Avadhuta Gita by Dattatreya
Chapter 1
1. By the grace of God Brahmins above all are inspired with the disposition to non-duality which relieves them of great fear.
2. How can I salute the Self, which is indestructible, which is all Bliss, which in Itself and by Itself pervades everything, and which is inseparable from Itself?
3. I alone am, free from impurity. The world exists within me like a mirage. To whom shall I bow?
4. The one Self is all, free from differentiation and non-differentiation. Neither can it be said, “It is” nor “It is not.” What a great mystery!
5. The whole substance of Vedanta, the essence of all knowledge theoretical and intuitional is: I am the Self, impersonal and all-pervasive.
6. I am that impersonal and changless God who is pure like space and the Self in all.
7. I am pure knowing, imperishable and infinite. Neither joy nor pain touch me.
8. The good and evil actions of the mind, body and speech do not exist in me, the Self. I am the nectar of absolute knowledge. I am beyond the realm of the senses.
9. The mind is like space, embracing all. I am beyond mind. In Reality the mind has no existence apart from me.
10. How can it be said the Self is manifest? How can it be said the self is limited? I alone am existence. I am all this objective world and subtler than space.
11. Know the Self to be infinite ever-shining consciousness, self-evident, beyond destruction, illumining all bodies equally. Neither day or night are in It.
12. Know the Self to be one, ever the same and changeless. How can you say “I am the meditator and this is the object of meditation?” How can perfection be divided?
13. You, O Self, were never born, nor did you ever die. The body was never yours. The Upanishads, revealed scripture, often say, “All this is limitless.”
14. You are limitless, free from change, the same within and without. You are unending bliss. Run not to and fro seeking things like a ghost.
15. Neither unity nor separation exist in you or in me. Everything is only you, the Self. ‘I’ and ‘thou’ and the world have no being.
16. The subtle faculties of touch, taste, smell, form and sound which constitute the world are not you, nor are they within you. You are the limitless all-transcending Reality.
17. Birth and death, bondage and liberation, good and evil exist in the mind but not in you. O Beloved, why are you crying? Name and form are neither in you nor in me.
18. Oh my mind, why this delusory ghost-like rage? Know the Self to be above duality and be happy.
19. You are the essence of knowledge, indomitable, eternal, and always free of modifications. In You there is no attachment or indifference. Don’t let yourself suffer from desire.
20. The scriptures say the Self is without attributes, ever pure, imperishable, and bodiless. It is the eternal Truth. Know That to be who you are.
21. Know all forms, gross and subtle, as illusion. The Reality underlying them is eternal. Living as this Truth pass beyond birth and death.
22. The sages call the Self ‘ever-the-same.’ When you give up attachment the mind sees neither duality nor unity.
23. It is not possible to concentrate on changing objects or on the Self. ‘Is’ and ‘is not’ do not apply to the Self either. In the ever-free Self how is Samadhi possible?
24. Know yourself to be birthless, pure, bodiless, imperishiable and the same in everything. If this is true how can you say, “I know the Self,” or “I don’t know the Self.”
25. The Scriptures speak of the Self saying “That Thou art.” Of the illusory elemental world scripture says, “You are not this, not this.”
26. All this is pervaded by you as Self. In You there is no meditator or object of meditation. Why, O mind, do you shamelessly meditate?”
27. I don’t know Shiva so how can I speak of Him? If I don’t know him how can I worship Him?
28. At the same time I am Shiva, that which is auspicious in every time place and circumstance, the only reality. I am formless and pure like space. In me is neither unity nor variety. In me there is no imagination.
29. I am free from subject and object so how can I be realized? My nature is endless and nothing else exists. I am absolute truth.
30. I am the Self, the supreme Reality. I am neither the slayer nor the slain.
31. When a jar broken its inner space unites with the outer space. When the mind is purified it sees no difference between itself and Shiva, the Self.
32. The limitless Self is Pure Consciousness. In truth there is no jar and no inner and outer jar space. There is no embodied soul so it cannot be anything.
33. There are no worlds, no scriptures, no gods, no sacrifices, no castes, no families or tribes or nationalities. There is no left handed or right handed path.
34. Some prize duality and some prize non-duality. Know the Truth above both.
35. How can the Reality be described since It is neither white nor black nor any other color? How can you describe something that makes no sound? How can you speak of what is beyond voice and mind?
