Ashtavakra

Vanaparva in the epic Mahabharata gives an episode about King Kahoda and his son Ashtavakra. Ashtavakra is 'jataveda', a jnyani-at-birth.  How this name 'ashtavakra' came to the great enlightened person is very interesting. During those days, the wife was a real dharma-patni taking part in spiritual pursuits like the Sage Yajnyavalkya and Maitarayani. When the scholarly Kahoda was explaining the Veda and other scriptures, the child in the womb of pregnant wife Sujata was hearing it. It exclaimed, "Oh, dear father, you are getting all these scriptures wrong". Kahoda got angry when his child yet to come out remarking on his scholarship and said ' you, ashtavakra' as a simple word of warning not to comment on others. The child had twisted arms and legs when born and came to bee known as Ashtavakra. In course of time, Kahoda had a defeat in the court of King Janaka and had to serve the Sage Vadin who defeated him. 

   Almost twelve years passed when the child Ashtavakra insisted on knowing about the whereabouts of his fatner and his mother asked him to go to the king and ask hi,. Accordingly, Ashtabakra went and asked King Janaka about his father. The King said, Kahoda is serving his Master and you may get him back after defeating him in the spiritual contest. Finally, Ashtavakra got his father released after defeating the learned Master Sage Vadin and brought him back. On the way, he took a bath and crossed the river Viraja/Samanga and gained his original straight form. But his name remained.

   What is this knowledge Ashtavakra had which his father did not have and was defeated by Sage Vadin?  It is a very simple 'Truth'. It states- "Everything is Consciousness", "sarvam kahaluvidam brahmaa | Whoever has realized this truth is immortal, in the sense, he/she knows that Atman is eternal and all other paraphernalia, the material or objective world is just a super-imposition. Thus, one gets disillusioned about the transient wold and turns to the knowledge of the Self. When he/she is established in the Self, automatically, gets released from bondage. Such a person is sadyomukta. 

  We will give some of the extracts from Ashtavakra Samhita in the next few blogs.