There are several Indian Advaitic texts that are hidden jewels; The Ribhu Gita is one of them. It forms the sixth section of a larger Sanskrit work known as Shiva Rahasya. These are the teachings on nonduality given by Shiva to Sage Ribhu, who passed them on to his disciple, Nidagha.

Although Ribhu taught his disciple Nidagha the supreme Truth, Nidagha, in spite of great learning and inner understanding, did not experience this truth for himself. Instead, he settled down in his native town to lead a simple life devoted to the observation of religious ceremony.

Ribhu loved Nidagha as deeply as Nidagha revered Ribhu, so in spite of his old age Ribhu traveled to Nidagha’s village to find out if he had grown tired and outgrown his devotion to ritual.

In order to observe Nidagha, the sage Ribhu went in disguise as a village rustic. He found Nidagha intently watching a royal procession. Unrecognized by Nidagha, the village rustic inquired what the commotion was all about and was told the king was in a procession.

“Oh! It is the king. He goes in procession! But where is he?” asked the rustic.

“There, on the elephant,” said Nidagha.

“You say the king is the one on the elephant. Yes, I see the two,” said the rustic, “But which is the king and which is the elephant?”

“What,” exclaimed Nidagha. “You see the two, but do not know that the man above is the king and the animal below is the elephant? What is the use of talking to a man like you?”

“Pray, be not impatient with an ignorant man like me,” begged the rustic. “But you said ‘above’ and ‘below’—what do you mean?”

Nidagha could stand it no more: “You see the king and elephant, one above and the other below. Yet, you want to know what is meant by ‘above’ and ‘below’?” burst out Nidagha. “If things seen and words spoken can convey so little to you, action alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you will know it all too well.”

The rustic did as he was told. Nidagha got on his shoulders and said: “Know it now. I am above as the king, and you are below as the elephant. Is that clear enough?”

“No, not yet,” was the rustic’s quiet reply. “You say you are above like the king, and I am below like the elephant. The ‘king,’ the ‘elephant,’ ‘above’ and ‘below’—so far it is clear. But pray, tell me what you mean by ‘I’ and ‘you’?”

When Nidagha was suddenly confronted with the definition of “you” apart from the “I,” light dawned within him. At once, he jumped down and fell at his Master’s feet saying, “Who else but my venerable Master, Ribhu, could draw my mind from superficialities to the true Being of Self? Oh! Benign Master, I crave

Though these selections from The Ribhu Gita were written long ago, the message is highly pertinent and alive, since it is derived from the penetrating insight of absolute truth, beyond conceptual thought.

•    The universe was neither born, nor maintained, nor dissolved; this is the plain truth. The basic screen of pure Awareness, devoid of all the moving shadow-pictures of name and form of the universe, is the sole, eternal Existence. (2.33)

•    There is not an atom apart from the Self, which is the integral undifferentiated perfection of whole Being. Soul, world, and Creator are impartible from the Self. The reality of these is the reality of the Self only. (10.34)

•    It is only the mind which appears as the world and as bondage; there is no world other than the mind. On inquiry, this mind turns out to be nothing more than ripples (thoughts) in the still ocean of pure Awareness. There is nothing apart from the Self, that I am. (32.33)

•    The conscious introspective concentration of Self-Inquiry kills all thoughts and destroys the dense darkness of nescience; it effaces all worry, illuminates the intellect with the radiance of pure awareness, wipes out all conceptual confusion, and fixes one in the Supreme Self. (32.24)

•    There is no such thing as the troublesome mind, no world of names and forms, nor the least bit of ego. All these are nothing but the perfect Self, “I am.” In this conviction, one should abide firmly until one achieves the state of sleepless sleep which is alert, peace-eternal. (16.7)

•    Remaining alertly aware and thought-free, with a still mind devoid of differentiation of self and non-self, even while being engaged in the activities of the world, is called “the natural state of abidance.” Here, all differentiation has ceased. (18.40)

•    One is solely responsible for one’s own liberation or bondage, since the choice of destroying the restless mind or allowing it to roam at large rests with oneself only. Therefore, one should conquer the restless mind by steady abidance in the pure thought-free Awareness of the Self. This steady abidance is Moksha (Liberation). (38.7)