<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ashtavakra Gita<\/p>\n
\u2731<\/span><\/p>\n You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor space. You are the witness of those five elements as Consciousness. Understanding this is liberation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n If you detach yourself from the identification with the body and remain relaxed in and as Consciousness, you will, this very moment, be happy, at peace, free from bondage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Right and wrong, happiness and sorrow, are all attributes of the mind. You are neither the do-er nor the enjoy-er, you who have ever and always been free of all such attachments.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n You are that Consciousness \u2013 Supreme Peace \u2013 upon which appears this phenomenal manifestation, like the illusion of a snake on a rope. Live happily.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The Atman is the sole Witness, all-pervading, perfect, free Consciousness \u2013 actionless, unattached, desireless, at peace with itself. It is only through an illusion that it appears to be involved in samsara.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n You are unattached, actionless, self-effulgent, without blemish. This indeed is your bondage, that you practice meditation (as the doing of an ego, with expectation).<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Know that which has form to be unreal and the formless to be the real.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Just as the surface of a mirror exists within and without the image reflected in the mirror, so also the supreme Self exists within and without the physical body.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Just as the all-pervading space is both inside and outside the pot, so also the eternal all-pervading Consciousness is immanent in all beings and objects.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Just as waves foam and bubbles are not different from the water, so also the phenomenal universe appearing in Consciousness is not different from it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Why try to teach a pig to sing? You waste your time and you annoy the pig.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Knowledge, the knower and that which is known \u2013 the intellectual triad in phenomenality \u2013 do not exist in Reality. I am that stainless Consciousness in which this triad appears through ignorance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n How remarkable! In me, the limitless ocean, the waves of individual selves arise according to their inherent nature, meet and play with one another for a while, and then disappear.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n 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 (spontaneously)?<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Since you are pure, unattached Beingness, all that is necessary is the dissolution of the illusion of the \u2018me\u2019 as the individual \u2018doer\u2019 into the noumenal \u2018I\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n In the knowledge that you are perfection itself, the potential fullness of Plenum, unchangeable in misery and happiness, hope and despair, life and death, do enter into the state of dissolution without any fear.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Is there any stage or age when interrelated opposites have not affected people? The one who disidentifies himself from them and is content with whatever comes to him spontaneously, in the ordinary course, attains liberation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Intentions are the root of samsara. Therefore, the abandoning of intention and volition means dispassion with the world and freedom from bondage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n In the conviction that happiness and misery, birth and death, are parts of the natural process of causality, the man of wisdom, without any need to accomplish anything, is free from anxiety, and does not identify himself with anything he happens to be doing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n In the conviction that this manifested universe, wondrous though it may be in the magnificence and diversity of its phenomena, is truly illusory, the man of wisdom, without any desires identified with the pure Consciousness, remains in noumenal peace.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Having fully realized that deliberately abstaining from action is as much the outcome of ignorance as the volitional action, the man of wisdom abides in his natural state.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Thinking on the Unthinkable means merely another aspect of conceptualizing and objectivizing. Having realized this, the man of wisdom abides in his natural state.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Clearly understanding that nothing is actually \u2018done\u2019 in Reality, the man of wisdom remains established in his natural state, witnessing whatever happens.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Having realized his identity with the supreme Absolute, the Witness, there is complete indifference both to bondage and liberation, and the man of wisdom feels no concern even for enlightenment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n You are not the body, nor does the body belong to you. You are neither the doer nor the experiencer. You are Consciousness Itself, the eternal Impersonal Witness. Live in peace.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n All keep exerting themselves, and yet find themselves unhappy. They do not realize that it is this very volitional effort, based on desire, that brings about unhappiness. It is only through this very understanding that the blessed one reached awakening.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n One who has an aversion for sense objects is considered a renunciate, and one who covets them is considered sensual. But one who neither rejects nor covets is the one who is not concerned with them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Activity begets attachment; abstention from activity generates aversion. Rid of the bondage of opposites, the wise man, established in the Self, lives like a child.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n One who is attached to samsara wants to renounce it in order to free himself from misery. But one who is not so attached continues to remain in samsara and yet lives happily.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Rare in the world is the one on whom experiences do not leave impressions, and who does not hanker after any experiences still to be enjoyed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n It is possible to find in this world those who crave sensual gratification and also those who hanker after enlightenment. But rare indeed is the great one who cares neither for material enjoyment nor spiritual enlightenment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The man of wisdom does not wish for the dissolution of the universe, nor is he interested in its continuance. The blessed one lives perfectly contented with whatever turns up in life, neither abhorring objects of the senses, nor coveting them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n For the man of wisdom who has transcended dualities such as \u2018this is completed\u2019 and \u2018that is still to be completed\u2019, how can there be any question of duty, wealth, sense-enjoyment or discrimination?<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n He who perceives the universe as universe may have to deny its existence. But he who is without concepts is not concerned with the universe. He perceives it, and yet does not see it as something to be concerned about.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n He who perceives Brahman as something separate from himself may have to meditate on the principle \u2018I am Brahman\u2019. But he who has transcended all conceptualization and thus sees nothing as other than Consciousness, has No-thing to meditate upon.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n He who experiences distractions in himself finds it necessary to control such distractions, but what is there for the sage to do, who has not identified himself with any distractions?<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The sage is content to do whatever he is expected to be doing in his particular circumstance, but is not really involved either in the doing or the non-doing of it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The steady one, not interested in contentious reasoning and mentation, is free from conceptualization and is therefore always in repose. He has transcended thinking, knowing, hearing and perceiving.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The identified individual with a sense of volition acts even if he is not acting. On the other hand, the enlightened being, without any sense of personal doership, does not act even if there is action.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Neither by action nor by inaction does an ignorant person attain tranquility; the wise one becomes tranquil merely by understanding what tranquility is.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The ignorant person does not attain liberation in spite of various disciplines and methods for controlling the mind. The blessed one stands established in the Self merely through intuitive understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n With the split-mind healed into its holy Wholeness by the mere listening to the Truth, and with total serenity prevailing continually, the awakened sage is not concerned with the propriety or otherwise of any action, nor with inaction.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Though pleased, the sage is not pleased; though dejected, he is not dejected, though angry, he is not angry. Only those who are like him will understand this wonderful state of Beingness.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n There are some who believe in the existence of the phenomenal manifestation, and there are other who believe that the phenomenal manifestation does not exist. It is only the rare one who is not concerned with such concepts, and is therefore always serene, merely witnessing whatever happens.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n Those with an immature intellect may believe that the Atman is pure and without a second, yet they want to experience the Atman phenomenally as an independent entity. Therefore, they continue to be unhappy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The intellect of the seeker seeking enlightenment cannot function without a corresponding object as its support. The intellect of the liberated being is not limited and restricted by any desire even for liberation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n He whose sense of personal doership has dropped off through intuitive in-seeing of his true nature finds no reason to speak or do anything, even though in the eyes of the ordinary people he leads a normal working life.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The man of wisdom is devoid of thought even when he is thinking; he is devoid of sense organs even though he is endowed with it. He is devoid of the ego, even though he possesses it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2731<\/span><\/p>\n The liberated one who abides in the Self under all conditions, who is free of the concepts of action and duty, who is totally without desires, remains unconcerned with all actions that take place, and does not brood over what has been done and what has not been done.<\/span><\/p>\n \n