Ashtavakra Gita
Janaka said:
How is knowledge to be acquired? How is
liberation to be attained? And how is dispassion to be reached? Tell me this,
sir. 1.1
Ashtavakra said:
If you are seeking liberation, my
dearest one, shun the objects of the senses like poison. Draught the nectar of
tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness. 1.2
You are neither earth, water, fire, air
or even ether. For liberation know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the
witness of these five. 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
You do not belong to the brahmin or
warrior or any other caste, you are not at any stage, nor are you anything that
the eye can see. You are unattached and formless, the witness of everything -
now be happy. 1.5
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; you are always free. 1.6
You are the one witness of everything,
and are always totally free. The cause of bondage is that one sees the witness
as something other than this. 1.7
Since you have been bitten by that black
snake of self-opinion- thinking foolishly that `I am the doer,', now drink the
nectar in the fact that "I am not the doer", and now be happy. 1.8
Burn down the forest of ignorance with
the fire of understanding. Know `I am the one pure awareness.' With such ashes
now be happy, free from distress. 1.9
That in which all this appears is but
imagined like the snake in a rope; that joy, supreme knowledge and awareness is
what you are; now be happy. 1.10
If one thinks of oneself as free, one is
free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying
`Thinking makes it so' is true . 1.11
Your real nature is one perfect, free,
and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness - unattached to
anything, desireless, at peace. It is illusion that you seem to be involved in
any other matter. 1.12
Meditate on yourself as motionless
awareness, free from any dualism, giving up the mistaken idea that you are just
a derivative consciousness; anything external or internal is false. 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 dearest. 1.14
You are really unbound and actionless,
self-illuminating and spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you
are still resorting to stilling the mind. 1.15
All of this is really filled by you and
strung out in you, for what you consist of is pure awareness - so don't be
small-minded. 1.16
You are unconditioned and changeless,
formless and immovable, unfathomable awareness, imperturbable - such
consciousness is unclinging. 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
Just as a mirror exists as part and
apart from its reflected images, so the Supreme Lord exists as part and apart
from this body. 1.19
Just as one and the same all-pervading
space exists within and without a jar, so the eternal, everlasting Being exists
in the totality of things. 1.20
Janaka said:
Truly I am spotless and at peace, the
awareness beyond natural causality. All this time I have been afflicted by
delusion. 2.1
As I alone give light to this body, so
do I enlighten the world. As a result the whole world is mine, and,
alternatively, nothing is. 2.2
So now abandoning the body and
everything else, suddenly somehow my true self becomes apparent. 2.3
Just as waves, foam and bubbles are not
different from water, so all this which has emanated from oneself, is no other
than oneself. 2.4
Just as cloth when examined is found to
be just thread, so when all this is analysed it is found to be no other than
oneself. 2.5
Just as the sugar produced from the
juice of the sugarcane is permeated with the same taste, so all this, produced
out of me, is completely permeated with me. 2.6
From ignorance of oneself, the world
appears, and by knowledge of oneself it appears no longer. From ignorance of
the rope a snake appears, and by knowledge of the rope the snake appears no
longer. Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing over and beyond that.
When the world shines forth, it is simply me that is shining forth. 2.8
All this appears in me, imagined, due to
ignorance, just as a snake appears in the rope, just as the mirage of water in
the sunlight, and just as silver in mother of pearl. 2.9
All this, which has originated out of
me, is resolved back into me too, like a gourd back into soil, a wave into
water, and a bracelet into gold. 2.10
How wonderful I am! Glory to me, for
whom there is no destruction, remaining even beyond the destruction of the
world from Brahma down to the last blade of grass. 2.11
How wonderful I am! Glory to me,
solitary! Even though with a body, I am neither going or coming anywhere; I
abide forever, filling all that is. 2.12
How wonderful I am! Glory to me! There
is no one so clever as me! I have borne all that is, forever, without even
touching it with my body! 2.13
How wonderful I am! Glory to me! I
possess nothing at all, and alternatively possess everything to which speech
and mind can refer. 2.14
Knowledge, what is to be known, and the
knower - these three do not exist in reality. I am the spotless reality in
which they appear, spotted by ignorance. 2.15
Truly dualism is the root of suffering.
