We are aware of the fact that Ashtavakra Ji was the Guru of King Janak, even in a juvenile age. His true name was Yagyavalkya, a sage who was a sanyaasi inside out. None of enormous prosperities stained him. Let us revise the conversation between King Janak and Ashtavakra Ji, then we shall proceed for another discourse.
- His materialistic bounties were in plethora. He never lacked anything. He had two wives, Mata Katyayini and Mata Maitrayi. Mata Katyayini was good by heart, but she believed in pompous exposure of the riches, and money had a deep meaning for her. Mata Maitrayi, on the other hand, used to find for ways to find true peace. The bounties never gave her, what she always needed. When Yagyavalkya Ji was in his fifties, he called hi wives and asked them to listen to him. They sat nearby, and keenly listened to the discourse.
- Yagyavalkya Ji: I have decided that I will renounce the life of a householder now, and leave for finding true answers within, and merge with the Truth. I will divide the property into two halves, for your children shall flourish.
- Mata Maitrayi: O Swami! Thou art renouncing the bounties, for a priceless asset which cannot be gained by money or mind. People never renounce old gold, unless they have a better option, to acquire several pounds. What is that priceless asset?
- Yagyavalkya Ji: Yes, I love all of you. That love is not all-inclusive. This is out of selfishness. This love should be pure and blissful, it should be advait, not dvait. In reality, there is nothing as two, everything is included in one. (continues) I will leave the house, and seep into a forest, where I shall meditate and finally merge with the finding.
- Mata Katyayini: O Swami! What will happen then
- Yagyavalkya Ji: I will finally be freed from the chains of body and mind.
- Mata Katyayini: What will happen to your body and mind?
- Yagyavalkya Ji: I am neither the body nor the mind. I am the soul within. I will be freed into that oneness. In sanyaas ashram, I shall be able to practice renunciatio and discrimination earnestly.
- Mata Katyayini: O Swami! Since I have known Thee, I have seen that Thou were always immersed in the Divine contemplation. Thou were in the grahasta ashram (householder’s life) in body, but Thy mind was always fixed on the Lord. (We might fall in an awe, reading her understanding of life, though she believed in pompous approach to life.)
- Yagyavalkya Ji (smiles): Both of you close your eyes, and find the answers within, for his query.
- (Both of them do the same, and see that their husband was abandoning the householder’s life, for they are drifted to the practice of sanyaas. The renunciation was not for himself, but for his wives. Both of them smile, and call their sons.)
- Mata Katyayini and Mata Maitrayi (in an accord): Sons, this property and bounties shall be unified as have been till date. Live like true brothers and sisters, without grudges, and enjoy the bounties, in a just manner. The elder one shall begin the ritual of living a just householder life, and his younger siblings shall be guided. He should leave the householder’s life, after a certain age, for the ages are guided incessantly.
- A person, dedicated his life for the Soul, from his very birth, drifted several generations, preceding and succeeding his own. No only the seven ages were freed, but thousands. The entire kingdom of King Janak was freed. If a person comes in mere contact of the teachings of a sage, he is freed. Yagyavalkya Ji was the one who was a sanyaasi inside out, but decided to renounce everything, to drift all towards the sea of Oneness.