The Divine Leela, The Divine Joke (Ashtavakra Gita 3.1 - 3.8) - 26th October 2016

Verse 1, Chapter 3: 'Having realized yourself as one, being serene and indestructible, why do you desire wealth?' So what is happening now is that the sage Ashtavakra was a renunciate, so he had given up the world. So he's now testing the King. He knows fully well that it doesn't matter whether you're a King or a Sadhu, but he is testing, pushing the button saying, 'Is it working? You're still taking care of your treasury? You have all of this realm?' So, 'Having realized yourself as one, serene and indestructible, why do you desire wealth?' That's why I read the question and the answers together, so you know that what Janak Ji is saying is what we share here in Satsang.

Let me comment only on the questioning so far. We'll spend more time on the answers, but you can see that this can push a button. It can seem like, I mean many times those who are with the teacher, they have this effort: 'I'm just a seeker, I'm not a sage yet. I haven't renounced, I'm so unhappy.' These associations can happen. Then it goes to: 'Just as imagining silver in mother-of-pearl causes greed to arise, so does ignorance of Self cause desire for illusion.' The mother-of-pearl, the inside of it is, I don't know if you've seen it, actually seemingly quite lustrous and like silver. So if you imagine that that's real silver, then it will cause some greed to arise if you want to attain that which is actually just the mother-of-pearl. It is not silver. In the same way, so does the ignorance of Self cause desire for illusion. So as long as it is not clear who we are, then it can seem like life is about attaining something in this phenomenal world. Not just with more materialistic things, but the relationships, the shape of the body—these kind of desires can play strongly as long as it doesn't become clear who we are.

Verse number three: 'Having realized yourself as that in which the waves of the world rise and fall, why do you run around in turmoil?' Having realized oneself as that in which the waves of the world rise and fall, why do you run around in turmoil? This is a beautiful question. You see that everything is happening within us. All that is being perceived, the entire manifested universe, is just happening within the space of my Being, within this consciousness. What is there that I have to attain? Do I have to run after? Is there a lack of something? What can cause this one, in which the world itself is just a wave, what can cause that one's agony? What can make it come into this state of turmoil? It has all been just one's understanding. Its identification has been the root of this turmoil. To see that I am this Self in which this entire world, this universe, comes and goes—what can cause that one to suffer? It is with this mistaken identity: 'I am something which is this mother-of-pearl, another object within this world.' Like I'm a drop within this wave. Actually, we are the ocean itself. This ocean of awareness in which the waves of consciousness, the worlds, are coming and falling, within which there are these objects or bodies. For the ocean to identify itself as a drop is the Divine Leela, is the Divine Joke. And the life of this droplet is full of turmoil because there are so many ups and downs. So, 'Having realized yourself as that in which the waves of the world rise and fall, why do you run around?'

Then, 'Having realized yourself as pure awareness,' this is Verse 4, 'Having realized yourself as pure awareness, beautiful beyond description, how can you remain a slave to lust?' So the sage is poking Janak Ji, saying, 'If you are this awareness, how can you still have lust? How can there be a desire for another object? You yourself are not an object anymore. How can you have this lust, this need for sensory pleasure, sensual excitement? What is all that about?'

Then he says, 'It is strange that in the sage who has realized Self in all and all in Self, the sense of ownership should continue.' He's really pushing his buttons, saying, 'It is strange. You see all the beautiful words you say, all is one, there is only the ocean, the only one. But you still see separation where there is only one. You see all of this, but you have your kingdom. You say, "I am the King."' So he continues to poke him by using all these. We talk about this in Satsang. These four buttons are the main ones: relationships, security/money, body, and what are your desires, and finally the sense of ownership, yearning for freedom itself. We have four main causes of trouble, this identity. The sage is working on all of these buttons saying, 'But if you're a sage now, and you see all is one, are you still holding on to your kingdom?'

