📖 Realization Beyond Identity: For the Modern Seeker
The Avadhut Gita, composed by the great sage Dattatreya, is not a gentle spiritual whisper—it is a thunderclap of truth. These verses are spoken not just to ancient forest-dwellers but to you, the modern seeker entangled in a web of media, opinions, ego, and identity.
Verses 11 to 20 challenge the very assumptions that bind us to fear, duality, and false identity. Let’s explore their deeper meanings.
🔹 Verse 11
Sanskrit:
त्वमेवमेकं हि कथं न बुध्यसे
समं हि सर्वेषु विमृष्टमव्ययम् ।
सदोदितोऽसि त्वमखण्डितः प्रभो
दिवा च नक्तं च कथं हि मन्यसे ॥११॥
Hindi Translation (Detailed):
तू ही एकमात्र है—यह बात तू क्यों नहीं समझता? तू वही चेतना है जो सभी में समान रूप से व्याप्त है, अपरिवर्तनीय है।
हे प्रभु! तू तो हमेशा प्रकाशित और अखण्ड है, फिर तू दिन और रात की कल्पना क्यों करता है?
English Meaning:
You are truly the One. Why do you not realize it? You are ever-shining, unchanging, equally present in all.
O Lord, how can you, who are beyond time, speak of day and night?
Real-Life Insight:
In an age of “day mode” and “dark mode,” we mistake function for identity. The Self doesn’t switch modes.
You are the light that sees both day and night—don’t confuse the screen with the source.
🔹 Verse 12
Sanskrit:
आत्मानं सततं विद्धि सर्वत्रैकं निरन्तरम् ।
अहं ध्याता परं ध्येयमखण्डं खण्ड्यते कथम् ॥१२॥
Hindi Translation:
हमेशा यह जान कि आत्मा एक ही है और सबमें निरंतर उपस्थित है।
मैं ही ध्यान करने वाला हूं और मैं ही ध्यान का उद्देश्य। जब वह अखण्ड है, तो उसे विभाजित कैसे कर सकते हो?
English Meaning:
Know the Self to be one and ever-present. I am the meditator and the object of meditation.
How can the Indivisible be divided?
Real-Life Insight:
We live in a time of overthinking and mental "tools"—meditation, productivity hacks, self-improvement.
But true meditation is not a practice—it is identity collapse. There is no you “doing” the meditation.
There is only what is.
🔹 Verse 13
Sanskrit:
न जातो न मृतोऽसि त्वं न ते देहः कदाचन ।
सर्वं ब्रह्मेति विख्यातं ब्रवीति बहुधा श्रुतिः ॥१३॥
Hindi Translation:
तू न जन्मा है, न मरा है। तेरा शरीर कभी था ही नहीं।
श्रुतियाँ अनेक रूपों में यही कहती हैं—“सब कुछ ब्रह्म है।”
English Meaning:
You are not born, nor do you die. You never had a body.
Scriptures declare in many ways: “All is Brahman.”
Real-Life Insight:
Worried about aging, status, or legacy? The body is temporary. You are not the body—you are that which never began and can never end.
🔹 Verse 14
Sanskrit:
स बाह्याभ्यन्तरोऽसि त्वं शिवः सर्वत्र सर्वदा ।
इतस्ततः कथं भ्रान्तः प्रधावसि पिशाचवत् ॥१४॥
Hindi Translation:
तू ही भीतर है, तू ही बाहर है—तू ही शिव है, जो सर्वत्र और सदा विद्यमान है।
तो फिर तू भ्रमित होकर एक पिशाच की तरह इधर-उधर क्यों दौड़ता है?
English Meaning:
You are He who is inside and outside—Shiva, omnipresent.
Why then do you roam deluded like a ghost?
Real-Life Insight:
Gen Z is globally connected yet internally fragmented. We run from app to app, role to role.
Stop. You are already complete. Stop chasing—start being.
🔹 Verse 15
Sanskrit:
संयोगश्च वियोगश्च वर्तते न च ते न मे ।
न त्वं नाहं जगन्नेदं सर्वमात्मैव केवलम् ॥१५॥
Hindi Translation:
न तेरे लिए संयोग है, न वियोग; न मेरे लिए भी।
न तू है, न मैं, न यह जगत—सब कुछ केवल आत्मा है।
English Meaning:
Union and separation are not for you or me. There is no you, no me, no world.
All is the Self alone.
Real-Life Insight:
Social media tells you “connect more”—but true connection begins when you drop the illusion of separation.
There’s no "me and you"—only this witnessing awareness.
