Avadhuta Gita

यदि नाम न मुक्तोऽसि न बद्धोऽसि कदाचन। साकारं च निराकारमात्मानं मन्यसे कथम्

Even if you are not liberated, you are never bound; how can you consider the Self as having form or formlessness?

जानामि ते परं रूपं प्रत्यक्षं गगनोपमम्। यथा परं हि रूपं यन्मरीचिजलसन्निभम्

I know your supreme form, directly, like the sky; just as that supreme form is like a mirage in water.

न गुरुर्नोपदेशश्च न चोपाधिर्न मे क्रिया। विदेहं गगनं विद्धि विशुद्धोऽहं स्वभावतः

There is no teacher, no instruction, no limitation, nor any action for me. Know that I am pure by nature, bodiless, like the sky.

विशुद्धोऽस्य शरीरोऽसि न ते चित्तं परात्परम्। अहं चात्मा परं तत्त्वमिति वक्तुं न लज्जसे

You claim your body is pure, your mind is the highest of the high, and you yourself are the supreme Self—yet you are not ashamed to speak so.

कथं रोदिषि रे चित्त ह्यात्मैवात्मात्मना भव। पिब वत्स कलातीतमद्वैतं परमामृतम्

Why do you weep, O mind? Become the Self by the Self, within the Self. Drink, dear one, the timeless nectar of nonduality.

नैव बोधो न चाबोधो न बोधाबोध एव च। यस्येदृशः सदा बोधः स बोधो नान्यथा भवेत्

There is neither knowledge nor ignorance, nor both together; for one whose awareness is thus, that awareness is never otherwise.

ज्ञानं न तर्को न समाधियोगो न देशकालौ न गुरूपदेशः। स्वभावसंवित्तरहं च तत्त्व- माकाशकल्पं सहजं ध्रुवं च

Knowledge is not reasoning, nor is it meditative absorption; it is not place or time, nor the teaching of a guru. I am that reality, self-aware by nature, space-like, innate, and constant.

न जातोऽहं मृतो वापि न मे कर्म शुभाशुभम्। विशुद्धं निर्गुणं ब्रह्म बन्धो मुक्तिः कथं मम

I am not born, nor do I die; I have no good or bad actions. I am pure, without qualities, Brahman—how can there be bondage or liberation for me?

यदि सर्वगतो देवः स्थिरः पूर्णो निरन्तरः। अन्तरं हि न पश्यामि स बाह्याभ्यन्तरः कथम्

If the divine is all-pervading, stable, full, and uninterrupted, I see no separation—so how can there be inner or outer?

स्फुरत्येव जगत्कृत्स्नमखण्डितनिरन्तरम्। अहो मायामहामोहो द्वैताद्वैतविकल्पना

The entire world shines forth, unbroken and continuous. Ah, what great delusion of maya—this wavering between duality and nonduality!

साकारं च निराकारं नेति नेतीति सर्वदा। भेदाभेदविनिर्मुक्तो वर्तते केवलः शिवः

With form and without form, always 'not this, not this'—free from both difference and non-difference, the One Shiva alone remains.

न ते च माता च पिता च बन्धुः न ते च पत्नी न सुतश्च मित्रम्। न पक्षपाती न विपक्षपातः कथं हि संतप्तिरियं हि चित्ते

You have no mother, no father, no relative; you have no wife, no son, no friend. You are neither partial nor opposed—so why does this distress arise in the mind?

दिवा नक्तं न ते चित्तं उदयास्तमयौ न हि। विदेहस्य शरीरत्वं कल्पयन्ति कथं बुधाः

For you, O mind, there is neither day nor night, nor rising nor setting. How can the wise imagine embodiment for one who is bodiless?

नाविभक्तं विभक्तं च न हि दुःखसुखादि च। न हि सर्वमसर्वं च विद्धि चात्मानमव्ययम्

Neither undivided nor divided, neither pain nor pleasure, neither all nor nothing—know the Self as imperishable.

नाहं कर्ता न भोक्ता च न मे कर्म पुराऽधुना। न मे देहो विदेहो वा निर्ममेति ममेति किम्

I am not the doer nor the enjoyer; I have no actions, past or present. I have no body, embodied or disembodied—so what is this 'mine' or 'not mine'?

