The
Ashtavakra Gita
Janaka said:
How is knowledge to be acquired? How is liberation to be attained?
And how is dispassion to be reached? Tell me this, sir. 1.1
Ashtavakra said:
If you are seeking liberation, my dearest one, shun the objects
of the senses like poison. Draught the nectar of tolerance,
sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness. 1.2
You are neither earth, water, fire, air or even ether. For
liberation know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the
witness of these five. 1.3
If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself
as distinct from the body, then even now you will become happy,
peaceful and free from bonds. 1.4
You do not belong to the brahmin or warrior or any other caste,
you are not at any stage, nor are you anything that the eye
can see. You are unattached and formless, the witness of everything
- now be happy. 1.5
Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely
of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the
doer nor the reaper of the consequences; you are always free.
1.6
You are the one witness of everything, and are always totally
free. The cause of bondage is that one sees the witness as
something other than this. 1.7
Since you have been bitten by that black snake of self-opinion-
thinking foolishly that `I am the doer,', now drink the nectar
in the fact that "I am not the doer", and now be happy. 1.8
Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of understanding.
Know `I am the one pure awareness.' With such ashes now be
happy, free from distress. 1.9
That in which all this appears is but imagined like the snake
in a rope; that joy, supreme knowledge and awareness is what
you are; now be happy. 1.10
If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one
thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying
`Thinking makes it so' is true . 1.11
Your real nature is one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness,
the all-pervading witness - unattached to anything, desireless,
at peace. It is illusion that you seem to be involved in any
other matter. 1.12
Meditate on yourself as motionless awareness, free from any
dualism, giving up the mistaken idea that you are just a derivative
consciousness; anything external or internal is false. 1.13
You have long been trapped in the snare of identification
with the body. Sever it with the knife of knowledge that "I
am awareness", and be happy, my dearest. 1.14
You are really unbound and actionless, self-illuminating and
spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you are
still resorting to stilling the mind. 1.15
All of this is really filled by you and strung out in you,
for what you consist of is pure awareness - so don't be small-minded.
1.16
You are unconditioned and changeless, formless and immovable,
unfathomable awareness, imperturbable - such consciousness
is unclinging. 1.17
Recognise that the apparent is unreal, while the unmanifest
is abiding. Through this initiation into truth you will escape
falling into unreality again. 1.18
Just as a mirror exists as part and apart from its reflected
images, so the Supreme Lord exists as part and apart from
this body. 1.19
Just as one and the same all-pervading space exists within
and without a jar, so the eternal, everlasting Being exists
in the totality of things. 1.20
Janaka said:
Truly I am spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural
causality. All this time I have been afflicted by delusion.
2.1
As I alone give light to this body, so do I enlighten the
world. As a result the whole world is mine, and, alternatively,
nothing is. 2.2
So now abandoning the body and everything else, suddenly somehow
my true self becomes apparent. 2.3
Just as waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water,
so all this which has emanated from oneself, is no other than
oneself. 2.4
Just as cloth when examined is found to be just thread, so
when all this is analysed it is found to be no other than
oneself. 2.5
Just as the sugar produced from the juice of the sugarcane
is permeated with the same taste, so all this, produced out
of me, is completely permeated with me. 2.6
From ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge
of oneself it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope
a snake appears, and by knowledge of the rope the snake appears
no longer. Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing
over and beyond that. When the world shines forth, it is simply
me that is shining forth. 2.8
All this appears in me, imagined, due to ignorance, just as
a snake appears in the rope, just as the mirage of water in
the sunlight, and just as silver in mother of pearl. 2.9
All this, which has originated out of me, is resolved back
into me too, like a gourd back into soil, a wave into water,
and a bracelet into gold. 2.10
How wonderful I am! Glory to me, for whom there is no destruction,
remaining even beyond the destruction of the world from Brahma
down to the last blade of grass. 2.11
How wonderful I am! Glory to me, solitary! Even though with
a body, I am neither going or coming anywhere; I abide forever,
filling all that is. 2.12
How wonderful I am! Glory to me! There is no one so clever
as me! I have borne all that is, forever, without even touching
it with my body! 2.13
How wonderful I am! Glory to me! I possess nothing at all,
and alternatively possess everything to which speech and mind
can refer. 2.14
Knowledge, what is to be known, and the knower - these three
do not exist in reality. I am the spotless reality in which
they appear, spotted by ignorance. 2.15
Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other
remedy for it than the realisation that all this that one
sees is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting
of consciousness. 2.16
I am pure awareness although through ignorance I have imagined
myself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting
like this, my dwelling place is the Unimagined. 2.17
For me, here is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion
has lost its basis and ceased. Truly all this exists in me,
though ultimately it does not even exist in me. 2.18
I have recognised that all this and my body are nothing, while
my true self is nothing but pure consciousness- so what can
the imagination work on now? 2.19
The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear
too, all this is active imagination. What is there left to
do for one whose very nature is consciousness? 2.20
Truly I do not see dualism even in a crowd of people. What
pleasure should I have when it has turned into a wilderness?
