Two supreme Advaita texts beyond the Bhagavad + Ashtavakra Gitas. The Avadhuta Gita (Dattatreya, 8 chapters, ~289 verses) is the even-more-radical avadhuta-vidya. The Yoga Vasishtha (32,000 verses, Vasishtha to young Rama) is pure Advaita disguised as stories.
Teaching of Dattatreya - the combined avatar of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, son of sage Atri + Anasuya. "Avadhuta" = one who has shaken off (avadhu) all classifications - caste, ashrama, gender, body-identification. The Avadhuta Gita is what such a being says when asked about reality.
ईश्वरानुग्रहादेव पुंसामद्वैतवासना। महद्भयपरित्राणाद्विप्राणामुपजायते॥
Only by Ishvara's grace does the non-dual disposition arise in men - the seer's rescue from the great fear (of samsara).
★ Avadhuta Gita's opening - grace alone awakens Advaita. The doctrine of anugraha-shakti.
सर्वं चात्मतया ज्ञातं जगत्स्थावरजङ्गमम्। अभावात्सर्वभावानां कथं वासः शिवो विना॥
All is known as the Self - the moving + unmoving world. In the absence of all states (of being), how can existence be - without Shiva?
न जातु बन्धो न च मे विमोक्षो जातिर्न मे न मरणं न जन्म। न कारणं नापि कार्यं न लोको न देवता न च भयं न देहो॥
There is no bondage for me, no liberation, no caste, no death, no birth, no cause, no effect, no world, no deity, no fear, no body.
★ The supreme negation. Avadhuta-state - beyond all categories.
ध्यानानि सर्वाणि परित्यजेया कर्माणि सर्वाणि परित्यजेया। जपांश्च सर्वान्परित्यजेया स्वस्थोऽहमस्मीत्यवलोकयस्व॥
Abandon all meditations. Abandon all karmas. Abandon all japa. "I am the established Self" - look upon (this).
★ The radical instruction. Even meditation must be dropped at the end. Recognition alone remains.
योऽन्तरात्मा परं ज्योतिरादिमध्यान्तवर्जितः। निर्विकल्पनिराकारस्तस्मै लयविदे नमः॥
The inner Self - the supreme light, free of beginning, middle, end - thought-free, formless - to that knower-of-dissolution, salutations.
न च लोको न च लोको न च लोको न च लोकपः। न च लोकानभावोऽपि नित्योदितचिदात्मनः॥
There is no world, no world, no world, no world-protector. No "absence of world" - for the eternally-arisen consciousness-Self.
न मे मोहो न मे मोहो न च मे जागरो लयः। एकत्वं भिन्नभावस्य ज्ञानामृतसमोऽहम्॥
I have no delusion, no delusion. No waking, no dissolution. The oneness in apparent-distinction - I am the nectar-of-knowledge equal.
ॐ इति गदितं गगनसमं तस्मिन् न द्वैतमस्मिन् न द्वैतं तस्मिन्। पूर्णानन्दैकमिदं चित्तरूपं स्वयं हन्ता पावनमस्मि शिवोऽहम्॥
Om - declared as the sky-equal. In it, no duality. In it, no duality. The full-bliss-One, this consciousness-form - I myself, the slayer, the purifier - Shivoham (I am Shiva).
अहमेव हि सर्वस्मादहमेव हि सर्ववित्। अहमेवात्म चैतन्यमहमेवात्मनस्तनुः॥
I alone am higher than all. I alone am the knower of all. I alone am the Self-consciousness. I alone am the body of the Self.
★ The final declaration. Pure Advaita as first-person assertion. No "object Brahman" - only "subject I-am-Brahman".
Context - 32,000-verse text - the longest Sanskrit work after the Mahabharata. The setting: young Rama (~16 years old) has returned from his first travels + lost interest in the world. He sits in vairagya at his father's court, refusing food + duty. Vasishtha is asked to instruct him. The Yoga Vasishtha is 18 days of Vasishtha's teaching, before the events of the Ramayana proper.