There is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that one
sees is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of
consciousness. 2.16
I am pure awareness although through
ignorance I have imagined myself to have additional attributes. By continually
reflecting like this, my dwelling place is the Unimagined. 2.17
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
I have recognised that all this and my
body are nothing, while my true self is nothing but pure consciousness- so what
can the imagination work on now? 2.19
The body, heaven and hell, bondage and
liberation, and fear too, all this is active imagination. What is there left to
do for one whose very nature is consciousness? 2.20
Truly I do not see dualism even in a
crowd of people. What pleasure should I have when it has turned into a
wilderness? 2.21
I am not the body, nor is the body mine.
I am not a living being. I am consciousness. It was my thirst for living that
was my bondage. 2.22
Truly it is in the limitless ocean of
myself, stimulated by the colourful waves of the worlds, that everything
suddenly arises in the wind of consciousness. 2.23
It is in the limitless ocean of myself,
that the wind of thought subsides; the trader-like living creatures' world ark
is now drydocked by lack of goods. 2.24
How wonderful it is that in the
limitless ocean of myself the waves of living beings arise, collide, play and
disappear, according to their natures. 2.25
Ashtavakra said:
Knowing yourself as truly one and
indestructible, how could a wise man like you- one possessing self-knowledge-
feel any pleasure in acquiring wealth? 3.1
Truly, when one does not know oneself,
one takes pleasure in the objects of mistaken perception, just as greed for its
seeming silver arises 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
sensual objects? 3.4
When the sage has realised that one is
oneself is in all beings, and all beings are in oneself, it is astonishing that
the sense of individuality should be able to continue. 3.5
It is astonishing that a person who has
reached the supreme non-dual state and is intent on the benefits of liberation
should still be subject to lust and be held back by the desire to copulate. 3.6
It is astonishing that one already very
debilitated, and knowing very well that sensual arousal is the enemy of
knowledge should still eagerly hanker after concupiscence, even when
approaching one's last days. 3.7
It is astonishing that one who is
unattached to the things of this world or the next, who discriminates between
the permanent and the impermanent, and who longs for liberation, should still
feel fear for liberation. 3.8
Whether feted or tormented, the wise
person is always aware of the supreme self-nature and is neither expectant nor
disappointed. 3.9
The great souled person sees even one's
own body in action as if it were someone else's, so how then be disturbed by
praise or blame? 3.10
Seeing this world as pure illusion, and
devoid of any interest in it, how should the strong-minded person feel fear,
even at the approach of death? 3.11
Who is to be compared to the
great-souled person whose mind is free of desire, free of expectation and
disappointment, and who has found satisfaction in self-knowledge? 3.12
How should a strong-minded person who
knows that whatever is seen is by its very nature nothing, how then consider
one thing to be grasped and another to be rejected? 3.13
For someone who has eliminated
attachment, and who is free from dualism and from desire and from repulsion,
for such a one an object that comes of itself is neither painful nor
pleasurable. 3.14
Ashtavakra said:
Certainly the wise person of
self-knowledge, playing the game of worldly life, bears no resemblance whatever
to the world's bewildered beasts of burden. 4.1
Truly the one centered in mystic union
feels no excitement even at being established in that state which all the gods
from Indra down yearn for disconsolately. 4.2
He who has known That is untouched
within by good deeds or bad, just as the sky 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 oneself from living as one pleases? 4.4
Of all the four categories of beings,
from Brahma down to the dryest clump of grass, only the person of knowledge is
capable of eliminating desire and aversion. 4.5
Rare is the person who knows oneself as
the undivided Lord of the world; no fear occurs to one who lives the truth. 4.6
Ashtavakra said:
You are not bound by anything. What does
a pure person like you need to renounce? Putting the complex organism to rest,
you can go to your rest. 5.1
All this arises out of you, like a
bubble out of the sea. Knowing yourself like this to be but one, you can go to
your rest. 5.2
In spite of being in front of your eyes,
all this, being insubstantial, does not exist in you, spotless as you are. It
is an appearance like the snake in a rope, so you can go to your rest. 5.3
Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in
hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you
are, you can go to your rest. 5.4
Ashtavakra said:
I am infinite like space, and the
natural world is like a jar. To know this is knowledge, and then there is
neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it. 6.1
I am like the ocean, and the
multiplicity of objects is comparable to a wave. To know this is knowledge, and
here there is neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it. 6.2
I am like the mother of pearl, and the
imagined world is like the silver. To know this is knowledge, and here there is
neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it. 6.3
Alternatively, I am in all beings, and
all beings are in me. To know this is knowledge, and here there is neither
renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.