Then he says, 'Strange that one abiding in the Absolute, intent on freedom, should be vulnerable to lust and weakened by amorous pastimes.' We spoke about lust, these desires, and he's pushing this to see what happens to his disciple. 'In your mind, do you still experience lust? Do you still experience a sense of ownership over your kingdom? How can you be a sage?' All kinds of statements to be pushing all these buttons. 'Strange that knowing lust as the enemy of knowledge, one so weak and nearing death should still crave sensual pleasure.' So we can hear that Janak Ji was older, much older than Ashtavakra. So he's using the skin, poking him. In the same way, from the body attachment also: 'So weak, nearing death, still craving for sensual pleasure? How can you be the truth of what you are saying? All these words, are you just picking them from some knowledge?'

He continues to say, 'Strange, so strange that one who is unattached to the things of this world and the next, who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless, who yearns for freedom, should yet fear the dissolution of the body.' So he's checking about the fear of death. Is it still there in the disciple? He's saying, 'You say that you are unattached to this world or the next.' Something is coming up for me to say here, that actually it's so simple. That which is true and real continues to be true and real. Even this, we can see from this perspective of truth which is unchanging, the Absolute, the timeless. See, that which is timeless is not changeable. So what you find to be the truth or reality of sleep must continue to be the truth and reality of the waking state as well. And once we see that this one awareness is unchanged through the appearance of all of these worlds, then nobody really can care which phenomenal experience is being experienced, what state it is. It really cannot be internal.

Yes, we have actually seen this for ourselves. That if the truth that I am looking for is not transient, is unchangeable, that truth must be there even when it seems like nothing is there. What is our experience when nothing is there? It is the experience of sleep. So what is real in sleep? If there is no phenomena, do I cease to exist? If there is not even the sense of existence, do I cease to exist? You know, even prior to the sense of existence, I would be. In such a state, whose report are we making? We say that there is nothing in deep sleep. So if every day we can experience the dissolution of this universe and we remain unaffected by it, and the experience of waking up of this universe and other universes, those states that we call dreams... what is that one constant? It is that one witness. That which comes and goes is not real. Even our best exclusion to this line reminds me of the story of Papaji and Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. I heard it, I like it so much. I can't wait to repeat it.

So Papaji willingly went to his Master, Bhagavan. See what happened is that since childhood, maybe I'm telling this story about Papaji, since his childhood he had these experiences of seeing Krishna in the physical form, and Krishna as a friend. Since his childhood, this would go on where Krishna would appear to him. So then what happened is that, I am paraphrasing the story a bit, he came to Bhagavan and he must have had a nice Advaita session or something. He was thinking like, 'So what is this? Let me go have fun, play with Krishna. Why just talk intellectual stuff when I experience this other beauty?' So what happened when he came to Satsang? Then he didn't show up for some time. So when he showed up again after weeks or some days, Bhagavan said, 'So where were you?' He said with some sense of pride, because if I give an answer like this then everybody's going to feel like there's something special about this one, he said, 'I've been playing with Krishna. I've been playing with Krishna.' Bhagavan said, 'Where is Krishna now?' And Papaji said, 'Oh, he's not there.' Bhagavan said, 'What comes and goes is not real.' Does it mean that that's real? See the substratum in which all appearances come. That reality doesn't come and go. That which is not transient is the true Self. Nothing is greater than this discovery.

Even the most auspicious play in the phenomenal, the most sublime experiences in the phenomenal, all come and go. It doesn't mean that we have to have an aversion to sublime experiences. But as we experience ourselves to be that which continues to be there even in the state of dreamless sleep, as we find that our reality is unchanged, this 'I' remains unchanged in all experiences. All are welcome. These beautiful sublime experiences can also be enjoyed. But to say that that is the eternal is also ultimate ripples. Even the play of the gods is dependent on the existence of Being, the existence of consciousness. So all of these experiences are dependent on first 'I am.' So, 'Strange that one who is unattached to the things of this world and the next, who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless...' So he's checking: what is this? Is this transient? Is this phenomenal? Or is this the reality? This is a beautiful inquiry. What is it that is not coming and going right now? What continues regardless of even the presence or absence of this universe itself?