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Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Poojya Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Chapter 3, Verse 4
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Ashtavakra Gita 3.4 -

श्रुत्वापि शुद्धचैतन्यमात्मानमतिसुन्दरम् ।
उपस्थेऽत्यन्तसंसक्तो मालिन्यमधिगच्छति

śrutvāpi śuddha-caitanyam-ātmānam-atisundaram .
upasthe’tyanta-saṃsakto mālinyam-adhigacchati .. 3-4..

Even after having heard that one’s self is pure Consciousness, exquisitely beautiful, how come one indulges in generative organs to court impurity?

Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

As the spiritual Guru, whom king Janaka sought for giving him spiritual instruction, Sage Ashtavakra becomes thorough both in presenting the supreme wisdom and ensuring that the recipient absorbs it properly and well. Spiritual enlightenment and fulfilment depend much upon the requisite measure of viveka and vairāgya the seeker embodies and strives to intensify at every stage. This is how Ashtavakra comes up with his critical evaluations.

Here he points the grave conflict between what the seeker aims at and seemingly indulges in. Self is pure Consciousness. Once its realization is gained, the seeker should not lose touch with it and slip into any kind of sensory attraction. Of all the senses, the genital is the most powerful and enslaving. Special care should be exercised to be free from it

Any sensory indulgence will bring impurity. The Sage, therefore, warns Janaka as well as all other seekers against slipping into sensual pleasures, especially that of the generative organ.

Self is sufficient to fill one with delight, joy and ecstasy. By resorting to inner absorption and the consequent ecstatic fullness, all desires for sensory indulgences are bound to mitigate and become extinct, making the seeker a Knower, pure, refined and spiritually affluent, full and ecstatic. It is an exquisite fulfilment, Self-realization alone can bestow any time.

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