AVG 15.3

Chapter 15 (A Celebration of the Seekers Native Self): Verse 3
वाग्मिप्राज्ञमहोद्योगं जनं मूकजडालसम् ।
करोति तत्त्वबोधोऽयमतस्त्यक्तो बुभुक्षुभिः ॥ १५-३॥

PURPORT:
This insight into the real nature of things
transforms a person who is perceived to be
impassioned, intelligent and industrious
into someone who is devoid of the senses,
indolent and quiet. This is the reason
why such insight is shunned by those
who intend to enjoy the world.

TRANSLITERATION:
वाग्मिप्राज्ञमहोद्योगम् जनम् मूकजडालसम् ।
vāgmiprājñamahodyogam janam mūkajaḍālasam ।
करोति तत्त्वबोधः अयम् अतः त्यक्तः बुभुक्षुभिः ॥ १५-३॥
karoti tattvabodhaḥ ayam ataḥ tyaktaḥ bubhukṣubhiḥ ॥ 15-3॥

MEANING (concordance as numbered):
3. vāgmiprājñamahodyogam (वाग्मिप्राज्ञमहोद्योगम्) = eloquent, intelligent and industrious (compound of vāgmi (वाग्मि) meaning ‘passionate/eloquent/impassioned’ and prājña (प्राज्ञ) meaning ‘intelligent’ and mahodyogam (महोद्योगम्) meaning time ‘hardworking/industrious/conscientious’)
4. janam (जनम्) = person (literally translates to the masculine)
5. mūkajaḍālasam (मूकजडालसम्) =  mute, inert and inactive (compound of mūka (मूक) meaning ‘aphasic/mute’ and jaḍa (जड) meaning ‘devoid of senses/inert’ and alasam (अलसम्) meaning ‘idle/inactive/indolent’)।

6. karoti (करोति) = makes
2. tattvabodhaḥ (तत्त्वबोधः) = knowledge of the truth (compound of tattva (तत्त्व) meaning ‘truth/real state’ and bodhaḥ (बोधः) meaning ‘understanding/cognizance/knowledge’)
1. ayam (अयम्) = this
7. ataḥ (अतः) = so
9. tyaktaḥ (त्यक्तः) = is rejected/is shunned
8. bubhukṣubhiḥ (बुभुक्षुभिः) = by those who want to and intend to enjoy ॥ 15-3॥

COMMENT:
It is understood that this verse should not be construed in its most literal manner (i.e. a person of awareness turning from someone who is passionate, seemingly wise and hard-working into someone who is devoid of the senses, ostensibly lazy and mute). When a state of awareness as deep and as lasting as the one being described here is realized, then the need for any more talking or doing or thinking is purported to cease as there is nothing more to think or talk or perform. The outward appearance of one who has achieved such a state may seem inert and hushed. This is an outward appearance only – a mistaken perception for someone looking in on this state from the outside.
Awareness and realization can occur in many forms and in many cases the instances are fleetingly few and far between for the seeking beginner. There are tales of mystics who have had psychic experiences that border 'awareness' which may have been induced either by an involuntary mental state or was chemically stimulated. This might have temporarily altered their mental state for a short-lived period; it can be inferred that these experiences (chance mental states or aided chemically) may have been of some help at certain points along their seeking paths, but can prove to be a distraction as they seek to further their way forward. It is understood that the search and seeking is no less difficult for those who have been aided by such experiences as those who are starting without these extraneous initiations.

As commented upon a couple of chapters back, the quality of the awareness that is being sought is like love (one knows it when one is immersed within the state, but, the state itself cannot seem to be described accurately and figuratively). The state of being aware is unlike other ‘states’ where one may get ‘there’ just because they are instinctually more gifted than the other (like some may be more gifted at math than others and thus math seem to come to them naturally). Awareness is the understanding and seeking of that inner sense of stillness and the sense of egoless non-identity that flows from such stillness. Neither qualifications nor genetic predisposition nor intellectual expertise can serve as an easy means to get from here to there.

While difficult to articulate, a rank amateur like me will want to state that the kind of awareness described in the verses herein is that realization where the nature of truth that we encounter can be looked at conventionally as well as from the perspective of emptiness. A realization that all manifest phenomena including conventional and ultimate experiences are fundamentally impermanent and subject to a constant process of change and decrepitude. That the form of conventional reality that we interact with is a constant mental reinforcement of our culturally accepted (and allowed) appellations. A path that moves from banalities and stilted understanding to stillness.

In this sense, it is understood that thinking and thought itself is a form of ego defense and a form of entertainment for the ego where the more elaborate, impressive and complex the construction of the thought edifice, the more the ego seems to obtain a measure of fixity and satisfaction. A state of being where thinking and thought does not vacillate between choices that can be exercised in a future (that is not yet clear) or regrets embedded in a past (that is removed from the present). A place where the straining and the flexing of thought is so reduced that the complexity of internal and external frameworks that have been elaborately fabricated within us (that allows for the ego to climb, hide and roam free) is extinguished. That is the state described by Ashtavakra herein.