Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 17, Verse 3
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Ashtavakra Gita 17.3 -
न जातु विषया: केऽपि स्वारामं हर्षयन्त्यमी ।
सल्लकीपल्लवप्रीतमिवेभं निम्बपल्लवा:
na jātu viṣayāḥ ke’pi svārāmaṃ harṣayanty-amī .
sallakī-pallava-prītam-ivebhaṃ nimba-pallavāḥ .. 17-3..
No sense objects delight the least the one who exults in his Self, like the tender leaves of the neem tree (of bitter taste) do not please the elephant who relishes the tender leaves of sallakee tree (Indian olibanum).
Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
For a seeker, as a part of his sādhanā, dispassion may have to be cultivated to begin with. When by assiduous sādhanā, he realizes the Self, dispassion becomes effortless and co-existential for him. The joy or deliciousness one finds in the objects, actually does not belong to them.
Look at a flower. You find it beautiful, different from the other ugly ones. The sense of beauty, a creation of your intelligence, then stimulates delight in you. The flower is swinging at a distance. It does not even know that you are there seeing it. Who is the source of delight for you then – the flower or your own buddhi?
On closer examination, you will find it is not even the senses that generate experiences for us. They only generate electrical pulses, which are carried to the respective brain centres, cortexes. It is the cortices that interpret them, giving them colour, sound, smell, touch and taste. Where is then any object-based delight at all?
All objects are thus bitter neem leaves to the ‘human elephant’. The real sallakee (Indian olibanum) leaves are within the body, in the mind and intelligence, the functional notes of the Self.
By introspection discern that all experiences and knowledge are inhering in Consciousness within, which animates the body!
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