In Mahābhārata, Avadhūta is called Ājagara, and this name derives from Ājagara vṛtti. Seeing him, Prahlāda says – you do’t want anything, you have no longing or frustration for anything that is not achieved, you don’t even try to earn, and you are indifferent to desires and wants. So what are your knowledge, study and vocation?

At first touching upon the subject of Brahmadarśana, the Ājagara sage started speaking of his own lifestyle. He said, “As per the will of God,sometimes I consume a lot, sometimes I fast, sometimes I partake of grain-particles, and sometimes good rice of śālidhānya, sometimes a number of dishes. Sometimes I sleep on the ground, sometimes on a cot, and sometimes on a comfortable bedsheet as while as milk, in a building. Sometimes I wear a loincloth, sometimes clothes made of jute-extracts, sometimes good clothes, and sometimes I cover myself with the skin of some animal. If some enjoyable object comes to me at its own accord, I don’t refuse it, but I don’t desire any rare object of enjoyment. In this way, I follow the vocation of an Ajagara (python).In this vrata, there is no restriction upon food and drinks, so it cause both good health and illness. But since I have no dependence on bodily matters, that cannot even trouble me.

Vairāgya (non-attachment), practice of yoga and conquest of the indriya(s) (bodily organs signifying bodily needs and desires) and the purity of mind , along with an equal approach to everything — these are the principles of the ajagara-vrata. Just as a python enjoys things that come to it at their own accord, so I perform the ajagara-vrata, renouncing all anger, illusion, fear, pride, and by cultivating patience with the help of wisdom. Yet I feel to be pure all the time, I feel blessed, and I have no desire for a result –
anitaśayanāśanaḥ prakṛtyā
damaniyama-vrata-satya-śaucayuktaḥ
apagataphala-sancayaḥ prahṛṣṭo
vratamidamajagagaraṃ śuciścarāmi.

In Mahābhārata, there are severl similarities between Ājagara-vṛtti and the nature of an Avadhūta; although in Ajagara-vṛtti the lack of discipline regarding food and sleeping habits become important, which is also similar to Kāpotīvṛtti — just as a pigeon picks up morsels of grains from the paddy field and remains satisfied with that only. This is also a kind of indifference to food and sleeping habits. But the nature of an Avadhūta has been depicted with a deeper philosophical and spiritual level of grace. The apparent lack of rules and regulations in the behaviour of an Avadhūta signifies the ultimate level of spiritual realisation, which is achieved through previous deeds of hard ascetic practice and the grace of seeing God.

 

 

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