JANAKA (the king)
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 (the Sage)
If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like
poison. Practice tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and
truthfulness like nectar. 1.2
You are neither earth, water, fire, air or even
ether. For liberation 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
You do not belong to the Brahmin 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 - so 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, so you are always free. 1.6
You are the one witness of everything, and are
always totally free. The cause of your bondage is that you see the witness as
something other than this. 1.7
Since you have been bitten by the black snake
of the self-opinion that "I am the doer", drink the nectar of faith
in the fact that "I am not the doer", and be happy. 1.8
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
That in which all this appears - imagined like
the snake in a rope, that joy, supreme joy and awareness is what you are, so
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 is
true, "Thinking makes it so". 1.11
Your real nature is as the one perfect, free,
and actionless consciousness, the all-pervading witness - unattached to
anything, desireless and at peace. It is from illusion that you seem to be
involved in samsara. 1.12
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 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 and imperturbable, 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
Just as a mirror exists everywhere both within
and apart from its reflected images, so the Supreme Lord exists everywhere
within 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 God exists in
the totality of things. 1.20
JANAKA
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 I do to
the world, As a result the whole world is mine, or alternatively nothing is.
2.2
So now abandoning the body and everything else,
by some good fortune or other 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
In the same way that cloth is found to be just
thread when analysed, 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 it, it appears no longer. 2.7
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, the mirage of water in the sunlight, and
silver in mother of pearl. 2.9
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
How wonderful I am! Glory be to me, for whom
there is no destruction, remaining even beyond the destruction of the world
from Brahma down to the last clump of grass. 2.11
How wonderful I am! Glory be to me, solitary
even though with a body, neither going or coming anywhere, I who abide
forever, filling all that is. 2.12
How wonderful I am! Glory be to me! There is no
one so clever as me! I who have borne all that is forever, without even
touching it with my body! 2.13
How wonderful I am! Glory be to me! I who
possess nothing at all, or alternatively possess everything that speech and
mind can refer to. 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 because of ignorance. 2.15
Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There
is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that we see is
unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness.
2.16
I am pure awareness though through ignorance I
have imagined myself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting
like this, my dwelling place is in the Unimagined. 2.17
For me there 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 pure imagination. What is there left to
do for me 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,
that stimulated by the colourful waves of the worlds everything suddenly
arises in the wind of consciousness. 2.23
It is in the limitless ocean of myself, that
the wind of thought subsides, and the trader-like living beings' world bark
is wrecked 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
Knowing yourself as truly one and
indestructible, how could a wise man possessing self-knowledge like you 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 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 wanting what gives rise to
increase of body consciousness? 3.4
When the sage has realised that he himself is
in all beings, and all beings are in him, it is astonishing that the sense of
individuality should be able to continue. 3.5
It is astonishing that a man who is established
in the supreme non-dual state and is intent on the benefits of liberation
should still be diverted by imagined dualistic attractions. 3.6
It is astonishing that one already very
debilitated, and knowing very well that its arousal is the enemy of knowledge
should still hanker after sensuality, even when approaching his 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 man is
always aware of his supreme self-nature and is neither pleased nor
disappointed. 3.9
The great souled person sees even his own body
in action as if it were some-one else's, so how should he 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 even in disappointment, and who has found
satisfaction in self-knowledge? 3.12
How should a strong-minded person, who knows
that what he sees is by its very nature nothing, 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, an object of enjoyment that comes
of itself is neither painful nor pleasurable. 3.14
ASHTAVAKRA
Certainly the wise person of self-knowledge,
playing the game of worldly enjoyment, bears no resemblance whatever to the
world's bewildered beasts of burden. 4.1
Truly the yogi feels no excitement even at
being established in that state which all the Devas 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 himself from living as he pleases? 4.4
Of all four categories of beings, from Brahma
down to the last clump of grass, only the man of knowledge is capable of
eliminating desire and aversion. 4.5
Rare is the man who knows himself as the
undivided Lord of the world, and no fear occurs to him who knows this from
anything. 4.6
ASHTAVAKRA
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
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 then 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 then 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 then there is neither
renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it. 6.4
JANAKA
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the
world bark wanders here and there, driven by its own inner wind. I am not
upset by that. 7.1
Let the world wave rise or vanish of its own
nature 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
there to take up or reject ? 7.5
ASHTAVAKRA
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, do not hold on and do not reject. 8.4
ASHTAVAKRA
Knowing when the dualism of things done and
undone has been put to rest, or the person for whom they occur has, then you
can here and now go beyond renunciation and obligations by indifference to
such things. 9.1
Rare indeed, my son, is the lucky man whose
observation of the world's behaviour has led to the extinction of his thirst
for living, thirst for pleasure and thirst for knowledge. 9.2
All this is impermanent and spoilt by the three
sorts of pain. Recognising it to be insubstantial, contemptible and only fit
for rejection, one attains peace. 9.3
When was that age or time of life when the
dualism of extremes did not exist for men? Abandoning them, a person who is
happy to take whatever comes attains 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
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
Abandoning desire, the enemy, along with gain,
itself so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the other
two - practice indifference to everything. 10.1
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, see samsara in it.