Janaka said:
It is in the infinite ocean of myself
that the world ark wanders here and there, driven by its own wind. I am not
upset by that. 7.1
Let the world wave of its own nature
rise or vanish in the infinite ocean of myself. There is no increase or
diminution to me from it. 7.2
It is in the infinite ocean of myself
that the imagination called the world takes place. I am supremely peaceful and
formless, and as such I remain. 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 as such I remain. 7.4
Truly I am but pure consciousness, and the
world is like a conjuror's show, so how could I imagine there is anything here
to take up or reject ? 7.5
Ashtavakra said:
Bondage is when the mind longs for
something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something,
is pleased about something or displeased about something. 8.1
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
Bondage is when the mind is tangled in
one of the senses, and liberation is when the mind is not tangled in any of the
senses. 8.3
When there is no `me', that is
liberation, and when there is me there is bondage. Considering this earnestly,
I do not hold on and do not reject. 8.4
Ashtavakra said:
Knowing when the dualism of things done
and undone has been put to rest, or the person for whom they occur has been
cognized, then you can here and now go beyond renunciation and obligations by
indifference to such things. 9.1
Rare indeed, my dearest, is the lucky
person whose observation of the world's behaviour has led to the extinction of
the thirst for living, for pleasure and for knowledge. 9.2
All this is impermanent and spoilt by
the three sorts of pain. Recognising it to be insubstantial, comtemptible and
only fit for indifference, one attains peace. 9.3
When was that age or time of life when
the dualism of extremes did not exist for people? Abandoning them, a person
happy to take whatever comes suddenly realizes perfection. 9.4
Who does not end up with indifference to
such things and attain peace when he has seen the differences of opinions among
the great sages, saints and yogis? 9.5
Is he not a guru who, endowed with
dispassion and equanimity, achieves full knowledge of the nature of
consciousness, and so leads others out of samsara? 9.6
If you would just see the
transformations of the elements as nothing more than the elements, then you
would immediately be freed from all bonds and established in your own nature.
9.7
One's inclinations are samsara. Knowing
this, abandon them. The renunciation of them is the renunciation of it. Now you
can remain as you are. 9.8
Ashtavakra said:
Abandoning desire, the enemy, along with
gain, itself so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the
other two - I practice indifference to everything. 10.1
I look on such things as friends, land,
money, property, wife, and bequests as nothing but a a dream or a three or
five-day conjuror's show. 10.2
Wherever a desire occurs, I see samsara
in it. Establishing myself in firm dispassion, I be free of passion and happy.
10.3
The essential nature of bondage is
nothing other than desire, and its elimination is known as liberation. It is
simply by not being attached to changing things that the everlasting joy of
attainment is reached. 10.4
You are one, conscious and pure, while
all this is just inert non-being. Ignorance itself is nothing, so what need
have you of desire to understand? 10.5
Kingdoms, children, wives, bodies, pleasures
- these have all been lost to you life after life, attached to them though you
were. 10.6
Enough of wealth, sensuality and good
deeds. In the forest of samsara the mind has never found satisfaction in these.
10.7
How many births have you not done hard
and painful labour with body, mind and speech. Now at last stop! 10.8
Ashtavakra said:
Unmoved and undistressed, realising now
that being, non-being and transformation are of the very nature of things, one
easily finds peace. 11.1
At peace, having shed all desires
within, and realising that nothing exists here but the Lord, the Creator of all
things, one is no longer attached to anything. 11.2
Realising that misfortune and fortune
come in their turn from fate, one is contented, one's senses under control, and
one does not like or dislike. 11.3
Realising that pleasure and pain, birth
and death are from fate, and that one's desires cannot be achieved, one remains
inactive, and even when acting does not get attached. 11.4
Realising that suffering arises from
nothing other than thinking, dropping all desires one rids oneself of it, and
is happy and at peace everywhere. 11.5
Realising `I am not the body, nor is the
body mine; I am awareness,' one attains the supreme state and no longer
fritters over things done or undone. 11.6
Realising, `It is just me, from Brahma
down to the last blade of grass,' one becomes free from uncertainty, pure, at
peace and unconcerned about what has been attained or not. 11.7
Realising that all this varied and
wonderful world is nothing, one becomes pure receptivity, free from
inclinations, and as if nothing existed, one finds peace. 11.8
Janaka said:
First of all I was averse to physical
activity, then to lengthy speech, and finally to thinking itself, which is why
I am now established. 12.1
In the absence of delight in sound and
the other senses, and by the fact that I myself am not an object of the senses,
my mind is focused and free from distraction - which is why I am now
established. 12.2
Owing to the distraction of such things
as wrong identification, one is driven to strive for mental stillness.
