The Real You

----- from Ashtavakra Gita (अष्टावक्रगीता)

निरपेक्षो निर्विकारो निर्भरः शीतलाशयः ।
अगाधबुद्धिरक्षुब्धो भव चिन्मात्रवासन: ॥१-१७ ॥

nirapekṣo nirvikāro nirbharaḥ śītalāśayaḥ |
agādhabuddhirakṣubdho bhava cinmātravāsanaḥ ||1-17||

Translation :-

आप इच्छा रहित विकार रहित घन ( ठोस ) शीतलता के धाम अगाध बुद्धिमान हैं । शांत होकर केवल चैतन्य की इच्छा वाले हो जाइये ।

You are unconditioned and changeless, dense, profound in intellect and unperturbed, so remain rooted in Pure Consciousness alone.


Comments :

Breath is not you, mind and intellect are not you, Prana is not you, Chakras are not you, light and sound and any other possible phenomenon is not you, Kundalini experiences are not you, none of the four bodies (gross, astral, causal, supra-causal) are you, the names and forms of individual I-ness are not you. Whatever you think you are is not YOU. The real YOU is beyond all such concepts, conditionings and all knowingness. It is independent of everything perceived, known and experienced.

SELF is changeless. The joy which comes and goes is only of the mind. Bliss and Joy of the SELF never leave. SELF is the natural resting state of ever-flowing joy and happiness.

SELF is already full of itself. The joy and happiness a Jnani experiences is hard to contain and impossible to put into words. In that Joy everything is included and provided and nothing is worth acquiring and desiring. It is in this sense that the word ‘dense’ is used by Ashtavakra.

The certitude that I am that SELF is definitely felt even though not as an experience as all experiences are of the mind and hence fleeting in nature. This is more like being held or embraced by joy/bliss all the time. You get possessed by the natural joyous state and rest there forever undisturbed by the happenings around you. Even the greatest of calamities can’t touch you.
Having given us such deep insights into the SELF, Ashtavakra asks us to pursue our journey within with great fervor so that such direct apprehension becomes possible.