ASHTAVAKARA GITA

Chapter 1 - Nature of Witness Self

Verse 1: Janaka said, how people acquire knowledge, how liberation happens, how renunciation is attained, please explain to me O great lord! 

Verse 2: Ashtavakra said, "O child, if liberation is what you intend, give up the sense objects as if they are poison and take recourse to forgiveness, straightforwardness, kindness, contentment and truth as if they are nectar." 

Verse 3: He who values freedom, will indeed become free. He who values bondage will remain bound only. In this world this saying is true, "As one thinks so is one's fate." 

Verse 4 : If you separate yourself from your body and rest in your consciousness, quickly there will be happiness, peace, and freedom from bondage. 

Verse 5 : You are not of Brahmana or any other caste, nor of any ashrama, nor you are visible to the eyes. Unattached, without form, and as the universal witness, you are blissful. 

Verse 6: Dharma, adharma pleasure and pain belong to the mind not to you, oh lord. You are neither the doer nor the enjoyer but one who is forever free. 

Verse 7: You are the one seer among all and you truly are always free. Seeing the seer as another this alone is your bondage 

Verse 8: You who is bitten by the great black serpent of egoism think, "I am the doer." Drink the nectar of faith that "I am not the doer," and be happy. 

Verse 9: Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of this conviction, "I am one pure intelligence." Become free from sorrow and be happy. 

Verse 10: This universe is an illusion like a rope that appears as a snake. When you realize that you are blissful supreme intelligence, you will live happily. 

Verse 11: He who values freedom, will indeed become free. He who values bondage will remain bound only. In this world this saying is true, "As one thinks so is one's fate." 

Verse 12: The Self is the witness, all pervading, complete, one, free, consciousness, inactive, unattached, without desires, peaceful, even when it revolves or wanders in the cycle of births and deaths. 

Verse 13: Meditate upon the immutable, non-dual, intelligent Self, having become free from the non-shining ego, delusion, feeling, and the distinction of external and internal. 

Verse 14: You have been caught for long in the bonds of body love, son. Knowing the Self by cutting that (the attachment) with the sword of knowledge, you will be happy. 

Verse 15: You are unattached, inactive, self-luminous, and without blemish. This only is your bondage that (to know your Self) you have to become established in Samadhi (self-absorption). 

Verse 16: By you this whole universe is pervaded. By you it is sewn and bound as it is. You are pure intelligence by nature. Do not cultivate an impure and narrow mind. 

Verse 17: Without expectation (or dependence), without form, without weight or measure, a reservoir of coolness, unfathomable intelligence, undisturbed is the dweller of the subtle space. 

Verse 18 : Know that the form is unreal, but the formless is permanently stable. By the instruction of this fact, rebirth becomes impossible. 

Verse 19 : Just as the image that appears in a mirror seems to take hold of it, so does the supreme Lord appears in this body as if he has taken hold of it. 

Verse 20: Just as the space inside and outside a jar is the same everywhere so does the eternal, continuous Brahman exist in exist in all beings . 

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch01-01.asp

Chapter 2 - The Wonder that is Self

Verse 1: Janaka said, Oh I have become aware that I am without blemish, peaceful, and beyond Nature. Until this time, I was troubled by delusion. 

Verse 2: Just as I alone illuminate this body so do I the whole universe. Therefore, the whole universe is mine, or nothing is. 

Verse 3: Oh, having renounced the body together with the universe, I now perceive the Supreme Self with the discernment of my stable intelligence. 

Verse 4: Just as the waves, the foam and the bubbles that are not different from the water, so does the universe that emanate from the Self is not different from the Self. 

Verse 5: Just as upon close examination the cloth is found to be made up of the cotton thread only you will find upon close examination that this universe is made up of the Self only. 

Verse 6: Just as the sugar which is produced by the sugarcane juice is wholly permeated by that juice so is the whole universe which is created in me is permeated by me uninterruptedly. 

Verse 7: The world is reflected in the ignorance of the Self, but verily does not reflect in the knowledge of the Self, just as the snake is reflected in the ignorance of the rope and does not reflect in the knowledge of it. 

Verse 8: Light is my true nature. I am not different from it or other than it. When this universe shines, then it is I who only shines. 