Structure - 6 prakaranas (sections): Vairagya, Mumukshuvyavahara, Utpatti, Sthiti, Upashama, Nirvana. Total ~32,000 verses.
Uniqueness - Pure Advaita disguised as stories. Vasishtha tells stories within stories (often 5-7 levels deep - Bhusunda story, Leela story, Karkati story, Chudala story). Each story arrives at the same conclusion: the world is consciousness-only, mind is the seed of bondage, recognition is the door.
Abridgement - The full text is rarely read today. The abridgement "Laghu Yoga Vasishtha" (~6,000 verses) by Abhinanda of Kashmir (10th C) is the standard modern entry. Even shorter: "Yoga Vasishtha Sara Sangraha" (~226 verses) extracts the essence.
Utpatti Prakarana
Queen Leela's husband (King Padma) dies. Her grief is unbearable. The goddess Saraswati appears + teaches her: "Your husband is not dead - he has merely entered another universe. Both this world + that are equally real, equally unreal - both projections of mind." Saraswati takes Leela through multiple universes simultaneously. The supreme illustration of Yoga Vasishtha's multi-universe doctrine - every life is a mind-projection.
Nirvana Prakarana
Bhusunda is a crow living on Mt. Meru - he has survived 8 cosmic pralayas (cosmic dissolutions). When questioned how, he reveals: "I do not cling to anything - when the cosmic dissolution comes, I withdraw into the cosmic akasha; when creation resumes, I re-emerge." The supreme teaching: the jivanmukta survives cosmic cycles by non-attachment.
Mumukshu Prakarana
Karkati, a giant rakshasi, devours travellers. One day she catches a sage. The sage asks her: "Who is the doer in you?" She cannot answer. The question consumes her mind. She seeks the truth, eventually attains jnana, becomes a guru herself. The story illustrates: even a demon, on encountering the right question, can wake up.
Upashama Prakarana
Queen Chudala becomes a jivanmukta through her own sadhana. Her husband (King Shikhidhwaja) is jealous of her depth + leaves the palace for the forest. Chudala disguises herself as a young brahmana boy (Kumbha) + becomes his guru. Through many disguise-changes (becoming his disciple, his teacher, even his wife in disguise) she teaches him jnana. He attains realisation. The supreme example of a wife-as-guru.
Nirvana Prakarana
A king accidentally orders the impaling of sage Mandavya (mistaking him for a thief). Mandavya does not die - by his tapas, he sits on the spear for years. When eventually released, he questions Yama: "Why did you assign me this karma?" Yama explains: "As a child you impaled an insect on a thorn." Mandavya curses Yama: "Karma should not be assigned for acts done before age 12 - children cannot intend dharmically." Yama is forced to take birth as Vidura in the Mahabharata. The story illustrates: the law of karma is itself amenable to dharmic correction by the sage.
मन एव मनुष्याणां कारणं बन्धमोक्षयोः। बन्धाय विषयासङ्गि मुक्त्यै निर्विषयं स्मृतम्॥
The mind alone is the cause for men of bondage + liberation. Attached to sense-objects, it binds; free of objects, it liberates.
★ The most-cited Yoga Vasishtha verse. Used by every modern Vedantin.
दृश्यं नास्ति इति बोधेन मनसो दृश्यमार्जनम्। सम्पन्नं चेत्तदा मुक्ता अनुत्पन्ने पुनः कथम्॥
"The seen does not exist" - by this knowledge, the seen is rubbed out from the mind. If accomplished, then liberation; if not yet arisen, how (can it arise)?
चित्तत्वमेव विश्वस्य भौतिकं नैव विद्यते। पशुपक्षिमनुष्यादिं पश्यन्निवात्र पश्यति॥
The world is consciousness-only - the material does not exist. Seeing animals, birds, men - one does not see (as one perceives), but witnesses.