2.21
I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am not a living
being. I am consciousness. It was my thirst for living that
was my bondage. 2.22
Truly it is in the limitless ocean of myself, stimulated by
the colourful waves of the worlds, that everything suddenly
arises in the wind of consciousness. 2.23
It is in the limitless ocean of myself, that the wind of thought
subsides; the trader-like living creatures' world ark is now
drydocked by lack of goods. 2.24
How wonderful it is that in the limitless ocean of myself
the waves of living beings arise, collide, play and disappear,
according to their natures. 2.25
Ashtavakra said:
Knowing yourself as truly one and indestructible, how could
a wise man like you- one possessing self-knowledge- feel any
pleasure in acquiring wealth? 3.1
Truly, when one does not know oneself, one takes pleasure
in the objects of mistaken perception, just as greed for its
seeming silver arises in one who does not know mother-of-pearl
for what it is. 3.2
All this wells up like waves in the sea. Recognising, I am
That, why run around like someone in need? 3.3
After hearing of oneself as pure consciousness and the supremely
beautiful, is one to go on lusting after sordid sensual objects?
3.4
When the sage has realised that one is oneself is in all beings,
and all beings are in oneself, it is astonishing that the
sense of individuality should be able to continue. 3.5
It is astonishing that a person who has reached the supreme
non-dual state and is intent on the benefits of liberation
should still be subject to lust and be held back by the desire
to copulate. 3.6
It is astonishing that one already very debilitated, and knowing
very well that sensual arousal is the enemy of knowledge should
still eagerly hanker after concupiscence, even when approaching
one's last days. 3.7
It is astonishing that one who is unattached to the things
of this world or the next, who discriminates between the permanent
and the impermanent, and who longs for liberation, should
still feel fear for liberation. 3.8
Whether feted or tormented, the wise person is always aware
of the supreme self-nature and is neither expectant nor disappointed.
3.9
The great souled person sees even one's own body in action
as if it were someone else's, so how then be disturbed by
praise or blame? 3.10
Seeing this world as pure illusion, and devoid of any interest
in it, how should the strong-minded person feel fear, even
at the approach of death? 3.11
Who is to be compared to the great-souled person whose mind
is free of desire, free of expectation and disappointment,
and who has found satisfaction in self-knowledge? 3.12
How should a strong-minded person who knows that whatever
is seen is by its very nature nothing, how then consider one
thing to be grasped and another to be rejected? 3.13
For someone who has eliminated attachment, and who is free
from dualism and from desire and from repulsion, for such
a one an object that comes of itself is neither painful nor
pleasurable. 3.14
Ashtavakra said:
Certainly the wise person of self-knowledge, playing the game
of worldly life, bears no resemblance whatever to the world's
bewildered beasts of burden. 4.1
Truly the one centered in mystic union feels no excitement
even at being established in that state which all the gods
from Indra down yearn for disconsolately. 4.2
He who has known That is untouched within by good deeds or
bad, just as the sky is not touched by smoke, however much
it may appear to be. 4.3
Who can prevent the great-souled person who has known this
whole world as oneself from living as one pleases? 4.4
Of all the four categories of beings, from Brahma down to
the dryest clump of grass, only the person of knowledge is
capable of eliminating desire and aversion. 4.5
Rare is the person who knows oneself as the undivided Lord
of the world; no fear occurs to one who lives the truth. 4.6
Ashtavakra said:
You are not bound by anything. What does a pure person like
you need to renounce? Putting the complex organism to rest,
you can go to your rest. 5.1
All this arises out of you, like a bubble out of the sea.
Knowing yourself like this to be but one, you can go to your
rest. 5.2
In spite of being in front of your eyes, all this, being insubstantial,
does not exist in you, spotless as you are. It is an appearance
like the snake in a rope, so you can go to your rest. 5.3
Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment,
equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can
go to your rest. 5.4
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 here 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 here 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 here there is neither renunciation,
acceptance or cessation of it.
