Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 2, Verse 24
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Ashtavakra Gita 2.24 - Self-Realization and the Nature of Consciousness
मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधौ चित्तवाते प्रशाम्यति ।
अभाग्याज्जीववणिजो जगत्पोतो विनश्वर:
mayy-ananta-mahāmbhodhau citta-vāte praśāmyati .
abhāgyāj-jīva-vaṇijo jagat-poto vinaśvaraḥ .. 2-24..
In me the infinite sea, when the ‘mind-wind’ ceases to blow, the ‘world-ship’, the property of jeeva, the individual soul, is stranded and destroyed. Embodiment is transitory indeed.
Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Think of the embodiment, a state wherein the jeeva, individual soul, perceives the world and is involved in all activities and interactions with it. Janaka compares this to a ship of a trader travelling in the huge sea.
In the wake of spiritual enlightenment, the Self alone is found to reign, not anything else including the mind, intelligence and ego. Self-realization leads to mind-extinction. When the mind-wind itself ceases for ever, the world-ship is stranded, and becomes vinaśvaraḥ, destroyed.
The trader jeeva either owns the ship in full or has a share in it. Due to the cessation of the mind-wind, the ship is unable to ply in the sea. His entire investment becomes unproductive, lost for ever!
In other words, the world, a perception of, by and in the mind, totally vanishes as a distinct gross presence. All its variety will be lost, when the seeker realizes the truth and vastness of the Self. As grossness and externality were attributed to the world earlier, now the infinite Self alone shines as the singular presence, all-pervading and comprehensive. Nothing besides is.
Neither the ego nor the perception of a separate gross world has any relevance, when the seeker realizes the Self in all its profundity. The individual trader-jeeva loses his share or investment totally.
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