Chapter 1
Janaka
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
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
unperturbable, so hold to nothing but
consciousness. 1.17
Recognize
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
Swami Veet Chintan T'Zorba-Krsna
Jyotish
Shastracharya
& Vedic Astrologer of India
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