Recognising this pattern I am now established. 12.3
By relinquishing the sense of rejection
and acceptance, and with pleasure and disappointment ceasing today, so Brahmin,
I am now established. 12.4
Life in a community, then going beyond
such a state, meditation and the elimination of mind-made objects - by means of
these I have seen my error, and I am now established. 12.5
Just as the performance of actions is
due to ignorance, so their abandonment is too. By fully recognising this truth,
I am now established. 12.6
Trying to think the unthinkable is
unnatural to thought. Abandoning such a practice therefore, I am now
established. 12.7
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
Janaka said:
The inner freedom of having nothing is
hard to achieve, even with just a loin-cloth, but I live as I please abandoning
both renunciation and acquisition. 13.1
Sometimes one experiences distress
because of one's body, sometimes because of one's tongue, and sometimes because
of one's mind. Abandoning all of these in the goal of being human I live as I
please. 13.2
Recognising that in reality no action is
ever committed, I live as I please, just attending what presents itself to be
done. 13.3
Mystics who identify themselves with
bodies are insistent on fulfilling and avoiding certain actions, but I live as
I please abandoning attachment and rejection. 13.4
No benefit or loss comes to me by
standing, walking or lying down, so consequently I live as I please whether
standing, walking or sleeping. 13.5
I lose nothing by sleeping and gain
nothing by effort, so consequently I live as I please, abandoning loss and
success. 13.6
Frequently observing the drawbacks of
such things as pleasant objects, I live as I please, abandoning the pleasant
and unpleasant. 13.7
Janaka said:
He who by nature is empty-minded, and
who thinks of things only unintentionally, is freed from deliberate
remembering, like one awakened from a dream. 14.1
As my desire has been eliminated, I have
no wealth, friends, robbers, senses, scriptures or knowledge. 14.2
Realising my supreme self-nature in the
Person of the Witness, the Lord, and the state of desirelessness in bondage or
liberation, I feel no inclination for liberation. 14.3
The various states of one who is empty
of uncertainty within, and who outwardly wanders about as he pleases, like a
madman, can only be known by someone in the same condition. 14.4
Ashtavakra said:
While a person of pure intelligence may
achieve the goal by the most casual of instructions, another may seek knowledge
all one's life and still remain bewildered. 15.1
Liberation is indifference to the
objects of the senses. Bondage is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do
as you please. 15.2
This awareness of the truth makes an
eloquent, clever and energetic person dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided
by those whose aim is enjoyment or praise. 15.3
You are not the body, nor is the body
yours, nor are you the doer of actions nor the reaper of their consequences.
You are eternally pure consciousness the witness, in need of nothing - so live
happily. 15.4
Desire and anger are objects of the
mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless
awareness itself, unchanging - so live happily. 15.5
Recognising oneself in all beings, and
all beings in oneself, be happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free
from preoccupation with me. 15.6
Your nature is the consciousness, in
which the whole world wells up, like waves in the sea. That is what you are,
without any doubt, so be free of disturbance. 15.7
Have faith, my dearest, have faith.
Don't let yourself be deluded in this. You are yourself the Lord, whose
property is knowledge- you are beyond natural causation. 15.8
The body invested with the senses stands
still and comes and goes. You yourself neither come nor go, so why bother about
them? 15.9
Let the body last to the end of the Age,
or let it come to an end right now. What have you, who consist of pure
consciousness, gained or lost? 15.10
Let the world-wave rise or subside
according to its own nature in you, the great ocean. It is no gain or loss to
you. 15.11
My dearest, you consist of pure
consciousness, and the world is not separate from you. So who is to accept or
reject it, and how, and why? 15.12
How can there be either birth, karma or
responsibility in that one unchanging, peaceful, unblemished and infinite
consciousness which is you? 15.13
Whatever you see, it is you alone
manifest in it. How could bracelets, armlets and anklets be different from the
gold? 15.14
Giving up such distinctions as `That is
what I am,' and `I am not That', recognise that Everything is Self, and be,
without distinction, and be happy. 15.15
It is through your ignorance that all
this exists. In reality you alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within
or beyond samsara. 15.16
Knowing that all this is an illusion,
one becomes free of desire, pure receptivity and at peace, as if nothing
existed. 15.17
Only one thing has existed, exists and
will exist in the ocean of being. You have no bondage or liberation. Live
happily and fulfilled. 15.18
Being pure consciousness, do not disturb
your mind with thoughts of for/against. Be at peace and remain happily in
yourself, the essence of joy. 15.19
Give up meditation completely and cling
to nothing in your mind. You are free in your very nature, so what will you
achieve by conceiving? 15.20
Ashtavakra said:
My dearest, you may recite or listen to
countless scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can
forget everything. 16.1
You may, as a learned man, indulge in
wealth, activity and meditation, but your mind will still long for that which
is the cessation of desire, beyond all goals. 16.2
Everyone is in pain because of their own
effort, but no one realises it. By just this very instruction, the lucky one
attains tranquillity. 16.3
Happiness belongs to no one but that
supremely lazy person for whom even opening and closing one's eyes is a bother.