Janaka said:
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the world ark wanders
here and there, driven by its own wind. I am not upset by
that. 7.1
Let the world wave of its own nature rise or vanish in the
infinite ocean of myself. There is no increase or diminution
to me from it. 7.2
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the imagination
called the world takes place. I am supremely peaceful and
formless, and as such I remain. 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 as such I remain. 7.4
Truly I am but pure consciousness, and the world is like a
conjuror's show, so how could I imagine there is anything
here 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. Considering this earnestly, I do not
hold on and do not reject. 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 been cognized,
then you can here and now go beyond renunciation and obligations
by indifference to such things. 9.1
Rare indeed, my dearest, is the lucky person whose observation
of the world's behaviour has led to the extinction of the
thirst for living, for pleasure and for knowledge. 9.2
All this is impermanent and spoilt by the three sorts of pain.
Recognising it to be insubstantial, comtemptible and only
fit for indifference, one attains peace. 9.3
When was that age or time of life when the dualism of extremes
did not exist for people? Abandoning them, a person happy
to take whatever comes suddenly realizes 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
so 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 inclinations 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:
Abandoning desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself so full
of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the other
two - I practice indifference to everything. 10.1
I look on such things as friends, land, money, property, wife,
and bequests as nothing but a a dream or a three or five-day
conjuror's show. 10.2
Wherever a desire occurs, I see samsara in it. Establishing
myself in firm dispassion, I 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 just inert
non-being. Ignorance itself is nothing, so what need have
you of desire 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
Ashtavakra said:
Unmoved and undistressed, realising now that being, non-being
and transformation are of the very nature of things, one easily
finds peace. 11.1
At peace, having shed all desires within, and realising that
nothing exists here but the Lord, the Creator of all things,
one is no longer attached to anything. 11.2
Realising that misfortune and fortune come in their turn from
fate, one is contented, one's senses under control, and one
does not like or dislike. 11.3
Realising that pleasure and pain, birth and death are from
fate, and that one's desires cannot be achieved, one remains
inactive, and even when acting does not get attached. 11.4
Realising that suffering arises from nothing other than thinking,
dropping all desires one rids oneself of it, and is happy
and at peace everywhere. 11.5
Realising `I am not the body, nor is the body mine; I am awareness,'
one attains the supreme state and no longer fritters over
things done or undone. 11.6
Realising, `It is just me, from Brahma down to the last blade
of grass,' one becomes free from uncertainty, pure, at peace
and unconcerned about what has been attained or not. 11.7
Realising that all this varied and wonderful world is nothing,
one becomes pure receptivity, free from inclinations, and
as if nothing existed, one finds peace. 11.8
Janaka said:
First of all I was averse to physical activity, then to lengthy
speech, and finally to thinking itself, which is why I am
now established. 12.1
In the absence of delight in sound and the other senses, and
by the fact that I myself am not an object of the senses,
my mind is focused and free from distraction - which is why
I am now established. 12.2
Owing to the distraction of such things as wrong identification,
one is driven to strive for mental stillness. Recognising
this pattern I am now established. 12.3
By relinquishing the sense of rejection and acceptance, and
with pleasure and disappointment ceasing today, so Brahmin,
I am now established. 12.4
Life in a community, then going beyond such a state, meditation
and the elimination of mind-made objects - by means of these
I have seen my error, and I am now established. 12.5
Just as the performance of actions is due to ignorance, so
their abandonment is too. By fully recognising this truth,
I am now established. 12.6
Trying to think the unthinkable is unnatural to thought. Abandoning
such a practice therefore, I am now established. 12.7
He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of life. He
who is of such a nature has done what has to be done. 12.8
Janaka said:
The inner freedom of having nothing is hard to achieve, even
with just a loin-cloth, but I live as I please abandoning
both renunciation and acquisition. 13.1
Sometimes one experiences distress because of one's body,
sometimes because of one's tongue, and sometimes because of
one's mind. Abandoning all of these in the goal of being human
I live as I please. 13.2
Recognising that in reality no action is ever committed, I
live as I please, just attending what presents itself to be
done. 13.3
Mystics who identify themselves with bodies are insistent
on fulfilling and avoiding certain actions, but I live as
I please abandoning attachment and rejection. 13.4
No benefit or loss comes to me by standing, walking or lying
down, so consequently I live as I please whether standing,
walking or sleeping. 13.5
I lose nothing by sleeping and gain nothing by effort, so
consequently I live as I please, abandoning loss and success.
13.6
Frequently observing the drawbacks of such things as pleasant
objects, I live as I please, abandoning the pleasant and unpleasant.
