story about ashtravakra
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A young scholar was reading the holy scripture,
His eight months pregnant wife, seated nearby .
A voice from the womb addressed the father:
“Please read attentively, don’t mispronounce”
Slighted by being corrected by an unborn child,
The man in anger cursed the child in the womb:
“Be thou born with eight bends in your body”
Curse took effect. Child was named Ashtavakra.
His crooked form invited ridicule from others.
His mission was to enlighten great King Janaka.
Ashtavakra was already an enlightened Master,
He accepted very few disciples, only after testing.
King Janaka was however accepted without test.
This caused resentment among other disciples.
One day King was late in coming for discourse,
Which was therefore started later than usual.
When King came Ashtavakra told the King :
“I had a vision. This city is to erupt in flames.
Those who would save their life and valuables
can leave the city” All left, except Ashtavakra
and the King. Ashtavakra then asked the King:
O! King won’t you save your life and treasure?
King said : My lord, you are my only treasure.
Ashtavakra said : If so, go and bring back all the
Disciples, saying that my vision was a mistake.
King knew; he went and brought them back.
They grumbled they were made to run errands
And treated like fools. But some of them knew,
Why Master accepted the King as his disciple
Without conditions, and on King’s own terms.
A most wonderful dialogue then took place,
Between wise Ashtavakra and King Janaka.
It is known as the famous Ashtavakra Gita
A fountain head of wisdom worthy of study.
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Many thousands of years ago, there was a great master named Ashtavakra. He was one of the greatest sages on this planet who caused a huge spiritual movement at that time. The name “Ashtavakra” means “one with eight different types of deformities in his body.” This was because of a curse from his father.
When Ashtavakra was in his mother’s womb, various teachings were expounded to him by his father, Kahola, who was himself a famed scholar and sage. In his fetal state, Ashtavakra received all this and before he was born, when he was still in his mother’s womb, he gained tremendous mastery over the various dimensions of the Self. One day, in the process of transmitting the teachings, Kahola made a mistake. Ashtavakra, the unborn child, said “hum” from his mother’s womb. He was his court everyone in the whole land who could be of spiritual value. He welcomed them, treated them well, gave them the necessary sustenance, and supported them because he was hoping that somehow he would get enlightened.
Every day, he finished his temporal duties as quickly as he could and spent hours listening to these people, conducting debates and enlightenment.
Kahola was invited to one such debate and he went accompanied by Ashtavakra. The debate began and a great argument was underway between the best scholars there. Many intellectual questions were raised and the intricacies of the scriptures were being discussed, when Ashtavakra stood up and said, “All this is empty talk. None of these people knows anything of the Self. They are all talking about it, but not one person here including my father knows anything about the Self.”
King Janaka looked at Ashtavakra – this young boy with a twisted-out body speaking like this – and said “Can you substantiate what you just said? Otherwise you will lose even that crippled body of yours.”
Ashtavakra replied, “Yes I can.”
“Then what is it that you can offer?” asked Janaka.
Ashtavakra said, “If you want to receive this, you must be willing to follow my word to the limit. Only then I can offer this to you. If you
When he saw Ashtavakra, Janaka began to dismount from the horse. He was on one stirrup and his other leg was up in the air when Ashtavakra said, “Stop. Stop right there.” Janaka just stopped in that absolutely uncomfortable position – hanging onto the horse, with one leg up in the air.
He just stood there in that absolutely awkward position. We don’t know for how long. Some legends say for many years, some say it was just a moment. The chronological time does not matter. He stood in that position long enough. Long enough can be just one moment. Because of that absoluteness of him following the instruction – just stopping there, where he has to be – he became a fully but he functioned as a king. In India, many sages and saints were once kings and emperors who willingly and voluntarily gave away everything they had and walked as beggars, with great dignity. There have been many like this – Gautama Buddha, Mahavira, Bahubali – but an enlightened king was a rare being. Janaka remained a king but as often as possible, whenever his regal responsibilities gave him some time, he would visit Ashtavakra in his ashram.
At the ashram, Ashtavakra had gathered a few monks who were being taught by him. These monks slowly began to resent Janaka because whenever he came, Ashtavakra went out of his way and spent a lot of time with the king because they had such a good rapport with each other. The moment Janaka came, both of them lit up. With the monks whom Ashtavakra was teaching, he did not light up the same way. There was something between Janaka and Ashtavakra, which was resented by the monks.
