Dattatreya’s song of the Avadhut
Of all the mystical treatises of ancient Indian literature, the Avadhut Gita, or “Song Of The Avadhut,” is one of the most eloquent and compelling. Its theme is the unitive knowledge obtained through mystical vision, theknowledge of the eternal Self. This knowledge is not limited to the mystics of any one cultural tradition, but is universal among all those who have attained to mystical vision. Men and women of all lands and all religious persuasions have experienced first-hand the eternal Reality, and realized It to be their own essential Identity. Some of the best known representatives of this universal knowledge are the panishadic rishis and Shankaracharya of the Vedantic tradition, al-Hallaj and Jalaluddin Rumi of the Sufi tradition, Shakyamuni and Ashvagosha of the Buddhist tradition, and Meister Eckhart and Juan de la Cruz of the Christian tradition. All have expressed the revealed knowledge of their identity with the one eternal Reality, and declared, in one way or another, their agreement with the words of the Christian saint, Catherine of Genoa, “My Me is God, nor do I recognize any other Me except my God Himself.”