Upanishads

TURIYATITA-AVADHUTA UPANISHAD

Shuklayadjurveda
Sanyasa group of Upanishads

Hari Om Tat Sat!

1. And then the grandfather (meaning the progenitor) of all people (i.e. Brahma) with respect approached his father, Adi-Narayana (i.e. God Vishnu), and asked: “What is the path of the Avadhutas after attaining the state of Turiyatita, and what is their position?”

Lord Narayana replied to him as follows: "The wise think that one who is faithful to the path of the Avadhutas is very rare in this world and (such exceptional beings) are not many; only a completely pure person can become an Avadhuta; the Avadhuta is the very embodiment of dispassion/vairagya; he is the very visible form of Wisdom, and he is the real personification of the Veda (i.e., Vedapurusha). He is (really) a great man, for his mind is constantly fixed on Me alone and he abides in Me alone. And I also abide in him. In due order, i.e., first being a hut-dwelling ascetic (Kutichaka), he passes to the stage of a mendicant monk (Bahudaka); the mendicant monk reaches the stage of the Hamsa-hermit; and the Hamsa-hermit (then) becomes the most renounced ascetic (Paramahamsa). (On (at this stage) he (i.e. the Paramahamsa), by Self-analysis, realizes the whole world as non-different from the Self, i.e. from the Atman; finally renouncing all private property and any possessions whatsoever, he throws into the water such things as his symbolic staff, water pot, robe, loincloth and all other ritualistic elements that were prescribed to him (in the previous stage); becoming absolutely naked (literally: clothed in space); refusing to accept/wear even faded, worn-out articles of clothing or skin (of a deer); not being (after assuming the status of Paramahamsa) subject to any laws, regulations or rituals; ceasing to shave, take oil baths, make marks on his forehead with sandal paste, etc.

2. He gives up all religious and worldly/secular affairs; he is free from religious merits or sins in all situations (i.e., whatever he does, it does not affect him in any way); he gives up both knowledge/jnana and ignorance/ajnana; he conquers (the influence of) cold and heat, happiness and unhappiness, fame and shame; having burned away beforehand all the latent tendencies/vasanas of the body, senses and mind, etc., he is now forever free from condemnation, praise, pride, enmity, boasting, arrogance, desire, hatred, love, anger, greed, delusion, gloating, joy, intolerance, envy, clinging to life, etc.; he regards his body as a corpse; without any effort he abides in complete peace and does not lose his equilibrium either in gain or loss; He sustains his life by food put into his mouth like a cow; (satisfied) with that food which comes to him without any desire on his part; putting aside as unnecessary all his so-called learning; continuing to conduct himself naturally and nobly; neither humiliating anyone nor being humiliated himself; (firmly) abiding in the non-dual Atman/Brahman, which is the highest (principle) of everything and which includes everything in itself and encompasses everything; absolutely convinced that: "Nothing exists except me, the Atman/Brahman"; ignoring all dualistic doctrines and adhering only to the divine Advaita; untouched by grief; insensitive to (worldly) happiness; free from all desires; unattached to either the auspicious or the inauspicious; having forever subdued all his senses; Without paying any attention to anyone's conduct, learning and moral character (dharma); having forgotten his ego; having abandoned all the varnas and ashramas; never sleeping, since for him there is no longer any difference between day and night; free as the wind; not dependent on the body, which still continues to hang on him; having no longer even a jug for holding water; highly intelligent, and yet he behaves like a child, a madman or a ghost; strictly observing the vow of silence and deeply reflecting on his own inner Self, he is supported only by the unsupported Brahman; absorbed in Brahman and having forgotten everything else; this sage, abide in the state of Turiyatita, having attained the state of an Avadhuta Sannyasin and completely absorbed in the Non-dual Atman/Brahman, gives up his body, becoming one with AUM (Pranava): such a Sannyasin is a real Avadhuta; he has fulfilled the purpose of his life. Such is the Upanishad.

Hari Om Tat Sat!

Thus ends the Turiyatita Avadhuta Upanishad of the Shuklayadurveda.