[2][3][4][5] The text is attributed to Dattatreya,[6] and extant manuscripts have been dated to approximately the 9th or 10th century CE.
The Avadhuta Gita is structured in 8 chapters, wherein Dattatreya—the symbol of the highest yogi and monastic life—describes as the divine master and example, the journey of self-realization, thereafter the nature and state of a person who lives in his soul's truth.
[19] The term Sahaja, that became important in both Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions, means "transcendent Reality, or Absolute".
It is equated to Sunya (void) in Buddhism, envisioned as a kind of "unlocated paradise", states Rigopoulos.
In Hinduism, it is the interior Guru within the person, the Sadashiva, the all pervading ultimate Reality (Brahman) that is the Atman (Self) within.
[20] The text has been influential on the Nath tradition of Hinduism, states Rigopoulos, and its teachings form a foundation of their Sama-rasya doctrine: The transcendental reality is revealed [by Avadhuta Gita] as the Universe.
In other words, the difference between what is Formless and what has Form disappears forever, and it is co-eternal with the vision of the Universe in Atman.
[23] Vivekananda (1863–1902) held the Avadhuta Gita in esteem and he translated aspects of it in the following talk he gave on July 28, 1895, transcribed by his disciple Waldo: