Ch 7

7: Nature of Self-Realization

Janaka said: 

In me, the shoreless ocean, 

the ark of universe 

drifts here and there 

on the winds of its nature. 

I am not impatient. 

In me, the shoreless ocean, 

let the waves of the universe 

rise and fall as they will. 

I am neither enhanced nor diminished. 

In me, the shoreless ocean, 

the universe is imagined. 

I am still and formless. 

In this alone I abide. 

The Self is not in objects, 

nor are objects in the pure and infinite Self. 

The Self is tranquil, 

free of attachment and desire. 

In this alone I abide. 

I am Awareness alone. 

The world is passing show. 

How can thoughts arise 

of acceptance or rejection? 

And where? 

Ch 6

6: The Higher Knowledge

Janaka said: 

I am infinite space; 

the universe is a jar. 

This I know. 

No need to renounce, accept or destroy. 

I am a shoreless ocean; 

the universe makes waves. 

This I know. 

No need to renounce, accept or destroy. 

I am mother-of pearl; 

the universe is the illusion of silver. 

This I know. 

No need to renounce, accept or destroy. 

I am in all beings; 

all beings are in me. 

This I know. 

No need to renounce, accept or destroy.

Ch 5

5: Four Ways to Dissolution

Ashtavakra said: 

You are immaculate, 

touched by nothing. 

What is there to renounce? 

The mind is complexlet it go. 

Know the peace of dissolution. 

The universe arises from you 

like foam from the sea. 

Know yourself as One. 

Enter the peace of dissolution. 

Like an imagined snake in a rope 

the universe appears to exist 

in the immaculate Self 

but does not. 

Seeing this you know: 

There is nothing to dissolve. 

You are perfect, changeless, 

through misery and happiness, 

hope and despair, 

life and death. 

This is the state of dissolution. 

Ch 4

4: Glorification of Self-Realization

Janaka said: 

Surely one who knows Self, 

though he plays the game of life, 

differs greatly from the worlds 

bewildered burdened beasts. 

Truly the yogi feels no elation, 

though he abides in the exalted state 

yearned for by Indra and all the 

discontented gods. 

Surely one who knows That 

is not touched by virtue or vice, 

just as space is not touched by smoke, 

though it seems to be. 

Who can prevent the great soul, 

who knows the universe as Self, 

from living life as it comes? 

Of the four kinds of beings, 

from Brahma to a blade of grass, 

only the sage can renounce 

aversion and desire. 

Rare is he who knows himself 

as One with no other

the Lord of the Universe. 

He acts as he knows 

and is never afraid. 

Ch 3

3: Test of Self-Realization

Ashtavakra said: 

 

Having realized yourself as One, 

being serene and indestructible, 

why do you desire wealth? 

Just as imagining silver in mother-of-pearl, 

causes greed to arise, 

so does ignorance of Self 

cause desire for illusion. 

Having realized yourself as That 

in which the waves of the world rise and fall, 

why do you run around in turmoil? 

Having realized yourself as pure Awareness, 

as beautiful beyond description, 

how can you remain a slave to lust? 

It is strange 

that in a sage who has realized 

Self in All and All in Self 

this sense of ownership should continue. 

Strange that one abiding in the Absolute, 

intent on freedom, 

should be vulnerable to lust 

and weakened by amorous pastimes. 

Strange that knowing lust 

as an enemy of knowledge, 

one so weak and nearing death 

should still crave sensual pleasure. 

Strange that one who is unattached 

to the things of this world and the next, 

who can discriminate between the transient and the timeless, 

who yearns for freedom, 

should yet fear the dissolution of the body. 

Whether acclaimed or tormented 

the serene sage abides in the Self. 

He is neither gratified nor angered. 

A great soul 

witnesses his bodys actions 

as if they were anothers. 

How can praise or blame disturb him? 

Realizing the universe is illusion, 

having lost all curiosity, 

how can one of steady mind fear death? 

With whom can we compare 

the great soul 

who, content knowing Self, 

remains desireless in disappointment? 

Why should a person of steady mind, 

who sees the nothingness of objects, 

prefer one thing to another? 

He who is unattached, 

untouched by opposites, 

free of desire, 

experiences neither pleasure nor pain 

as events pass through. 

Ch 2

2: Joy of Self-Realization

Janaka said: 

I am now spotless and at peace-Awareness 

beyond Consciousness. 

All this time 

I have been duped by illusion. 

By this light alone 

the body and the universe appear. 

I am Everything 

or Nothing. 

Seeing there is no 

universe or body, 

by grace the Self is revealed. 

As waves, foam and bubbles 

are not different from water, 

so the universe emanating from Self 

is not different from Self. 

Look closely at cloth, 

you see only threads. 

Look closely at creation, 

you see only Self. 

As sweetness 

pervades sugarcane juice, 

I am the essence of creation. 

