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Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Poojya Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Chapter 18, Verse 90
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Ashtavakra Gita 18.90 -

जानन्नपि न जानाति पश्यन्नपि न पश्यति ।
ब्रुवन्नपि न च ब्रूते कोऽन्यो निर्वासनादृते

jānann-api na jānāti paśyann-api na paśyati .
bruvann-api na ca brūte ko’nyo nirvāsanād-ṛte .. 18-90..

Knowing well, he feels he knows not, seeing well, he feels he sees not, speaking well he feels he does not speak. Who but one freed from desires can excel like this?

Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

True spiritual wisdom is something wherein contradictions blend and dissolve. The whole attainment is not outside, in the physical world of objects, different from one another. It is solely within the body, in Consciousness, with no physicality and consequent distinctions, a point all seekers should keep in mind attentively.

Activity is the core of nature everywhere. Try not to flout or deny it on any ground. But the whole creation and activity revolve around a central, transcendental stillness – the Self, the Soul, each identifies as ‘I’. A proper knowledge of this central still presence, will breathe a sovereign note to our life, thinking and evaluation. That is the true spiritual wisdom and attainment.

The key for this lies in being desire-free. Vasishthadeva tells the Ayodhya prince Rama: For one whose mind is free of desires, naishkarmya, action-freeness is of no use, nor even activity. Practice of samadhi, japa, etc. also has no relevance to him. So precious, invaluable, is nir-vāsanatva, being desire-free (Yoga-vāsiṣṭha 4.57.27 ).

When the mind is thus freed from its fetter, action and no action, speech and no speech, seeing and not seeing, make no difference at all. The Knower freely does whatever he is naturally inclined to, with no let or hindrance, no hope or expectation. None but the desire-free can excel like this! Within the body, in the mind and Consciousness, no dent or mark of anything is caused. It is all an invisible still fullness, which has no parallel at all!

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