The Tranquil State of Knowing Self Alone is Rare (Ashtavakra Gita 13.1) - 24th November 2016

Happiness is... Janaka is talking now. He says, 'The tranquil state of knowing Self alone is rare even among those who own but a loincloth. I therefore neither renounce nor accept, and I'm happy.' So what is he saying? He's saying that he's had the experience of meeting many sadhus, yogis, and they have renounced everything material and they own just a loincloth, and yet they have not come to this recognition of the Self, come to this liberation which comes with tranquility, silence, end of suffering. So it is not about this outward renunciation. 'I therefore neither renounce nor accept, and I'm happy.' So you drop the concept itself, you see? More and more is just dropping every concept. Concept of doership, forget about doing or non-doing. Yes, that is what renunciation of our mind becomes.

And Janaka, saying... Janaka, because he's a king, is saying that even if you wear a loincloth or you have a kingdom like me, actually makes no difference to the reality of self-recognition. It is the dropping of the false conditioning. So true renunciation, we can call, like he's saying, must be that which is beyond this material renunciation or acceptance of material possessions. See, many times many have got caught up in just these ideas: 'I need to leave my family, I need to leave my worldly things,' you see, to find the truth of who I am. And there is a well-described, prescribed path for that, you see. But even that, the renunciation of worldly possession, will not bring you the recognition of the Self. It must be this renunciation of concept.

It seems like it should be simpler then, to drop concept than to drop our material possessions.

Is it? Is it? But actually they're very sticky, very sticky. And I've taken contemporary examples; you don't have to go back to the olden times. Yeah, yes, letting... just a letting go. But to take a contemporary example, I've had friends who said—and I've taken this before—I've had friends who say, 'I'm tired of this worldly life. I'm tired of Bangalore and the traffic, and I'm just going to get myself a small place in Goa. I'm going to live on a farm outside Bangalore. I'm going to renounce this world and get peace.' And what are the reports? A week after they've gone, it's nice, very beautiful. 'It's so nice, so peaceful, so quiet. I'm so happy I made this decision.' You talk to them after three months: 'Oh, it's okay, you know, it's okay. Water sometimes is a problem here. Security is an issue. We started getting these other people who, you know, I'm not sure whether they're that safe. And you know, electricity is very rare, it rarely comes. And my farm is having lots of problems because I'm not getting the right people to plant the vegetables.' And all this problem. So, and the mind starts complaining very quickly.

So all that which is beautiful and nice and all of that, after three months is no big deal. We said yesterday or day before that there are limits to getting pleasure through sensory perception, see? So once, like I said also, that we go to... and just as Arunachala is getting close, you all like, 'Wow,' you know, like this. And we get the Darshan of the beautiful mountain. And then you look at the people over there who just live over there. I mean, many are devout, of course, but many are just normal people who are born in... looking at us, 'What are these people looking at? What's going on?' Maybe they don't feel anything. It's just... it's just a mountain for many who live there. So it's like this. So it's not about worldly renunciation. Can we be empty of all mental knowing? That is the renunciation which is important. For some, a worldly renunciation helps that, and for some it does not help that at all. But the point is to drop all concepts. That is the true renunciation.