The Teaching in Brief

Janaka said

कथं ज्ञानमवाप्तोऽति कथं मुक्तिर्भविष्यति ।वैराग्यं च कथं प्राप्तमेतद्ब्रूहि मम प्रभो ॥१॥

kathaṃ jñānamavāpto'ti kathaṃ muktirbhaviṣyati |vairāgyaṃ ca kathaṃ prāptametadbrūhi mama prabho ||1||

How is knowledge gained? How will freedom come? And how is detachment reached? Tell me this, master.

King Janaka of Videha appears in the Upanishads as a royal sage. He asks three questions; the sage Ashtavakra, whose name means "bent in eight places," answers them all at once, starting with the next verse.

Ashtavakra said

मुक्तिमिच्छसि चेत्तात विषयान्विषवत्त्यज ।क्षमार्जवदयातोष सत्यं पीयूषवद्भज ॥२॥

muktimicchasi cettāta viṣayānviṣavattyaja |kṣamārjavadayātoṣa satyaṃ pīyūṣavadbhaja ||2||

My son, if you want freedom, shun the objects of the senses as you would poison. Drink in patience, honesty, kindness, contentment, and truth as you would nectar.

न पृथ्वी न जलं नाग्निर्न वायुर्द्यौर्न वा भवान् ।एषां साक्षिणमात्मानं चिद्रूपं विद्धि मुक्तये ॥३॥

na pṛthvī na jalaṃ nāgnirna vāyurdyaurna vā bhavān |eṣāṃ sākṣiṇamātmānaṃ cidrūpaṃ viddhi muktaye ||3||

You are not earth, not water, not fire, not air, not space. To be free, know yourself as the witness of all these — awareness itself.

यदि देहं पृथक्कृत्य चिति विश्राम्य तिष्ठसि ।अधुनैव सुखी शान्तो बन्धमुक्तो भविष्यसि ॥४॥

yadi dehaṃ pṛthakkṛtya citi viśrāmya tiṣṭhasi |adhunaiva sukhī śānto bandhamukto bhaviṣyasi ||4||

If you set the body aside and rest in awareness, you will be happy, at peace, and free from bondage this very moment.

"This very moment" (adhunaiva) sets the tone of the whole book. Ashtavakra does not offer a gradual path. Freedom is not something to be reached later; it only needs to be recognized now.

न त्वं विप्रादिको वर्णो नाश्रमी नाक्षगोचरः ।असङ्गोऽसि निराकारो विश्वसाक्षी सुखी भव ॥५॥

na tvaṃ viprādiko varṇo nāśramī nākṣagocaraḥ |asaṅgo'si nirākāro viśvasākṣī sukhī bhava ||5||

You do not belong to the priestly class or any other. You are in no stage of life. You are not what the eyes see. Unattached, formless, the witness of all — be happy.

धर्माधर्मौ सुखं दुःखं मानसानि न ते विभो ।न कर्तासि न भोक्तासि मुक्त एवासि सर्वदा ॥६॥

dharmādharmau sukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ mānasāni na te vibho |na kartāsi na bhoktāsi mukta evāsi sarvadā ||6||

Right and wrong, pleasure and pain belong to the mind, not to you, allpervading one. You are not the one who acts or the one who enjoys. You are always free.

एको द्रष्टासि सर्वस्य मुक्तप्रायोऽसि सर्वदा ।अयमेव हि ते बन्धो द्रष्टारं पश्यसीतरम् ॥७॥

eko draṣṭāsi sarvasya muktaprāyo'si sarvadā |ayameva hi te bandho draṣṭāraṃ paśyasītaram ||7||

You are the one seer of everything, and you are always essentially free. Your only bondage is this: that you see someone other than yourself as the seer.

अहं कर्तेत्यहंमान महाकृष्णाहिदंशितः ।नाहं कर्तेति विश्वासा मृतं पीत्वा सुखी भव ॥८॥

ahaṃ kartetyahaṃmāna mahākṛṣṇāhidaṃśitaḥ |nāhaṃ karteti viśvāsā mṛtaṃ pītvā sukhī bhava ||8||

You have been bitten by the great black snake of the belief "I am the doer." Drink the nectar of the conviction "I am not the doer," and be happy.

एको विशुद्धबोधोऽहमिति निश्चयवह्निना ।प्रज्वाल्याज्ञानगहनं वीतसोकः सुखी भव ॥९॥

eko viśuddhabodho'hamiti niścayavahninā |prajvālyājñānagahanaṃ vītasokaḥ sukhī bhava ||9||

Burn the forest of ignorance with the fire of this certainty: "I am the one pure awareness." Free of sorrow, be happy.

यत्र विश्वमिदं भाति कल्पितं रज्जुसर्पवत् ।आनन्दपरमानन्दः स बोधस्त्वं सुखं चर ॥१०॥

yatra viśvamidaṃ bhāti kalpitaṃ rajjusarpavat |ānandaparamānandaḥ sa bodhastvaṃ sukhaṃ cara ||10||

That in which this world appears, imagined like a snake in a rope — that joy, that supreme joy, that awareness you are. Live happily.

