Chapter Three


Ashtavakra responds:

How is it that having understood your true nature as the serene, indestructible One, you continue to be attached to the acquisition of wealth?  (46)

Attachment to the illusory objects of senses arises out of ignorance of the Self, just as greed for silver arises from the illusion created by the mother-of-pearl.  (47)

Having known that you are That in which arises the phenomenal universe like waves on the ocean, why do you run about like a wretched being?  (48)

Having heard one’s identity as the incomparably beautiful Noumenon, how is it possible for one to continue to be attracted to sensual objects, and thus debase oneself?  (49)

It is, indeed, strange that the sense of ‘mine-ness’ should continue to prevail in a sage who has realized the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self.  (50)

It is, indeed, strange that one abiding in the supreme, transcendent non-duality, and intent on liberation, should be subject to lust, and weakened by amorous activities.  (51)

It is a strange fact of this world that a man physically weak, and obviously at the end of his life, should lust for sensual pleasure even after being aware that lust is an enemy of knowledge.  (52)

It is strange that one who is supposed to have developed dispassion towards this world, and the next, who is supposed to be able to discriminate between the intransient and the transient, and is in search of emancipation, should yet fear the dissolution of the body.  (53)

Whether he is feted and feasted, or pestered and annoyed, the serene one, with the perception of the Self, is neither gratified or upset.  (54)

The wise one witnesses the actions of his own body as if he is witnessing those of another body.  How then can he be affected by praise or blame?  (55)

How can the serene one, knowing that the phenomenal universe is mere illusion, and being without any curiosity regarding it, be affected by any fear, even with the approach of death?  (56)

With whom can we compare the most superior being, abiding in Consciousness, perfectly content, and not desirous of anything, even liberation?  (57)

Why should the serene one, who is aware of the emptiness of all phenomenal objects, have any preference for things as being acceptable or unacceptable?  (58)

He who has ceased to conceptualize, and is, therefore, free from attachment to sense objects, beyond the interrelated pairs of opposites, and free from volition, accepts with equanimity whatever comes his way in the normal course.  (59)

Says Janaka:

O, Hunta, the man of understanding, knowing his true nature, who takes part in the game of living, can never be compared with the beasts who carry burdens in life.  (60)

Abiding in that state which Indra and the other gods hanker after pitifully, the yogi is not particularly elated.  (61)

The heart of the jnani is not touched by virtue and vice, just as the sky is not affected by smoke, even though it might appear so.  (62)

Who can prevent the Self-realized one, who has known the unicity of the unmanifest noumenon and the phenomenal manifestation, from acting as he wishes?  (63)

Of the four kinds of created beings, from Brahma to a blade of grass, it is only the wise one who is capable of renouncing both desire and aversion.  (64)

Rare is the man who knows the noumenon as one without a second, the lord of the universe.  He does what he considers worth doing, and has no fear from any quarter.  (65)

Ashtavakra responds:

Since you are pure, unattached beingness, where is the question of your renouncing anything?  All that is necessary is the disidentification with the psychosomatic apparatus, and the dissolution of the illusion of the ‘me’ into the noumenal ‘I’.  (66)

In the knowledge that the universe arises in yourself as the Consciousness, like bubbles in the ocean, enter into the state of dissolution.  (67)

In the knowledge that the appearance of the phenomenal universe is an illusion, like that of the snake in the rope, and that, although it seems real to the senses, you as the pure noumenon completely transcend it, enter into the state of dissolution.  (68)

In the knowledge that you are perfection itself, the potential fullness of plenum, the unchanged in misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death, enter into the state of dissolution.  (69)

Janaka says:

I am limitless as the space, whereas the phenomenal world is like a pot.  This is knowledge.  There is no question, therefore, of any renouncement, or any acceptance, or any dissolution.  (70)

I am like the ocean, and the phenomenal universe is like a wave.  This is knowledge.  There is, therefore, no question of any renouncement, or any acceptance, or any dissolution.  (71)

I am like the mother-of-pearl, and the illusion of the universe is like that of the silver.  This is knowledge.  There is, therefore, no question of any renouncement, or any acceptance, or any dissolution.  (72)

I am, indeed, present in all beings, and all beings in Me.  This is knowledge.  There is, therefore, no question of any renouncement, or any acceptance, or any dissolution.  (73)

In Me, the boundless ocean, the bark of the universe gets tossed about by the winds of its own inherent nature.  I am not affected.  (74)

In Me, the limitless ocean, let the waves of the universe arise, and then disappear according to their inherent nature.  I experience neither any expansion, nor any contraction.  (75)

In Me, the limitless ocean, exists the illusion of the universe.  Being formless, I am supremely tranquil.  In this do I abide.  (76)

The subjective Self is not in the object, nor is the object in the Subjective Self, which is infinite, and without any taint of any kind.  It is free from attachment and desire, and thus, tranquil.  In this do I abide.  (77)

Indeed, What-I-Am is pure Consciousness, and the world is like a magician’s show.  How can there be any question of rejection or acceptance for Me.  (78)