Establishing yourself in firm dispassion, 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
Unmoved and undistressed, realising 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 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
remembers things done or undone. 11.6
Realising, "It is just me, from Brahma
down to the last clump 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
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 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
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, 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 doing
something 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
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, I live as I please in the goal of human
existence. 13.2
Recognising that in reality no action is ever
committed, I live as I please, just doing what presents itself to be done.
13.3
Yogis who identify themselves with their 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
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
When my desire has been eliminated, I have no
wealth, friends, robber 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
While a man of pure intelligence may achieve
the goal by the most casual of instruction, another may seek knowledge all
his life and still remain bewildered. 15.1
Liberation is distaste for 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 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
Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but
the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless, awareness
itself and 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 son, have faith. Don't let
yourself be deluded in this, sir. You are yourself the Lord, whose property
is knowledge, and 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 gained or lost, who consist of
pure consciousness? 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 son, 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 "This is
what I am", and "I am not that", recognise that
"Everything is myself", and be without distinction and 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 from 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 and against. Be at peace and remain happily in
yourself, the essence of joy. 15.19
Give up the practice of concentration
completely and hold nothing in your mind. You are free in your very nature,
so what will you achieve by working your brain? 15.20
ASHTAVAKRA
My son, 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, and beyond all goals. 16.2
It is because of effort that everyone is in
pain, but no-one realises it. By just this simple instruction, the lucky one
attains tranquillity. 16.3
Happiness belongs to no-one but that supremely
lazy man for whom even opening and closing his 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 man is abstemious and 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 lack
of discrimination, remains, the sense of revulsion and attraction will
remain, which is the root and branch of samsara. 16.7
Desire springs from usage, and aversion from
abstention, but the wise man is free from the pairs of opposites like a
child, and becomes established. 16.8
The passionate man wants to be rid of samsara so
as to avoid pain, but the dispassionate man is without pain and feels no
distress even in it. 16.9
He who is proud about even liberation or his
own body, and feels them his own, is neither a seer or a yogi. He 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
He who is content, with purified senses, and
always enjoys solitude, has gained the fruit of knowledge and the fruit of
the practice of yoga 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 these senses please a man who has found
satisfaction within, just as Nimba leaves do not please the elephant that has
a taste for Sallaki leaves. 17.3
Not attached to the things he has enjoyed, and
not hankering after the things he has not enjoyed, such a man is hard to
find. 17.4
Those who desire pleasure and those who desire
liberation are both found in samsara, but the great souled man 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
He feels no desire for the elimination of all
this, nor anger at its continuing, so the lucky man lives happily with
whatever means of sustenance presents itself. 17.7
Thus fulfilled through this knowledge,
contented and with the thinking mind emptied, he lives happily just seeing,
hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting. 17.8
In him for whom the ocean of samsara has dried
up, there is neither attachment or aversion. His gaze is vacant, his
behaviour purposeless, and his senses inactive. 17.9
Surely the supreme state is everywhere for the
liberated mind. He is neither awake or asleep, and neither opens or 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
Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting,
speaking and walking about, the great souled man who is freed from trying to
achieve or avoid anything is free indeed. 17.12
The liberated man is free from desires
everywhere. He does not blame, does not praise, does not rejoice, is not
disappointed, and neither gives nor takes. 17.13
When a great souled one is equally unperturbed
in mind and self- possessed at the sight of a woman full of desire and at
approaching death, he is truly liberated. 17.14
There is no distinction between pleasure and
pain, man and woman, success and failure for the wise man who looks on
everything as equal. 17.15
There is no aggression or compassion, no pride
or humility, no wonder or confusion for the man whose days of running about
are over. 17.16
The liberated man is not averse to the senses
and nor is he attached to them. He enjoys himself 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
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 man does not act even in acting. 17.19
He whose thinking mind is dissolved achieves
the indescribable state and is free from the mental display of delusion,
dream and ignorance. 17.20
ASHTAVAKRA
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 is
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 non being. 18.4
The realm of one's own 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
himself as eternally free, how should the wise man behave like a fool? 18.7
Knowing himself to be God and being and
non-being just imagination, what should the man free from desire learn, say
or do? 18.8
Considerations like "I am this" or
"I am not this" are finished for the yogi who has gone silent
realising "Everything is myself". 18.9
For the yogi 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 among men or in the forest, these make no difference to a yogi
whose nature it is to be free from distinctions. 18.11
There is no religion, wealth, sensuality or
discrimination for a yogi 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 his heart for the yogi liberated while still alive. Things are
just for a 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
He by whom all this is seen may well make out
he doesn't exist, but what is the desireless one to do? Even in seeing he
does not see. 18.15
He by whom the Supreme Brahma is seen may think
"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 in himself, even when living like a
worldly man. 18.18
Nothing is done by him who is free from being
and non-being, who is contented, desireless and wise, even if in the world's
eyes he does act . 18.19
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
He 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. He lives always with a peaceful mind and as if without a
body. 18.22
He whose joy is in himself, and who is peaceful
and pure within has no desire for renunciation or sense of loss in anything.
