Ashtavakra

“ I am consciousness. It was my thirst for living that was my bondage.
23 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.
24 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.
25 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. ”

“ I am the spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance.
16 Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realization that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness.
17 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.
18 For me there is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. ”

“ Bondage is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Establishing yourself in firm dispassion, be free of passion and happy.
4 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.
5 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Recognising it to be insubstantial, comtemptible and only fit for rejection, one attains peace.
4 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.
5 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?
6 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ From ignorance of the rope a snake appears, and by knowledge of it, it appears no longer.
8 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Everywhere he appears self-possessed and pure of heart.
12 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.
13 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.
14 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. ”

“ For liberation know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these.
4 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 does. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”