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, the knowledge 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. The author is The Avadihut Gita was enlightened by the same direct revelation which inspired the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and other such works. It must be read, therefore, not as the reiteration of a conceptual position, or as an argument for the Vedantic viewpoint, but as the sharing by an illumined sage of directly revealed truth. His aim in this sharing is not to convince us, but to awaken us to the truth, and liberate us from error. The Avadhut Gita is a call to knowledge, the supreme knowledge of ultimate truth. The Avadhut holds out no compromise with illusion, he offers no foothold on separation, he allows no semblance of duality at all to creep into our perception of reality. Perhaps has knowledge is, for mere men, too sublime, too austere, too simplistic; but it is the knowledge of the ultimate indisputable truth of existence; and it is this very truth which has the power to make us free.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S. Abhayanada
Swami Abhayanada was born Stan Trout in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 14, 1938. After service in the Navy, he settled in northern California, where he pursued his studies in philosophy and literature. In June of 1966 he became acquainted with the philosophy of mysticism, and experienced a strong desire to realize God. Abandoning all other pursuits, he retired to a solitary life in a secluded cabin in the mountain forests near Santa Cruz, California; and, in November of that same year became enlightened by the grace of God. He spent four more years in his isolated cabin, and subsequently met Swami Muktananda who visited Santa Cruz in 1970. Shortly thereafter, he joined and worked in Muktananda's Oakland, California ashram, where, in 1977, he translated the song of The Avadhut. In May of 1978, he returned to India and was initiated by his master into the ancient Saraswati order of monks, and was given the monastic name of Swami Abhayananda, "The bliss of fealessness." For the next few years he taught meditation in variuos cities throughout the U.S., but in 1981, unwilling to condone what he saw as abuses of power, Abhayananda left Muktananda's organization, and went into retreat once again, this time for seven years, in upstate New York, where he whole a number of other books. At present, Swami Abhayananda resides in the Olympia area of western Washington state, where he continues to teach, write, and publish his work on the knowledge of the Self.
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