Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 11
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Chapter 11 of Ashtavakra Samhita teaches that existence, non-existence and change arise according to the intrinsic nature of each. With this understanding, one becomes restful and free from agitation. Sage Ashtavakra points to the Self as the sole source of creation, sustenance and dissolution, urging the seeker to live without clinging or desire.
Knowing that fortune and misfortune, sukha and duhkha, birth and death unfold through Providence, one should remain content and unshaken. Rather than grieving or longing, the seeker lives actively and harmoniously, aligned with the natural order.
The Sage explains that concern is the root of misery and affliction. Freedom from anxiety brings peace and happiness. The wise person abandons mental burden and rests in inner composure.
When one realizes, “I am not the body; I am Consciousness alone,” all notions of what has been done or left undone disappear. The seeker attains singularness and becomes free from doubt, striving and the idea of gain or loss. Recognizing the manifold universe as insubstantial, he abides as pure Consciousness, needing nothing and resting in unshakeable quietude.
एकादशोऽध्याय: – अष्टावक्र उवाच । भावाभावविकारश्च स्वभावादिति निश्चयी ।
निर्विकारो गतक्लेश: सुखेनैवोपशाम्यति
ekādaśo’dhyāyaḥ -aṣṭāvakra uvāca ..bhāvābhāva-vikāraś-ca svabhāvād-iti niścayī .nirvikāro gata-kleśaḥ sukhenaivopaśāmyati .. 11-1..
Existence, non-existence and existential changes are all due to the intrinsic nature of each. Discerning and resolving like this, one becomes comfortably restful in himself, without perturbation and undue exertion.
ईश्वर: सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी ।
अन्तर्गलितसर्वाश: शान्त: क्वापि न सज्जते
īśvaraḥ sarva-nirmātā nehānya iti niścayī .
antar-galita-sarvāśaḥ śāntaḥ kvāpi na sajjate .. 11-2..
God is the sole creator of all, and none else here. Thinking and resolving like this, all desires of the heart having fallen off, one becomes quiescent, without getting attached to anything.
आपद: सम्पद: काले दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
तृप्त: स्वस्थेन्द्रियो नित्यं न वाञ्छति न शोचति
āpadaḥ sampadaḥ kāle daivād-eveti niścayī .
tṛptaḥ svasthendriyo nityaṃ na vāñchati na śocati .. 11-3..
Deciding that misfortunes and fortunes are brought in time by Providence, always being content, unshaken by the senses, one desires not and grieves not.
सुखदु:खे जन्ममृत्यू दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
साध्यादर्शी निरायास: कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते
sukha-duḥkhe janma-mṛtyū daivād-eveti niścayī .
sādhyādarśī nirāyāsaḥ kurvann-api na lipyate .. 11-4..
Realizing that sukha and duḥkha as well as birth and death transpire at the behest of Providence, the Knower finds nothing to be striven for. Yet he does effortlessly whatever comes to be done and does not get stained.
चिन्तया जायते दु:खं नान्यथेहेति निश्चयी ।
तया हीन: सुखी शान्त: सर्वत्र गलितस्पृह:
cintayā jāyate duḥkhaṃ nānyatheheti niścayī .
tayā hīnaḥ sukhī śāntaḥ sarvatra galita-spṛhaḥ .. 11-5..
One, realizing that from concernful thought misery is born, not from any other source, gets rid of it and becomes happy, peaceful and desire-free everywhere.
नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी ।
कैवल्यमिव सम्प्राप्तो न स्मरत्यकृतं कृतम्
nāhaṃ deho na me deho bodho’hamiti niścayī .
kaivalyam-iva samprāpto na smaraty-akṛtaṃ kṛtam .. 11-6..
Whoever realizes ‘I am not the body, nor have I the body. I am Consciousness alone’ does not remember anything done or not done, as if he has attained singularness, kaivalya.
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी ।
निर्विकल्प: शुचि: शान्त: प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृत:
ābrahma-stamba-paryantam-aham-eveti niścayī .
nirvikalpaḥ śuciḥ śāntaḥ prāptāprāpta-vinirvṛtaḥ .. 11-7..
Confirmed in the realization that from Brahma down to a bunch of grass, I, the Self, alone is/am, one remains free of doubt, pure, quiescent, bereft of the notions of having attained and not attained.
नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदिति निश्चयी ।
निर्वासन: स्फूर्तिमात्रो न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति
nānāścaryam-idaṃ viśvaṃ na kiñcid-iti niścayī .
nirvāsanaḥ sphūrti-mātro na kiñcid-iva śāmyati .. 11-8..
He who resolves that this wonderful manifold universe is in reality a nothing, being desire-free, becomes the pure Consciousness itself and attains quietitude, as if nothing is present to involve him the least.
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