Introduction


The Avadhuta Gita is a Hindu text expounding on the non-dual philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. Authorship is attributed to Dattatreya, who some say was the teacher of Patanjali, but no historical data exists about when or where he was born or how long he lived.

 

The word Avadhuta means a liberated soul, one who has "shaken off" all worldly attachments and cares, and has attained a state of God-realization. An Avadhuta feels no need of observing any rules, either secular or religious. He seeks nothing, avoids nothing, and claims neither knowledge nor ignorance. The Avadhuta has done away with worldly concerns and standard social etiquette, at least in his or her heart. As such, they are said to be "free to roam the earth as a child."

 

According to Dattatreya, the free man, the Avadhuta, need not have any particular appearance, lifestyle, religion or social role. He may walk about naked or be dressed as a prince. He may appear pious or blasphemous, ascetic or hedonistic.

 

Swami Vivekananda, a great Advaita teacher, often quoted from the Avadhuta Gita. He once said, "Men like the one who wrote this Song have deeply realized. They care for nothing, feel nothing done to the body, care not for heat, cold, danger, or anything. They sit still, enjoying the bliss of Atman, and though red-hot coals burn the body, they feel them not."

Chapter One – Self

 

1.1

By the grace of God the Absolute,

the desire to realize one’s natural state of Unity

arises the wisest of men,

and provides them refuge from all fear.

 

1.2

All that appears in the realm of forms is Self

and Self alone – the One Being,

the never-dying Source of Bliss.

How can I worship that which is formless,

limitless, and incapable of separation?

 

1.3

This universe composed of the five elements –

space, air, fire, water and earth –

is only the shimmering of a mirage within me,

the immaculate One. To whom shall I bow?

 

1.4

All is Self.

There is neither separation nor wholeness.

How can I say, “This exists,”

or “That does not exist”?

I am awestruck by this Great Mystery!

 

1.5

The essence and totality of Vedanta is this:

I am the formless, all-pervading Self –

the Absolute.

Realization of This is Intelligence.

 

1.6

I am God, the Self of All.

Of this there is no doubt.

My nature is boundless, changeless,

indivisible like sky –

purity itself, untouched by illusion.

Truly, truly, I am That.

 

1.7

Indeed, my nature is pure Intelligence.

I am infinite, immutable, deathless.

I experience neither joy or sorrow,

nor do I know to whom

these might appear to exist.

 

1.8

In me there is no act of mind, good or bad.

In me there is no act of body, good or bad.

In me there is no act of speech, good or bad.

I am pure transcendent Consciousness,

beyond the senses.

 

1.9

The mind is like space.

It seems to face in all directions.

It seems to imply a past.

It seems to encompass all.

But in Reality, it has no substance

and cannot be said to exist.

 

1.10

I am Self, the One and only,

untouched by space and time.

How can it be said that Self is or is not?

I am existence itself,

both manifest and unmanifest.

I am both visible and hidden.

 

1.11

Do you not yet understand

that it is you who are Self?

You are the eternal, self-reflecting Lord

of all that is and is not,

the ever-shining, ever-exalted Atman.

How can you continue to grieve day and night?

 

1.12

I abide as Self Alone, the Absolute,

the all-pervasive One.

I am both perceiver and that which is perceived.

The indivisible cannot be divided.

 

1.13

You were never born, nor can you ever die.

At no time have you ever had a body.

The scriptures teach this well-known truth

in many different ways: “All is Brahman.”

 

1.14

You are That for which inside and outside

have no meaning. You are the Absolute,

existing everywhere at once and forever.

Why do you run here and there

like a hungry ghost?

 

1.15

Separateness and Oneness

do not exist for “you” and “me.”

There is no you. There is no me.

There is no universe.

All is Self and Self alone.

 

1.16

The world and body depicted by the senses

is not you. Nor do the world and body

belong to you to you, nor do you belong

to the body and world. You are the Supreme Self

in which bodies and worlds arise.

Why do you grieve in the body?

Why do you suffer in the world?

 

1.17

For you there is no birth or death.

For you there is no mind or memory,

no good or bad.

For you there is no bondage or liberation.

O dear child why the tears?

You and I have no form.

You and I have no name.

 

1.18

Dear child, why do you roam the world

like a ghost? Behold! You are Self –

that which cannot be divided.

Do not crave the world. Be happy!

 

1.19

You are Truth.

You do not move. You do not change.

You are the ever-free, the unshakable One.

In you there is neither attachment nor aversion.

Why do you seek objects of desire

and cause yourself to suffer?

 

1.20

The scriptures all say that Self

is without attributes or qualities,

that Self is clear, deathless, and without a body,

that Self exists everywhere at once, and nowhere.

Know that I am That.

Know that you are That. Never doubt it!

 

1.21

That which has form is not real.

That in which forms arise is eternal.

Realizing this, you are no longer

subject to birth and death.

