Knowledge With a Capital 'K' (Ashtavakra Gita Intro 1.1- 1.3) - 7th October 2016
Saar (Essence)
Ananta guides seekers to move beyond conceptual knowledge and sensory identification toward the direct recognition of oneself as awareness alone. He emphasizes that liberation requires both the recognition of the Self and the dropping of false conditioning.
Replacing the concept 'I am a person' with the concept 'I am awareness' is not enough.
Liberation is to know yourself as awareness alone, the witness of these.
Anything that we say after 'I am' is a story, a lie, or just a belief.
intimate
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Self-realization. Ashtavakra says, 'How is knowledge to be achieved, attachment acquired, and liberation attained?' I've said this before because it looks like everyone currently wants the realization. I want to ask you: what does that mean? What do you really want? How many of us can actually answer this question? It might be some concept you heard in satsang, you see, but have you really looked at what we want? We say self-realization or liberation and freedom. What does that mean? Aren't you this Self already? What are you trying to realize?
So then, in the first verse itself, Janaka, the very mature, has clarified this because he says, 'How is knowledge to be attained?' Knowledge. And it is spelled by the translator with a capital 'K'. What is this knowledge that you're talking about? Is it just a bundle of concepts? Just some new ideas? I can give you ten concepts; actually, one is enough. I give you the concept 'I am awareness.' Is it done? Is that knowledge? What must knowledge really be? And what is this knowledge with the capital 'K'? It must be that which has become a living experience, you see. It is not conceptual.
Often I have said that just replacing the concept 'I am a person' with the concept 'I am awareness' is not enough. In fact, it might even seem more burdensome, slapping us about. 'I am awareness,' but my thing is happening to me. 'I am awareness,' you see? It doesn't help. It just becomes more of a fight because we become in denial of our own suffering. So, is there some knowledge beyond concepts? What is here for certain? Because it is very often also in satsang we see many times that just the recognition of the Self, like an awakening experience, is not enough. We do not call that liberation. Many, most of you in satsang, have had awakening experiences, isn't it? You had glimpses of the truth of who you are, and yet our magnetism of conditioning seems to pull us back.
To know what detachment is, first we need to know what attachment is. How is attachment possible? Often I have said that anything that we say after 'I am' is a story. It is a lie, actually. Just an idea. It's a belief, you see. So all that we have attached to this pure sense 'I am,' to this beingness—'I am something,' 'I am a person,' 'I am good,' 'I am right,' 'I am truthful,' 'I am this way'—these are all attachments. This is all conditioning. This pure presence, I am, is able to play as if it is 'I am something' only using the power of belief, which is to identity. And we'll go through all of these things, you see.
So we've collected this bundle of concepts about ourselves and that makes the so-called person identity. But not only is the recognition of the Self important, it is also important to drop all that is false. Otherwise, the recognition will become another mere experience. So Janaka already has understood both these aspects: self-recognition and dropping of the false conditioning to imply liberation. 'How is knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, and liberation attained?' Liberation attained. Is there for liberation attained?
Read more (5 more paragraphs) ↓Show less ↑
Okay, the next verse, the verse which I often say is an insert later on for those who probably said, 'Give me something practical, I cannot deal with this.' So then they say, it's said to be free: 'Shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, and truth.' Forget about... okay. So this sage Ashtavakra says, 'You are not earth, water, fire, or air, nor are you empty space.' This is very important. We cannot find ourselves this way in a phenomenon. This phenomenal realm is made up of earth, water, fire, air, and very often we come to the seeing that 'I am not this elemental, phenomenal, atomic, molecular me.' And then what do we come to? We say, 'I am space.' And space is close, but even this space you are not. Even a void you are not.
Because your mind is trying to help you by giving you visuals. You say, 'I am none of this, so what am I? I am this space.' Many of you visualize and you get stuck in your visualizations. You will imagine some dark space, emptiness. Who sees even that? So not even the space you are. Who is witness to even this dark space or white light? Can that be seen? Is that spacious, that witnessing? How spacious is it? This is where we leave the mind behind because the mind cannot fathom this. The mind can only work with forms, names and forms.
So in this, the sage says you're not earth, water, fire, or air, nor are you empty space. What is left for the mind to do? Forget about it. You will not fathom this that way. You will fathom this only with your direct seeing. You will not be able to conceptualize this. The other day I was saying, can you imagine nothing? Can you think about nothing? Think about something which has no attribute. Can we do it? That is why it seems like the spiritual journey can be so frustrating at times. Even in satsang, sometimes somebody gets angry with me, says, 'I have been here so long and what have I got at the end of the day? Really, what if I caught... nothing?' If he gets the point, so that is frustrating.
We are missing the point actually because we have to look at this idea of getting something, of understanding something, and see what that would be about. That means there would be some lack in you right now. Truth would have something missing and now that would be given to you to complete you. That's a complete lie. Nothing for you in that way, only a mirror. So the sage is shining his mirror upon us saying, 'You are not earth, water, fire, or air, nor empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as awareness alone, the witness of these.' We are done. Pretty much done. You are not earth, water, fire, air, nor are you empty space. Liberation is to know yourself as awareness alone, the witness of these. Simple.
Are you unaware right now? How do you know that you are aware? Do you see it? For everything else, you perceive it. Are there flowers on this table? You see, you put a 'yes.' Are you breathing right now? We perceive it and say 'yes.' How do you know that you are aware? Do you perceive awareness? What form does it have? What are the attributes of this? Size, shape, color, something? Do we perceive any attribute? Are you aware now? How many of us are aware now? How do you know?
The Thread Continues
These satsangs touch the same silence.
On a similar theme
But... God is Here. - 9th March 2026
9 March 2026
Ananta teaches that God dwells within the heart, hidden only by the 'blanket of me.' He guides seekers to rest in the...
On a similar theme
The Repetition of the God’s Name Has the Power To Cut the Holds of Maya - 4th March 2026
4 March 2026
Ananta emphasizes that God dwells eternally within the temple of the heart, accessible not through conceptual pride or...
The following day
If It's All My Creation Why Can't I Manifest All I Want? - 8th October 2016
8 October 2016
Ananta points out that the true 'Knowing' remains untouched by the mind's creations, emphasizing that the only real...