Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 2, Verse 19
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Ashtavakra Gita 2.19 - Self-Realization and the Nature of Consciousness
सशरीरमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदिति निश्चितम् ।
शुद्धचिन्मात्र आत्मा च तत्कस्मिन्कल्पनाधुना
saśarīram-idaṃ viśvaṃ na kiñcid-iti niścitam .
śuddha-cinmātra ātmā ca tatkasminkalpanādhunā .. 2-19..
My intelligence has clearly determined that the Universe along with my body is verily nothing to be considered as existence. So far as the Self is concerned, it is pure Consciousness alone. On what now can any imagination be based?
Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Janaka comes forth with another line of thinking on the basis of his realization. Senses are situated on our body. Body itself is an abode for senses. It is the bodily senses that report the presence of the world. The world together with the body is but sensory perception alone.
Senses are inert and they have no power to perceive at all. It is the inner Consciousness, in the form of the mind that employs the senses and brings perceptions. But the process itself is solely inner and the perceptions are but inner imprints alone. Where is then any externality or grossness, except as a mind-handiwork? All sensoriness, however imposing, falls to the ground. If thus the whole world perception falls, what is there on which any imagination can be built or can rest?
Even the body is an object within the world, and the assessment made about the world, is equally applicable to the body.
The seeker has to be shrewd to get to this level of analysis wherein the world along with the body becomes perceptional alone, and as such belongs to the mind, resting inwardly on it. Knowing thus that the world including the body is but a perceptional bubble in the inner sea of Consciousness, on what basis can we call it even an imagination? No status, external or internal, gross or subtle, can be given to it. It simply becomes unfounded in every way!
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