Compilers preface
While I was looking for a Sanskrit text version of Ashtavakra Samhita by Swami Nityaswarupananda,I stumbled upon the Study Notes of Swami Shraddhananda, compiled by Lalita Maly. These were from a study group headed by the famous and erudite scholar Shri subramanya Iyer during 1937 and 1939. who was the then pundit to the Maharaja of Mysore, ( of the state of Mysore ). These were nicely compiled and translated with punctuation wherever necessary and put in a good format. While I found them extremely useful for the study, she had not put the verses in question, So, I had to look for a good translation of the verses. I could find one in the small publication of Bart Marshall,which was very close to the rendering of Swami Nityaswarupananda. I have merged the two together and put the verses in bold format to separately distinguish from the notes of Swami Shraddananda.
I have retained this poetic verses till the fifteenth chapter and have later used the translation of Swami Nityaswarupananda.
I have retained the introductory remarks of both Bart Marshall AND Lalita Maly, to enable the reader to get first hand information.
I acknowledge with thanks the generosity of Bart Marshall AND. Lalita Maly for their permission for the seekers of Vedanta to use their writings.
I am sure the reader will get benefited by the compilation and use it for his study. For a detailed Sanskrit text and commentary, please refer to the book of Swami Nityaswarupananda, published by ADVAITA ASHRAMA Mayawati Almora, Himalayas.
Radhakrishnan garani
Shankara jayanti
May 17,2021
Ashtavakra gita
**Bart Marshall **
Translator’s Preface
In Vietnam when I was twenty-one, a hand grenade or mortar round–the circumstances made it difficult to determine which–blew me into a clear and brilliant blackness. For the next thirty-seven years that glimpse of infinite emptiness, so intimate, so familiar, kept me looking almost obsessively in esoteric books and far corners for an explanation of myself. Then, “suddenly,” the veil, as they say, was lifted.
A few months after that occurrence, as my interest in reading began to slowly return, I found myself drawn mainly to the sayings and writings of old masters. What did Buddha have to say? What did Christ? Lao Tsu? Patanjali? I wanted to read them with new eyes.
Oddly, in those thirty-seven years of seeking, I had never read the Ashtavakra Gita, and indeed was barely aware of its existence. Then recently, as I sat at the bedside of a dying friend and teacher, another friend placed it in my hands. I opened it and was astonished. Here, in one concise volume, was all that needed to be said.
I immediately acquired other versions and poured over them. Each had its good points, but none of them spoke the way my inner ear was hearing. The literal transcriptions from Sanskrit were valuable as reference but required patient study to understand. English translations by Indian scholars made the meaning more clear, but tended to lack a certain rhythm, poetry and nuance of language
I felt the need of. Translations by native English-speaking scholars were better in this regard, but sometimes ranged too far from the original, or just didn’t hit the notes I was hearing.
Then one day I wrote down a verse the way I heard it. I liked what I read. It was infectious. I couldn’t stop. There are a few conventions worth mentioning. Capitalized words like Self, Awareness, God, Absolute, Consciousness, Knowledge, Witness, That, This, Void, Light, All, One, Everything, Nothing, No-thing, Being, Me, You, It, Himself, Bliss, Supreme, Unity and Truth are used as synonyms, although sometimes in context subtle—and ultimately non-existent–differences may be intended.
These words all point to What Is—the true nature of Reality. The words universe, world, creation and illusion are synonyms referring to the apparently real (but not) manifest world of physical objects, people, personal self, ideas, thoughts, gods, knowledge, concepts, myths, religions, history, memories, emotions, time, space—everything we perceive through the mind and senses, including the mind and senses themselves. Maya.
Synonymous words and phrases used to denote a “person” who has realized Self, who knows Truth, who perceives the Real include: wise one, desireless one, liberated one, liberated soul, great soul, sage and yogi.
Translator’s Introduction
The Ashtavakra Gita is an ancient spiritual document of great purity and power. Pure, because it is relentlessly one-pointed. Every word is aimed at triggering Self-realization–no suggestions for self-improvement, no rules for moral behavior, no practical wisdom for daily life.
Powerful, because the mere reading—or repeated reading–of it can be enough to send a ripe mind reeling into Truth. Little is known about the Ashtavakra Gita. Ashtavakra is a name that appears in Indian lore, but almost certainly he did not write it. The author, likely an anonymous sage, merely uses the characters of Ashtavakra and King Janaka to set up a classic dialogue between guru and disciple. It quickly becomes a guru-guru dialogue, however, because after the first salvo of wisdom from Ashtavakra, Janaka realizes his true Self, and from then on they get into an advaitic jam session of the highest sort.
Because of this, some translators have done away with the dialogue format and attributed everything to Ashtavakra. Indeed, since all the verses of the Ashtavakra Gita exist at the highest possible level of spoken wisdom, it would appear meaningless to attribute some to the teacher and some to his newly enlightened disciple.
There is nevertheless a story line set up in the Ashtavakra Gita, and for me it goes something like this:
Chapter 1: It all starts when King Janaka asks the sage Ashtavakra how he can attain Knowledge, detachment, liberation. Ashtavakra tells him.
Chapter 2: It works! Upon hearing Ashtavakra’s words Janaka realizes his True Nature. Enraptured, he describes the joy and wonder of his new state.
Chapter 3: Ashtavakra is delighted for Janaka but sees inconsistencies. He fires off a series of confrontational verses about attachment to worldly pleasure.
Chapter 4: Janaka asserts that the Lord of the Universe can do as he pleases.
Chapter 5: Ashtavakra does not disagree, but in a terse four verses points to the next step—dissolution.
Chapter 6: Janaka says “I know that already,” matching him in style and number of verses.