18.23
For the man with a naturally empty mind, doing
just as he 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
He who acts without being able to say why, but
not because he is a fool, he is one liberated while still alive, happy and
blessed. He thrives even in samsara. 18.26
He who has had enough of endless considerations
and has attained to peace, does not think, know, hear or see. 18.27
He who is beyond mental stillness and
distraction, does not desire either liberation or anything else. Recognising
that things are just constructions of the imagination, that great soul lives
as God here and now. 18.28
He who feels responsibility within, acts even
when not acting, but there is no sense of done or undone for the wise man who
is free from the sense of responsibility. 18.29
The mind of the liberated man is not upset or
pleased. It shines unmoving, desireless, and free from doubt. 18.30
He whose mind does not set out to meditate or
act, meditates and acts without an object. 18.31
A stupid man is bewildered when he hears the real
truth, while even a clever man 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 man find peace within simply by
knowing the truth. 18.34
People cannot come to know themselves by
practices - pure awareness, clear, complete, beyond multiplicity and
faultless though they are. 18.35
The stupid does not achieve liberation even
through regular practice, but the fortunate remains free and actionless
simply by discrimination. 18.36
The stupid does not attain Godhead because he
wants to become it, while the wise man 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 its unhappiness. 18.38
The stupid does not find peace because he is
wanting it, while the wise discriminating the truth is always peaceful
minded. 18.39
How can there be self knowledge for him 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 man delighted in himself. 18.41
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
Those of weak intelligence think of themselves
as pure nonduality, but because of their delusion do not know this, and
remain unfulfilled all their lives. 18.43
The mind of the man seeking liberation can find
no resting place within, but the mind of the liberated man 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, serve him like courtiers. 18.46
The man who is free from doubts and whose mind
is free does not bother about means of liberation. Whether seeing, hearing,
feeling smelling or tasting, he lives at ease. 18.47
He 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 his 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, intentional 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
man whether he sees or pays homage to a learned Brahmin, a celestial being, a
holy place, a woman, a king or a friend. 18.54
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
Even when pleased he is not pleased , not
suffering even when in pain. Only those like him can know the wonderful state
of such a man. 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 man remains undisturbed even when doing what
there is to do. 18.58
Happy he stands, happy he sits, happy he sleeps
and happy he comes and goes. Happy he speaks, and happy he eats. Such is the
life of a man at peace. 18.59
He who of his very nature feels no unhappiness
in his daily life like worldly people, remains undisturbed like a great lake,
all sorrow gone. 18.60
Even abstention from action leads to action in
a fool, while even the action of the wise man brings the fruits of inaction.
