Ch 14

14: Tranquility

Janaka said: 

Though appearing asleep like other men, 

one whose interest in the world is exhausted, 

whose mind has been emptied, 

who thinks only by inadvertence, 

is in Reality awake. 

When desire has melted, 

how can there be wealth, 

or friends, or the seduction of senses? 

What use is scripture and knowledge? 

I have realized the Supreme Self, 

the Witness, the One. 

I am indifferent 

to bondage and freedom. 

I have no need for liberation. 

The inner condition 

of one who is devoid of doubt 

yet moves among creatures of illusion 

can only be known by those like him. 

Ch 13

13: Happiness

Janaka said: 

The tranquil state 

of knowing Self alone is rare 

even among those who own but a loincloth. 

I therefore neither renounce nor accept 

and am happy. 

The body is strained by practices. 

The tongue tires of scripture. 

The mind numbs with meditation. 

Detached from all this, 

I live as I am. 

Realizing that nothing is done, 

I do what comes 

and am happy. 

Yogis who preach 

either effort or non-effort 

are still attached to the body. 

I neither dissociate nor associate 

with any of that 

and am happy. 

I have nothing to gain or lose 

by standing, walking or sitting down. 

So whether I stand, walk or sit 

I am happy. 

I do not lose by sleeping 

nor attain by effort. 

Not thinking in terms of loss or gain 

I am happy. 

Pleasure and pain fluctuate 

and are inconsistent. 

Without good or bad 

I live happily. 

Ch 12

12: Abiding in the Self

Janaka said: 

Becoming first intolerant of action, 

then of excessive speech, 

then of thought itself, 

I come to be here. 

Neither sounds nor other sense perceptions 

attract my attention. 

Even the Self is unperceived. 

The mind is free, undistracted, one-pointed. 

And here I am. 

Effort is required 

to concentrate a distracted mind 

superimposed with illusion. 

Knowing this, I remain here. 

Nothing to reject, 

nothing to accept. 

No joy, no sorrow. 

Lord God I am here. 

The four stages of life, 

life without stages, 

meditation, renunciation, objects of mind

nothing but distractions. 

I am forever here. 

Doing and not-doing 

both arise from ignorance. 

I know this. 

And I am here. 

Thinking of the unthinkable One 

unavoidably conjures thought. 

I choose no-thought  

and remain here. 

Blessed is he 

who attains this by effort. 

Blessed is he 

who is such by nature. 

Ch 11

11: Wisdom

Ashtavakra said: 

Existence, non-existence, change-this 

is the nature of things. 

Realizing this, 

stillness, serenity and bliss 

naturally follow. 

One who knows for certain that 

Self creates All and is alone 

becomes still, desireless, unattached. 

One who knows for certain 

that adversity and success 

come and go in obedience to destiny 

becomes content. 

He neither desires nor grieves. 

One who knows for certain 

that birth and death, happiness and misery, 

come and go in obedience to destiny 

sees nothing to accomplish. 

He engages in non-action, 

and in action remains unattached. 

One who has realized 

that only by caring 

is misery caused in the world 

becomes free, happy, serene, desireless. 

I am not the body, nor is the body my possession

I am Awareness itself. 

One who realizes this for certain 

has no memory of things done or left undone. 

There is only the Absolute. 

From Brahma to the last blade of grass-I 

alone exist. 

One who knows this for certain 

becomes immaculate, serene, unconflicted. 

Attainment has no meaning. 

One who knows for certain 

that this manifold and wonderful universe 

is nothing 

becomes desireless Awareness 

and abides in the stillness of No-thing. 

Ch 10

10: Quietude

Ashtavakra said: 

Give up desire, 

which is the enemy. 

Give up prosperity, 

which is born of mischief and good works. 

Be indifferent. 

Look upon 

friends, lands, wealth, houses, wives, gifts-and  

all apparent good fortune-as 

a passing show, 

as a dream lasting three to five days. 

Where there is desire, there is the world. 

Be firm in non-attachment. 

Be free of desire. 

Be happy. 

Bondage and desire are the same. 

Destroy desire and be free. 

Only by detaching from the world 

does one joyfully realize Self. 

You are One

Awareness itself. 

The universe is neither aware 

nor does it exist. 

Even ignorance is unreal. 

What is left to know? 

Attached as you have been to 

kingdoms, sons, wives, bodies, pleasures

life after life

still they are now lost forever. 

Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds& 

Enough! 

In the dreary forest of the world 

the mind finds no rest. 

For how many lifetimes 

have you done hard and painful labor 

with body, mind and speech? 

It is time to stop. 

Ch 9

9: Detachment

Ashtavakra said: 

Opposing forces, 

duties done and left undone

when does it end 

and for whom? 

Considering this, be ever desireless, 

let go of all things, 

and to the world turn an indifferent eye. 

Rare and blessed is one 

whose desire to live, 

to enjoy and to know, 

has been extinguished by observing 

the ways of men. 

Seeing all things as threefold suffering, 

the sage becomes still. 

Insubstantial, transient, contemptible-the 

world is fit only for rejection. 

Was there an age or time 

men existed without opposites? 

Leave the opposites behind. 

Be content with what comes. 

Perfection. 

The greatest seers, saints and yogis 

agree on very little. 

Seeing this, 

who could not be indifferent to knowledge 

and become still? 

One who 

through worldly indifference, 

through serenity and reason, 

sees his true nature and escapes illusion 

is he not a true teacher? 

In the myriad forms of the universe 

see the primal element alone. 

You will be instantly free, 

and abide in Self. 

Desire creates the world--renounce it. 

Renounce desires 

and you renounce the world. 

Now you may live as you are. 

Ch 8

8: Bondage and Liberation

Ashtavakra said: 

When the mind desires or grieves things, 

accepts or rejects things, 

is pleased or displeased by things-this 

is bondage. 

When the mind does not 

desire or grieve, 

accept or reject, 

become pleased or displeased, 

liberation is at hand. 

If the mind is attached to any experience, 

this is bondage. 

When the mind is detached from all experience, 

this is liberation. 

When there is no I 

there is only liberation. 

When I appears 

bondage appears with it. 

Knowing this, 

it is effortless to refrain 

from accepting and rejecting.