13.7
Janaka said:
He who by nature is empty-minded, and who thinks of things
only unintentionally, is freed from deliberate remembering,
like one awakened from a dream. 14.1
As my desire has been eliminated, I have no wealth, friends,
robbers, senses, scriptures or knowledge. 14.2
Realising my supreme self-nature in the Person of the Witness,
the Lord, and the state of desirelessness in bondage or liberation,
I feel no inclination for liberation. 14.3
The various states of one who is empty of uncertainty within,
and who outwardly wanders about as he pleases, like a madman,
can only be known by someone in the same condition. 14.4
Ashtavakra said:
While a person of pure intelligence may achieve the goal by
the most casual of instructions, another may seek knowledge
all one's life and still remain bewildered. 15.1
Liberation is indifference to the objects of the senses. Bondage
is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please.
15.2
This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and
energetic person dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided by
those whose aim is enjoyment or praise. 15.3
You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the
doer of actions nor the reaper of their consequences. You
are eternally pure consciousness the witness, in need of nothing
- so live happily. 15.4
Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is
not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless awareness
itself, unchanging - so live happily. 15.5
Recognising oneself in all beings, and all beings in oneself,
be happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free from
preoccupation with me. 15.6
Your nature is the consciousness, in which the whole world
wells up, like waves in the sea. That is what you are, without
any doubt, so be free of disturbance. 15.7
Have faith, my dearest, have faith. Don't let yourself be
deluded in this. You are yourself the Lord, whose property
is knowledge- you are beyond natural causation. 15.8
The body invested with the senses stands still and comes and
goes. You yourself neither come nor go, so why bother about
them? 15.9
Let the body last to the end of the Age, or let it come to
an end right now. What have you, who consist of pure consciousness,
gained or lost? 15.10
Let the world-wave rise or subside according to its own nature
in you, the great ocean. It is no gain or loss to you. 15.11
My dearest, you consist of pure consciousness, and the world
is not separate from you. So who is to accept or reject it,
and how, and why? 15.12
How can there be either birth, karma or responsibility in
that one unchanging, peaceful, unblemished and infinite consciousness
which is you? 15.13
Whatever you see, it is you alone manifest in it. How could
bracelets, armlets and anklets be different from the gold?
15.14
Giving up such distinctions as `That is what I am,' and `I
am not That', recognise that Everything is Self, and be, without
distinction, and be happy. 15.15
It is through your ignorance that all this exists. In reality
you alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within or
beyond samsara. 15.16
Knowing that all this is an illusion, one becomes free of
desire, pure receptivity and at peace, as if nothing existed.
15.17
Only one thing has existed, exists and will exist in the ocean
of being. You have no bondage or liberation. Live happily
and fulfilled. 15.18
Being pure consciousness, do not disturb your mind with thoughts
of for/against. Be at peace and remain happily in yourself,
the essence of joy. 15.19
Give up meditation completely and cling to nothing in your
mind. You are free in your very nature, so what will you achieve
by conceiving? 15.20
Ashtavakra said:
My dearest, you may recite or listen to countless scriptures,
but you will not be established within until you can forget
everything. 16.1
You may, as a learned man, indulge in wealth, activity and
meditation, but your mind will still long for that which is
the cessation of desire, beyond all goals. 16.2
Everyone is in pain because of their own effort, but no one
realises it. By just this very instruction, the lucky one
attains tranquillity. 16.3
Happiness belongs to no one but that supremely lazy person
for whom even opening and closing one's eyes is a bother.
16.4
When the mind is freed from such pairs of opposites as `I
have done this,' and `I have not done that,' it becomes indifferent
to merit, wealth, sensuality and liberation. 16.5
One person is abstemious and is averse to the senses, another
is greedy and attached to them, but he who is free from both
taking and rejecting is neither abstemious nor greedy. 16.6
So long as desire, which is the state of lacking discrimination,
remains, the sense of revulsion and attraction will remain;
that is the root and branch of samsara. 16.7
Desire springs from usage, and aversion from abstension, but
the wise person is free from the pairs of opposites like a
child, and becomes established. 16.8
The passionate person wants to be rid of samsara so as to
avoid pain, but the dispassionate person is without pain and
feels no distress even in it. 16.9
One who is proud about even liberation or one's own body,
and feels them one's own, is neither a seer or a mystic. Such
a person is still just a sufferer. 16.10
If even Shiva, Vishnu or the lotus-born Brahma were your instructor,
until you have forgotten everything you cannot be established
within. 16.11
Ashtavakra said:
He who is content, with purified senses, and always enjoys
solitude, has gained the fruit of knowledge and the fruit
of the practice of union too. 17.1
The knower of truth is never distressed in this world, for
the whole round world is full of himself alone. 17.2
None of the senses please a person who has found satisfaction
within, just as grape leaves do not please the elephant that
likes mango leaves. 17.3
The person who is not attached to the things he has enjoyed,
and does not hanker after the things he has not enjoyed, such
a person is hard to find. 17.4
Those who desire pleasure and those who desire liberation
are both bound in samsara; the great-souled person who desires
neither pleasure nor liberation is rare indeed. 17.5
It is only the noble minded who is free from attraction or
repulsion to religion, wealth, sensuality, and life and death
too. 17.6
Such a one feels no desire for the elimination of all this,
nor anger at its continuing, so the lucky person lives happily
with whatever sustenance presents itself. 17.7
Thus fulfilled through this knowledge, contented, the thinking-mind
emptied, one lives happily just seeing when seeing, just hearing
when hearing, just feeling when feeling, just smelling when
smelling and just tasting when tasting. 17.8
In one for whom the ocean of samsara has dried up, there is
neither attachment or aversion. Such a one's gaze is vacant,
behaviour purposeless, and senses never grappling. 17.9
Surely the supreme state is eveywhere for the liberated mind.