16.4
When the mind is freed from such pairs
of opposites as `I have done this,' and `I have not done that,' it becomes
indifferent to merit, wealth, sensuality and liberation. 16.5
One person is abstemious and is averse
to the senses, another is greedy and attached to them, but he who is free from
both taking and rejecting is neither abstemious nor greedy. 16.6
So long as desire, which is the state of
lacking discrimination, remains, the sense of revulsion and attraction will
remain; that is the root and branch of samsara. 16.7
Desire springs from usage, and aversion
from abstension, but the wise person is free from the pairs of opposites like a
child, and becomes established. 16.8
The passionate person wants to be rid of
samsara so as to avoid pain, but the dispassionate person is without pain and
feels no distress even in it. 16.9
One who is proud about even liberation
or one's own body, and feels them one's own, is neither a seer or a mystic.
Such a person is still just a sufferer. 16.10
If even Shiva, Vishnu or the lotus-born
Brahma were your instructor, until you have forgotten everything you cannot be
established within. 16.11
Ashtavakra said:
He who is content, with purified senses,
and always enjoys solitude, has gained the fruit of knowledge and the fruit of
the practice of union too. 17.1
The knower of truth is never distressed
in this world, for the whole round world is full of himself alone. 17.2
None of the senses please a person who
has found satisfaction within, just as grape leaves do not please the elephant
that likes mango leaves. 17.3
The person who is not attached to the
things he has enjoyed, and does not hanker after the things he has not enjoyed,
such a person is hard to find. 17.4
Those who desire pleasure and those who
desire liberation are both bound in samsara; the great-souled person who
desires neither pleasure nor liberation is rare indeed. 17.5
It is only the noble minded who is free
from attraction or repulsion to religion, wealth, sensuality, and life and
death too. 17.6
Such a one feels no desire for the
elimination of all this, nor anger at its continuing, so the lucky person lives
happily with whatever sustenance presents itself. 17.7
Thus fulfilled through this knowledge,
contented, the thinking-mind emptied, one lives happily just seeing when
seeing, just hearing when hearing, just feeling when feeling, just smelling
when smelling and just tasting when tasting. 17.8
In one for whom the ocean of samsara has
dried up, there is neither attachment or aversion. Such a one's gaze is vacant,
behaviour purposeless, and senses never grappling. 17.9
Surely the supreme state is eveywhere
for the liberated mind. Such a one is neither awake or asleep, and neither
opens or closes the eyes. 17.10
The liberated one is resplendent
everywhere, free from all desires. Everywhere such a one appears self-possessed
and pure of heart. 17.11
Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling,
tasting, speaking and walking about, the great-souled person who is freed from
trying to achieve or avoid anything is free indeed. 17.12
The liberated person is free from
desires everywhere. Such a one neither blames, praises, rejoices, is
disappointed, gives nor takes. 17.13
When a great souled one is unperturbed
in mind and self-possessed at either the sight of a mate eager with desire, or
at fast-approaching death, that one is truly liberated. 17.14
There is no distinction between pleasure
and pain, man and woman, success and failure for the wise person who looks on
everything as equal. 17.15
There is no aggression or compassion, no
pride or humility, no wonder or confusion for the person whose days of running
about are over. 17.16
The liberated person is not averse to
the senses and nor is he attached to them. He enjoys hinself continually with
an unattached mind in both achievement and non-achievement. 17.17
One established in the absolute state
with an empty mind does not know the alternatives of inner stillness and lack
of inner stillness, and of good and evil. 17.18
Free of me and mine and of a sense of
responsibility, aware that nothing exists, with all desires extinguished
within, a person does not act even in acting. 17.19
One whose thinking mind is dissolved
achieves the indescribable state and is free from the mental display of
delusion, dream and ignorance. 17.20
Ashtavakra said:
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
One may get all sorts of pleasure by the
acquisition of various objects of enjoyment, but one cannot be happy except by
the renunciation of everything. 18.2
How can there be happiness, for one who
has been burnt inside by the blistering sun of the pain of things that need
doing, without the rain of the nectar of peace? 18.3
This existence is just imagination. It
is nothing in reality, but there is no non-being for natures that know how to
distinguish being from not being. 18.4
The realm of one's self is not far away,
and nor can it be achieved by the addition of limitations to its nature. It is
unimaginable, effortless, unchanging and spotless. 18.5
By the simple elimination of delusion
and the recognition of one's true nature, those whose vision is unclouded live,
free from sorrow. 18.6
Knowing everything as just imagination,
and oneself as eternally free, how should the wise person behave like a fool?