The rope-and-snake image runs through all of Advaita. In dim light, a coiled rope looks like a snake and causes real fear. When a light is brought, the snake was never there. The world, Ashtavakra says, is imagined on awareness in the same way.

मुक्ताभिमानी मुक्तो हि बद्धो बद्धाभिमान्यपि ।किं वदन्तीह सत्येऽयं या मतिः सा गतिर्भवेत् ॥११॥

muktābhimānī mukto hi baddho baddhābhimānyapi |kiṃ vadantīha satye'yaṃ yā matiḥ sā gatirbhavet ||11||

One who thinks of himself as free is free; one who thinks of himself as bound is bound. As the saying goes here, "As you think, so you become."

आत्मा साक्षी विभुः पूर्ण एको मुक्तश्चिदक्रियः ।असङ्गो निस्पृहः शान्तो भ्रमात्संसारवानिव ॥१२॥

ātmā sākṣī vibhuḥ pūrṇa eko muktaścidakriyaḥ |asaṅgo nispṛhaḥ śānto bhramātsaṃsāravāniva ||12||

The self is the witness — all-pervading, complete, one, free, conscious, actionless, unattached, desireless, at peace. Only through illusion does it seem to be caught in the world.

कूटस्थं बोधमद्वैतमात्मानं परिभावय ।आभासोऽहं भ्रमं मुक्त्वा भावं बाह्यमथान्तरं ॥१३॥

kūṭasthaṃ bodhamadvaitamātmānaṃ paribhāvaya |ābhāso'haṃ bhramaṃ muktvā bhāvaṃ bāhyamathāntaraṃ ||13||

Meditate on the self as unchanging awareness, without a second. Give up the illusion that you are a reflection, and give up the idea of an outer and an inner.

देहाभिमानपाशेन चिरं बद्धोऽसि पुत्रक ।बोधोऽहं ज्ञानखड्गेन तन्निष्कृत्य सुखी भव ॥१४॥

dehābhimānapāśena ciraṃ baddho'si putraka |bodho'haṃ jñānakhaḍgena tanniṣkṛtya sukhī bhava ||14||

My child, you have long been caught in the noose of identifying with the body. Cut it with the sword of knowledge — "I am awareness" — and be happy.

निःसङ्गो निष्क्रियोऽसि त्वं स्वप्रकाशो निरञ्जनः ।अयमेव हि ते बन्धः समाधिमनुतिष्ठसि ॥१५॥

niḥsaṅgo niṣkriyo'si tvaṃ svaprakāśo nirañjanaḥ |ayameva hi te bandhaḥ samādhimanutiṣṭhasi ||15||

You are unattached, actionless, self-luminous, and spotless. This is your bondage: that you practice meditation.

A startling verse. Meditation as a technique assumes there is someone to be improved and somewhere to get to. For Ashtavakra, that assumption is itself the bondage.

त्वया व्याप्तमिदं विश्वं त्वयि प्रोतं यथार्थतः ।शुद्द्धबुद्धस्वरूपस्त्वं,मा गमः क्षुद्रचित्तताम् ॥१६॥

tvayā vyāptamidaṃ viśvaṃ tvayi protaṃ yathārthataḥ |śudddhabuddhasvarūpastvaṃ,mā gamaḥ kṣudracittatām ||16||

This universe is pervaded by you and truly woven in you. You are pure awareness by nature. Do not be small-minded.

निरपेक्षो निर्विकारो निर्भरः शीतलाशयः ।अगाधबुद्धिरक्षुब्धो भव चिन्मात्रवासनः ॥१७॥

nirapekṣo nirvikāro nirbharaḥ śītalāśayaḥ |agādhabuddhirakṣubdho bhava cinmātravāsanaḥ ||17||

Be without expectation, unchanging, full, of cool and quiet heart, unfathomable in understanding, unshaken. Hold to nothing but awareness.

साकारमनृतं विद्धि निराकारं तु निश्चलम् ।एतत्तत्त्वोपदेशेन न पुनर्भवसम्भवः ॥१८॥

sākāramanṛtaṃ viddhi nirākāraṃ tu niścalam |etattattvopadeśena na punarbhavasambhavaḥ ||18||

Know that what has form is unreal, and that the formless is unmoving. Through this teaching of truth, there is no more becoming.

यथैवादर्शमध्यस्थे रूपेऽन्तः परितस्तु सः ।तथैवास्मिन्शरीरेऽन्तः परितः परमेश्वरः ॥१९॥

yathaivādarśamadhyasthe rūpe'ntaḥ paritastu saḥ |tathaivāsminśarīre'ntaḥ paritaḥ parameśvaraḥ ||19||

Just as a mirror is both inside and outside the image seen in it, so the supreme Lord is inside and outside this body.

एकं सर्वगतं व्योम बहिरन्तर्यथा घटे ।नित्यं निरन्तरं ब्रह्म सर्वभूतगणे तथा ॥२०॥

ekaṃ sarvagataṃ vyoma bahirantaryathā ghaṭe |nityaṃ nirantaraṃ brahma sarvabhūtagaṇe tathā ||20||

Just as the one all-pervading space is both inside and outside a jar, so the eternal, unbroken Brahman is in all beings.