Such a one is neither awake or asleep, and neither opens or
closes the eyes. 17.10
The liberated one is resplendent everywhere, free from all
desires. Everywhere such a one appears self-possessed and
pure of heart. 17.11
Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, speaking and
walking about, the great-souled person who is freed from trying
to achieve or avoid anything is free indeed. 17.12
The liberated person is free from desires everywhere. Such
a one neither blames, praises, rejoices, is disappointed,
gives nor takes. 17.13
When a great souled one is unperturbed in mind and self-possessed
at either the sight of a mate eager with desire, or at fast-approaching
death, that one is truly liberated. 17.14
There is no distinction between pleasure and pain, man and
woman, success and failure for the wise person who looks on
everything as equal. 17.15
There is no aggression or compassion, no pride or humility,
no wonder or confusion for the person whose days of running
about are over. 17.16
The liberated person is not averse to the senses and nor is
he attached to them. He enjoys hinself continually with an
unattached mind in both achievement and non-achievement. 17.17
One established in the absolute state with an empty mind does
not know the alternatives of inner stillness and lack of inner
stillness, and of good and evil. 17.18
Free of me and mine and of a sense of responsibility, aware
that nothing exists, with all desires extinguished within,
a person does not act even in acting. 17.19
One whose thinking mind is dissolved achieves the indescribable
state and is free from the mental display of delusion, dream
and ignorance. 17.20
Ashtavakra said:
Praise be to that by the awareness of which delusion itself
becomes dream-like, to that which is pure happiness, peace
and light. 18.1
One may get all sorts of pleasure by the acquisition of various
objects of enjoyment, but one cannot be happy except by the
renunciation of everything. 18.2
How can there be happiness, for one who has been burnt inside
by the blistering sun of the pain of things that need doing,
without the rain of the nectar of peace? 18.3
This existence is just imagination. It is nothing in reality,
but there is no non-being for natures that know how to distinguish
being from not being. 18.4
The realm of one's self is not far away, and nor can it be
achieved by the addition of limitations to its nature. It
is unimaginable, effortless, unchanging and spotless. 18.5
By the simple elimination of delusion and the recognition
of one's true nature, those whose vision is unclouded live,
free from sorrow. 18.6
Knowing everything as just imagination, and oneself as eternally
free, how should the wise person behave like a fool? 18.7
Knowing oneself to be God and being and non-being just imagination,
what should the person free from desire learn, say or do?
18.8
Considerations like `I am this' or `I am not this' are finished
for the mystic who has gone silent realising `Everything is
myself'. 18.9
For the mystic who has found peace, there is no distraction
or one-pointedness, no higher knowledge or ignorance, no pleasure
and no pain. 18.10
The dominion of heaven or beggary, gain or loss, life in society
or in the forest, these make no difference to a mystic whose
nature is free from distinctions. 18.11
There is no religion, wealth, sensuality or discrimination
for a mystic free from the pairs of opposites such as `I have
done this' and `I have not done that.' 18.12
There is nothing needing to be done, or any attachment in
one's heart for the mystic liberated while still alive. Things
are so for the life-time. 18.13
There is no delusion, world, meditation on That, or liberation
for the pacified great soul. All these things are just the
realm of imagination. 18.14
Whoever sees all this may well make out it doesn't exist,
but what is the desireless one to do, eh? Even in seeing,
one does not see it. 18.15
He by whom the Supreme Brahman is seen may think `Ah I am
Brahma,' but what is he to think who is without thought, and
who sees no duality. 18.16
He by whom inner distraction is seen may put an end to it,
but the noble one is not distracted. When there is nothing
to achieve what is he to do? 18.17
The wise man, unlike the worldly man, does not see inner stillness,
distraction or fault, even when living like a worldly man.
