01 Introductions Qualifications Indesign A4

O Lord,
O Lord,
O Lord,
O Lord,
O Lord,
Thousands of years ago,
there was a king called Jannaka.
He had attained the highest knowledge.
But even after that,
he was curious, he wanted to know more.
There was a little curiosity in him.
But he was fully engaged in all the regular activity of the kingdom.
So one day he was sitting in the kingdom, in the court, in the evening,
and then the people were talking about something, some problem here.
Reports were being read, you know, the reports are read from different places.
So it must have been a little boring and regular report.
When he was listening to it, he started nodding, dosing off.
So he dosed off a few minutes.
When he dosed, he,
he was listening to it.
He started to think of it.
When he dosed, he dreamt.
He must have even snored a little bit.
Then he dreamt.
In the dream, he saw that his whole kingdom was flooded,
and there was famine in other parts, and there was nothing.
There was loss to grains and fields and cattle.
Everything was in a loss, and he became a popper.
And he found himself roaming from street to street, so hungry.
And he wanted a piece of bread.
He asked everybody, nobody had a piece of roti chapati, not bread.
So, and finally, somebody gave him a dry bread piece of roti chapati,
and he took it, and there was this rule for a householder, the dharma,
that when a householder is going to eat something,
if someone else is around, he cannot eat by himself.
He has to give it to them and then eat.
This is a lot in those days.
That anybody who is sitting to eat cannot eat by himself
if he sees someone else around, he has to feed them and then eat.
So, he was afraid because he has only one roti,
and if he sees somebody has to share with them,
so he was hiding his roti underneath his robe,
and he found some place where there was nobody.
And then he was about to go and eat that piece of roti at that moment,
an eagle came and just took the roti also of his hand.
At this moment he could not tolerate, he shouted,
when he shouted, he opened his eyes, he came out of his sleep,
and he saw he is in the coat, and there are people, it’s full of people.
His hunger was still in the stomach.
He still felt that hungry, it was very hungry.
01 Introductions Qualifications Indesign A4

It was dinner time like most of you are having now. But then he got confused, no, which is real? Maybe this I
am dreaming. Is that real or this real? He got concerned about this, what is reality? And he was one who
would never leave questions very easily. He would come up with questions. So, he called all the scholars in
the kingdom and asked them the solution. Everybody gave some answers, he was not satisfied at all. No
answer could satisfy him. Then someone whispered in him, but this kept bugging in his mind for several days
of long search. Someone said there is one man called Ashtavakra, you should approach him. This man,
Ashtavakra, his body was bent in eight places. I mean he had eight deformities in his body. His legs were, one
was long, one was short, like that hands one was long. There were so many knots in his body. Eight knots,
that’s why the name came to him Ashtavakra. Means the man with eight knots, eight bends in his body. He
was the Brahmanjani who nowhere after Brahman. And then he was invited to the court. Then Ashtavakra
tells, there is a conversation between Jannak and Ashtavakra. This is the most unique conversation that has
taken place on this planet. The discussion between Ashtavakra and Jannaka is a very unique phenomenon.
There was someone who has enjoyed the peak of the life and wanting to know about the self, about the reality.
And there is someone who has risen to the pinnacle of existence and telling them what the reality is. It is
called Ashtavakra Gita. The song of Ashtavakra. Krishna gave the Gita to Arjuna in the battlefield, amidst all
chaos. Here Jannaka was given the Gita. We use the knowledge. We will discuss about that in the coming
days. Every evening we will go through how much we go. One by one small versus couplets. And they are
fully pregnant with all that is needed. So this Gita took place in a royal residence, in a very peaceful Jazul
atmosphere. So Ashtavakra was brought to their palace with all honor. Many people thought, well this man,
he doesn’t even look presentable. And he is going to teach the highest knowledge to the king. But Jannaka
was far sighted person. He could recognize the glow, the light. You know it is very difficult for people to
recognize the truth and reality. People recognize pomp and show. Because eyes are on just the outer. Eyes are
unable to see the light or the life which is beyond, which is deep inside. So Ashtavakarigita is not for, for
someone who has not done anything started in the path. For someone who has already started the path, this
opens up many avenues. The In order to receive anything, we need to qualify for it. If you receive a dress, that
dress should feed you. Otherwise, what is the use? Having such a dress. You receive a food that food should
agree with you. Otherwise, what is the use? It should be eatable. See something to drink. You should be able
to drink it and hold into your system. Otherwise, however big, however wonderful it is, it is of no use to us.
Knowledge and relevance. An event or instance has reference. In wherever there is life, there is reverence.
Without these three principles, life cannot evolve. So also with the Ashtabakra Gita, to acquire this knowl-
edge, we need some qualification. What is the qualification? Like if you have to go to a medical school, you
should be knowing at least the alphabets to begin with. Imagine you have never gone into a school, never
learnt alphabets and if you have to go to medical school, what can you do there? Same way, far-brim my
Gyan, the biggest knowledge, the ultimate knowledge. We require certain things, what are these certain
things? To begin with a disciplined person only can be given this knowledge. Discipline in what way? Some-
one who has the reverence for life. They are disciplined in the body. This we know, usually when we hear a
discipline, we think of just body having food in the proper time, going to bed at proper time and taking bath
and keeping your body straight and stiff and healthy. This is what we think. Everything here is listening to
your body, not listening to your fantasies. You have eaten, your stomach is full, but something has come, a
burfi, or gulab, jamun, mango milkshake. Now your tongue says, no, I should have a little more of that and
you drink a little more and next day you are flat in your bed. This we have not listened to our body, but we
have been carried away by our tongue. We have had its own discipline if you just listen to the body that is
enough. Some of us are so much obsessed about our eating habits. We are in either of the extremes. Either we
say, oh, I must have this, I must have this. What you are doing, you are spoiling your system. Your system is
elastic, it has so much ability, but you are trained giving a particular specific foot to your system all the year.
Later on it doesn’t agree anything else into the body. Don’t think we have disciplined the body. Another day
another gentleman came. He said he has been just eating raw vegetables for many, many months, eating only
raw vegetables. Now nothing else the body can take up now or someone has been drinking milk all the time.
Just drinking milk all the time, the body is used only that type of thing. Now it cannot take anything else. So
you have restricted your ability in the body to digest the living, to accommodate itself. Its elasticity is gone.