Radio Dharma

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 17 - The True Knower by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 16 - Special Instruction by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 15 - Knowledge of the Self by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 14 - Tranquility by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 13 - Happiness by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 12 - Abiding in the Self by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 11 - Wisdom by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 10 - Quietude by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 9 - Detachment by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 8 - Bondage and Liberation by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 7 - The Nature of Self-Realization by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 6 - The Higher Knowledge by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Ashtavakra Gita - Part 4 - Glory of Self Realization by transmitting the essential wisdom of ancient india

Notes on the description of a spiritually liberated man by Swami Nikhilananda, from the introduction to Atmabodha, the book on self-knowledge.

Krishna feels Arjuna’s emotional pain and suffering, but corrects him for whimpering like a child. Arjuna asks Krishna to help him with this seemingly unresolvable inner conflict. Krishna begins his teaching and the Gita officially begins. Commentators say this chapter is a summary of the different but harmonious teachings contained in the chapters which follow.

When a young boy of only eight, Shankara encountered a sage who asked him, "Who are you?" The boy answered with these stanzas, which are known as "Nirvana Shatakam" or "Atma Shatakam." Nirvana is complete equanimity, peace, tranquility, freedom and joy. "Atma" is the True Self.

Krishna explains how His eternal energy pervades, creates, preserves, and destroys the entire universe. This reading is based on Stephen Mitchell's translation.

Ātma-bōdha (Sanskrit: आत्मबोधः ) which means - 'Self-knowledge' or 'Knowledge of the Self' or 'The awakening of ātmān', is a short Sanskrit text believed to have been written by Shankara of the 8th century. He teaches that the Ultimate Reality whose effulgence radiates through the vesture of all forms, is beyond name and form and is in fact of the nature of Pure Consciousness. This ultimate Reality can be realized quickly by pursuing the Path of direct Knowledge, not by worship.

Within the text Narada explains divine love and pure devotion; the process to achieve this state; gives quotations from other Vedic personalities on the subject matter; things to avoid when developing bhakti; and finally explains the nature of selfless love and the different ways of attaching to God.

Life in the world and life in the spirit are not incompatible. Work, or action, is not contrary to knowledge of God, but if performed without attachment to results, is a means to it. Renunciation should be directed toward the ego. Renounce selfishness, not life. The goal of both life and of work is to know the divine God Self inside and out, and to realize, all is eternal divine oneness.

God, source sustenance, and end of the universe, partakes of every phase of existence. He wakes with the waking, dreams with the dreamer, and sleeps the deep sleep of dreamlessness; but also transcends these 3 states. His true nature is pure consciousness.

The Mahavakyas are the Great Sentences of Advaita Vedanta and Jnana Yoga, and are contained in the Upanishads. Maha is Great, and Vakyas are sentences, or utterances for contemplation. The contemplations on the Mahavakyas also blend well with the practices of yoga meditation, prayer, and mantra... To truly understand the meaning of theMahavakyas it is necessary to practice contemplation and meditation in your own inner laboratory of stillness and silence.

Brahma satyam jagan mithya - God/Spirit is eternally real, the objects of the material world are only temporarily real,
(yet)
Ekam evad vitiyam brahma - there is one eternal reality without any division.

Prajnanam Brahman - The supreme knowledge is to know that eternal oneness through direct experience.
Ayam Atma Brahma - the individual is one and the same as the absolute reality; like the wave is a part of the ocean.
Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma - all of this, including me, is the one eternal reality; the wave and the ocean are one.
Aham Brahmasmi - who I really am the core of my being is that eternal oneness;
Tat Tvam Asi - that eternal oneness is the essence of who you are (also).