18.18
Nothing is done by one who is free from being and non-being,
who is contented, desireless and wise, even if in the world's
eyes personal action occurs . 18.19
The wise person who just goes on doing what presents itself
for one to do, encounters no difficulty in either activity
or inactivity. 18.20
One who is desireless, self-reliant, independent and free
of bonds functions like a dead leaf blown about by the wind
of causality. 18.21
There is neither joy nor sorrow for one who has transcended
samsara. With a peaceful mind one lives as if without a body.
18.22
One whose joy is in oneself, and who is peaceful and pure
within has no desire for renunciation or sense of loss in
anything. 18.23
For the person with a naturally empty mind, doing just as
one pleases, there is no such thing as pride or false humility,
as there is for the natural man. 18.24
`This action was done by the body but not by me.' The pure-natured
person thinking like this, is not acting even when acting.
18.25
One acts without being able to say why, yett is not thereby
a fool, rather is one liberated while still alive, happy and
blessed. Such a one thrives even in samsara. 18.26
One who has had enough of endless considerations and has attained
to peace, does not think, know, hear or see. 18.27
One who is beyond mental stillness and distraction does not
desire either liberation or its opposite nor their compliments.
Recognising that things are just constructions of the imagination,
that great soul lives as God here and now. 18.28
One who feels responsibility within, acts even when not acting,
but there is no sense of done or undone for the wise person
free from the sense of responsibility. 18.29
The mind of the liberated person is not upset or pleased.
It shines, unmoving, desireless, and free from doubt. 18.30
One whose mind does not set out to meditate or act, meditates
and acts without an object. 18.31
A stupid person is bewildered even when hearing the truth,
while even a clever person is humbled by it, just like the
fool. 18.32
The ignorant make a great effort to practise one-pointedness
and the stopping of thought, while the wise see nothing to
be done and remain in themselves like those asleep. 18.33
The stupid does not attain cessation whether he acts or abandons
action, while the wise person finds peace within simply by
knowing the truth. 8.34
People cannot come to know themselves by practices - pure
awareness, clear, complete, beyond multiplicity and faultless
though they are. 8.35
The stupid does not achieve liberation even through regular
practice, but the fortunate one remains free and actionless
simply by discrimination. 18.36
The stupid does not attain Godhead because he wants to be
it, while the wise person enjoys the Supreme Godhead without
even wanting it. 18.37
Even when living without any support and eager for achievement,
the stupid are still nourishing Samsara, while the wise have
cut at the very root of unhappiness. 18.38
The stupid does not find peace because he is wanting it, while
the wise discriminates the truth and so is always peaceful-minded.
18.39
How can there be self-knowledge for one whose knowledge depends
on what he sees? The wise do not see this and that, but see
themselves as unending. 18.40
How can there be cessation of thought for the misguided who
is striving for it? Yet it is there always naturally for the
wise person delighted in oneself. 18.41
Some think that something exists, and others that nothing
does. Rare is the person who does not think either, and is
thereby free from distraction. 18.42
Those of weak intelligence think of themselves as pure nonduality,
but because of their delusion they do not know this, and remain
unfulfilled all their lives. 18.43
The mind of the person seeking liberation can find no resting
place within, but the mind of the liberated person is always
free from desire by the very fact of being without a resting
place. 18.44
Seeing the tigers of the senses, the frightened refuge-seekers
at once enter the cave in search of cessation of thought and
one-pointedness. 18.45
Seeing the desireless lion, the elephants of the senses silently
run away, or, if they cannot flee, stay to serve that king
like flatterers. 18.46
The person who is free from doubts and whose mind is free
from longing and repulsion does not bother about means of
liberation. Whether seeing, hearing, feeling smelling or tasting,
such a one lives at ease. 18.47
One whose mind is pure and undistracted from the simple hearing
of the Truth sees neither something to do nor something to
avoid nor a cause for indifference. 18.48
The straightforward person does whatever arrives to be done,
good or bad, for such a one's actions are like those of a
child. 18.49
By inner freedom one attains happiness, by inner freedom one
reaches the Supreme, by inner freedom one comes to absence
of thought, by inner freedom to the Ultimate State. 18.50
When one sees oneself as neither the doer nor the reaper of
the consequences, then all mind waves come to an end. 18.51
The spontaneous unassumed behaviour of the wise is noteworthy,
but not the deliberate purposeful stillness of the fool. 18.52
The wise who are rid of imagination, unbound and with unfettered
awareness may enjoy themselves in the midst of many goods,
or alternatively go off to mountain caves. 18.53
There is no attachment in the heart of a wise person whether
he sees or pays homage to a learned sage, a celestial being,
a holy place, a mate, a king or a friend. 18.54
A mystic is not in the least put out even when humiliated
by the ridicule of servants, sons, wives, grandchildren or
other relatives. 18.55
Even when pleased one is not pleased , not suffering even
when in pain. Only those alike can know the wonderful state
of such a person. 18.56
It is the sense of responsibility which is Samsara. The wise
who are of the form of emptiness, formless, unchanging and
spotless see no such thing. 18.57
Even when doing nothing the fool is agitated by restlessness,
while a skilful person remains undisturbed even when doing
what there is to do. 18.58
Happy one stands, happy one sits, happy sleeps and happy one
comes and goes. Happy one speaks and is silent, and happy
one eats and yet fasts. This is the life of a person at peace.