18.7
Knowing oneself to be God and being and
non-being just imagination, what should the person free from desire learn, say
or do? 18.8
Considerations like `I am this' or `I am
not this' are finished for the mystic who has gone silent realising `Everything
is myself'. 18.9
For the mystic who has found peace,
there is no distraction or one-pointedness, no higher knowledge or ignorance,
no pleasure and no pain. 18.10
The dominion of heaven or beggary, gain
or loss, life in society or in the forest, these make no difference to a mystic
whose nature is free from distinctions. 18.11
There is no religion, wealth, sensuality
or discrimination for a mystic free from the pairs of opposites such as `I have
done this' and `I have not done that.' 18.12
There is nothing needing to be done, or
any attachment in one's heart for the mystic liberated while still alive.
Things are so for the life-time. 18.13
There is no delusion, world, meditation
on That, or liberation for the pacified great soul. All these things are just
the realm of imagination. 18.14
Whoever sees all this may well make out
it doesn't exist, but what is the desireless one to do, eh? Even in seeing, one
does not see it. 18.15
He by whom the Supreme Brahman is seen
may think `Ah I am Brahma,' but what is he to think who is without thought, and
who sees no duality. 18.16
He by whom inner distraction is seen may
put an end to it, but the noble one is not distracted. When there is nothing to
achieve what is he to do? 18.17
The wise man, unlike the worldly man,
does not see inner stillness, distraction or fault, even when living like a
worldly man. 18.18
Nothing is done by one who is free from
being and non-being, who is contented, desireless and wise, even if in the
world's eyes personal action occurs . 18.19
The wise person who just goes on doing
what presents itself for one to do, encounters no difficulty in either activity
or inactivity. 18.20
One who is desireless, self-reliant,
independent and free of bonds functions like a dead leaf blown about by the
wind of causality. 18.21
There is neither joy nor sorrow for one
who has transcended samsara. With a peaceful mind one lives as if without a
body. 18.22
One whose joy is in oneself, and who is
peaceful and pure within has no desire for renunciation or sense of loss in
anything. 18.23
For the person with a naturally empty
mind, doing just as one pleases, there is no such thing as pride or false
humility, as there is for the natural man. 18.24
`This action was done by the body but
not by me.' The pure-natured person thinking like this, is not acting even when
acting. 18.25
One acts without being able to say why,
yett is not thereby a fool, rather is one liberated while still alive, happy
and blessed. Such a one thrives even in samsara. 18.26
One who has had enough of endless
considerations and has attained to peace, does not think, know, hear or see.
