Krishjan

Chapter 1 — Sakshi

Ashtavakra Gita

20 Shloka • Translation Only

King Janaka said: How is Knowledge attained? How does Liberation come about? And how is Dispassion (Vairāgya) acquired? O Lord, please explain this to me.

Aṣṭāvakra said: If you desire Liberation, dear child, abandon the objects of the senses as you would poison. Cultivate forgiveness, straightforwardness, compassion, contentment, and truthfulness as though they were nectar.

You are not the earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space. Know yourself to be the Ātman—the witness of all these, whose nature is pure Consciousness. By realizing this, you attain Liberation.

If, separating yourself from the body, you rest in Consciousness alone, then, here and now, you will become happy, peaceful, and free from bondage.

You are not a Brāhmaṇa or any other social class; nor do you belong to any stage of life. You are not an object of the senses. You are unattached, formless, and the witness of the entire universe. Abide in that understanding and be happy.

O all-pervading one, virtue and vice, pleasure and pain are merely conditions of the mind; they do not belong to you. You are neither the doer nor the experiencer. You are ever free.

You alone are the Witness of all. You are ever on the verge of freedom, indeed already free. Your only bondage is this: that you see the Witness as something other than yourself.

Bitten by the great black serpent of egoism—the belief, "I am the doer"— one suffers. Drink the nectar of the conviction, "I am not the doer," and abide in happiness.

Kindle the dense forest of ignorance with the fire of the firm conviction: "I am the One, pure Consciousness." Having burned it away, become free from sorrow and abide in happiness.

In that Consciousness in which this entire universe appears, imagined like a snake superimosed upon a rope, there is Bliss and Supreme Bliss. That Awareness you are. Abide in happiness.

One who regards himself as free is indeed free. One who regards himself as bound is bound. This saying is true: As one's conviction, so one's experience and destiny become.

The Ātman is the Witness, all-pervading, complete, one, free, of the nature of Consciousness, and beyond action. It is unattached, free from desire, and ever peaceful. Yet, through delusion, It appears as though subject to Saṃsāra.

Contemplate the Ātman as changeless (Kūṭastha), pure Awareness, and Non-dual. Abandon the delusion, "I am merely an appearance", and relinquish all identification with both the outer and inner phenomena.

Dear child, you have long been bound by the noose of identification with the body. With the sword of Knowledge, cut through it with the understanding, "I am pure Awareness." Then abide in happiness.

You are unattached, actionless, self-luminous, and stainless. Your only bondage is this: that you strive to practice Samādhi as though it were something to be attained.

This entire universe is pervaded by you and, in truth, is woven into you. You are of the nature of pure Awareness and Understanding. Do not fall into narrowness of mind.

Be free from dependence and expectation, free from all modification, self-sufficient, and inwardly serene. Possess a profound and unfathomable understanding, remaining undisturbed. Abide established in the conviction of being pure Consciousness alone.

Know that all that has form is transient and unreal in the ultimate sense. The Formless alone is changeless and unmoving. Through this instruction concerning the Truth, one is no longer subject to rebirth and worldly becoming.

Just as a reflection appears within a mirror while the mirror itself remains present both within and around it, so too, within this body and all around it, abides the Supreme Lord (Parameśvara).

Just as the one all-pervading space exists both outside and inside a pot, so too Brahman eternally and without division pervades all beings.