing equipments of the body, mind and intellect, it is visualised as the world of objects, emotions and thoughts.

dvaitamūlamaho duḥkhaṁ nānyattasyā'sti bheṣajam

dṛśyametan mṛṣā sarvaṁ eko'haṁ cidrasomalaḥ - 2.16

The root of all misery is the sense of duality. There is no other remedy for this (misery’) except the realisation that all visible objects-of- experiences are unreal, and that I am the Nondual, Pure, Consciousness and Bliss.

SC: Misery, pain or sorrow, are all subjectively nothing but mental states of disturbances. The more the mental agitations, the more the sorrow. Quieter the mind, happier the man. These disturbances are caused by the mind's perceptions of the pluralistic world, both within itself and outside. All miseries stem forth from the perception of duality. With the realisation of one's own nature to be Pure Non-dual Consciousness, the world-of-plurality will be re-cognised as unreal, and therefore, it can no longer contribute any miseries to the Man-of- realisation. In fact, Na-anyat-tasya-asti bhesajam : there is no other remedy for this continuous sense of sorrow and misery at the ego-plane-of-Consciousness.

saśarīramidaṁ viśvaṁ na kiṁciditi niścitam

śuddhacinmātra ātmā ca tatkasmin kalpanādhunā - 2.19

I have recognised that all this and my body are nothing, while my true self is nothing but pure consciousness, so what is there for the imagination work on now?

SC: Having awakened to the higher plane-of-Consciousness Janaka realizes his Oneness with the Infinite Self (suddha-cin-matrah). A man when he wakes up, he not only understands that he is the ‘waker,’ but this knowledge in him includes the total rejection of his illusory dream. Similarly, in the realisation “I am the Self,” the destruction of the illusory ego and its world are inherent and included. When, thus, one has realised, in his knowledge of the rope, the total non-existence of the illusory serpent, how can he, thereafter, imagine the vicious fangs of the murderous serpent pursuing him? 

All imaginations are possible only when the illusory snake is consistently perceived. Similarly, when we perceive the world, an endless dream of imagination can continuously maintain the experience of a sorrow-ridden world of stormy lusts and surging passions. Janaka here exclaims, in his new-found wisdom and his spiritual awakening: “Upon what can imaginations stand?” The Man-of- realisation can only act—he will not be ever found to react.

śarīraṁ svarganarakau bandhamokṣau bhayaṁ tathā

kalpanāmātramevaitat kiṁ me kāryaṁ cidātmanaḥ - 2.20

The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear too, all this is pure imagination. What is there left to do for me whose very nature is consciousness?

SC: In the previous verse, Janaka despaired that he finds no basis to build up a fanciful world-of-imaginations. Here in this verse he enumerates some of the common imaginations of the spiritual seekers in religion and philosophy.

The gross, the subtle and the causal bodies are all examples of our imaginations. They in their turn, feed the imaginations of their individual world of experiences and objects—the sum total of them all crystalized, is the fanciful sculpture of the miserable ‘ego.’ None of them can survive in one, who has become the Pure Self.

nāhaṁ deho na me deho jīvo nāhamahaṁ hi cit

ayameva hi me bandha āsīdyā jīvite spṛhā - 2.22

I am not the body. Nor have I a body. I am not a being (ego). I am Pure Consciousness. That I had desired to live—this indeed was my bondage.

SC:  Once having reached the State of God-Consciousness, the daring Man-of-Wisdom in Janaka is, as it were, in this verse, examining himself as he is, and comparing himself with what he was. As he is, in the state of his Selfhood, he realizes, “I am not this body.” The term ‘body’ stands for all the three equipments-of-experiences. As All-Pervading, Infinite, Unlimited Consciousness, there cannot be any material adjuncts in the Self.

For all these imaginations, there is no occasion in the bosom of one who is reveling in the Infinite Bliss of the Supreme Self. Therefore, the realised Saint in Janaka exclaims: What purpose have I with all these whiffs of imagination? None of these fanciful factors can pursue and disturb him, who has attained to the State of the Self. He is ever at rest abiding in His own Real Nature.

Aho bhuvana-kallolair-vicitrair-drAk samutthitam,

mayya-nanta-mahAm-bhodhau cittavAte samudyate. - 2.23

O Marvellous! In the limitless ocean of Me, when mental-storms rise, diverse waves of worlds are instantly produced.

