Right and wrong,pleasure and pain, exist in mind only. They are not your concern. You neither do nor enjoy. You are free.

– The Ashtavakra Gita.

An ancient classic of Advaita Vedanta literature, the Ashtavakra Gita presents a dialogue between king Janaka and the Sage, Ashtavakra. It is said that King Janaka became enlightened upon hearing the first nineteen verses.

Quoted by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi, Osho, and Mooji, the Ashtavakra Gita is considered by many Sages to be greater than the Bhagavad Gita, yet I have, until this week, found it to be quietly elusive.

I had overlooked this understated book, until recommended by my teacher, Sri Mooji, along with the Avadhuta Gita and the Ribhu Gita, last Sunday in Satsang. I owned a copy of all three, contemplating the Avadhut and the Ribhu daily, but the Ashtavakra Gita, I had overlooked, it simply hadn't clicked with me.

So I looked again.

Now in love with this spiritual text, I am reading it and contemplating it all day long. I read it aloud to my partner at dawn. We meditate on it. I am blown away by the beauty and simplicity of the teaching contained in this short gita. Everything is contained within it.

Nothing else is needed.

This one book contains all you need to hear.

Read it, contemplate it and meditate on it, and you will come to know yourself.

This book is Truth itself, pure, simple and unadorned.