Ashtavakra Gita

Swami Anubhavanada , truly the name echoes His being –He is the experience of Happiness-Happiness which spreads like a divine breeze amongst all who have come in contact with Him. This experience is now and here! He is suave and witty and equally at home all; young and the old.

A disciple if H.H. Swami Chinmayanandaji, He had been the Acharya at the Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai- a post Graduate Academy for Vedantic studies. He communicates the most difficult of the philosophy in a simple and direct manner.

The Intercultural Open University in Netherlands honoured Him with a Ph. D degree for his scholarly treatise on Amrutnaubhav.

He has to His credit over ten thousand hours recorded talks on the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Patanjali Yoga Darshan etc. in different electronic media. His sparkling talk series titled “Mauz Mein Raho” have been an istant hit and rendered Him the most sought after speaker on Vedanta today.

He is a visiting faculty to the following institutes in India: Kaivalyadhama, LOnavla (the oldest institution on Yoga in India); The Birla institute of Technology and science, TITS Pilani (A Deemed University of international repute); Ahmedabad Management Association, Ahmedabad.

He is the founder of the SAT Bhavana Trust, India; Be Happy INC. USA; Yo Veda , Australia, whose “ Mauz min Raho” logo reflects his approach to life- ‘Be Happy’.

We come across many Gita- s in our spiritual literature. The most popular one is Srimad Bhagavad Gita which is attributed to Bhagavan Sri Krishna and presented to us by Bhagavan Veda Vyasa. There, the teacher is God-head on one side while the student is utterly confused.

Astavkra Gita is unlike this. Here, both the teacher Astavakra nd the student Janaka are already enlightened and they are living this knowledge. However ,a t some moment in the life of Jnanka, there seems to be an urgency to know the Absolute and it is only sage Astavakra who could help him come out of his own mental block.

There are many stories with regards to the sage Astavakara and the king Janaka. We are not going to expound on them. Astavakra Gita straight away touches the topic and gives the self-knowledge, instructions, obstacles on the path and their corrective measures and ultimately the joy of living in freedom.

Towards the end , the student Janaka roars his experience after having received the knowledge from the Guru Astavakra. This Gita is composed in a very simple anustupchand and is very easy to understand for those who have got a little knowledge of Sanskrit.

May this English rendering of the original text help the seekers of Truth and grow wise and live happily.