Avadhuta Gita

Avadhūta Gītā

A song of the 'avadhuta', one who has shaken off all worldly and religious conventions, proclaiming the non-dual Self beyond all categories.

Primary sourceSource not yet ingestedAdvanced contemplative text

Tradition: Advaita Vedanta
Difficulty: advanced
Attribution: Traditionally attributed to Dattatreya; author and date unknown
Period · language: Date uncertain; often placed in the second millennium CE · Sanskrit
Themes: Non-duality · Freedom · Transcendence of convention · Self

Why read this?

The Avadhuta Gita expresses non-duality in ecstatic, sometimes paradoxical verse, denying even the categories of teacher, practice and liberation. It is valued in renunciant circles but is not an introductory text.

Questions it answers

?What remains when all categories are dropped?
?Can non-duality be spoken of at all?

Key teachings

Editorial overview

Everything is the Self

The song repeatedly affirms that there is only the one Self, without division.

Beyond all pairs

It denies that the Self can be described as bound or free, pure or impure, one or many, since all such categories presuppose duality.

The free renunciant

The avadhuta is pictured as free of all social and ritual obligations, a figure for inner freedom.

Structure

8 chaptersScholars often regard the last chapter as a later addition

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Avadhuta Gita is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.

Concepts

Conceptअद्वैत / अद्वयNon-duality (advaya / advaita)The claim that reality is ultimately 'not two' — understood very differently across schools.Conceptआत्मन्Atman — the SelfThe innermost Self — what you are beneath body, mind and personality.Conceptब्रह्मन्BrahmanThe ultimate reality, the ground from which everything arises.Conceptसंन्यासSannyasa — renunciationRenunciation — as a formal stage of life, and as an inner attitude of letting go.Conceptमोक्षMoksha — liberationFinal freedom from bondage and the cycle of rebirth.Conceptनेति नेतिNeti neti — not this, not thisThe Upanishadic method of describing the ultimate by negating every limited description.

Textअष्टावक्रगीताAshtavakra GitaA similarly radical non-dual work Textमाण्डूक्यकारिकाMandukya KarikaShares the negation of bondage and liberation from the highest standpoint

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Traditions

अद्वैत वेदान्तAdvaita Vedanta