Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 16
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Ashtavakra Samhita Chapter 16
Ashtavakra Samhita Chapter 16 — Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
This chapter of Ashtavakra Samhita emphasizes Sage Ashtavakra’s relentless teaching that mere hearing or learning of scriptures does not bring self-seatedness. He dismisses enjoyment, activity and even inner absorption as exertional and exhausting. Everything pursued through effort ultimately leads to fatigue, and the seeker is guided toward effortless abidance.
The Sage describes all forms of striving as burdensome, suggesting that even the blinking of the eye involves exertion. The earnest seeker is therefore urged to cultivate total indifference and remain free from compulsive effort. Such a one, established in natural ease, becomes what Ashtavakra calls an “adept idler.”
The seeker must rise above all dualities, including bondage and liberation, and remain indifferent to the purusharthas. When both passion and dispassion lose their hold, and the mind rests in samatva, the Self shines uniformly, bringing poise, stability and inner ecstasy.
Ashtavakra explains that desire persists only in the absence of discrimination. When true discrimination arises, the nature of the “I” becomes clear and desire loses relevance. Freed from grief, pride and dependence, the knower transcends activity and inactivity, moving through the world like a child, immersed in the abundance of the sovereign Self.
भोगं कर्म समाधिं वा कुरु विज्ञ तथापि ते ।
चित्तं निरस्तसर्वाशमत्यर्थं रोचयिष्यति
bhogaṃ karma samadhiṃ vā kuru vijña tathāpi te .
cittaṃ nirasta-sarvāśam-atyarthaṃ rocayiṣyati .. 16-2..
O enlightened one, enjoy sensory delights, work hard or practise samadhi. Even then your mind will be yearning for experiencing the blissful Self, leaving all desires and the havoc they fetch.
षोडशोऽध्याय: –
अष्टावक्र उवाच ।
आचक्ष्व शृणु वा तात नानाशास्त्राण्यनेकश: ।
तथापि न तव स्वास्थ्यं सर्वविस्मरणादृते
ṣoḍaśo’dhyāyaḥ –
aṣṭāvakra uvāca ..
ācakṣva śṛṇu vā tāta nānā-śāstrāṇy-anekaśaḥ .
tathāpi na tava svāsthyaṃ sarva-vismaraṇād-ṛte .. 16-1..
Dear child, learn or hear many scriptures in many ways. Even then you will not have Self-seatedness except by forgetting all.
आयासात्सकलो दु:खी नैनं जानाति कश्चन ।
अनेनैवोपदेशेन धन्य: प्राप्नोति निर्वृतिम्
āyāsāt-sakalo duḥkhī nainaṃ jānāti kaścana .
anenaivopadeśena dhanyaḥ prāpnoti nirvṛtim .. 16-3..
All become miserable by exertion. But none knows this fact. The fortunate one, by this instruction, attains full redemption.
विरक्तो विषयद्वेष्टा रागी विषयलोलुप: ।
ग्रहमोक्षविहीनस्तु न विरक्तो न रागवान्
virakto viṣaya-dveṣṭā rāgī viṣaya-lolupaḥ .
graha-mokṣa-vihīnas-tu na virakto na rāgavān .. 16-6..
The dispassionate is a hater of sensory objects. The desireful is excessively indulgent in them. He who is bereft of both acceptance and rejection, is neither dispassionate nor desireful.
व्यापारे खिद्यते यस्तु निमेषोन्मेषयोरपि ।
तस्यालस्यधुरीणस्य सुखं नान्यस्य कस्यचित्
vyāpāre khidyate yastu nimeṣonmeṣayor-api .
tasyālasya dhurīṇasya sukhaṃ nānyasya kasyacit .. 16-4..
For him alone, an expert in idleness, who feels afflicted even in opening and closing his eyes, is happiness, not for anyone else.
इदं कृतमिदं नेति द्वन्द्वैर्मुक्तं यदा मन: ।
धर्मार्थकाममोक्षेषु निरपेक्षं तदा भवेत्
idaṃ kṛtam-idaṃ neti dvandvair-muktaṃ yadā manaḥ .
dharmārthakāma-mokṣeṣu nirapekṣaṃ tadā bhavet .. 16-5..
When the mind becomes freed from the notions ‘this is done’, ‘this is not done’, then it will have no yearning for all the purushārthas (human goals), namely righteousness, wealth, desire-gratification and liberation.
हेयोपादेयता तावत्संसारविटपाङ्कुर: ।
स्पृहा जीवति यावद्वै निर्विचारदशास्पदम्
heyopādeyatā tāvat-saṃsāra-viṭapāṅkuraḥ .
spṛhā jīvati yāvad-vai nirvicāra-daśāspadam .. 16-7..
As long as desire, grounded on the state of non-discrimination, reigns, so long the notions of rejectable and acceptable, the trunk and shoot of worldliness, also survive.
प्रवृत्तौ जायते रागो निर्वृत्तौ द्वेष एव हि ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो बालवद्धीमानेवमेव व्यवस्थित:
pravṛttau jāyate rāgo nirvṛttau dveṣa eva hi .
nirdvandvo bālavad-dhīmān-evam-eva vyavasthitaḥ .. 16-8..
Activity triggers desire, inactivity causes dislike too. The wise rises above dvandvas and lives and moves like a child.
हातुमिच्छति संसारं रागी दु:खजिहासया ।
वीतरागो हि निर्दु:खस्तस्मिन्नपि न खिद्यति
hātum-icchati saṃsāraṃ rāgī duḥkha-jihāsayā .
vīta-rāgo hi nirduḥkhas-tasminn-api na khidyati .. 16-9..
The desireful and greedy aspires to renounce the world, intending to avoid unhappiness. He who has risen above desire, being freed of grief, does not feel tormented in the world.
यस्याभिमानो मोक्षेऽपि देहेऽपि ममता तथा ।
न च ज्ञानी न वा योगी केवलं दु:खभागसौ
yasyābhimāno mokṣe’pi dehe’pi mamatā tathā .
na ca jñānī na vā yogī kevalaṃ duḥkha-bhāg-asau ..16-10..
He who has pride even in liberation, equally so possessiveness about the body, is not a Knower, not a yogi. He is but a receptacle of unhappiness and grief.
हरो यद्युपदेष्टा ते हरि: कमलजोऽपि वा ।
तथापि न तव स्वास्थ्यं सर्वविस्मरणादृते
haro yady-upadeṣṭā te hariḥ kamalajo’pi vā .
tathāpi na tava svāsthyaṃ sarva-vismaraṇād-ṛte .. 16-11..
Let Lord Hara (Shiva) be your spiritual Instructor, or Lord Hari (Mahavishnu) or even Brahma, the lotus-born. Even then you will not have the quietitude of the Soul unless you are able to forget everything totally.
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