Aṣṭāvakra Saṃhitā
A Dialogue on Self-realization
Chapter 7, Verse 5
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Ashtavakra Gita 7.5 -
अहो चिन्मात्रमेवाहमिन्द्रजालोपमं जगत् ।
अतो मम कथं कुत्र हेयोपादेयकल्पना
aho cin-mātram-evāham-indra-jālopamaṃ jagat .
ato mama kathaṃ kutra heyopādeya-kalpanā .. 7-5..
Ah, I am sentience, Consciousness, alone, indeed. The phenomenal world is a magician’s production. Being so, how and where can I have ideas like the acceptable and rejectable?
Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Janaka again brings the truth that the world is a mere imagery. This is not difficult to understand. Think well where do you have all your experiences, the basis for all knowledge and findings. All experiences are inner, in the mind itself. Mind is not gross. Nothing gross can enter within the body, which is full with pañca-bhūtas ranging from earth to space.
Countless thoughts, emotions and the rest emerge in mind, but none of them survives! Everything arises only to subside, leaving no dent in the mind, Consciousness.
Are you the transitory imprints or the Consciousness itself, which displays them all? Answer is clear, indisputable. You are the Consciousness alone, any time and ever.
So leave all ideas to the contrary. Disregard all conventional concepts like acceptable and rejectable, good and bad, virtue and vice, heaven and hell.
In fact, all pairs of opposites are absolutely imaginary. There is no substance in them to reflect upon. They are at best a useless indulgence of the ignorant, undiscriminating, not the discreet opinion of the wise.
This is how Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (2.69 ): In what is night to the others, the Knower is awake. And what is daylight to others, is dark to the Knower.
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