Avadhut Gita

Avadhut Gita Chapter 7

   1. When as a pilgrim, I began to journey towards Thee, then my little notions of all-pervasiveness of Atman died.

   2. When my mind began to meditate on Thee, it lost all interest in objects. When my tongue began to praise Thee it lost the power of praising others. I forgot my three great sins.

   3. He whose buddhi is no longer attracted towards desires and pleasures, whose nature has become joyful and compassionate, he who, even in his heart, has no idea of possessions, who is ever peaceful and most temperate in all things and is not moved by any happenings and events - that Muni {sage] takes refuge in Atman. Ever watchful, solemn as the ocean and full of patience.

   4. He who has conquered the feelings of pleasure, wrath, avarice, attachment, vanity and aversion, this one is peace itself, and free from all pride.

   5. Efficient in his undertakings, full of compassion is the sadhu [holy man]; he gives pity to all, has enmity towards no one.

   6. He bears patiently heat and cold, seeing the one Self enlightening all bodies. He walks solitary as a rhinoceros [symbol of detachment, solemnity and peace]. He has become an ocean of Truth and is ever engaged in the work of mercy. Such is the Avadhut, free from birth and death.

   7. The knowers of God will know the meaning of the word AVADHUT by the four letters which form it, A, V, Dh, T.

   8. A stands for freedom from the snares of hopes and expectations, pure in the beginning, in the middle and the end, merged in Self-bliss.

   9. V stands for the rooting out of all desires after pleasure, subtle or material, and for life in the present as all-sufficient, the present being eternity.

   10. Dh is the physical body, covered with dirt and dust, but with the mind ever pure, and the heart ever still, above contemplation and meditation.

   11. T is the unceasing contemplation of the eternal Truth, and indifference to the activities of the mind and senses. It also bespeaks freedom from egoism and pride.

   12. Woe to them that give up this knowledge of the wisdom of Atman, which in itself constitutes eternal freedom and joy throughout all worlds, and turn to the realms of limited pleasure and of ignorance.

   13. Those who are desirous of acquiring this eternal bliss and of communicating it to others through their teaching, must give up all sensuous pleasures, more especially those which arise from sex union.

   14. The body is made up of impure elements, of blood, flesh, bones and the like. Woe to those who are attached to it, and indifferent to the ever blissful Atman.

   15. There are three kinds of wine, produced from syrup, grain and honey. But there is a fourth, the darkest of all, the wine of sex, which has intoxicated the whole world.

   16. When the mind is uncontrolled, then the body, which is the object of affection to the ignorant, also suffers, and when the mind is controlled, then the body also remains in good estate.

   17. Wherefore, all ye lovers of wisdom, protect your minds from feelings of pleasure, and engage them in spiritual wisdom.

   18. This is the song of the great Dattatreya Avadhut. Those who read it and hear it with respectful attention, they are not reborn on this earth.