The monks would whisper to each other, “Why has our Guru sold out to a man like that? It looks like our Guru is getting corrupted. This man is a king. He lives in a palace. He has got so many wives and so many children. He has kind of clothing you wear. But for that loin cloth, without even paying attention to what I was saying, you just ran out to save those worthless pieces of cloth. Where is your renunciation? He is the true renunciate. He is a king but he is a renunciate. You are monks. You are using things that other people discard, but there is no renunciation in you. This is where you are. That is where he is.”
One’s progress within oneself has nothing to do with what a person does on the outside, what is most important is, what a person is doing within him or herself. What you are doing with the outside world is just social; you conduct yourself as it is suitable for the situation in which you exist. It has social relevance but no existential or spiritual relevance. How you are within yourself is all that matters.
Please mark as brainliest.
When Ashtavakra was in his mother’s womb, various teachings were expounded to him by his father, Kahola, who was himself a famed scholar and sage. In his fetal state, Ashtavakra received all this and before he was born, when he was still in his mother’s womb, he gained tremendous mastery over the various dimensions of the Self. One day, in the process of transmitting the teachings, Kahola made a mistake. Ashtavakra, the unborn child, said “hum” from his mother’s womb. He was his court everyone in the whole land who could be of spiritual value. He welcomed them, treated them well, gave them the necessary sustenance, and supported them because he was hoping that somehow he would get enlightened.
Every day, he finished his temporal duties as quickly as he could and spent hours listening to these people, conducting debates and enlightenment.
Kahola was invited to one such debate and he went accompanied by Ashtavakra. The debate began and a great argument was underway between the best scholars there. Many intellectual questions were raised and the intricacies of the scriptures were being discussed, when Ashtavakra stood up and said, “All this is empty talk. None of these people knows anything of the Self. They are all talking about it, but not one person here including my father knows anything about the Self.”
King Janaka looked at Ashtavakra – this young boy with a twisted-out body speaking like this – and said “Can you substantiate what you just said? Otherwise you will lose even that crippled body of yours.”
Ashtavakra replied, “Yes I can.”
“Then what is it that you can offer?” asked Janaka.
Ashtavakra said, “If you want to receive this, you must be willing to follow my word to the limit. Only then I can offer this to you. If you
When he saw Ashtavakra, Janaka began to dismount from the horse. He was on one stirrup and his other leg was up in the air when Ashtavakra said, “Stop. Stop right there.” Janaka just stopped in that absolutely uncomfortable position – hanging onto the horse, with one leg up in the air.
He just stood there in that absolutely awkward position. We don’t know for how long. Some legends say for many years, some say it was just a moment. The chronological time does not matter. He stood in that position long enough. Long enough can be just one moment. Because of that absoluteness of him following the instruction – just stopping there, where he has to be – he became a fully but he functioned as a king. In India, many sages and saints were once kings and emperors who willingly and voluntarily gave away everything they had and walked as beggars, with great dignity. There have been many like this – Gautama Buddha, Mahavira, Bahubali – but an enlightened king was a rare being. Janaka remained a king but as often as possible, whenever his regal responsibilities gave him some time, he would visit Ashtavakra in his ashram.
At the ashram, Ashtavakra had gathered a few monks who were being taught by him. These monks slowly began to resent Janaka because whenever he came, Ashtavakra went out of his way and spent a lot of time with the king because they had such a good rapport with each other. The moment Janaka came, both of them lit up. With the monks whom Ashtavakra was teaching, he did not light up the same way. There was something between Janaka and Ashtavakra, which was resented by the monks.
The monks would whisper to each other, “Why has our Guru sold out to a man like that? It looks like our Guru is getting corrupted. This man is a king. He lives in a palace. He has got so many wives and so many children. He has kind of clothing you wear. But for that loin cloth, without even paying attention to what I was saying, you just ran out to save those worthless pieces of cloth. Where is your renunciation? He is the true renunciate. He is a king but he is a renunciate. You are monks. You are using things that other people discard, but there is no renunciation in you. This is where you are. That is where he is.”
One’s progress within oneself has nothing to do with what a person does on the outside, what is most important is, what a person is doing within him or herself. What you are doing with the outside world is just social; you conduct yourself as it is suitable for the situation in which you exist. It has social relevance but no existential or spiritual relevance. How you are within yourself is all that matters.
Please mark as brainliest.
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