Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 10, Verse 2
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Ashtavakra Gita 10.2 -
स्वप्नेन्द्रजालवत्पश्य दिनानि त्रीणि पञ्च वा ।
मित्रक्षेत्रधनागारदारदायादिसम्पद:
svapnendra-jālavat-paśya dināni trīṇi pañca vā .
mitra-kṣetra-dhanāgāra-dāra-dāyādi-sampadaḥ .. 10-2..
Look at friends, land, wealth, house, wife, gifts and other fortunes, lasting for three or five days, as a mere display of dream or a magic show.
Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Sage Ashtavakra’s instruction is to enable the seeker to get fully anchored in his own Self, yet live, move and act benefiting the world. He has no conflict, instead has all the harmony with everything and all.
Anyone not given to spiritual introspection is overtaken by the world, subdued by one desire or another. His only concern is to grab from the world. In the end he leaves the world un-enjoyed. The world eats him up totally.
By introspecting over the ephemeral nature of every possible gain from the world, for instance friends, land, wealth, house, wife or a variety of gifts, his interest becomes more and more the Self alone. Everything else is like the scene and sight of dream, or the magician’s display on the stage.
Once this realization sets in, the seeker withdraws from all of them. And the only presence he looks to, rests upon, is the Subject Self within, the witness of all. The Subject is unlike the objects seen. It is eternal and blissful. Firmly seated in it, one is not the least dislodged or shaken, for all else is illusory, a mere image, as in dream or magic.
See how the Knower’s intelligence is able to outlive the whole world display and be anchored in his own Self. What an enviable mastery!
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