The Journey In Library · Sacred Texts · No. 14
The Ashtavakra Gita
The song of freedom, in Sanskrit and plain English with notes
Sanskrit · date uncertain, perhaps 8th–14th century CE · Advaita Vedanta
मुक्ताभिमानी मुक्तो हि बद्धो बद्धाभिमान्यपि ।
किंवदन्तीह सत्येयं या मतिः सा गतिर्भवेत् ॥
muktābhimānī mukto hi baddho baddhābhimāny api |
kiṃvadantīha satyeyaṃ yā matiḥ sā gatir bhavet ||
One who thinks of oneself as free is free, and one who thinks of oneself as bound is bound. The saying is true: as one thinks, so one becomes.
Loading download options…
From the book
Unlike the Bhagavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras, the Ashtavakra Gita offers almost no method. Its message is that you are already free, and that practices, rules and even meditation are more ideas to see through.
The book moves between Ashtavakra's teaching and Janaka's ecstatic replies, and ends with every distinction dissolving into silence.
What's inside
- About this edition
- Chapters 1–6: the teaching in brief and Janaka's awakening
- Chapters 7–17: bondage and freedom, letting go, abiding as one is
- Chapters 18–20: peace, resting in the self, freedom while living
About this edition
The original Sanskrit in Devanagari script, with a new translation into plain, modern English written for The Journey In, and short notes where a verse needs context.