Disassembling the mechanism of suffering | Ashtavakra Gita

The Ashtavakra Gita. Detachment.

This chapter is very likely to be misunderstood upon first hearing it. So we must set the scene.

We will use this chapter to shine new light on what is meant by "detachment" and "letting go" and "being free". At first it may sound like Ashtavakra is supporting the extreme ideas and practices of asceticism and renunciation. But remember he has previously declared,

"What is there to renounce?"

Janaka too has understood this and has repeated the phrase,

"No need to renounce, accept or destroy."

The chapter prior to this one ends with these verses:

"If the mind is attached to any experience, this is bondage. When the mind is detached from all experience, this is liberation. When there is no 'I', there is only liberation. When 'I' appears, bondage appears with it."

"Knowing this, it is effortless to refrain from accepting and rejecting."

This is the mechanism of suffering. That little mental tug — "I", that pulls away from Reality as it is, and turns towards that individual world of thoughts, concepts, and the resulting moods and emotions they induce. This tug, this mechanism, is what may be called "desire".

So now, we turn to chapter 9. Detachment.

Ashtavakra said:

"Opposing forces, duties done and left undone — when does it end and for whom? Considering this, be ever desireless."

"Let go of all things, and to the world turn an indifferent eye.

Rare and blessed is one whose desire to live, to enjoy, and to know, has been extinguished by observing the ways of men.

Seeing all things as threefold suffering, the sage becomes still.

Insubstantial, transient, contemptible — the world is fit only for rejection."

"Was there an age or time men existed without opposites?

Leave the opposites behind.

Be content with what comes.

Perfection."

"The greatest seers, saints and yogis agree on very little.

Seeing this, who could not be indifferent to knowledge and become still?

One who through worldly indifference, through serenity and reason, sees his true nature and escapes illusion, is he not a true teacher?

In the myriad forms of the universe, see the primal element alone."

"You will be instantly free, and abide in Self.

Desire creates the world.

Renounce it.

Renounce desires and you renounce the world.

Now, you may live as you are."

The message here is not about renouncing and withdrawing from life but about recognizing a certain mechanism of suffering. The psychological and mental process that takes the natural activity of the world and the body; and the mind, and turns them into "my" desires, "my" duties, "my" experiences. The renunciation here is very precise, very targeted at this mechanism itself. It's not about leaving the town to go live in a cave.

It's a detachment from this imagined "I", the center of this pull away from Reality to an imaginary world. A conceptual mental world, built around a character that exists only in the mind. The individual with respect to whom duties can be done or left undone. It's a relative viewpoint, rather than anything substantial.

What we giving up is just the turmoil of this myopic viewpoint.

"Considering this, be ever desireless.

Let go of all things and to the world turn an indifferent eye."

Which world?

It is what is considered the "inner world". It is not the inner world. It is the imagined world of thoughts and concepts.

"Rare and blessed is one whose desire to live, to enjoy, and to know has been extinguished by observing the ways of men."

Haven't you seen what all this leads to?

The struggle and strife, the greed and violence, the pursuit of happiness or glory to the detriment of all else. In each case driven by the flawed concept of an individual; "me", "mine". This becomes clear through observing both human behavior and one's own mind. For the sage, the living, enjoying and knowing have not stopped. They do continue.

But the desire for them, the craving and clinging to them, that has been extinguished. Again, this has more to do with that imagined personal world than the world of raw perception.

"Seeing all things as three-fold suffering, the sage becomes still."

What are these things?

It's not the sky or the bird song. It is the desires and fears, the incessant thinking and planning, and the moods all this induces. There's a three-fold suffering to it all. The anticipation or the anxiety of what is to come.

Then the ordeal of the experience itself. And finally the craving or the aversion that the end of that experience produces. And so it carries on this mechanism.

"Insubstantial, transient, contemptable. This world is fit only for rejection."

This imaginary personal world, where everything is filtered through this "I" mechanism. Someone obsessed with a pimple completely misses the beauty of the face. This obsession with a myopic viewpoint keeps the mind stuck in its turmoil. Even a scar which represents past trauma also represents the resilience of the body trying to repair itself, continuing its work.

That is how Nature works — on a grand scale. Not based on these individual views. By giving up that idea of individuality, you can at once give up that lifetime of grievances and judgments. The standpoint changes. From the individual viewpoint, they have always been opposites.

But from the sage's standpoint, opposites are not really opposites. Joy and sorrow, creation and destruction, life and death — these always have a common dimension. They are the rhythm of nature. It is only when you stop looking at the pimple and see the whole face that you see perfection.

"The greatest seers, saints and yogis agree on very little."

Because knowledge is always of some part and not the Whole. Perfection is apprehending the Whole as it is, without trying to comprehend or attempting to explain. In knowledge and teaching, differences and debates will always continue.

But that's not what the sage's insight is about.

"In the myriad forms of the universe, see the primal element alone. You will be instantly free and abide in Self."

The primal element is that aspect of Reality which is most fundamental, remains most real, whole and indivisible, present in any moment.

Despite the subjectivity of experience, despite the relativity of spacetime, this is the one factor that remains standing firm. The ocean in the drop. That primal factor is this Awareness. There's no criteria by which Awareness can be split into parts.

The division only exists in thinking and speaking. Awareness is the one factor that remains whole and indivisible despite all apparent multiplicity. To abide in the Self is to recognize the ocean in the drop. To know Awareness as the underlying Reality and the actual Self.

To see this Primal Element clearly, all you have to do is see that mechanism of suffering and take it apart. What is this "desire"; this mental tug away from Reality towards the mental world of concepts, possible futures, the narrative about that, and the moods it starts inducing? Renounce that pull. Renouncing that pull, renounces the illusory world it creates.

Nothing substantial is being given up. It is only the mechanism of suffering that is being seen through and rejected. The activities need not end. They just continue without the friction of taking them to be "mine". The Sage lives on as they always were: Undivided Awareness, appearing as the totality of all that is happening in any moment.

The total functioning, and the perception of that functioning, and beyond that the timeless changeless Awareness through which perception can take place.

"Desire creates the world — renounce it. Renounce desires and you renounce the world. Now you may live as you are."