Preface
The Ashtavakra Gita, or the Ashtavakra Samhita as it is sometimes called, is a very ancient Sanskrit text. Nothing seems to be known about the author, though tradition ascribes it to the sage Ashtavakra; hence the name.
(You are the witness, not the body: the foundational instruction on awareness)
You do not consist of any of the elements — earth, water, fire, air, or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these. 1.3
If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself as distinct from the body, then even now you will become happy, peaceful and free from bonds. 1.4
Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so you are always free. 1.6
You are the one witness of everything and are always completely free. The cause of your bondage is that you see the witness as something other than this. 1.7
Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of the understanding that “I am the one pure awareness,” and be happy and free from distress. 1.9
If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, “Thinking makes it so.” 1.11
Meditate on yourself as motionless awareness, free from any dualism, giving up the mistaken idea that you are just a derivative consciousness or anything external or internal. 1.13
You have long been trapped in the snare of identification with the body. Sever it with the knife of knowledge that “I am awareness,” and be happy, my son. 1.14
You are unconditioned and changeless, formless and immovable, unfathomable awareness, unperturbable: so hold to nothing but consciousness. 1.17
Recognise that the apparent is unreal, while the unmanifest is abiding. Through this initiation into truth you will escape falling into unreality again. 1.18
(The world arises in me: recognition of one’s nature as the source and ground of all)
Truly I am spotless and at peace, the awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I have been afflicted by delusion. 2.1
Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing other than that. When the world shines forth, it is only me that is shining forth. 2.8
All this, which has originated out of me, is resolved back into me too, like a jug back into clay, a wave into water, and a bracelet into gold. 2.10
For me here is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. Truly all this exists in me, though ultimately it does not even exist in me. 2.18
The body, heaven and hell, bondage and liberation, and fear too, all this is pure imagination. What is there left to do for me whose very nature is consciousness? 2.20
I do not even see dualism in a crowd of people, so what do I gain if it is replaced by a desert? 2.21
(Desire, attachment, and knowing oneself as That)
Truly, when one does not know oneself, one takes pleasure in the objects of mistaken perception, just as greed arises for the mistaken silver in one who does not know mother of pearl for what it is. 3.2
All this wells up like waves in the sea. Recognising, “I am That,” why run around like someone in need? 3.3
After hearing of oneself as pure consciousness and the supremely beautiful, is one to go on lusting after sordid sexual objects? 3.4
Who can be compared to the great-souled person whose mind is free from desire even in disappointment, and who has found satisfaction in self-knowledge? 3.12
An object of enjoyment that comes of itself is neither painful nor pleasurable for someone who has eliminated attachment, and who is free from dualism and from desire. 3.14
He who has known That is untouched within by good deeds or bad, just as space is not touched by smoke, however much it may appear to be. 4.3
Who can prevent the great-souled person who has known this whole world as himself from living as he pleases? 4.4
Rare is the man who knows himself as the nondual Lord of the world, and he who knows this is not afraid of anything. 4.6
(The infinite ocean of the self: world as appearance, mind as liberation)
Whether the world wave of its own nature rises or disappears in the infinite ocean of myself, I neither gain nor lose anything by that. 7.2
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the mind-creation called the world takes place. I am supremely peaceful and formless, and I remain as such. 7.3
My true nature is not contained in objects, nor does any object exist in it, for it is infinite and spotless. So it is unattached, desireless and at peace, and I remain as such. 7.4
I am pure consciousness, and the world is like a magician’s show. How could I imagine there is anything there to take up or reject? 7.5
Liberation is when the mind does not long for anything, grieve about anything, reject anything, or hold on to anything, and is not pleased about anything or displeased about anything. 8.2
Realising, “I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am awareness,” one attains the supreme state and no longer remembers things done or undone. 11.6
(The liberated one: living as one pleases, beyond doership and seeking)
In the absence of delight in sound and the other senses, and by the fact that I am myself not an object of the senses, my mind is focused and free from distraction — which is why I am now established. 12.2
He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of life. He who is of such a nature has done what has to be done. 12.8
Recognising that in reality no action is ever committed, I live as I please, just doing what presents itself to be done. 13.3
Continually observing the drawbacks of such things as pleasant objects, I live as I please, abandoning the pleasant and unpleasant. 13.7
The various states of one who is free of uncertainty within, and who outwardly wanders about as he pleases like an idiot, can only be known by someone in the same condition. 14.4
This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and energetic man dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided by those whose aim is enjoyment. 15.3
You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the doer of actions or the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally pure consciousness, the witness, in need of nothing — so live happily. 15.4
Give up meditation completely but don’t let the mind hold on to anything. You are free by nature, so what will you achieve by forcing the mind? 15.20
(Striving, fortune, and the rare one who is already free)
Everyone is in pain because of their striving to achieve something, but no one realises it. By no more than this instruction, the fortunate one attains tranquillity. 16.3
The man is rare who is not attached to the things he has enjoyed, and does not hanker after the things he has not enjoyed. 17.4
Surely the supreme state is everywhere for the liberated mind. He is neither awake nor asleep, and neither opens nor closes his eyes. 17.10
The liberated man is resplendent everywhere, free from all desires. Everywhere he appears self-possessed and pure of heart. 17.11
(The wise and the stupid: understanding versus practice, peace without effort)
Praise be to That by the awareness of which delusion itself becomes dream-like, to that which is pure happiness, peace, and light. 18.1
The realm of one’s self is not far away, nor can it be achieved by the addition of limitations to its nature. It is unimaginable, effortless, unchanging, and spotless. 18.5
The wise man who just goes on doing what presents itself for him to do, encounters no difficulty in either activity or inactivity. 18.20
The stupid man does not achieve liberation even through regular practice, but the fortunate remains free and actionless simply by understanding. 18.36
The stupid man does not find peace because he desires it, while the wise man discriminating the truth is always peaceful minded. 18.39
Some think that something exists, and others that nothing does. Rare is the man who does not think either, and is thereby free from distraction. 18.42
When one sees oneself as neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, then all mind waves come to an end. 18.51
A yogi is not in the least put out even when humiliated by the ridicule of servants, sons, wives, grandchildren, or other relatives. 18.55
For him who shines with the radiance of Infinity and is not subject to natural causality there is neither bondage, liberation, pleasure, nor pain. 18.72
Though in the eyes of the world he is active, the man who has shed action through knowledge finds no means of doing or speaking anything. 18.77
The wise man has the joy of being complete in himself and without possessions, acting as he pleases, free from duality and rid of doubts, and without attachment to any creature. 18.87
A man at peace does not run off to popular resorts or to the forest. Whatever and wherever, he remains the same. 18.100
There is no being or non-being, no unity or dualism. What more is there to say? There is nothing outside of me. 20.14