Krishjan

Chapter 20 — Akinchanabhava

Ashtavakra Gita

14 Shloka • Translation Only

King Janaka said: In my own stainless nature, where are the elements? Where is the body? Where are the senses? And where is the mind? Where is emptiness? And where is desirelessness?

For me, who am forever beyond all dualities, where are the scriptures? Where is Self-knowledge? Where is the mind free of objects? Where is contentment? And where is freedom from craving?

For my true nature, where is knowledge? And where is ignorance? Where am ,b>I? Where is this? Where is mine? Where is bondage? And where is liberation? Where can there be any form or limitation in that which is one's own true nature?

For me, who am ever without distinction or limitation, where are Prārabdha Karmas? Where is liberation while living (Jīvanmukti)? And where is that state called Videha-Kaivalya (liberation beyond the body)?

For me, who am ever beyond all attributes and inherent characteristics, where is the doer? Where is the experiencer? Where is actionless awareness? Where is direct realization? And where is any fruit of attainment?

In my own non-dual nature, where is the world? Where is the seeker of Liberation? Where is the Yogī? And where is the knower of Truth? Where is the bound one? And where is the liberated one?

In my own non-dual nature, where is creation? Where is dissolution? Where is that which is to be attained? And where are the means by which it is attained? Where is the spiritual aspirant? And where is accomplishment, realization, or perfection? I am established in my own non-dual Self. In That, none of these distinctions exist.

For me, who am ever pure and stainless, where is the knower (Pramātā)? Where is the means of knowledge (Pramāṇa)? Where is the object of knowledge (Prameya)? And where is knowledge itself (Pramā)? Where is something? And where is nothing? For one who abides in the ever-pure Reality, none of these distinctions remain.

For me, who am ever actionless, where is distraction? Where is concentration? Where is understanding? And where is delusion? Where is joy? And where is sorrow? For one established in the actionless Self, such distinctions have no place.

For me, who am ever beyond all conceptual reflection and mental deliberation, where is worldly activity and conventional experience? And where is ultimate reality as a separate concept? Where is pleasure? And where is pain? For one established in the Self beyond all distinctions, none of these opposites remain.

For me, who am ever pure and stainless, where is Māyā? Where is Saṃsāra? Where is attachment? And where is detachment? Where is the individual self (Jīva)? And where is that which is called Brahman? For one established in the ever-pure Reality, such distinctions no longer arise.

For me, who am ever established in my own nature, changeless (Kūṭastha) and without division, where is engagement in action (Pravṛtti)? Where is withdrawal from action (Nivṛtti)? Where is Liberation? And where is bondage? For the one who abides in the indivisible and unchanging Self, none of these distinctions remain.

For me, who am Śiva, free from all limiting adjuncts (Upādhis), where is instruction? Where are the scriptures? Where is the disciple? And where is the guru? Where is any goal of human striving (Puruṣārtha)? In the Reality that is free from all limitation, none of these distinctions exist.

Where is existence? And where is non-existence? Where is oneness? And where is duality? But what is the use of saying more? For me, nothing whatsoever arises. — Thus concludes the teaching of Aṣṭāvakra Gītā, where all distinctions, concepts, paths, attainments, bondage, liberation, knower, knowledge, and known are dissolved in the direct recognition of the ever-present, non-dual Self.