SC: “In the limitless ocean of Pure Consciousness which is my Real Nature,” confesses Janaka “when mental storms stir up tumultuous agitations, mountainous waves are created, and they represent the endless variety of experiences.” In short, when the mind is calm, the world-of-plurality rolls away. In reality there is nothing but the Self. The world of things- and-beings in an illusory super-imposition maintained by our mind-in-agitation.

śrutvāpi śuddhacaitanya ātmānamatisundaram

upasthe'tyantasaṁsakto mālinyamadhigacchati  - 3.4

Even after hearing that the Self is Pure Consciousness, supremely beautiful, how can one yet be deeply entangled in sensuous objects and thus become impure?

SC: Even to hear and intellectually comprehend the nature of the Self as the Beauty of Beauties, the only Reality behind the universe, is to drop all our meaningless fascination for the sense-objects of the illusory world. Lust creates an extreme body-consciousness in the lusty. This must necessarily bring storms of agitations into the mind. Agitated mind veils the Vision of the Self; thus a sincere seeker must become ‘impure’ in contact with sense-objects.

CestamAnam sareeram svam pasyaty-anya sareeravat,

samstave cApi nindAyam katham ksubhyet mahAsayah - 3.10

A Great-Souled-Person watches his own body acting as if it were another's. As such, how should he be perturbed by praise or blame.

SC: As the Pure Self, he is the Awareness, not only behind perceptions, emotions and thoughts, but also of the very equipments of the body, mind and intellect. He stands ever as a “witness" of himself, the subject and its world of experiences. This attitude can be only demonstrated, if the student can imagine a unique condition wherein while his dream is continuing, he happens to maintain his waking-consciousness!

As a waker he knows that he is dreaming, and from this higher state of Consciousness he could “witness" the dreamer in him dreaming his own dream-world, projected by his own imaginations!!

If the above unique condition could even be intellectually comprehended, students of Vedanta can gain at least a dim concept of the vision of the world as perceived by a Man-of Spiritual-Wisdom from his fully-awakened inner State of Absolute Bliss. To such a Wise-man how can the worldly praise or the clamorous criticism of the blabbering crowd ever bring any restlessness to disturb his serene bosom?

aho cinmātramevāhaṁ indrajālopamaṁ jagat

iti mama kathaṁ kutra heyopādeyakalpanā - 7.5

O! Marvellous! I am really Pure Consciousness. The world is like a magic-show. Hence, how and where can there be any notion of rejection or acceptance in Me?

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Mahopanisad 6.68

bahih krtrima-samrambho hrdi samrambha-varjitah,

karta bahira-kartA-’ntar-loke vihara suddha-dhih.

“O Man of pure intelligence! With mind at rest, though restlessly working outside—as an apparent ‘doer’ outside, but really as a ‘non-doer’ within—play about in the world of activities and achievements”

SC: Abiding in the Self, Men-of-wisdom apparently function in the world outside, though in their depths they are ever- Actionless, ever-Tranquil.

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Astavakra Uvaca:

Tada bandho yada cittam kihcid-vahchati socati

kihcin-muhcati grhnati kihcid-dhrsyati kupyati 8.1

It is bondage when the mind desires or grieve at anything; does reject or accept anything; does feel happy or angry at anything.

SC: First of all Astavakra defines the state-of-bondage, since this is the condition which is very familiar to we students in general. If they were not already in bondage, they would not study Astavakra-Gita, but would keep on singing their own Gita. Having brought the condition of bondage acutely to the awareness of a student, it should be relatively easy for that student to at least vaguely grasp what exactly is the state-of-freedom.

nAnAscarya-midam visvam na kiheiditi niscayi,

nirvAsanah sphoorti-mAtro na kincidiva sAmyati - 11.8

He who has understood with certitude that this manifold and marvellous universe is nothing (unreal), becomes desireless and Pure Intelligence. He finds peace—as if nothing exists.

akihcana-bhavam svAsthyam kaupinatve’pi durlabham,

tyAgAdAne vihAyA-smAd-ahamAse yathA-sukham - 13.1

Janaka Said :

The tranquillity, which is bom of the Awareness that there is nothing else but the Self, is rare even for one who wearsjust a loin-cloth. Therefore, giving up the ideas of renunciation and acceptance, I live in true happiness

na tvaṁ deho na te deho bhoktā kartā na vā bhavān

cidrūpo'si sadā sākṣī nirapekṣaḥ sukhaṁ cara - 15.4

You are not the body, nor is the body yours. You are neither the ‘doer’ nor the 'enjoyer. ’ You are Consciousness itself, the Eternal, indifferent Witness. You go about happily.