18.59
One at home in one's very nature feels no unhappiness in one's
daily life like worldly people, remains undisturbed like a
great lake, now finds all sorrow gone. 18.60
Even abstention from action leads to action in a fool, while
even the action of the wise person brings the fruits of inaction.
18.61
A fool often shows aversion towards belongings, but for one
whose attachment to the body has dropped away, there is neither
attachment nor aversion. 18.62
The mind of the fool is always caught in thinking or not thinking,
but the wise person's is of the nature of no-thought because
that one spontaneously thinks what should be thought. 18.63
For the seer who behaves like a child, without desire in all
actions, for such a pure one there is no attachment even in
the work being done. 18.64
Blessed is one who knows oneself and is the same in all states,
with a mind free from craving whether one is seeing, hearing,
feeling, smelling or tasting. 18.65
There is no person subject to Samsara, sense of individuality,
goal or means to the goal for the wise person who is always
free from imagination, and unchanging as space. 18.66
Glorious is one who has abandoned all goals and is the incarnation
of satisfaction; such a one's nature and inner focus on the
Unconditioned is quite spontaneous. 18.67
In brief, the great-souled person who has come to know the
Truth is without desire for either pleasure or liberation,
and is always and everywhere free from attachment. 18.68
What remains to be done by the person who is pure awareness
and has abandoned everything that can be expressed in words
from the highest heaven to the earth itself? 18.69
The pure person who has experienced the Indescribable attains
peace by one's own nature, realising that all this is nothing
but illusion, and that nothing is. 18.70
There are no rules, dispassion, renunciation or meditation
for one who is pure receptivity by nature, and who admits
no knowable form of being. 18.71
For one who shines with the radiance of Infinity and is not
subject to natural causality there is neither bondage, liberation,
pleasure nor pain. 18.72
Pure illusion reigns in Samsara which continues until self
realisation. The enlightened person lives in the beauty of
freedom from me and mine, from the sense of responsibility
and from any attachment. 18.73
For the seer who knows oneself as imperishable and beyond
pain there is neither knowledge, a world nor the sense that
`I am the body' or `the body is mine.' 18.74
No sooner does a person of low intelligence give up activities
like the elimination of thought than he falls into mental
chariot-racing and babble. 18.75
A fool does not get rid of stupidity even on hearing the truth.
He may appear outwardly free from imaginations, but inside
he is hankering after the senses still. 18.76
Though in the eyes of the world he is active, the person who
has shed action through knowledge finds no means of doing
or speaking anything. 18.77
For the wise person who is always unchanging and fearless
there is neither darkness nor light nor destruction, nor anything.
18.78
There is neither fortitude, prudence nor courage for the mystic
whose nature is beyond description and free of individuality.
18.79
There is neither heaven nor hell nor even liberation during
life. In a word, in the sight of the seer nothing exists at
all. 18.80
One neither longs for possessions nor grieves at their absence.
The calm mind of the sage is full of the nectar of immortality.
18.81
The dispassionate does not praise the good or blame the wicked.
Content and equal in pain and pleasure, one sees nothing that
needs doing. 18.82
The wise person does not dislike samsara or seek to know oneself.
Free from pleasure and impatience, one is not dead and one
is not alive. 18.83
The wise person stands out by being free from anticipation,
without attachment to such things as children or mates, free
from desire for the senses, and not even concerned about one's
own body. 18.84
Peace is everywhere for the wise person who lives on whatever
happens to come, going to wherever one feels like, and sleeping
wherever the sun happens to set. 18.85
Let one's body rise or fall. The great-souled one gives it
no thought, having forgotten all about samsara in coming to
rest on the ground of one's true nature. 18.86
The wise person has the joy of being complete in oneself and
without possessions, acting as one pleases, free from duality
and rid of doubts, and without attachment to any creature.
