Hārīta Gītā

The Hārīta Gītā is the teaching of Hārīta Maharshi on the whole discipline of the parivrājaka (the wandering sannyāsī, one who has given up home and possessions). It is found in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 278. Hārīta describes how the renunciant must guard his speech, body and mind. He speaks of the right time for bhikshā (alms), of honour and insult, of six inner impulses, of ahiṃsā (non-harm) in word and thought, of OM japa, and of the paramapada, the highest state, which lies beyond prakṛti (nature).

Bhīshma tells this teaching to Yudhishṭhira.

Yudhishṭhira’s question

Yudhishṭhira asked Bhīshma what śīla (character), what samācāra (conduct), what vidyā (knowledge) and what parāyaṇa (final refuge) a person needs in order to reach the brahma-sthāna. This is the station of Brahman, which is permanent and beyond prakṛti.

Bhīshma answered by citing the ancient teaching of Hārīta Maharshi. Hārīta spoke it to the vidvāns, those who know.

Leaving home

Hārīta begins with the moment the renunciant leaves home. He leaves after granting abhaya (fearlessness) to all beings: animals, humans and trees. He gives up every claim of ownership and steps out with a clear inner purpose. The worlds of such a person become tejo-maya (full of light), and he becomes fit for the paramapada.

Hārīta says that the household stage has done what it could. Every relationship in saṃsāra passes away, and the ātmā is the only lasting home.

Conduct of the parivrājaka

Hārīta lists the disciplines of the wandering renunciant one by one.

Speech

  • He must never speak ill of others, either to their face (pratyaksham) or behind their back (paroksham).
  • He must not find fault with the eye, with the mind or with speech.
  • If he is insulted or abused, he bears it as amṛta (nectar) and does not strike back, even in thought.
  • To an angry person he speaks with priyatā (affection).
  • To one who reviles him he speaks only what is hita (beneficial).

Movement

  • He does not walk in pradakshiṇa or apasavya directions through the centre of a village.
  • He does not take the side of any group.
  • In the village centre he moves like a guest who belongs nowhere and holds to nothing.

Bhikshā

  • He goes for bhikshā only after the household fires have stopped smoking, the pestles have been put down, the coals have died, the family has eaten and the vessels have been put away.
  • He accepts only as much as keeps him alive (prāṇa-yātrika-mātra) and does not look for plenty.
  • If he gets nothing he does not grieve. If he gets well, he does not rejoice.
  • He never eats where special honour is shown to him. Such an invitation is a hidden attachment.

Where he stays

  • He sleeps in an empty house, at the root of a tree, in a forest or in a mountain cave.
  • He spends each night in a different place and cultivates being unknown.
  • He does not stay anywhere so long that people come to know him and either honour him or mistreat him.

The six impulses

The tapasvin (one who practises tapas) who takes sannyāsa must bear the vega (force) of six inner movements:

  1. vāk, the urge to say what should not be said
  2. manas, the urge toward obsessive thought
  3. krodha, anger
  4. hiṃsā, violence
  5. udara, hunger, the urge to eat too much
  6. upastha, the sexual urge

These six are the main obstacles to the inner steadiness of the renunciant.

Praise and insult

The sannyāsī stays madhyastha (even-minded) toward praise and blame. He hears both with the same face, the same heart and the same breath.

OM japa and vairāgya

Hārīta gives the wandering renunciant three inner practices:

  • the constant japa (repetition) of the praṇava (OM)
  • maunam, silence from needless speech
  • vairāgya (detachment)

These three are the inner core of sannyāsa sādhanā. The outer rules of conduct above support them. One who carries these three carries the highest vidyā. To one who does not know, the sannyāsa-āśrama looks like hardship and loss. To one who knows, it is a life of unbroken contact with the ātmā.

The mahātmā

Hārīta ends by describing the mahātmā who is the fruit of this path. He is:

  • fully śānta (at peace) in every direction
  • dependent on nothing
  • moving without attachment
  • gentle in manner but unshaken within
  • without self-praise
  • without a fixed home
  • with his mind gathered into one-pointed awareness

He has given up the whole idea of “mine” and “not mine”. Even the difference between the auspicious and the inauspicious no longer shapes his experience.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 278