SC: To those of his students who have the taste to walk the spiritual-path, Astavakra continues. In the false understanding that we are body, we run after the sense-objects for our satisfaction and. happiness. Here the teacher advises us that neither are we the bodies, nor are the bodies ours. We must avoid both our sense of ‘I-ness' and ‘mine-ness’ with the body. One is not the 'doer'—who does his activities through the body; nor is One the ‘enjoyer’— who enjoys the outer world, again through the body. The ‘doer-ship’ and ‘enjoyer-ship’ together constitute the ego-sense in us; this is to be completely negated.

After thus negating the gross and the subtle bodies, the sage directly points out what the true Spiritual Nature of man is—“You are Pure Consciousness.” And as the Light of Intelligence in the individual, you are a Witness of all the experiences of the body, mind and intellect; and you are ever indifferent to both the joys and sorrows of the equipments. Understanding this, may “you go about happily,” thus blesses sage Astavakra.

viśvaṁ sphurati yatredaṁ taraṁgā iva sāgare

tattvameva na sandehaścinmūrte vijvaro Bhava - 15.8

O You, Pure Consciousness! In you the universe manifests itself like waves in the ocean. Be you free from the fever of the mind.

dehastiṣṭhatu kalpāntaṁ gacchatvadyaiva vā punaḥ

kva vṛddhiḥ kva ca vā hānistava cinmātrarūpiṇaḥ - 15.10

Let the body last to the end of the ‘cycle’ (kalpa) or let it go just today itself! Where is there any increase or decrease in you, who are Pure Intelligence.

tāta cinmātrarūpo'si na te bhinnamidaṁ jagat

ataḥ kasya kathaṁ kutra heyopādeyakalpanā - 15.12

O Son! You are Pure Intelligence itself. This universe is nothing different from You. Therefore, how, where and whose can be the ideas of acceptance and rejection ?

ekasminnavyaye śānte cidākāśe'male tvayi

kuto janma kuto karma kuto'haṁkāra eva ca - 15.13

From where will there be birth, activity and even the ego-sense, for You who are the One, Immutable, Serene, Stainless, Pure Consciousness?

SC: The term ‘cidAkasa’ is an original phrase used with much dexterity and daring. Space (Akasa) is that which gives accomodation to things. In space alone objects can exist, and they can be perceived. The space in which the worldly-objects exist and in which they are perceived is called Mahakasa. The space in which thoughts exist and are perceivable is called ‘citta-akasa’; and the space-of-intelligence is called cidakasa, wherein the Infinitude of the Self is intuitively perceived. In the verse, the Real Nature of the student is indicated as this Cidakasa.

ma sankalpa-vikalpabhyam cittam ksobhaya cinmaya,

upasamya sukham tistha svatmanyd-nanda-vigrahe - 15.19

O Pure Consciousness ! Do not disturb your mind by affirming and negating things. Silencing them, abide happily in your own Self, which is an Embodiment of the Bliss Absolute.

SC: You are by nature nothing but the Pure Infinite Consciousness. There is nothing for you to affirm, nor is there anything for you to negate. In the Self there are neither the bodies, nor the mind, nor the intellect—these belong to the realm of delusion. To the Awakened Self, there is nothing to assert or to negate. Therefore, “Silencing them” live happily in your Divine Spiritual Nature. As the Divine Spirit you are a Mass-of-Bliss. None of the disturbances of the pluralistic world can rise to shatter the One Light of Consciousness.

kvatmano darsanam tasya

yad-drstam-avalambate,

dheerastam tarn na pasyanti

pasyanty-Atmanam-avyayam - 18.40

Where is the vision-of-the-Self to one who resorts to seeing the manifested world? The Wise do not see this and that but see only the Immutable Self.

SC: The Realised Saints and Sages— “the Wise do not see this and that”—see the Immutable Reality alone. The true meditator rises above the awareness of his equipments, and therefore, he no longer apprehends the world of objects, emotions and thoughts. The One Immutable Self is experienced only when the objects merge into the subject.

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Mahopanisad (V-72)

A Man-of-Wisdom views the phenomenal-world:

AsahkitA’pi samprAptA grAma-yAtrA yatha-’dhavagaih,

preksyate tadvad-eva jnair-bhogasrlr-avalokyate

“Just as the villagers watch a team of tourists passing through the village-street, so does the Wise-man watch the daily parade of the world in front of him!!”

The villagers, certainly, see the pilgrims (or the tourists) who are passing through the village, but the residents of the village are not at all affected by what they see—except that they are entertained by the crowd that is passing by!! The Liberated in-life with perfect detachment watches the parade of the world that marches in front of his awareness!!

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