36. “I eat.” “I give.” “I act.” Such statements do not apply to the pure, unborn impershisable Self.
37. When the one limitless Self alone exists, how can you say, “This is Maya or this is not Maya, this is a shadow or this is not a shadow?”
38. I am without beginning and without end. I was never bound. I know for certain that I am partless.
39. From the subtle forces down to the gross forms there is nothing but limitless Self. I see this very clearly. How can there be any caste divisions?
40. I am forever the absolute void and its opposite.
41. The Self is neither male or female; nor is It neuter. It is neither happiness or suffering. How dare you pervert It by seeing It in this way?
42. The Self is not purified by the six methods of Yoga. Destroying the mind makes it no clearer. The teachings of a guru don’t reveal it. It is pure in Itself by Itself.
43. I am neither bound nor free. I am not separate from the limitless Self.
44. I neither do karma nor do I enjoy the fruits of karma. I am not the pervader nor that which is pervaded.
45. I see spirit and matter as one, as if water were poured into water.
46. Why do you call the Self personal or impersonal when you are neither bound or free?
47. You are pure beyond the mind and Ignorance, its cause. Why are you ashamed to declare, “I am the Self, the supreme Reality?”
48. O my mind, why are you crying? O Beloved, realize who you are and drink the timeless nectar of non-duality.
49. I am not knowledge born of the intellect. I am eternal being. I am immutable.
50. The Vedas say the true Self reigns supreme, neither formless nor with form, free from separation and unity.
51. There is no father, no mother, no kinsman, no son, no wife, no friend, no prejudice, no doctrine. Why are you so agitated, O mind?
52. Why do people imagine the bodiless Self to be a body? In It there is neither day nor night, neither the rising nor setting of the sun.
53. Since the imperfections of attachment are not in me, I am above the suffering of the body. Know me to be infinite like space, one Self.
54. O my mind, my friend, many words are not needed and the world does not understand reason. I have told you this truth: “You are Truth, limitless and pure like space.”
55. In whatever place and in whatever state the Yogi dies, his spirit is absorbed into That. When a jar is broken the pot space and the outer space are united.
56. Whether he dies consciously or in coma, in a holy temple or in the house of an untouchable, he obtains liberation and becomes all-pervading limitless Awareness.
57. The Yogis regard righteousness, prosperity, desire for paradise and liberation as meaningless attainments.
58. The Avadhut walks naked in unshakable equanimity, living in the holy temple of nothingness knowing all to be Brahman, the Self.
59. Where all is known as the Self, where there is neither righteousness nor unrighteousness, how can there be bondage or liberation?
Chapter 2
1. Don’t think that the immature, the credulous, the foolish, the slow, the layman and the fallen to have nothing to offer. They all teach something. Learn from them. Surely you do not give up a game when you have mastered it?
2. Think not lightly of your guru if he lacks learning. Take the Truth he or she teaches and ignore the rest. Know that a boat, painted and adorned, will carry you across the river as will one that is plain and simple.
3. I am the higher Consciousness which effortlessly pervades the movable and the immovable. I am peace itself.
4. How can I be anything other than the one all pervading Consciousness which effortlessly rules the living and the non-living?
5. I am subtler than the cause of manifest reality. I am beyond elements and compounds, free from birth and death, above duality and unity.
6. The mind’s modifications have no place in me. Like small waves rising and falling in a river, thoughts and volitions rise and disappear in It.
7. As softness does not exist apart from soft objects, as sweetness is is the essence of honey, as bitterness is the essence of the Neem tree, as fluidity and coolness are the nature of water, so the primordial form of matter that is called Mahat, the cosmic mind, is none other than the Self. As the rays of the sun are the same as the sun, matter does not differ from God, the Self.
8. How can the words ‘I’ or ‘you’ be said of the limitless Self which is subtler than the cosmic mind, free of all attributes, greater than anything, above the play of mind and emotion, without medium or limitation and ruler of the universe? It can neither be called static nor dynamic.
9. As space cannot be compared with space, so Brahman, the limitless Self, being above duality, cannot be compared with any object. Brahman alone is perfection, taintless, all knowing.