18.27
One who is beyond mental stillness and
distraction does not desire either liberation or its opposite nor their
compliments. Recognising that things are just constructions of the imagination,
that great soul lives as God here and now. 18.28
One who feels responsibility within,
acts even when not acting, but there is no sense of done or undone for the wise
person free from the sense of responsibility. 18.29
The mind of the liberated person is not
upset or pleased. It shines, unmoving, desireless, and free from doubt. 18.30
One whose mind does not set out to
meditate or act, meditates and acts without an object. 18.31
A stupid person is bewildered even when
hearing the truth, while even a clever person is humbled by it, just like the
fool. 18.32
The ignorant make a great effort to
practise one-pointedness and the stopping of thought, while the wise see
nothing to be done and remain in themselves like those asleep. 18.33
The stupid does not attain cessation
whether he acts or abandons action, while the wise person finds peace within
simply by knowing the truth. 8.34
People cannot come to know themselves by
practices - pure awareness, clear, complete, beyond multiplicity and faultless
though they are. 8.35
The stupid does not achieve liberation
even through regular practice, but the fortunate one remains free and
actionless simply by discrimination. 18.36
The stupid does not attain Godhead
because he wants to be it, while the wise person enjoys the Supreme Godhead
without even wanting it. 18.37
Even when living without any support and
eager for achievement, the stupid are still nourishing Samsara, while the wise
have cut at the very root of unhappiness. 18.38
The stupid does not find peace because
he is wanting it, while the wise discriminates the truth and so is always
peaceful-minded. 18.39
How can there be self-knowledge for one
whose knowledge depends on what he sees? The wise do not see this and that, but
see themselves as unending. 18.40
How can there be cessation of thought
for the misguided who is striving for it? Yet it is there always naturally for
the wise person delighted in oneself. 18.41
Some think that something exists, and
others that nothing does. Rare is the person who does not think either, and is
thereby free from distraction. 18.42
Those of weak intelligence think of
themselves as pure nonduality, but because of their delusion they do not know
this, and remain unfulfilled all their lives. 18.43
The mind of the person seeking
liberation can find no resting place within, but the mind of the liberated
person is always free from desire by the very fact of being without a resting
place. 18.44
Seeing the tigers of the senses, the
frightened refuge-seekers at once enter the cave in search of cessation of
thought and one-pointedness. 18.45
Seeing the desireless lion, the
elephants of the senses silently run away, or, if they cannot flee, stay to
serve that king like flatterers. 18.46
The person who is free from doubts and
whose mind is free from longing and repulsion does not bother about means of
liberation. Whether seeing, hearing, feeling smelling or tasting, such a one
lives at ease. 18.47
One whose mind is pure and undistracted
from the simple hearing of the Truth sees neither something to do nor something
to avoid nor a cause for indifference. 18.48
The straightforward person does whatever
arrives to be done, good or bad, for such a one's actions are like those of a
child. 18.49
By inner freedom one attains happiness,
by inner freedom one reaches the Supreme, by inner freedom one comes to absence
of thought, by inner freedom to the Ultimate State. 18.50
When one sees oneself as neither the
doer nor the reaper of the consequences, then all mind waves come to an end.
18.51
The spontaneous unassumed behaviour of
the wise is noteworthy, but not the deliberate purposeful stillness of the
fool. 18.52
The wise who are rid of imagination,
unbound and with unfettered awareness may enjoy themselves in the midst of many
goods, or alternatively go off to mountain caves. 18.53
There is no attachment in the heart of a
wise person whether he sees or pays homage to a learned sage, a celestial
being, a holy place, a mate, a king or a friend. 18.54
A mystic is not in the least put out
even when humiliated by the ridicule of servants, sons, wives, grandchildren or
other relatives. 18.55
Even when pleased one is not pleased ,
not suffering even when in pain. Only those alike can know the wonderful state
of such a person. 18.56
It is the sense of responsibility which
is Samsara. The wise who are of the form of emptiness, formless, unchanging and
spotless see no such thing. 18.57
Even when doing nothing the fool is
agitated by restlessness, while a skilful person remains undisturbed even when
doing what there is to do. 18.58
Happy one stands, happy one sits, happy
sleeps and happy one comes and goes. Happy one speaks and is silent, and happy
one eats and yet fasts. This is the life of a person at peace. 18.59
One at home in one's very nature feels
no unhappiness in one's daily life like worldly people, remains undisturbed
like a great lake, now finds all sorrow gone. 18.60
Even abstention from action leads to
action in a fool, while even the action of the wise person brings the fruits of
inaction. 18.61
A fool often shows aversion towards
belongings, but for one whose attachment to the body has dropped away, there is
neither attachment nor aversion. 18.62
The mind of the fool is always caught in
thinking or not thinking, but the wise person's is of the nature of no-thought
because that one spontaneously thinks what should be thought. 18.63
For the seer who behaves like a child,
