True Questions of a Sincere Seeker (Ashtavakra Gita 1.1) - 20th October 2016

So the first chapter is instruction on self-realization and Janaka says in verse 1: 'Master, how is knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, and liberation attained?' And what we do is the transcripts of the previous satsangs are also there, but for every verse we can look fresh. And I'm happy to hear from you also if you've contemplated and some insights have come about this. For me, it was very beautiful to read this verse first because many times we say that we want freedom. Many of us in satsang say, 'What are we here for? Self-realization, liberation, freedom.' We see these things. If I was to ask you, 'So what does it mean?' You want to be free from the cycle of birth and death? It's a good point. So the cycle of birth and death, how does it perpetuate? So what is it that we truly want?

So Janaka says, 'How is knowledge to be achieved and detachment acquired?' Knowledge means what? Not the knowledge of a pundit necessarily. What is knowledge for a pundit? You can know a lot of scriptures. There are many in India who would have even memorized the entire Gita, but it is not that kind of knowledge which is being spoken about. It is not about what has been memorized, what can be spoken, not even what is intellectually making some ground. What is this knowledge with a capital K? This knowledge must be that which is the true direct experience of this truth. The direct experience of what is true knowing. What is knowledge itself? What is it to know something? You must explore this question and let go of that which only relies on other concepts.

So if we have 100 concepts about something, we feel like 'I know something.' If you have 100 concepts about advertising... so it is not about the knowing of concepts. That is mental, no, intellectual, no. What is that which is a deeper name? That which knows that you are here. This, that which knows the sense of existence. Does it need a concept to know that the body is breathing right now? Do we need a concept? Only to call it breathing we need the label of the concept, but to watch the breath, to know that breath is happening, does not need a concept. To know that this element of hearing does not need a thought. It's not reliant on that thought. So this knowing, that which knows the appearance of this realm of appearances, that which knows the appearance of this body, that which can know of my own existence unreliant on any concept—to see that this is true knowing independent of any idea we might have.

So this is the knowledge that he's speaking of. So Janaka was the king. All the scriptures, all the books, everything would be available to him. So he's not asking for which scripture should I read. Everything is already available. All the sages would be at his beck and call. But he's saying, 'How is knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired?' So how do I come to this true knowing of the Self and detachment acquired? Means we looked at this in the previous ones where we looked at attachment in the sense that 'something is mine.' Means the sense that something is mine and to have meaning to that. And we look at our life, we see my wife, my children, my house, my city, my country, my master, my style of spirituality, my favorite teaching. So full of this attachment. This is what works for me.

So the basis for this 'mine,' the basis for attachment, seems to be this idea of 'me.' Now we are going to discover that this 'me' itself is a fallacy. It's just a made-up concept. The 'me' that has all of this which is 'mine' itself does not have a tangible existence. Then once this is seen, then what attachment can we have? If the 'me' itself does not exist, then what can really be mine? And I'm sure even the sage Janaka would have heard this before—the realm is changing—but he's still asking how is detachment to be achieved. Because maybe we could look at the question and say, 'I know all of this. I know all of this is changing and it is my attachment which is the problem.' But how do I get to this detachment? Does it just... because there are many, many, many, especially in spirituality, who are trying to let go of their attachments. Why doesn't it happen? They start with this: 'I'm going to live a simpler life, I'm going to denounce the world.' But why don't they achieve the true detachment? That itself becomes an attraction, you see. Because as long as we operate from the sense of being trying to... the only energizing, giving more power to the sense of 'me' itself. As long as the sense of 'me' is there, then the mind will keep changing you.