न मे रागादिको दोषो दुःखं देहादिकं न मे। आत्मानं विद्धि मामेकं विशालं गगनोपमम्

I have no faults like passion, nor suffering of the body. Know me as the one Self, vast and sky-like.

सखे मनः किं बहुजल्पितेन सखे मनः सर्वमिदं वितर्क्यम्। यत्सारभूतं कथितं मया ते त्वमेव तत्त्वं गगनोपमोऽसि

O friend, mind, what is the use of much talk? O friend, mind, all this is mere speculation. What is essential I have told you: you are the truth, vast as the sky.

येन केनापि भावेन यत्र कुत्र मृता अपि। योगिनस्तत्र लीयन्ते घटाकाशमिवाम्बरे

By whatever means, wherever, even at death, yogis merge there, like space within a jar merging into the sky.

तीर्थे चान्त्यजगेहे वा नष्टस्मृतिरपि त्यजन्। समकाले तनुं मुक्तः कैवल्यव्यापको भवेत्

Whether at a holy place or in an outcaste's house, even if memory is lost at death, one who gives up the body at that moment becomes all-pervading liberation.

धर्मार्थकाममोक्षांश्च द्विपदादिचराचरम्। मन्यन्ते योगिनः सर्वं मरीचिजलसन्निभम्

Dharma, wealth, pleasure, liberation, all beings—moving and unmoving—yogis regard all as like a mirage or water in the desert.

अतीतानागतं कर्म वर्तमानं तथैव च। न करोमि न भुञ्जामि इति मे निश्चला मतिः

Past, future, and present actions—I neither do them nor experience them; thus is my mind unwavering.

शून्यागारे समरसपूत- स्तिष्ठन्नेकः सुखमवधूतः। चरति हि नग्नस्त्यक्त्वा गर्वं विन्दति केवलमात्मनि सर्वम्

Standing alone in an empty dwelling, purified by equanimity, the Avadhuta is happy; he wanders naked, having abandoned pride, and finds everything solely within himself.

त्रितयतुरीयं नहि नहि यत्र विन्दति केवलमात्मनि तत्र। धर्माधर्मौ नहि नहि यत्र बद्धो मुक्तः कथमिह तत्र

Where the fourth beyond the three is not found, only in oneself, there neither virtue nor vice exists, nor is one bound or liberated—how could such things be there?

विन्दति विन्दति नहि नहि मन्त्रं छन्दोलक्षणं नहि नहि तन्त्रम्। समरसमग्नो भावितपूतः प्रलपितमेतत्परमवधूतः

He finds, he finds—not mantra, not meter, not tantra; absorbed in equanimity, purified by contemplation, this utterance is of the supreme Avadhuta.

सर्वशून्यमशून्यं च सत्यासत्यं न विद्यते। स्वभावभावतः प्रोक्तं शास्त्रसंवित्तिपूर्वकम्

All is empty and not empty, true and untrue do not exist; this is spoken from the nature of things, preceded by scriptural understanding.

इति प्रथमोऽध्यायः

Thus ends the first chapter.

बालस्य वा विषयभोगरतस्य वापि मूर्खस्य सेवकजनस्य गृहस्थितस्य। एतद्गुरोः किमपि नैव न चिन्तनीयं रत्नं कथं त्यजति कोऽप्यशुचौ प्रविष्टम्

Whether a child, one indulging in sense pleasures, a fool, a servant, or a householder—nothing of the Guru should be considered; who would abandon a jewel just because it has entered something impure?

नैवात्र काव्यगुण एव तु चिन्तनीयो ग्राह्यः परं गुणवता खलु सार एव। सिन्दूरचित्ररहिता भुवि रूपशून्या पारं न किं नयति नौरिह गन्तुकामान्

Here, poetic qualities are not to be considered; only the essence should be taken by the virtuous. A boat without color or form on earth still carries those wishing to cross.

प्रयत्नेन विना येन निश्चलेन चलाचलम्। ग्रस्तं स्वभावतः शान्तं चैतन्यं गगनोपमम्

Without effort, by that which is unmoving, the moving and unmoving are swallowed; by its nature, consciousness, peaceful and like the sky.