10. It walks not on the earth and wind cannot move It. Water cannot cannot cover It. It stands alone as Awareness.
11. It pervades space-time. Nothing pervades It. It is free from limitation, and eternally the same. There is nothing within it or outside it.
12. The Self of which the accomplished Yogis speak is most subtle, beyond perception and without attributes. It must be realized step by step and not in a sudden experience.
13. Always practicing Yoga, remaining non-attached to all objects, the Yogi ‘merges’ his consciousness in limitless Consciousness and ‘becomes’ limitless Consciousness.
14. Passion causes infatuation and is very dangerous. It is a virulent poison. Self realization is the only antidote. You cannot approach the the Self through feelings. It is always formless and independent of everything.
15. The cause of the manifest world is hidden in the realm of pure Consciousness. The husk of a coconut is the world and the pulp is its cause. The sweet cool water encased in the pulp is Brahman, the limitless Self.
16. The Self is full like the full moon. See It in everythng. Dualistic thinking is the product of defective vision. As there is only one moon so there is only one Self.
17. Because the Self pervades everything there is no duality in It. The wise who teach this acquire boundless patience and their disciples should be always grateful.
18. Through the grace of the spiritual teacher both talented and witless people attain the state of desirelessness by knowing the mystery of the Self.
19. This transcendent thought-free Consciousness is understood by those who are free from attachment and aversion and by those who serve living beings. It is known by those whose who are patient and whose knowledge ‘I am the Self’ is unshakable.
20. After leaving the body the yogi is merged in the divine just as the space inside a jar merges with the space outside when the jar is broken.
21. Those who know will not say that the thoughts of the dying determine the next birth.
22. The knower of the Self may leave the body in a holy place or in the house of an untouchable; it is all the same.
23. When someone realizes the unborn Self beyond the mind and emotions, karmas no longer have an effect…whether rituals are performed or not.
24. The realized Self is the master of creation, eternal, indestructible, formless, dimensionless, completely independent, free of pleasure or pain, possessing all powers.
25. The wise discover that the Self is not realized by scripture study, by spiritual initiation, by shaving the head, by becoming a guru or a disciple or by striking any yoga pose.
26. That Self, God, by whose power the whole universe is born, in which it abides and to which it finally returns like waves merging back into the ocean is realized by the wise.
27. The Self which the wise realize is not achieved by observing or controlling the breath or by yoga postures. In It there is neither knowledge nor ignorance.
28. There is neither oneness nor duality in the Self. There is nothing great or anything insignificant about it. It is neither empty nor full. All these ideas exist in the mind and the mind is not the Self.
29. The teacher cannot teach the Self and the disciple cannot learn it.
Chapter 3
1. How can I worship that limitless Self which is neither personal or impersonal and whose form is the universe? It is uncontaminated, beyond love and aversion, uncreated, and all-pervasive. How shall I worship the limitless Shiva that has no attributes, yet not is not without attributes?
2. How shall I bow down to my Self with my Self? I am without colors, nor am I black or white. Eternal auspiciousness am I. I am Shiva.
3. I am rootless, smokless and lightless. I am equal in everything. I am like a sun that never sets.
4. How can you say the passionless desireless One has desires? It cannot be described in terms of conditions. How can I say who I am? I neither have an essence nor am I without one. I am space-like, the same everywhere.
5. How can I say that the creation is non-dual? Even if it is dual I cannot say that it is created or destroyed. How can anything be said about the Eternal? I am limitless space-like bliss.
6. My Self is neither subtle or gross. It comes from nowhere and it goes nowhere. It has no beginning and no end. It is neither high or low. I am that absolute immortal space-like knowing.
7. Understand that the senses and their objects are empty like space. Understand that the One is taintless, neither bound or free. I am that all pervasive immortal blissful Shiva.
8. The knowledge of the Self is hard to obtain. What is experienced is not the Self. An object that is difficult to concentrate on is not the Self. That which is near is not the Self and that which is far away is not the Self. I am space-like bliss. I am Shiva. Shiva I am.
9. I have no karmas. I burn karmas. I am free of pain. I destroy suffering. I am bodiless and homeless and I burn bodies and homes. I am within and without everything like space.
10. The seed that becomes the plant of the world does not exist in me. I am not content. I have no pleasure. I am not tied to anything nor am I free of anything. I am absolute auspiciousness. I am Shiva.