 

1.22

Sages sometimes call Self the “ever-same.”

Let go of attachments,

and the ever-many mind will forget itself.

 

1.23

If your nature is not-Self,

how can there be Self-Realization?

If your nature is Self,

how can there be Self-Realization?

If your nature is both Self and not-Self,

how can there be Self-Realization?

If Self alone is, what is there to realize?

 

1.24

You are the pure, unchanging essence

of existence, free of form and death.

How can you know or not know God?

 

1.25

It is of Self, the Absolute, that scriptures say,

“I am Brahman,” and “Thou art That.”

Of the ego and the phenomenal world,

the scriptures say, “Not this, not this … ”

 

1.26

Self contains universe. Self contains mind.

Self contains “you.” There is no one

to stand apart and contemplate Self.

There is no mechanism for contemplation.

There is nothing to contemplate.

Why do you so shamelessly think otherwise?

 

1.27

The Absolute cannot be known.

How can I speak of the Absolute?

God cannot be known. How can I worship God?

I am one with no other,

the only Truth, the single essence.

I am eternal, formless, solitary, endless.

Who is there to speak about and worship This?

 

1.28

The ego-sense is not the Truth.

I am not bound

by the twenty-four cosmic principles.

I am neither the perceiver

nor that which is perceived.

I am the singular Reality beyond all that,

beyond the furthest reaches of imagination.

How then could I know my own nature?

Can the eye see itself?

 

1.29

That which appears to have form and substance

cannot by its very nature be infinite or immortal,

nor can it even be said to be “real” while it lasts.

Self alone is Reality.

It does not kill, nor can it be killed.

 

1.30

You are the pure, formless, ever-same Reality.

You have no beginning or end.

How can you be confused about Self?

How can you hold on to delusions

about True Nature?

 

1.31

When a jar is broken, the jar-space it defined

is not different from infinite boundless space.

Like this, when the ego-mind lets go,

that which you are is not different

form the immaculate Self.

 

1.32

In Reality, there is no jar nor interior jar-space.

Neither is there an individual self

nor an individual soul.

Realize that in Brahman, the Absolute,

there is no knower, no knowledge,

no capacity to know.

In Brahman there is nothing to be known.

 

1.33

Realize this:

“I am That which is always and everywhere.

I am Void and that which appears in Void.

I am eternal unchanging All.”

Do not doubt this.

 

1.34

There are no scriptures, no worlds, no people,

no religions, no gods, no sacrificial rites.

There are no castes, no races, no births,

no deaths, no lineages or stages of life.

There is neither the path of smoke

nor the path of light.

Only the ever-same Brahman, the highest Truth,

the Supreme Reality exists.

 

1.35

You are One without other,

free of both the pervaded and the pervade.

Do you believe you are perceptible

by the senses? Do you believe you are beyond

the range of senses?

 

1.36

Some seek Unity. Most seek duality.

Neither realize Truth.

Truth is the same at all times everywhere.

Truth knows nothing of one-ness or two-ness.

 

1.37

Truth cannot be described.

Truth is beyond mind and words.

Truth is void of colors and is not white.

Truth is void of sound and all other attributes.

Truth is inaccessible to thought and speech.

 

1.38

When you realize that the body, the world,

and all the other appearances are unreal

and empty like sky, then you become Brahman.

The paradigm of duality no longer applies to you.

 

1.39

Personal self and Supreme Self

are not different to me.

All is emptiness, like space.

How can there be an observer of this?

 

1.40

What I do, what I eat, what I give,

what I give up – none of this is mine in any way.

I am clear and untouchable,

forever unborn and deathless.

 

1.41

Realize these truths:

The universe is formless and without substance.

The universe never changes.

The universe is existence itself,

pure and undifferentiated.

The nature of the universe is the Absolute.

 

1.42

Truly, you are Self, the Absolute.

There is no doubt about this.

What more do I know?

Self is imperceptible to itself,

but it is not imperceptible.

If you do not see every being and all things

as Self, you are still ignorant.

 

1.43

Dear child, how can there be illusion

or absence of illusion?

How can there be shadow and lack of shadow?

All is one Truth.

All is unstained emptiness, like space.

 

1.44

I am forever free and boundless,

no beginning, no middle, no end.

My nature is pure and spotless.

This is my sure knowledge.

 

1.45

This whole grand universe,

beginning with the idea of cosmic intelligence,

appears as nothing to me. Truly, all is Brahman.

How can there be an identity or stages of life?

 

1.46

There is only one indivisible Reality,

and I am That. I know This in every way.

The void, the universe and the five elements –

space, air, energy, water and earth –

do not exist in Reality.

 

1.47

Self is neither eunuch, man nor woman.

Self is not ignorance, knowledge or imagination.

Why do you ponder

whether Self is bliss or absence of bliss?

 

1.48

Self is not realized through the practice of yoga.

