Myths of the Asanas

The Story of Astavakra

While in his mother’s womb, Astavakra used to hear his father reciting the mantras of the Vedas. Astavakra’s father sometimes mispronounced words, which made Astavakra wince and twist in in pain. When he could not take it anymore, he corrected his father by speaking from the belly of his mother. His father took offense and cursed Astavakra, which caused his body to bend in eight places. And so he was born with a crippled body.

One day when he was grown, Astavakra decided to go the court of King Janaka to hear the philosophical discussions that went on in the assembly. King Janaka was the father of Ram’s lovely Sita. Famed for his knowledge of the Vedas, the king invited learned scholars to his court. Because Astavakra’s body was so deformed, it took him many days to make the journey to King Janaka’s court with the help of a walking stick.

When Astavakra entered the court, the whole assembly started to laugh at the sight of his crooked body. But to everyone’s surprise, Astavakra broke into what they thought was intense laughter. He seemed to be laughing harder and louder than anyone else.

King Janaka approached Astavakra and asked, “Who are you, and why is it you are laughing so loudly?”

Astavakra answered, “Actually, I am not laughing, but rather crying. I have come from so far away despite my bad physical condition. I heard that in your court were men of great wisdom. I have come with high hopes to hear their enlightened discussions. But I have been very disappointed. I was hoping to find great yogis here, but I have made my journey in vain because I have only found shoemakers in your assembly.”

King Janaka replied, “Why do you think that everyone here is a shoemaker? Don’t you think anyone here is learned, or has come from a great dynasty of Brahmans, or has great knowledge of the Vedas?”

“No,“ Astavakra said. ”They are all shoemakers. They see only skin. They do not see the atma, the soul. They have no realization of the soul and the Supreme Soul. They merely see the surface, and base their judgments solely on this. This is the occupation of a cobbler, who is always saying: ‘This skin is good; that skin is not good. This one is smooth; that one is rough.’ Coming here has been a waste of time.”

King Janaka and his assembly became deeply embarrassed at at Astavakra’s words, realizing the truth of his sentiments. King Janaka bowed down to Astavakra and became his student. Astavakra then gave him lessons in the science of the soul, which were recorded as the Astavakra Gita.

Astavakra’s Wisdom

This story points to an all-too-common human condition. Most of us are overly concerned with external appearance, and sometimes we even derive our whole identity from it. Although yoga regards the body as the temple of the soul, which needs to be taken care of properly, it also reminds us that we are much more than just our physical appearance. It is therefore not a bad idea to cultivate a healthy amount of detachment from it. How much do we identify with our body? Does our world end when we discover a pimple or a grey hair in the mirror? The story of Astavakra shows that external appearance does not say very much about what lives in the heart, and we may easily be misguided.

The story of Astavakra also demonstrates that we can practice yoga no matter what the state of our body. Our flexibility is measured not by the length of our muscles, but by our willingness to step up to to our challenges. The great sage Astavakra exemplified this attitude by not letting his crippled body get in the way of his pursuit of yoga. The pose astavakrasana does not necessarily require a lot of flexibility or strength, but it does require the kind of lift that comes from pulling oneself up by the heart strings. The most important muscles to flex are those of the heart.