11. The Self is not the knower nor is it the known. It is not accessible by inference. Words cannot describe absolute Consciousness. The mind gets lost in its majesty. How can it be explained to you? Space-like immortal knowing I am.
12. There is no separation and no unity in It. It is neither ‘inner’ nor ‘outer.’ It is transcendental. You cannot say it existed before the creation. Truly nothing exists but the Self. That space-like immortal knowing I am.
13. I am the Eternal, free of attachment, aversion and imperfection. Fate does not exist in me. I am always free of worldly suffering. Truly, I am space-like immortal knowing.
14. Because the waking, dream and deep sleep states of consciousness don’t exist in the Self how can it be the forth State? It is free of the past, present and future. How can the four directions point to it? I am eternal peace. I am space-like transcendental Truth.
15. I have no father, mother, wife or offspring. I don’t know what birth and death are. My mind does not belong to me. Eternal space-like transcendental peace I am.
16. The Gods don’t exist in the Self. Heaven does not exist in the Self. I am the taintless transcendental Truth.
17. The saying of the scripture ‘not this, not this’ does not apply to the Self. The statement ‘When everything is subtracted from the Self the Self remains full is symbolic but it is not a symbol. Still, it does not apply to the Self. I am like space. I am the water of immortality.
18. Maya is not a ‘modification’ of me. I am not responsible for its attractiveness. Deceit and hypocrisy, truth and untruth have no place in me. Space-like immortal knowing I am.
Chapter 4
1. Nothing can be added or taken away from Consciousness. It cannot be invoked or worshipped with offerings of flowers and leaves. Meditations and mantras cannot reach It. How can It be worshipped as Shiva for in It there are no distinctions nor is there unity?
2. In the Non-Dual there is neither bondage nor salvation, neither purity nor impurity. It is free of union and separation. I am that space-like Truth.
3. I am Nirvana, thought-free. The reality and unreality of the world does not trouble me at all.
4. Eternally free from the taint of ignorance as I am, knowledge or illusion was never born in me. How can I say whether I am bound or free?
5. Neither sin nor virtue exist in me. I am not the one who worships nor the one that is worshipped. I take no instructions nor do I perform any rituals. I am not knowledge. By nature I am without thoughts, nirvana.
6. I am pure thought-free Awareness. I neither understand nor am I understood. Cause and effect do not exist in me.
7. I am not a body nor am I bodiless. The intellect, mind and senses don’t belong to me. How can you say am attached or non-attached if I am pure thought-free Awareness?
8. In me the is no death, birth, purity, impurity, poison nor the life-giving waters of immortality. I am even free from the taint of no-thought.
9. I am not a fool or a wise man. I am neither silent nor do I speak many words. How can I know of reason or argument if I am free of all thoughts?
10. Those wise ones who give up meditation on me, who quit doing good and bad karma and drink the water of immortality know that I am free from the stain of thought.
11. No religious ritualistic injunctions bind me. The mind, the seat of all anxiety, does not exist in me. Egoism is far from me. I am space-like absolute immortal knowing.
12. I cannot say whether the world is nothingness. I cannot say if it is real or partly real. I cannot say if it is real as a whole. I am space-like absolute immortal knowing.
13. There is no unity or diversity in me. There is no shadow of name or form. O my shameless mind why do you create confusion? I am space-like absolute immortal knowing.
14. O my friend, don’t worry about your health because you are not the body. Why do you cry if you are imperishable and eternal? I am space-like absolute immortal knowing.
15. Why are you troubled by avarice, lust, attachment when they are not in you? I am space-like absolute immortal knowing.
16. Why this craving for power, O my companion mind, when in reality you have no wealth? There is no ‘me’ and ‘mine’ in you.
17. In your heart there is no meditator. There is no samadhi in you. There is not even the possibility of meditation in the Self. Time and causality don’t exist in you.
18. I have told you, O disciple, the essence of Truth. Here it is again: there is no ‘you,’ no world, no guru, or disciple. Know that I am absolute freedom. I am transcendental Truth.
19. When the Self, absolute existence, is all there is and it is me, then where is transcendental Truth? Where is either worldly or spiritual bliss and knowledge?
20. Know yourself to be known to fire, water and earth. Know yourself to be motionless, all-pervasive like space. Know yourself to be absolute knowledge.
