Gymnosophy for Beginners
A key figure for students of Gymnosophy (from gymnos – naked and sophia – wisdom) is Dattatreya. Here he is in the Avadhoot Gita:
“With fuel and without fuel, I am always burning; With smoke and without smoke, I am always glowing; with flame and without flame, I am always shining; I am immortality in knowledge, I am equality in essence, I am like the sky. I burn the faggots of action and inaction; I burn the faggots of pleasure and pain; I burn the faggots of him who adores his body, I burn the faggots of him who ignores his body; I am immortality in knowledge, I am equality in essence, I am like the sky. I am fire that burns religion and irreligion, I am fire that burns merit and sin, I am fire that burns bondage and privilege, I am immortality in knowledge, I am equality in essence, I am like the sky.”
(The title for this entry is foolish – it should, of course, be ‘Advanced Gymnosophy’. I’m off now to burn a ‘faggot of inaction’.)