ASTAVAKRA GITA - 5 - 9

V

Ashtavakra said:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

VI

Ashtavakra said:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

VII

Janaka said:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 ?

VIII

Ashtavakra said:

1. Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased aboutsomething.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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


IX

Ashtavakra said:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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.

8. 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.