21. Renounce! Renounce the world, and also renounce renunciation. Even give up the absence of renunciation. You are space-like absolute immortal knowing.
Chapter 5
1. The word OM is the essence of the lower and the higher knowledge. It is limitless like space. There is neither existence nor non-existence in this world. The limitless Self is always free from duality.
2. You are the Self of which the scriptures say, ‘You are That.’ You are free of Maya. Don’t weep, O mind, you are everything.
3. You are neither high nor low. You pervade everything equally. There is no inner and outer. Why are you weeping, O mind? Everything is the limitless Self.
4. Neither that which is imagined, nor imagination exist in you. Cause and effect don’t touch you. You are free from all words, the same in everything. Don’t cry, O mind.
5. To know that there is neither higher nor lower in the Self is samadhi. To know that the Self is always free from time and space is samadhi. Cry not, O mind, everything is you, limitless Awareness.
6. Because there is no jar, there is no space contained in the jar. Because there is no body, nothing to condition you, there is no individual soul. The cause and effect which produce conditions do not exist in you, the Self. Why then are you weeping and wailing, O my mind?
7. It is the same whether I live in a rustic hut or in a big house surrounded by family and friends because I am free of the need for people and free from the need for solitude. I am also free of practice and theoretical knowledge. Because you are everything, my mind, you should not cry.
Chapter 6
1. The whole universe is a projection of the mind. The true nature of the mind is bliss, and when the mind is stilled, bliss absolute is revealed.
2. Consciousness absolute is unknowable by the mind. If this is so how can you explain it in words?
3. The Self is free from day and night. Therefore it is not true that it is on a journey home through time and space.
4. No sun or moon can shed light on the Self. If it is not equanimity or even desirelessness how can action take place in it?
5. You cannot know it by doing nothing. Is neither within nor without it is absolute bliss.
6. How can you say that It is the first or the last if it is neither an element, a compound, emptiness or fullness? Shiva, the limitless Self is ever the same, the essence of everything and everyone.
7. The statement that the Self is describable cannot stand. The statement that the Self is indescribable cannot stand. Neither is It the knower nor the known. It cannot be imagined or defined. How can you say that It has a mind or senses?
8. Space, time, water, fire, earth, which constitute the material world, are a mere mirage. In fact only the One, imperishable and ever blissful, exists. There is neither cloud nor water in It.
9. Because there is no birth and death in It, no concept of duty or dereliction of duty apply to It. That undifferentiated, eternal, all-pervasive Shiva alone is.
10. The modifications of primordial matter and of the individual consciousness are in the realm of cause and effect. When there is only eternal all-pervasive Shiva, how can matter and spirit exist?
11. In it there is no suffering because It is free from attributes.
12. There is no duality in It. How can there be childhood, youth or old age in eternity?
13. The unlimited Self depends on nothing. It is unaffected by the law or cause and effect. How can the intellect, which only operates in perishable duality, discern It?
14. It understands nothing, nor is it understood. It is not born and it does not bring forth things and beings. We can only say that in It there is no destruction.
15. In the eternal Self there is no concept of gender.
16. There is no pleasure in It. There is no faculty for enjoyment because it is free of attachment, doubt and suffering. The concept of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ do not apply to It.
17. There is no limitlessness in it nor is there the absence of limitlessness. Because it alone exists eternally, it is free of pain and free from the freedom of pain.
18. There is no gain and there is no loss for the Self. It is never infatuated nor is it wise. When It alone exists how can there be discrimination of wisdom?
19. Family and caste do not apply to the Self because there is no ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ It is neither true or untrue. It is not of this world or the next. How can you pray to it?
20. The connection between the teacher and the student is illusory. There is no teaching either. ‘I am Shiva’ is the truth. How can you pray to it or worship it?
21. The body and the universe are believed to be the Self but It is free of differentiation.
22. Consciousness has no body but you cannot say it is without a body and attributes. All you can say is ‘I am absolute bliss.’ This is the true worship, the fruit of prayer.
23. The Avadhut is one who realizes this mystery of mysteries and has risen to the state of unceasing and perfect bliss. He moves about in the world radiating bliss and higher knowledge.
24. His clothes are old and worn. He walks a path free of merit and sin. He lives in a temple of emptiness. His soul is free of impurity and the modifications of the mind.