Verse 9: Oh, the universe shines in me as an alternative due to ignorance just as silver in the mother of pearl, snake in the rope, and water in the sunlight. 

Verse 10: The universe that has emanated from me will become dissolved in me just as the pot into the clay, the wave into water and the bracelet into gold. 

Verse 11: Oh, my Self! Salutations to my Self, who is indestructible and remains firmly established even when the whole world, from Brahma and the life down to a clod of grass, is destroyed. 

Verse 12: Oh, my Self! Salutations to my Self. I am One even with the body, neither going nor coming anywhere, but established pervading the whole universe. 

Verse 13: Oh my Self! Salutations to my Self. There is no one as skillful as I, who am steadily holding the universe without touching it with the body. 

Verse 14: You have been caught for long in the bonds of body love, son. Knowing the Self by cutting that (the attachment) with the sword of knowledge, you will be happy. 

Verse 15: Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower, these three do not exist in reality. I am that spotless Self in which this triad appears because of ignorance. 

Verse 16: Oh, the duality is the root cause of sorrow. For that there is no better remedy except the realization that all that is seen is unreal, and that I am the one, pure, blissful consciousness. 

Verse 17: I am pure intelligence. Because of ignorance I have created attributes for myself. By constantly reflecting upon this I establish myself in the formless state of self-absorption. 

Verse 18: I have neither bondage nor liberation. Without the support, my illusion has subsided. Oh, the universe is established in me, but truly it does not exist in me. 

Verse 19: This body together with the universe is nothing. This is certain. The self is pure consciousness only. Therefore, now why to seek the imaginary ones? 

Verse 20: The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, so also fear all this is mere formation. What purpose they serve me who is pure consciousness? 

Verse 21: Oh, I do not see any duality in the midst of people. Then, what do I have to do with attachments that grow (or become) like a forest? 

Verse 22: I am not the body, nor do I possess the body. I am also not a jiva, the living being. I am verily consciousness only. Longing for life, surely this one alone was the cause of my bondage. 

Verse 23: Oh, in the limitless great ocean of myself by the winds of consciousness are produced instantly waves of wonderful worlds. 

Verse 24: In the limitless great ocean of myself as the winds of consciousness subside, the moving boat of the miserable jiva, the trader, perishes. 

Verse 25: It is incredible that in the infinite ocean of myself waves of beings arise, fight, play and disappear according to their nature. 

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Chapter 3 - The All Pervading Self

Verse 1: Ashtavakra said, “Knowing that the self by nature is one and indestructible, how could a steadfast knower of the Self such as you take pleasure in acquiring wealth?”. 

Verse 2: Just as the delusion of silver arises from the mother of pearl due to greed and ignorance, the delusion of attachment (or attraction) arises from material objects due to the ignorance of the Self. 

Verse 3: Knowing “I am That” ocean in which the universe shiningly swells like a wave, why do you have to run around like a needy and miserable person? 

Verse 4 : After hearing the Self to be pure consciousness and extremely beautiful in itself, how can one become deeply attracted to sexual objects and accumulate impurity?

Verse 5: When the silent seer realizes that he is in all beings and all beings are in him, it will be surprising if he still continues to engage in feelings of mine or ownership. 

Verse 6: It will be surprising if anyone who is established in supreme nonduality and fully engaged in the pursuit of liberation is still enslaved by lust or weakened by the learning in amorous pastime. 

Verse 7: It is surprising that one who is already weak and approaching the last days of his life still desires sexual pleasure knowing well that it is the enemy of knowledge. 

Verse 8: It is surprising that one who is disinterested in this world and the next, who has the intelligence to discern the difference between what is permanent and impermanent and who is desirous of liberation, is yet afraid of death. 

Verse 9: Whether he is in a state of enjoyment or suffering, the stable minded person always sees the Self only and is neither pleased nor angry. 

Verse 10: The great one sees the actions of his own body as if another’s. Then, how can he feel disturbed by praise or blame? 

Verse 11: Having seen that this world is just an illusion and become disinterested in it, how can a stable minded adept fear the approach of death? 

Verse 12: Who can be compared to the great soul whose mind is free from desire even in despair or despondency, and who is contended with self-knowledge? 

