The State of an Avadhuta

[dattaswami]

The State of an Avadhuta

 

[Nikhil asked whether the Avadhutas, who appear completely detached from the real world like madmen, are actually enjoying only this temporary phase of unattached spectatorship of the world. Swami responded as follows.]

 

 

The Avadhutas are totally disconnected from the world. They are not even enjoying. Their state is similar to a coma. In the earlier analogy of watching the cinema, they are the people, who have closed their eyes and stopped watching the cinema altogether. They are like the person, who has taken a sleeping pill in the cinema hall.

 

This state is far from the state of God, who is consciously watching the cinema and deriving enjoyment out of it. Such Avadhutas are souls, who fearing the attachment to the world have completely disconnected themselves from the world as if by taking a sleeping pill. They tried to be like God in one aspect i.e., not being affected by the joys and tragedies of the world. But, unfortunately, they chose the path of disconnecting themselves from the world. So, they have even lost the enjoyment or entertainment from the world. In this aspect, they have gone far from the state of God. God’s state of unattached spectatorship is very different from such Avadhutas. God is unaffected while enjoying the creation where as avadhuta is unaffected by disconnecting himself totally from the enjoyment. The final effect is one and the same but there is lot of difference in the background.

The state of the Gopikas is different from the Avadhuta.

 

Their case is like that of the helper, who sits in the cinema hall with the producer, but stops watching the cinema and instead turns towards the producer to win his favor. The Avadhuta is one, who stops watching the cinema but does not turn to the producer either. He simply goes off to sleep. The Gopikas turned away from the world and turned towards Lord Krishna. They knew that only through His grace, it is possible to enjoy the creation-cinema in an unattached manner. So, they turned to Him to attain His grace, through practical devotion (service).

 

There is one thing common between the Gopikas and the Avadhuta—they both have stopped watching the creation-cinema. But, the major difference between them is that the Gopikas are turned to the Lord and are taking effort (sadhana) to achieve His grace. They have surrendered to God. There is hope that they will attain His grace and with that grace, they will attain the God-like state of constant entertainment as an unattached spectator of creation. The Avadhuta has no such hope, since he is not even trying for the grace of God. He foolishly thinks that he is already God, simply because he has disconnected himself from creation and is not affected by it. He is actually full of ego and he will never attain the state of God. In fact, he has no hope of even attaining the state of the Gopikas.

 

 

This path of turning away from the cinema and turning towards God (like the Gopikas) is called as Nivritti. Nivritti contains Pravritti. Nivritti is impregnated with Pravritti. They are not different. The reason for the detachment from the world must be the attachment to God.