🔹 Verse 16
Sanskrit:
शब्दादिपञ्चकस्यास्य लैवासि त्वं न ते पुनः।
त्वमेव परमं तत्त्वमतः किं परितप्यसे ॥१६॥
Hindi Translation:
तू शब्द, स्पर्श आदि पाँच विषयों से नहीं बना है, और वे तुझसे जुड़े नहीं हैं।
तू ही परम तत्व है—तो फिर तू क्यों दुखी होता है?
English Meaning:
You are not made of the five sense-objects. You are the Supreme Truth.
Why then do you suffer?
Real-Life Insight:
You're not your playlists, perfumes, brands, or pleasures.
All sensations pass—you are the unchanging knower.
🔹 Verse 17
Sanskrit:
जन्म मृत्युर्न ते चित्तं बन्धमोक्षौ शुभाशुभौ ।
कथं रोदिषि रे वत्स नामरूपं न ते न मे ॥१७॥
Hindi Translation:
न तेरे लिए जन्म है, न मृत्यु; न चित्त है, न बंधन-मोक्ष; न शुभ है, न अशुभ।
हे वत्स! तू क्यों रोता है? न तेरे पास नाम है, न रूप—न मेरे पास।
English Meaning:
You have no birth, death, mind, bondage, liberation, good or evil.
O child, why do you cry? Neither you nor I have name and form.
Real-Life Insight:
Identity crisis? Depression? These arise from misidentification.
You are not your name, job, body, or mood. You are that which sees all that come and go.
🔹 Verse 18
Sanskrit:
अहो चित्त कथं भ्रान्तः प्रधावसि पिशाचवत् ।
अभिन्नं पश्य चात्मानं रागत्यागात्सुखी भव ॥१८॥
Hindi Translation:
हे चित्त! तू क्यों भ्रम में इधर-उधर पिशाच की तरह दौड़ रहा है?
अखंड आत्मा को देख और राग का त्याग कर सुखी बन।
English Meaning:
Oh mind, why do you wander like a ghost? See the indivisible Self.
Renounce attachment and be happy.
Real-Life Insight:
We chase dopamine—likes, views, love, approval.
Happiness isn’t found in more; it’s found in letting go.
🔹 Verse 19
Sanskrit:
त्वमेव तत्त्वं हि विकारवर्जितं
निष्कम्पमेकं हि विमोक्षविग्रहम् ।
न ते च रागो ह्यथवा विरागः
कथं हि सन्तप्यसि कामकामतः ॥१९॥
Hindi Translation:
तू ही परम तत्व है—विकारों से रहित, अचल, एक, और मुक्ति स्वरूप।
न तुझे राग है, न विराग। फिर तू कामनाओं के कारण क्यों दुखी होता है?
English Meaning:
You are the changeless, motionless Truth, the form of freedom.
You have neither attraction nor aversion. Why do you suffer for desires?
Real-Life Insight:
The trap isn’t the desire—it’s believing you are the one desiring.
Watch desire arise and fall. You remain unchanged.
🔹 Verse 20
Sanskrit:
वदन्ति श्रुतयः सर्वाः निर्गुणं शुद्धमव्ययम् ।
अशरीरं समं तत्त्वं तन्मां विद्धि न संशयः ॥२०॥
Hindi Translation:
सभी शास्त्र कहते हैं कि परम तत्व निर्गुण, शुद्ध, अविनाशी, अशरीरी और समभाव में स्थित है।
मुझे उसी तत्व के रूप में जानो—इसमें कोई संदेह नहीं।
English Meaning:
All the scriptures declare the Truth to be without qualities, pure, bodiless, immutable, and equal in all.
Know me as That—without doubt.
Real-Life Insight:
Religion, rituals, and beliefs point outward.
This verse points within—you are That which all scriptures try to describe.
🟦 Summary of Verses 11–20
In English:
These verses tear down the illusion of separateness. Dattatreya addresses the seeker directly, declaring:
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You are already That—pure, formless, beyond death, beyond duality.
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Stop seeking what you already are.
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All suffering is rooted in forgetting this eternal, changeless nature.
The message isn’t gentle—it’s fiercely liberating.
In Hindi:
इन श्लोकों में अवधूत अपने शिष्य को झकझोरते हैं:
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तू जन्म-मरण से परे है।
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तू न मन है, न देह—तू शुद्ध आत्मा है।
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दुःख केवल इस भूल में है कि तू कुछ ‘और’ है।
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स्मरण कर: तू ही परम तत्व है, जो सदा मुक्त है।