Verse 13: Knowing that the perceived object by its very nature is nothing in itself, how can the stable minded one perceive one thing as acceptable and another as unacceptable? 

Verse 14: He who has given up the impure thoughts of his mind and who is free from dualities and desires feels neither pleasure nor pain for what comes to him or happens to him by chance. 

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch03-01.asp

Chapter 4 - The Knower of the Self

Verse 1: Janaka said, "Oh, the stable minded knower of the Self who is engaged in the game of enjoyment bears no resemblance whatsoever to the deluded beings who are caught in the cycle of births and deaths." Verse 2: Oh, that state which Indra and other gods eagerly seek but become unhappy for not attaining it, situated in that state, a yogi does not show any elation at all.

Verse 3: He who has known That (self) is untouched inside by good and evil, just as the sky is untouched by the smoke (or clouds) although it may appear so.

Verse 4: Who can prevent the great-souled one who has known this whole world as the Self from living by chance?

Verse 5: Of the four types of beings, from Brahma down to the last clump of grass, only the one with discerning knowledge is skillful in giving up attraction and aversion. 

Verse 6: Rare is the one who knows the Self to be nondual and the lord of the universe. He who knows thus engages in actions anywhere (he deems fit) without any fear.

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch04-01.asp

Chapter 5 - The Four Ways of Liberation

Verse 1: Ashtavakra said, “What do you want to renounce when you are not associated with anything at all? Ending your worldly attachments, in this way you can attain the final dissolution.”

Verse 2: All this manifest just as the bubbles happen to arise from the ocean. Thus, knowing that the Self is verily one, in this way also you can attain the final dissolution

Verse 3: Being unreal, all this that you see does not really exist in you who are pure. Knowing thus that it appears just as a snake appears in the rope, in this way also you can attain final dissolution.

Verse 4: Equal in pain and pleasure, completely fulfilled, equal in hope and despair, and in life and death, being thus, in this way also you can attain final dissolution.

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch05-01.asp

Chapter 6 - Meditation on the Eternal Self

Verse 1: Ashtavakra said: I am limitless like space. By nature, the manifested world is jar-like. This is knowledge. Therefore, for this (Self) there is neither renunciation nor possession nor destruction.

Verse 2: I am like the ocean, and the world is like a wave. Therefore, for this (Self) there is neither renunciation nor possession nor destruction.

Verse 3: I am like the mother of pearl; the illusory world is like the shining silver. Therefore, for this (Self) there is neither renunciation nor possession nor destruction.

Verse 4: I am in all beings, and all beings are in me. Therefore, for this (Self) there is neither renunciation nor possession nor destruction.

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch06-01.asp

Chapter 7 - Nature of the Eternal Self

Verse 1: Janaka said: In the boundless ocean that exist in me, the world moves hither and thither like a boat, propelled by its own self-driven winds. I am not disturbed by that.

Verse 2: In the boundless ocean in me, the world may appear and disappear like a wave because of its own nature, but it neither increases me nor decrease me.

Verse 3: In the boundless ocean within me, the creation named the universe happens. Yet, I am supremely peaceful and formless, and I abide in me alone.

Verse 4: Neither I am in the objects nor the objects are in me, who is by nature infinite and blemishless. Hence, disinterested (detached), desireless and peaceful, I abide in myself alone.

Verse 5: Oh, I am consciousness only. The world is verily a magical illusion. Therefore, how and where can the thought of accepting or rejecting it arises in me?

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch07-01.asp

Chapter 8 - The Nature of the Bondage and Liberation

Verse 1: Ashtavakra said, “When the mind desires even a little, grieves even a little, rejects even a little, accepts even a little, feels joy or anger even a little, then it is bondage.”

Verse 2: When the mind neither desires nor grieves, neither rejects nor accepts, feels neither joy nor anger, then it is liberation.

Verse 3: When the mind is drawn to any sense experience, then it is bondage. When it is disinterested in all sense experiences, then it is liberation.

Verse 4: When there is no aham (egosense), then it is liberation, but when there is aham, then it is bondage. Thinking thus, without any difficulty you shall neither accept nor rejecting anything.

https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ashtavakra/ch08-01.asp