18.87
The wise person excels in being without the sense of "me".
Earth, a stone or gold are the same to such a one. The knots
of the heart have been rent asunder, and one is freed from
greed and blindness. 18.88
Who can compare with that contented, liberated soul who pays
no regard to anything and has no desire left in one's heart?
18.89
Who but the upright person without desire knows without knowing,
sees without seeing and speaks without speaking? 18.90
Beggar or king, one excels who is without desire, and whose
opinion of things is rid of "good" and "bad". 18.91
There is neither dissolute behaviour nor virtue, nor even
discrimination of the truth for the sage who has reached the
goal and is the very embodiment of guileless sincerity. 18.92
That which is experienced within by one desireless and free
from pain, and content to rest in himself - how could it be
described, and of whom? 18.93
The wise person who is contented in all circumstances is not
asleep even in deep sleep, not sleeping in a dream, nor waking
when he is awake. 18.94
The seer is without thoughts even when thinking, without senses
among the senses, without understanding even in understanding
and without a sense of responsibility even in the ego. 18.95
Neither happy nor unhappy, neither detached nor attached,
neither seeking liberation nor liberated, one is neither something
nor nothing. 18.96
Not distracted in distraction, in mental stillness not poised,
in stupidity not stupid, that blessed one is not even wise
in one's wisdom. 18.97
The liberated person is self-possessed in all circumstances
and free from the idea of "done" and "still to do." Such a
one is the same wherever and whenever, without greed. Such
a one does not dwell on what has been done or has not been
done. 18.98
Such a one is not pleased when praised nor upset when blamed.
One is not afraid of death nor attached to life. 18.99
A person at peace does not run off to popular places or to
the forest. Whatever and wherever, one remains the same. 18.100
Janaka said:
Using the tweezers of the knowledge of the truth I have managed
to extract the painful thorn of endless opinions from the
recesses of my heart. 19.1
For me, established in my own glory, there is no religion,
sensuality, possessions, philosophy, duality or even non-duality.
19.2
For me established in my own glory, there is no past, future
or present. There is no space or even eternity. 19.3
For me established in my own glory, there is no self or non-self,
no good or evil, no thought or even absence of thought. 19.4
For me established in my own glory, there is no dreaming or
deep sleep, no waking nor other state beyond them, and certainly
no fear. 19.5
For me established in my own glory, there is nothing far away
and nothing near, nothing within or without, nothing large
and nothing small. 19.6
For me established in my own glory, there is no life or death,
no worlds or things of this world, no distraction and no stillness
of mind. 19.7
For me remaining in myself, there is no need for talk of the
three goals of life, of union or of knowledge. 19.8
Janaka said:
In my unblemished nature there are no elements, no body, no
faculties no mind. There is no void and no despair. 20.1
For me, free from the sense of dualism, there are no scriptures,
no self-knowledge, no mind free from an object, no satisfaction
and no freedom from desire. 20.2
There is no knowledge or ignorance, no "me", "this" or "mine",
no bondage, no liberation, and no property of self-nature.
20.3
For one who is always free from individual characteristics
there is no antecedent causal action, no liberation during
life, and no fulfilment at death. 20.4
For me, free from individuality, there is no doer and no reaper
of the consequences, no cessation of action, no arising of
thought, no immediate object, and no idea of results. 20.5
There is no world, no seeker for liberation, no mystic, no
seer, no-one bound and no-one liberated. I remain in my own
non-dual nature. 20.6
There is no emanation or return, no goal, means, seeker or
achievment. I remain in my own non-dual nature. 20.7
For me who am forever unblemishedf, there is no assessor,
no standard, nothing to assess, or assessment. 20.8
For me who am forever actionless, there is no distraction
or one-pointedness of mind, no lack of understanding, no stupidity,
no joy and no sorrow. 20.9
For me who am always free from deliberations there is neither
conventional truth nor absolute truth, no happiness and no
suffering. 20.10
For me who am forever pure there is no illusion, no samsara,
no attachment or detachment, no living being and no God. 20.11
For me who am forever unmovable and indivisible, established
in myself, there is no activity or inactivity, no liberation
and no bondage. 20.12
For me who am blessed and without limitation, there is no
initiation or scripture, no disciple or teacher, and no goal
of human life. 20.13
There is no being or non-being, no unity or dualism. What
more is there to say? Nothing emanates from me. 20.14
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