We celebrate Gita Jayanti every year on Mokshada Ekadashi, the 11th day of the Shukla Paksha, in the Margashirsha month of the Hindu lunar calendar to commemorate the day when Bhagwan Krishna imparted the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Along with the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, several other Gitas like Anu Gita, Avadhoot Gita, Uddhav Gita, and others are available in Hindu scriptures. This is because a Gita is anything that was sung and recited at different times in the history of India. This is why one needs to add the adjective to specify which Gita we are talking about. On this Gita Jayanti, falling on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, let us know a little more about Ashtavakra Gita and discuss the teachings of this profound text on Advaita Vedanta philosophy. 

In Hindu culture, it is strongly believed that a child’s education begins in the mother’s womb itself. Therefore, expectant mothers are suggested to listen to good thoughts and melodious music. We know about how Arjun’s son Abhimanyu learned some war tactics while he was in his mother’s womb. There is another similar story of a sage with profound wisdom and spiritual insight known as Ashtavakra. 

While Ashtavakra was in his mother’s womb, his father, a great scholar, Kahoda used to read Vedic shlokas and explain the meaning to his wife Sujata. She was the daughter of sage Aruni who was another knowledgeable rishi of his time. Listening to the discourse, one day, the unborn child corrected his father from his mother’s womb. Kahoda’s ego was deeply hurt as he could not accept his shortcoming and that too was being pointed out by an unborn fetus! He outrightly cursed his son to be born with bodily deformities. 

Ashtavakra, which means "eight-curved" therefore, was born with eight deformities in his body.  However, this didn't stop him from gaining the true knowledge of self at a very tender age. Even as a child He witnessed an enormous depth of spirituality and was always ready to enhance his knowledge.

Once Ashtavakra reached Videha, the kingdom king Janaka, participated in a debate organised by the king to find his answers. Although Janak was said to be an enlightened soul, he was still seeking higher knowledge to attain moksha. As Ashtavakra entered the palace, the courtiers began to laugh seeing his deformed body.

King Janaka also could not refrain from smiling at Ashtavakra’s appearance. Unperturbed, Ashtavakra calmly said, “I mistook this court for a gathering of enlightened minds. It seems you all possess mere 'charm drishti,' a superficial view confined to the skin, rather than 'atma drishti,' a deep understanding of the self.” He challenged the courtiers, asserting that their knowledge was shallow, their perception clouded by appearances and that none of them had the wisdom to discern the underlying reality. Therefore, those unenlightened ones were confined to mere form.

As a seeker of true knowledge, King Janaka invited Ashtavakra for a conversation. Soon they both were engaged in a profound philosophical discourse. King Janaka went on asking philosophical questions and Ashtavakra responded to his questions from the depth of his soul.

King Janaka realised that Ashtavakra had an extraordinary intellect and thus became his disciple. Later on, this famous dialogue came to be known as ‘Ashtavakra’ or ‘Ashtavakra Samhita.’ It is a compilation of 303 verses distributed in twenty chapters.  

King Janaka asks the sage Ashtavakra how he can attain knowledge, detachment and liberation. Ashtavakra tells him to realise his true nature and free himself of the bondage of worldly identities and worldly pleasure. The Ashtavakra Gita is an instruction for achieving self-realisation and oneness.  Each verse of the book emphasises non-duality. Therefore, critics call it ‘an extremely radical version of non-dualistic philosophy’. 

Overall, the book does not provide any arguments for the conclusion that only one’s self is real. A single truth is highlighted in the entire Gita in different ways- the core idea of Advaita Vedanta is that you are Brahman and there is no separate existence of you other than what you are in your purest form. The book only highlights one truth that is put straightforwardly.

Ashtavakra Gita elucidates the core of the entire Hindu philosophy- the meaning of the Supreme Reality and how it is the sole goal of a seeker to know it through self-realisation. Self-realisation is the knowing – in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God, and that all we have to do is improve our knowing. Ashtavakra tells you that you are already pure and perfect- you are the Pure Existence ‘Tat Tvam Asi’. You don’t need to add anything to that. And you don’t need to give up anything. You already abide by Pure Consciousness. 

The Self is pure awareness that there is only God and everything else is an illusion: the little self, the world, the universe. All these things arise with the thought 'I', that is, with the idea of a separate identity. The little 'I' invents the material world, which in our ignorance we strive hard to sustain. Forgetting our original oneness, bound tightly in our imaginary separateness, we spend our lives in ignorance. 

The spiritual teachings of Ashtavakra Gita are direct invocation of God within us. It's a call to the divine within us, our true nature. It straight away tells you only one truth that you are pure consciousness and tells you the central truth that you are none other than God.

Unless the reader has some familiarity with Advaita philosophy, Ashtavakra Gita might be difficult to understand. Every word in the book conveys only one message to inspire the seeker to attain self-realisation. How to attain this goal requires a lot of practical wisdom that is completely missing in the book. That is one reason why Ashtavakra Gita could not become a very popular text.  

It is said that when young Narendra visited his guru Sri Ramakrishna, he was persuaded to read ‘Ashtavakra Gita'. Later, the book had a deep impact on the impressionable mind of Narendra who enormously adopted the core belief of Advaita philosophy as an adult Vivekananda. setting him on a path of spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

There are several commentaries available on our Bhagavad Gita but not Ashtavakra Gita as the text does not leave much scope for reinterpretation or explanation. The core ideas are put in a simple, straightforward way, leaving little scope to re-expand or comment on the meaning. 

Given a chance, do take a look at this one of the greatest treatises of non-dual Vedanta, known as the Ashtavakra Gita!