Even the Bhagavad Gita does not have the majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita -- it is simply unparalleled.+

Man has many scriptures, but none comparable to the Gita of Ashtavakra. Before it the Vedas pale, and the Upanishads speak with a weak voice. Even the Bhagavad Gita does not have the majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita ~ it is simply unparalleled. 

The most important thing is that neither society nor politics nor any other institution of human life has had any influence on the sayings of Ashtavakra. They are such a pure expression -- transcending emotion, transcending time and death -- there is nothing comparable. Perhaps this is why Ashtavakra's Gita, the ASHTAVAKRA SAMHITA, has not had much impact.- OSHO:~ 

Krishna's Gita is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence, it suits everyone, because there is something in it for everyone. It is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Gita. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Gita. But for such people, Ashtavakra's Gita will prove very difficult. 

 Ashtavakra is not for synthesis -- he is a man of truth. He speaks the truth just as it is, without any artifice or coloring. He is not concerned about the listener, he does not care whether his listener will understand or not. Such a pure expression of truth has never happened anywhere before, nor has it ever happened again. 

 People love Krishna's Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Krishna's Gita is poetic: in it, two plus two can equal five, two plus two can also equal three. No such tricks are possible with Ashtavakra. With him, two plus two are exactly four. Ashtavakra's statements are statements of pure mathematics. There isn't the least possibility for poetic license here. He says things as they are, without any sort of compromise.  

Reading Krishna's Gita a devotee extracts something of which he can make a belief because Krishna spoke on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Krishna has spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate, somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma yoga the ultimate.

 Krishna's statements are very political. He was a politician, a perfect politician. Just to say he was a politician is not right; he was a shrewd politician, a real diplomat. In his statements, he considered and included many things. This is why the Gita suits everyone, why there are thousands of commentaries on the Gita. No one is concerned with Ashtavakra because to accept Ashtavakra you are going to have to drop yourself ~unconditionally. You cannot bring yourself along. Only if you stay behind can you come near him? With Krishna, you can bring yourself along. With Krishna, there is no need to transform yourself. With Krishna, you can fit just as you are. 

Hence, the founders of each tradition have written commentaries on Krishna's Gita ~ Shankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarak, Vallabha -- everyone. Each has extracted his own meaning. Krishna has said things in such a way as to allow multiple meanings; hence, I call his Gita poetic. You can draw out any meaning you like from a poem.

 Krishna's statements are like clouds surrounding you in the rainy season: you see in them whatever you want. Someone may see an elephant's trunk, someone sees the whole body of Ganesha, the elephant god. Someone may not see anything. He will say, "What nonsense you talk! They are clouds, vapor ~how is it you see forms in them?"

Krishna's Gita is just like this ~ you will be able to see whatever is in your mind. So Sankara sees knowledge, Ramanuja sees bhakti, Tilak sees action -- and each returns home in a cheerful mood thinking that what Krishna says is the same as his belief.

This kind of suspicion often arises with Krishna too. Centuries have passed and commentaries on Krishna keep on coming. Each century finds its own meaning, each person finds his own meaning. Krishna's Gita is like an inkblot... it is the statement of the perfect politician.

 You cannot extract any beliefs from Ashtavakra's Gita. Only if you drop yourself as you move into it, will Ashtavakra's Gita become clear to you? 

Ashtavakra's message is crystal clear. You won't be able to add even a small bit of your own interpretation to it. Hence, people have not written commentaries on Ashtavakra's Gita. There is no scope for writing a commentary; there is no way to distort or twist it. Your mind has no chance to add anything. Ashtavakra has given such an expression that no one has been able to add or take anything from it, even though centuries have passed. It is not easy to give such a perfect expression. Such skill with words is very difficult to come by. 

This is why I say we are starting off on a rare journey. 

Politicians have no interest in Ashtavakra. Not Tilak, not Aurobindo, not Gandhi, not Vinoba: none of them has any interest, because with Astavakra they cannot go on playing their own games. Tilak's interest was to inspire nationalism. He wanted the whole country to get involved in action -- and Krishna's Gita was helpful. Krishna is ready to lend a shoulder to anyone. Whosoever wants to steady themselves on his shoulder and shoot their bullets -- Krishna is ready. The shoulder is his, you can take the opportunity to hide behind it. And shooting from behind his shoulder makes even bullets appear significant. 

Ashtavakra doesn't allow anyone to even rest their hand on his shoulder. So Gandhi is not interested, Tilak is not interested, and Aurobindo, Vinoba has nothing to do with him, because they cannot impose anything. There is no room for politics -- Ashtavakra is not a political being. 

This is the first thing you need to keep in mind... such crystal clarity, an expression like an open sky with no cloud in sight, you cannot see any forms. Only when you drop all forms, become disidentified with all forms and get connected with the formless, will you be able to comprehend Ashtavakra. If you really want to understand Ashtavakra you will have to descend into the depths of meditation. No commentary, no interpretation will be of any help. 

And for meditation Ashtavakra does not ask us to sit and chant "Ram, Ram." He says that anything you do will not be meditation. How can there be meditation when there is a doer? As long as there is doing, there is an illusion. As long as the doer is present, the ego is present. Ashtavakra says becoming a witness is meditation. Then the doer disappears; you remain only as a watcher, nothing but the observer. When you are nothing but the observer then only is there darshan, seeing; then only is there meditation, then only is there wisdom.

Before we enter the sutras, it is necessary to understand a few things about Ashtavakra. Not much is known as he was neither a social nor political man, so no historical record exists. Only a few incidents are known -- and they are just wondrous, hardly believable. But if you understand them deeply the significance will be revealed.