25. The Avadhut has no ideals. He has lost his small identity in the Self. He is free of the limitations of ignorance and free of the promised perfections of spiritual practice. He does not argue and does not care what anyone thinks.
26. He is free of expectations and hope and has cast off the threadbare garments of purity and righteousness. He is purity itself, far above the clouds of Self ignorance.
27. He does not think, “I am the body,” nor does he think “I am not the body.” He has no aversion, attachment or infatuation toward any object or person. Pure as space he walks, immersed in the immaculate bliss of his natural state.
28. The Avadhut may be compared to immeasurable space. He is eternity. In him is neither purity nor impurity. There is no variety or unity in him; no bondage nor absence of bondage.
29. Free from separation and contact, free from enjoyment or absence of enjoyment, he moves calmly through the world. No longer identified with the modifications of the mine, he is in the natural state of bliss.
30. The Avadhut has discovered his identity with the limitless and inconceivable Self. The Self is not known by the mind. It is neither a part of something nor can it be divided. You cannot say that it ends here. It is as hard to describe as it is to obtain.
31. The Avadhut is not concerned with the things of the world, because the natural state of Self-realization renders everything in it meaningless. Death and birth have no meaning to him. He doesn’t meditate nor does he worship.
32. All this world is a magic show, like a mirage in the desert. The Avadhut is bliss alone, one without a second.
33. The wise strive not. They are not interested in dharma or liberation. They are free from doing actions and moving here and there. They are even free of desire and renunciation.
34. What do intellectuals know of Avadhuts? Even the Vedas don’t speak correctly about them. That absolute indestructible bliss is the Avadhut.
Chapter 7
1. When as a pilgrim I began to journey toward You my notions of who am I died.
2. When my mind began to meditate on You it lost interest in all objects. When my tongue began to praise You it lost the power to praise others. I forgot my sins.
3. The wise who are no longer inclined to satisfy desire and seek pleasure, who are free of attachment to possessions, who are peaceful, joyful, compassionate, patient, watchful and solemn as the ocean, take refuge in the Self.
4. One who has overcome the desire for pleasure, feelings of anger, greed, aversion and pride is peace itself.
5. The holy Avadhut is efficient in his activites, full of compassion and free of enmity.
6. The holy Avadhut patiently bears heat and cold and sees the Self illumining all bodies. He walks alone like a rhinoceros. He is an ocean of Truth and mercy. He is free of birth and death.
7. To the Self knowers AVADHUT is an acronym.
8. ‘A’ stands for freedom from the snares of hope and expectation, pure in the beginning the middle and the end, merged in Self-bliss.
9. ‘V’ stands for the rooting out of desire for material and subtle pleasure. It indicates a love of life in the present because the present is eternal.
10. ‘Dh’ is a pure mind and a still heart beyond contemplation and meditation even if the body is filthy.
11. ‘T’ is the unceasing contemplation of Truth and indifference to the activities of the mind and senses. It means freedom from egoism and pride.
12. Woe to them that do not pursue the knowledge of the Self which brings freedom and joy to the world but turn toward the realms of pleasure and ignorance.
13. Those who want to communicate their Self realization should give up sexual pleasure.
14. The body is made up of impure elements: blood, flesh, bones and the like. Woe to those who are attached to it and indifferent to the Self.
15. There are three kinds of wine, produced from syrup, grain and honey. But the forth, the dark wine of sex has intoxicated the whole world.
16. When the mind is uncontrolled the body suffers and when the mind is controlled the body is healthy.
17. Therefore, lovers of wisdom, protect the mind from craving for pleasure and let it seek wisdom.
18. This is the song of the great Dattatreya Avadhut. Those who read it and hear it with respectful attention are not reborn.
OM TAT SAT!
Notes: the word ‘Shiva’ is a Sanskrit word from the Vedic age and preceeds the appearance of the God Shiva. The word means ‘that which is good or true in every situation, time and circumstance.’ It is a simple term used to describe the Self. All the Pauranic deities are symbols of the Self so words describing the Self were assigned to them.
Around the pure truth a body of impressive not-so-pure truth has evolved and it has been taken for the truth. So the Avdhuta Gita is trying to purify the near truths that have been muscling in on the truth.