Not seeing Self, the world is materialized. 

Seeing Self, the world is vanished. 

A rope is not a snake, 

but can appear to be. 

I am not other than Light. 

The universe manifests 

at my glance. 

The mirage of universe appears in me 

as silver appears in mother-of-pearl, 

as a snake appears in a rope, 

as water appears on a desert horizon. 

As a pot returns to clay, 

a wave to water, 

a bracelet to gold, 

so will the universe return to Me. 

I am wonderful indeed-beyond 

Adoration. 

I cannot decay nor ever die, 

Though God and all the universe 

Should perish to the last blade of grass. 

I am wonderful indeed-beyond 

Adoration. 

Even with a body I am One. 

I neither come nor go. 

I am everywhere at once. 

I am wonderful indeed-beyond Adoration. 

I am astounded at my powers. 

The universe appears within me 

but I do not touch it. 

I am wonderful indeed-beyond 

adoration. 

I am everything thought or spoken, 

and have nothing. 

In Reality, 

knowledge, the knower, and the knowable 

do not exist. 

I am the transparent Self 

in which through ignorance 

they appear. 

Looking at One and seeing many 

is the cause of all misery. 

The only cure is to realize 

what is seen is not there. 

I am Oneaware, blissful, immaculate. 

I am unbounded Awareness. 

Only in imagination do I have limits. 

Reflecting on this, 

I abide in the Absolute. 

I am neither free nor bound. 

The illusion of such things 

has fallen into disbelief. 

Though I contain creation, 

it has no substance. 

Having seen for certain 

that this universe and body 

is without form or substance, 

I am revealed as Awareness alone. 

Imagination has no place here. 

The body exists only in imagination, 

as do heaven and hell, 

bondage, freedom, fear. 

Are these my concern? 

I, who am pure Awareness? 

I see no differences or separation. 

Even the multitudes appear 

as a single formless desert. 

To what should I cling? 

I am not the body. 

I do not have a body. 

I am Awareness, not a person. 

My thirst for life bound me 

to a seeming of life. 

In the limitless ocean of Myself 

the winds of the mind 

roil the myriad waves of the world. 

But when the wind subsides 

in the limitless ocean 

the ark of personhood is swallowed up, 

along with the universe it carries. 

And how wonderful it is! 

In the limitless ocean of Myself, 

waves of beings 

arise, collide, play for a time, 

then disappear--as is their nature. 

Ashtavakra Gita Ch1

1: Instruction on Self-Realization 

Janaka said: 

Master, 

how is Knowledge to be achieved, 

detachment acquired, 

liberation attained?  

Ashtavakra said:  

To be free, 

shun the experiences of the senses 

like poison. 

Turn your attention to 

forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth. 

You are not earth, water, fire or air. 

Nor are you empty space. 

Liberation is to know yourself 

as Awareness alone

the Witness of these. 

Abide in Awareness 

with no illusion of person. 

You will be instantly free and at peace. 

You have no caste or duties. 

You are invisible, unattached, formless. 

You are the Witness of all things. 

Be happy. 

Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, 

exist in mind only. 

They are not your concern. 

You neither do nor enjoy. 

You are free. 

You are the Solitary Witness 

of All That Is, 

forever free. 

Your only bondage is not seeing This. 

The thought: I am the doer 

is the bite of a poisonous snake. 

To know: I do nothing

is the wisdom of faith. 

Be happy. 

A single understanding: 

I am the One Awareness, 

consumes all suffering 

in the fire of an instant. 

Be happy. 

You are unbounded Awareness

Bliss, Supreme Bliss-in 

which the universe appears 

like the mirage of a snake in a rope. 

Be happy. 

It is true what they say: 

You are what you think. 

If you think you are bound you are bound. 

If you think you are free you are free. 

You are Self the Solitary Witness. 

You are perfect, all-pervading, One. 

You are free, desireless, forever still. 

The universe is but a seeming in You. 

Meditate on this: I am Awareness alone--Unity itself. 

Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, 

that there is within and without. 

You have long been bound thinking: 

I am a person. 

Let the knowledge:

I am Awareness alone 

be the sword that frees you. 

 

You are now and forever 

free, luminous, transparent, still. 

The practice of meditation 

keeps one in bondage. 

 

You are pure Consciousness

the substance of the universe. 

The universe exists within you. 

Dont be small-minded. 

You are unconditioned, changeless, formless. 

You are solid, unfathomable, cool. 

Desire nothing. 

You are Consciousness. 

That which has form is not real. 

Only the formless is permanent. 

Once this is known, 

you will not return to illusion. 

Just as a mirror exists 

both within and without 

the image reflected, 

the Supreme Self exists 

both within and without the body. 

Just as the same space exists 

both within and without a jar, 

the timeless, all-pervasive One 

exists as Totality.