18.61
A fool often shows aversion towards his
belongings, but for him 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 an
opinion about becoming or avoiding something, but the wise man's nature is to
have no opinions about becoming and avoiding. 18.63
For the seer who behaves like a child, without
desire in all actions, there is no attachment for such a pure one even in the
work he he does. 18.64
Blessed is he who knows himself and is the same
in all states, with a mind free from craving whether he is seeing, hearing,
feeling, smelling or tasting. 18.65
There is no man subject to samsara, sense of
individuality, goal or means to the goal for the wise man who is always free
from imaginations, and unchanging as space. 18.66
Glorious is he who has abandoned all goals and
is the incarnation of satisfaction, his very nature, and whose inner focus on
the Unconditioned is quite spontaneous. 18.67
In brief, the great-souled man 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 man 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 man who has experienced the
Indescribable attains peace by his 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 admits no knowable
form of being? 18.71
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
Pure illusion reigns in samsara which will
continue until self realisation, but the enlightened man 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 himself as imperishable
and beyond pain there is neither knowledge, a world nor the sense that I am
the body or the body mine. 18.74
No sooner does a man 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 his 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 man who has shed action through knowledge finds no means of doing or
speaking anything. 18.77
For the wise man 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 yogi whose nature is beyond description and free of
individuality. 18.79
There is neither heaven nor hell nor even
liberation during life. In a nutshell, in the sight of the seer nothing
exists at all. 18.80
He 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, he sees nothing
that needs doing. 18.82
The wise man does not dislike samsara or seek
to know himself. Free from pleasure and impatience, he is not dead and he is
not alive. 18.83
The wise man stands out by being free from
anticipation, without attachment to such things as children or wives, free
from desire for the senses, and not even concerned about his own body. 18.84
Peace is everywhere for the wise man who lives
on whatever happens to come to him, going to wherever he feels like, and
sleeping wherever the sun happens to set. 18.85
Let his 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 his true nature. 18.86
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
The wise man excels in being without the sense
of "me". Earth, a stone or gold are the same to him. The knots of
his heart have been rent asunder, and he 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 his heart?
18.89
Who but the upright man without desire knows
without knowing, sees without seeing and speaks without speaking? 18.90
Beggar or king, he 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
How can one describe what is experienced within
by one desireless and free from pain, and content to rest in himself - and of
whom? 18.93
The wise man 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, he 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 his wisdom. 18.97
The liberated man is self-possessed in all
circumstances and free from the idea of "done" and "still to
do". He is the same wherever he is and without greed. He does not dwell
on what he has done or not done. 18.98
He is not pleased when praised nor upset when
blamed. He is not afraid of death nor attached to life. 18.99
A man at peace does not run off to popular
resorts or to the forest. Whatever and wherever, he remains the same. 18.100
JANAKA
Using the tweezers of the knowledge of the
truth I have managed to extract the painful thorn of endless opinions from
the recesses of my heart. 19.1
For me, established in my own glory, there is
no religion, sensuality, possessions, philosophy, duality or even
non-duality. 19.2
For me established in my own glory, there is no
past, future or present. There is no space or even eternity. 19.3
For me established in my own glory, there is no
self or non-self, no good or evil, no thought or even absence of thought.
19.4
For me established in my own glory, there is no
dreaming or deep sleep, no waking nor fourth state beyond them, and certainly
no fear. 19.5
For me established in my own glory, there is
nothing far away and nothing near, nothing within or without, nothing large
and nothing small. 19.6
For me established in my own glory, there is no
life or death, no worlds or things of the world, no distraction and no
stillness of mind. 19.7
For me remaining in myself, there is no need
for talk of the three goals of life, of yoga or of knowledge. 19.8
JANAKA
In my unblemished nature there are no elements,
no body, no faculties no mind. There is no void and no anguish. 20.1
For me, free from the sense of dualism, there
are no scriptures, no self-knowledge, no mind free from an object, no
satisfaction and no freedom from desire. 20.2
There is no knowledge or ignorance, no
"me", "this" or "mine", no bondage, no
liberation, and no property of self-nature. 20.3
For him who is always free from individual
characteristics there is no antecedent causal action, no liberation during
life, and no fulfillment at death. 20.4
For me, free from individuality, there is no
doer and no reaper of the consequences, no cessation of action, no arising of
thought, no immediate object, and no idea of results. 20.5
There is no world, no seeker for liberation, no
yogi, no seer, no-one bound and no-one liberated. I remain in my own non-dual
nature. 20.6
There is no emanation or return, no goal,
means, seeker or achievement. I remain in my own non-dual nature. 20.7
For me who am forever unblemished, there is no
judge, no standard, nothing to judge, and no judgement. 20.8
For me who am forever actionless, there is no
distraction or one- pointedness of mind, no lack of understanding, no
stupidity, no joy and no sorrow. 20.9
For me who am always free from deliberations
there is neither conventional truth nor absolute truth, no happiness and no
suffering. 20.10
For me who am forever pure there is no
illusion, no samsara, no attachment or detachment, no living being and no
God. 20.11
For me who am forever unmovable and
indivisible, established in myself, there is no activity or inactivity, no
liberation and no bondage. 20.12
For me who am blessed and without limitation,
there is no initiation or scripture, no disciple or teacher, and no goal of
human existence. 20.13
There is no being or non-being, no unity or
dualism. What more is there to say? Nothing arises out of me. 20.14
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