Self is not realized by destroying the mind.

Self is not realized by instructions from teachers.

There is nothing for Self to realize.

It is Truth itself.

It is itself the Illuminated One.

 

1.49

There is no body created by the five elements,

nor is there a state of disembodiment.

All is Self and Self alone.

How can the three states of waking, dreaming

and deep sleep be ascribed to Self?

If the three states are false,

how can there be a fourth state?

 

1.50

I am eternal, free, unbound.

From what could I be liberated?

I am not separate from Brahman.

I am neither the doer nor the experiencer.

I see no different between the pervader

and the pervaded.

 

1.51

Just as water poured into water

becomes water without distinction,

so the universe and True Nature are One to me.

 

1.52

Self is never bound nor liberated.

Do you think Self must either be constrained

or free from constraint?

 

1.53

Your True Nature is empty

and all-pervasive, like sky.

Your body and all visible things

are like water in a mirage.

 

1.54

I have no teacher. I have no teachings.

I have no disciples or duties,

no attributes or actions. My Nature is pure,

incorporeal and clear, like space.

 

1.55

You have no body. You have no mind.

You are purity itself.

Do not be afraid to say, “I am God.”

 

1.56

O mind, why do you grieve?

Truly, you are Self. Never doubt This.

Drink, my child, the nectar

of the ocean of Oneness.

 

1.57

There is neither knowledge nor ignorance,

nor is there some combination

of knowledge and ignorance.

One who realizes This becomes pure intelligence,

and is forever Home.

 

1.58

I have no need for knowledge and reasoning,

no need for concepts like time and space,

no need for instruction from teachers,

no need for attaining Samadhi.

I am Truth itself, the one Reality.

My nature is clear and empty, like sky.

 

1.59

I was not born and I will never die.

I perform no actions, good or bad.

I am pure Brahman,

without qualities or attributes.

Bondage and liberation have no meaning.

 

1.60

God is unchanging, complete, undivided.

God pervades All.

How can you be inside or outside of God?

 

1.61

This whole grand Universe

of the Absolute shines forth,

undivided, unbounded, unchanging.

The concept of illusion is also illusion.

Duality and non-duality

exist only in imagination.

 

1.62

To both the manifest world and unmanifest

potential say, “Not this, not this … ”

The Absolute alone exists,

free of separation and oneness.

 

1.63

You have no mother, no father, no spouse,

no children, no kinsmen, no acquaintances,

no friends. You are neither attached to,

nor unattached from, anything.

O mind, why do you suffer so?

 

1.64

O mind, there is no day or night,

no rising and setting of suns.

O wise one, why do you imagine forms

in formlessness?

 

1.65

Self is neither whole nor divided.

Self experiences neither joy nor grief.

Self is and is not everything and nothing.

 

1.66

I am neither the performer nor the witness.

I have no works, no actions, no karma –

now or formerly.

I have no body, nor am I disembodied.

How can anything be “mine” or “not mine”?

 

1.67

I have no faults, like passion and attachment.

There is no pain of a body –

or pain anywhere for me.

I know only This:

I am the One Self, vast and stainless as sky.

 

1.68

O mind, what use is your vain talk?

Everything you see is only conjecture.

I have made known to you the essence of Reality.

You are Truth itself,

boundless and clear as space.

 

1.69

In whatever place or manner,

or in whatever state a yogi dies,

he is absorbed into the Absolute,

just as the jar-space of a broken jar

is absorbed into limitless space.

 

1.70

Whether he quits the body in a holy shrine

or in the house of an untouchable,

the realized yogi – even if the body is in a coma –

becomes the Absolute, Brahman.

 

1.71

The realized yogi knows everything in life –

duty, wealth, family, enjoyment, freedom, desire,

and all the stationary and movable things

of the world, like trees and men – to be without

substance, and as unreal as water in a mirage.

 

1.72

I perform no actions, nor do I witness activity.

There is no past in which I performed actions

or witnessed activity. There is no future in which

I will perform actions or witness activity.

I know this without a shadow of a doubt.

 

1.73

The Advadhuta abides alone in a quiet place,

Absorbed in the perfection of Brahman.

Having transcended ego and pride, he roams

about naked, breathing in the mystery of All as Self.

 

1.74

Where there exists neither the three states

of consciousness, nor a fourth state

 of transcendence – there one becomes Atman.

Where there is neither freedom nor bondage,

neither good nor bad, how can desire exist?

 

1.75

One does not become Brahman

by receiving scriptures, repeating mantras,

or practicing tantric rites.

This is the true and faithful utterance

of the Avadhuta, purified by no-thought

and absorbed in the Oneness of Being.

 

1.76

All is both void and full, everything and nothing.

In Brahman neither truths nor untruths exist.

The Avadhuta sings this Gita spontaneously,

from his personal experience

and his knowledge of the scriptures.