without desire in all actions, for such a pure one there is no attachment even
in the work being done. 18.64
Blessed is one who knows oneself and is
the same in all states, with a mind free from craving whether one is seeing,
hearing, feeling, smelling or tasting. 18.65
There is no person subject to Samsara,
sense of individuality, goal or means to the goal for the wise person who is
always free from imagination, and unchanging as space. 18.66
Glorious is one who has abandoned all
goals and is the incarnation of satisfaction; such a one's nature and inner
focus on the Unconditioned is quite spontaneous. 18.67
In brief, the great-souled person who
has come to know the Truth is without desire for either pleasure or liberation,
and is always and everywhere free from attachment. 18.68
What remains to be done by the person
who is pure awareness and has abandoned everything that can be expressed in
words from the highest heaven to the earth itself? 18.69
The pure person who has experienced the
Indescribable attains peace by one's own nature, realising that all this is
nothing but illusion, and that nothing is. 18.70
There are no rules, dispassion,
renunciation or meditation for one who is pure receptivity by nature, and who
admits no knowable form of being. 18.71
For one who shines with the radiance of
Infinity and is not subject to natural causality there is neither bondage,
liberation, pleasure nor pain. 18.72
Pure illusion reigns in Samsara which
continues until self realisation. The enlightened person lives in the beauty of
freedom from me and mine, from the sense of responsibility and from any
attachment. 18.73
For the seer who knows oneself as
imperishable and beyond pain there is neither knowledge, a world nor the sense
that `I am the body' or `the body is mine.' 18.74
No sooner does a person of low
intelligence give up activities like the elimination of thought than he falls
into mental chariot-racing and babble. 18.75
A fool does not get rid of stupidity
even on hearing the truth. He may appear outwardly free from imaginations, but
inside he is hankering after the senses still. 18.76
Though in the eyes of the world he is
active, the person who has shed action through knowledge finds no means of
doing or speaking anything. 18.77
For the wise person who is always
unchanging and fearless there is neither darkness nor light nor destruction,
nor anything. 18.78
There is neither fortitude, prudence nor
courage for the mystic whose nature is beyond description and free of
individuality. 18.79
There is neither heaven nor hell nor
even liberation during life. In a word, in the sight of the seer nothing exists
at all. 18.80
One neither longs for possessions nor
grieves at their absence. The calm mind of the sage is full of the nectar of
immortality. 18.81
The dispassionate does not praise the
good or blame the wicked. Content and equal in pain and pleasure, one sees
nothing that needs doing. 18.82
The wise person does not dislike samsara
or seek to know oneself. Free from pleasure and impatience, one is not dead and
one is not alive. 18.83
The wise person stands out by being free
from anticipation, without attachment to such things as children or mates, free
from desire for the senses, and not even concerned about one's own body. 18.84
Peace is everywhere for the wise person
who lives on whatever happens to come, going to wherever one feels like, and
sleeping wherever the sun happens to set. 18.85
Let one's body rise or fall. The
great-souled one gives it no thought, having forgotten all about samsara in
coming to rest on the ground of one's true nature. 18.86
The wise person has the joy of being
complete in oneself and without possessions, acting as one pleases, free from duality
and rid of doubts, and without attachment to any creature. 18.87
The wise person excels in being without
the sense of "me". Earth, a stone or gold are the same to such a one.
The knots of the heart have been rent asunder, and one is freed from greed and
blindness. 18.88
Who can compare with that contented,
liberated soul who pays no regard to anything and has no desire left in one's
heart? 18.89
Who but the upright person without
desire knows without knowing, sees without seeing and speaks without speaking?
18.90
Beggar or king, one excels who is
without desire, and whose opinion of things is rid of "good" and
"bad". 18.91
There is neither dissolute behaviour nor
virtue, nor even discrimination of the truth for the sage who has reached the
goal and is the very embodiment of guileless sincerity. 18.92
That which is experienced within by one
desireless and free from pain, and content to rest in himself - how could it be
described, and of whom? 18.93
The wise person who is contented in all
circumstances is not asleep even in deep sleep, not sleeping in a dream, nor
waking when he is awake. 18.94
The seer is without thoughts even when
thinking, without senses among the senses, without understanding even in
understanding and without a sense of responsibility even in the ego. 18.95
Neither happy nor unhappy, neither
detached nor attached, neither seeking liberation nor liberated, one is neither
something nor nothing. 18.96
Not distracted in distraction, in mental
stillness not poised, in stupidity not stupid, that blessed one is not even
wise in one's wisdom. 18.97
The liberated person is self-possessed
in all circumstances and free from the idea of "done" and "still
to do." Such a one is the same wherever and whenever, without greed. Such
a one does not dwell on what has been done or has not been done. 18.98
Such a one is not pleased when praised nor upset when blamed. One is not afraid of death nor a