TV Channel

There was a king named Janaka, the father of Sītā. One afternoon, he was sleeping. Afternoon dreams are very complicated—it is not deep sleep, but a state akin to yoga nidrā. In his dream, Janaka saw that another king had come with a great army and was attacking his kingdom. Janaka lost everything. All his soldiers were killed, and he fled from the battlefield. Seeing many soldiers lying on the ground, he thought, "Is this the aim of my life?" To save himself, he escaped into a vast forest. In those days, forests were immense, unlike today where they exist only in fairy tales. If a person ran into such a forest, it would be very hard to find him again. The king was hungry, thirsty, tired, and dispirited. By day, he hid under trees so the enemy would not find him. At night, he spent time in the trees out of fear of wild animals. He had nothing to eat or drink, and no sleep. After several days or weeks, he became very weak. He was walking slowly when he suddenly saw a house. He went there and asked for some food. The lady of the house was very kind and gave him fresh chapatis with vegetables. But the king had strict discipline. Nīta Niyama is essential for human life, especially for yogīs. It means daily routine: get up, do your sādhanā, pūjā, wash yourself, perform prayer, and then eat. Many people even today will not take breakfast without washing first. The king asked the lady, "Mother, is there a facility where I can wash myself before I eat?" That is Vedic culture, Indian culture. He did not say, "Lady, is there somewhere to wash?" He said, "Mother." And she replied, "Yes, my son. Just a short distance from here is a beautiful lake where we all wash. You can go and bathe there." King Janaka thought, "My adoration to thee, O my destiny, what are you playing with me? There were days when I used to feed thousands of people, and today I am myself like a beggar, hiding. People once feared my very name, and today the fearless one has become fearful." One becomes fearful every day; they are not equal days. But Guru Nānak said, "For the saints, every day is golden." For those full of ambition and desire, every day is not golden. With the chapatis in one hand and a walking stick in the other, the king walked toward the water. What did he see coming toward him? A very hungry Doberman. When the dog saw the chapatis and the man, it attacked. The Doberman jumped on him, but the king had no power to stand up. He fell down. It was the saddest time in his life. "Lord, what are you doing with me? I am not even capable of fighting a dog." With pain in his heart, he fell to the ground, hit his head, and in that second, he woke up. Where was the forest? Where was the Doberman? He was lying in his beautiful palace, in a beautiful bed. Near his bed were fruits, water, juice, and everything. He was not hungry at all. He sat up and began to think, "What is the truth? Is this life the truth, or was that life in the dream the truth? Just now, that was the truth?" Days and months passed. He did not leave his bed; he denied eating. He became a seeker. "I want to know what is reality. Is that dream reality? When I go into the dream, this world disappears, and when I come to this world, the dream disappears. We are pendling here and there." He announced, "Is there any master, any guru, who can remove my inner suffering?" This suffering was a longing for the truth. When the king announced he was searching for a guru, many people rushed to become the king's guru. Every day in the palace, there was a session from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone could come and give him an answer, not only theoretically but practically. Days passed. Many scholars, many Sanskrit scholars, were sitting there. But his suffering was not relieved. At that time lived a great ātmajñānī saint, a brahma-niṣṭha śrotriya, named Aṣṭāvakra. Aṣṭāvakra means he had eight kinds of defects in his body; he was completely crippled. When he heard that people had gathered and were talking nonsense, he was not eager to become King Janaka's guru. He simply wanted to save him from all that gossip, so he went. He felt it was his duty to go and help the king, to free him from that torment, because he lived in Janaka's kingdom. When he tried to enter the palace, the guards turned him away because he did not look convincing. He was not dressed as richly as the others. One day, while the guards were drinking tea, he went in. When he entered the audience hall, the king was sitting on his throne with many scholars and many books. When they all saw Aṣṭāvakra coming in, they began to laugh. The whole hall was filled with laughter. The king did not know what was happening, but they were all looking and laughing, thinking, "What will he teach the king?" But Aṣṭāvakra was brave and fearless. He came near the king. He looked at everyone who was laughing, then he looked at the king, and Aṣṭāvakra himself began to laugh. The king became angry. "You are laughing at me." Aṣṭāvakra said, "Not at you. At your stupidity." "What? I am stupid?" "Yes." All fell silent, pin-drop silent. The king's bodyguard wanted to seize him, but when the sun rises, all lamps lose their power. The king asked, "What is my stupidity?" Aṣṭāvakra replied, "Your stupidity is this: you have collected so many sinners here. Some are skinners, who take the skin from dead animals to sell." They said, "What? He calls us skinners?" But Aṣṭāvakra understood everything. He said, "Yes, you are the skinner. You have only knowledge of the skin, not of the ātmā. You are laughing because of my physical form, O king. We laugh at the curves, not at the water. Are you asking me?" When a thirsty man sees water, half his thirst is already quenched. The king sensed there was some truth in his words. The lessons began between the king and Aṣṭāvakra in front of everyone. The king asked, "What is the truth? When I go to the dream, this world disappears. When I come to this world, the dream disappears. So which world is the truth?" It is very simple: neither this world nor the dream is reality. Reality is that ātmā, the witness who knows, "I am dreaming," and who knows, "I was dreaming," and who knows, "I am in this world." Your inner self is the truth. The rest is all dreams. The inner self is the reality that sees everything, this life and this world. Thus began the teaching, which is also called the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā. There are many Gītās, not only the Bhagavad Gītā. You will be surprised—in India, we have millions of Gītās. Some are already grandmothers. Thus, Aṣṭāvakra became known, and King Janaka became a Jīvan Mukta, Jīvan Videhī Mahārāja Janaka. He is the only one in our history to have this title, known as Videhī, Janaka Videhī. Therefore, in this bhajan, Mahāprabhujī said, "Maybe it was a dream that I got a human life." But what happened in many, many lives when I got a human life? I was wandering here and there like a lost deer, a female deer in the forest, searching for its herd. Like a deer searching for its group, I wandered. "Kei dape gei manus tanhar." O my Lord, many times I lost the human life. I could not become the winner without realization. Again, I died. "Har" means like in a football field, where one side is the winner and the other the loser. So many times I lost the human life because I did not get that saṅgha. I was only in kusaṅga. I lost a lot of life. I could not find my life's meaning because I did not fill it with saṅgha; I filled it with kuṣaṅga. I have wasted many human lives by dying without purpose, because I was in kusaṅg, not in satsaṅg. Many, many yugas passed. I was running behind other men. Many yugas passed while I was running after others. When I realized, it was not that which I was searching for. Then I realized, "This is not the one I am looking for." It means this belief and that belief, this prayer and that prayer, this and that. We are wandering here and there. In India we say, when a cobra or a snake is running, it has curves. But as soon as it sees the hole where it lives, the curves are gone. It is just like that. So, when we find the right path, when we find the right path, then all these curves are finished.