Ashtavakra Gita - Page 2
Ashtavakra said:
I am infinite like space, and the natural world is like
a jar. To know this is knowledge, and then there is
neither renunciation, acceptance, or cessation of it.
6.1
I am like the ocean, and the multiplicity of objects is
comparable to a wave. To know this is knowledge,
and then there is neither renunciation, acceptance or
cessation of it. 6.2
I am like the mother of pearl, and the imagined
world is like the silver. To know this is knowledge,
and then there is neither renunciation, acceptance, or
cessation of it. 6.3
Alternatively, I am in all beings, and all beings are
in me. To know this is knowledge, and then there is
neither renunciation, acceptance, or cessation of it.
6.4
Janaka said:
In the infinite ocean of myself the world boat drifts
here and there, moved by its own inner wind. I am
not put out by that. 7.1
Whether the world wave of its own nature rises or
disappears in the infinite ocean of myself, I neither
gain nor lose anything by that. 7.2
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the mindcreation
called the world takes place. I am
supremely peaceful and formless, and I remain as
such. 7.3
My true nature is not contained in objects, nor does
any object exist in it, for it is infinite and spotless.
So it is unattached, desireless and at peace, and I
remain as such. 7.4
I am pure consciousness, and the world is like a
magician's show. How could I imagine there is
anything there to take up or reject? 7.5
Ashtavakra said:
Bondage is when the mind longs for something,
grieves about something, rejects something, holds on
to something, is pleased about something or
displeased about something. 8.1
Liberation is when the mind does not long for
anything, grieve about anything, reject anything, or
hold on to anything, and is not pleased about
anything or displeased about anything. 8.2
Bondage is when the mind is tangled in one of the
senses, and liberation is when the mind is not
tangled in any of the senses. 8.3
When there is no "me," that is liberation, and when
there is "me" there is bondage. Consider this
carefully, and neither hold on to anything nor reject
anything. 8.4
Ashtavakra said:
Knowing when the dualism of things done and
undone has been put to rest, or the person for whom
they occur has, then you can here and now go
beyond renunciation and obligations by indifference
to such things. 9.1
Rare indeed, my son, is the lucky man whose
observation of the world's behaviour has led to the
extinction of his thirst for living, thirst for pleasure,
and thirst for knowledge. 9.2
All this is transient and spoiled by the three sorts of
pain. Knowing it to be insubstantial, ignoble, and fit
only for rejection, one attains peace. 9.3
When was that age or time of life when the dualism
of extremes did not exist for men? Abandoning
them, a person who is happy to take whatever comes
attains perfection. 9.4
Who does not end up with indifference to such
things and attain peace when he has seen the
differences of opinions among the great sages,
saints, and yogis? 9.5
Is he not a guru who, endowed with dispassion and
equanimity, achieves full knowledge of the nature of
consciousness, and leads others out of samsara? 9.6
If you would just see the transformations of the
elements as nothing more than the elements, then
you would immediately be freed from all bonds and
established in your own nature. 9.7
One's desires are samsara. Knowing this, abandon
them. The renunciation of them is the renunciation
of it. Now you can remain as you are. 9.8
Ashtavakra said:
Abandon desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself
so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the
cause of the other two -- practice indifference to
everything. 10.1
Look on such things as friends, land, money,
property, wife, and bequests as nothing but a dream
or a magician's show lasting three or five days. 10.2
Wherever a desire occurs, see samsara in it.
Establishing yourself in firm dispassion, be free of
passion and happy. 10.3
The essential nature of bondage is nothing other than
desire, and its elimination is known as liberation. It
is simply by not being attached to changing things
that the everlasting joy of attainment is reached. 10.4
You are one, conscious and pure, while all this is
inert non-being. Ignorance itself is nothing, so what
is the point of wanting to understand? 10.5
Kingdoms, children, wives, bodies, pleasures --
these have all been lost to you life after life, attached
to them though you were. 10.6
Enough of wealth, sensuality, and good deeds. In the
forest of samsara the mind has never found
satisfaction in these. 10.7
How many births have you not done hard and
painful labour with body, mind, and speech. Now at
last, stop! 10.8
