Krishjan

Chapter 10 — Vairagya

Ashtavakra Gita

8 Shloka • Translation Only

Aṣṭāvakra said: Abandon desire (Kāma), the enemy, and wealth (Artha), which is fraught with misfortune and complication. And since Dharma too is often pursued for the sake of these two, remain free from attachment and concern toward all three.

Regard friends, lands, wealth, houses, spouse, relatives, and all such possessions as being like a dream or a magician's illusion— lasting only for three or five days.

Wherever craving (Tṛṣṇā) arises, know that Saṃsāra is present there. Taking refuge in mature and steadfast Vairāgya (dispassion), become free from craving and abide in happiness.

Bondage consists solely of craving (Tṛṣṇā). Its destruction is called Liberation. Through freedom from attachment to worldly becoming (Bhava), one attains contentment again and again.

You alone are Consciousness, pure and aware. The universe is inert and, in the ultimate sense, unreal. Even ignorance (Avidyā) itself has no true existence. What, then, remains for you to seek, know, or attain?

Kingdoms, children, spouses, bodies, and pleasures— though you have been attached to them, they have all been lost again and again in birth after birth.

Enough of wealth, enough of desire, and enough even of meritorious actions. Amid this wilderness of Saṃsāra, the mind has never found lasting rest through any of them.

Through countless births, how much action has not already been performed by body, mind, and speech? Those actions have brought only toil, effort, and sorrow. Let all that now come to an end.