Chapter 7: Unable to leave it at that, however, Janaka goes on to further describe his enlightened state.
Chapter 8: Still hearing too much “I” in Janaka’s language, Ashtavakra instructs him in the subtleties of attachment and bondage.
Chapter 9: Ashtavakra continues to describe the way of true detachment.
Chapter 10: Ashtavakra hammers away at the folly of desire—no matter how elevated or subtle.
Chapter 11: Ashtavakra further describes the state of desirelessness to which he points.
Chapter 12: Janaka replies by describing the state of timeless stillness in which he now finds himself.
Chapter 13: Janaka, having been instructed by Ashtavakra in Chapter One to “be happy,” reports that he indeed is.
Chapter 14: Janaka then summarizes his exalted state with calm indifference.
Chapter 15: Impressed but not through teaching, Ashtavakra relentlessly points to the vast emptiness of Self.
Chapter 16: Ashtavakra attacks the futility of effort and knowing.
Chapter 17: Ashtavakra describes the nature of one who is truly free.
Chapter 18: Finally, Ashtavakra hits him with everything he’s got—100 verses of pure non-duality. If this doesn’t do it, nothing will.
Chapter 19: It works! Janaka no longer describes his enlightened state, but can speak only in questions revealing absence.
Chapter 20: In a final flurry of questions pointing only at their own meaninglessness, Janaka burns off the last vestiges of personhood and enters dissolution. He ends with: “No more can be said.” Ashtavakra smiles, nods approvingly, and says no more.
**Study Notes of of Ashtavakra Samhita **
by Swami Shraddhananda
Introduction by Lalita Maly
The following are study notes for the Ashtavakra Samhita, a Vedantic scripture. These are the notes that the late Revered Swami Shraddhananda wrote in the margin of his copy of the text. The notes were written in English, Bengali, and Sanskrit in his handwriting over years of study. I deciphered the tiny English and Sanskrit writing and Bidyut Bose kindly translated the Bengali. He has my gratitude and appreciation for his efforts. Bidyut noted that in the last few chapters the Swami had translated the text into Bengali rhyming couplets. We who knew Swami Shraddhananda as a poet and singer can only surmise that he did that in order to chant or sing these verses. The Swami shared these notes with many students of Vedanta and encouraged them to make photocopies.
Although many people have copies of these notes, I don’t know that anyone else has translated and typed them up. These notes are unedited, as Swami Shraddhananda wrote them in the margins of the text at the time of the Study Circle and over the years of his study. Except for a few inclusions and notes, which are bracketed for identification, I did my best to preserve the unique tone of the swami for the readers. I made changes in the punctuation in order to facilitate the reader’s ease and comprehension. I thought it was interesting to note which words the swami wrote in his native Bengali, and those in Sanskrit, and they are thus marked. Translations of Sanskrit words are in parentheses.
Please feel free to print out and email/share these notes with any other students of Vedanta. Revered Swami Swahananda, the Head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, has agreed to make these notes available on the Vedanta Society website [vedanta.org] for downloading. Most of these notes were written while Swami Shraddhananda was a young monk at the renowned Mysore Study Circle from 1937-39.
The famous Mysore Study Circle was taught in English by the South Indian scholar, V. Subrahmanya Iyer, pundit to the Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar Bahadur IV. His Highness’ father encouraged Swami Vivekananda to attend the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. This Study Circle was composed of the most intellectual swamis of the Ramakrishna Order and was supported by the patronage of the Maharaja. Swami Shraddhananda stayed an additional year in the study circle, imbibing the Vedantic analysis.
He developed a deep friendship with the great pundit who encouraged him in his studies and practice of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. V. Subrahmanya Iyer, however, was not just a dry philosopher, but also a devotee. Swami Shraddhananda often quoted the pundit saying “Sri Ramakrishna was the greatest philosopher of all time” and that “none of the direct disciples understood Sri Ramakrishna’s depth but Swami Vivekananda.” When Mysore devotees travelled north to Calcutta, they asked the Pundit if they could bring him any souvenir. He replied, “Bring me a twig from the Panchavati”– the wooded wilderness area along the Ganges in the Dakshineswar Temple compound where Sri Ramakrishna lived and meditated. The pundit, although a householder, lived the philosophy he taught.
A profound thinker and scholar, Pundit Iyer taught the swamis of the Study Circle for many years. This group of swamis in the Mysore Study Circle included some of the most scholarly monks of the Ramakrishna Order, including Swami Nikhilananda of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center, New York and Swami Ranganathananda, previous President (died 2005) of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission headquartered at Belur Math, India. It is from this Mysore Study Circle that the current Monastic Training Center evolved at Belur Math.
How To Use These Study Notes
To use these notes, read each verse and translation in your text, and then read these numbered notes that correspond to the verses in the text for further explanation of the text. The Ashtavakra Samhita text where the swami wrote these notes is a 1936 edition translated by Swami Nityaswarupananda of the Ramakrishna Mission. Pundit V. Subrahmanya Iyer wrote the Introductory Notes for the text on this edition.
The chapter titles on these notes are taken from that 1936 text and are interesting and somewhat different from the current edition of the same text currently published by Advaita Ashrama. Just follow the number of the chapters and verses, which in both editions are the same. Since not every chapter or verse has a note, there are some empty spaces in the numbering. The italicized words indicate that those words are from the text were marked and expounded upon in the notes by Swami Shraddhananda. The underlined words were underlined by the swami. The translated Bengali words are preceded by [B] indicating it was written originally in Bengali and the translated Sanskrit is denoted by [S].
The translations of Sanskrit words have been placed in parentheses to find them more easily. Words in brackets are added for clarity by the proofreaders. I have included the quotes from other texts that are cited.
May our study of the Vedanta be fruitful in the realization of Truth.