Ashtavakra Gita 17.5 -

Ashtavakra Maharshi does not deviate even a fraction from his ideal and goal of nirdvandvatā. Everything conceivable comes under his nirdvandvatā. He includes bondage and freedom also with special attention. The manner in which he describes his proposition in crisp poetry makes the exposition exquisite in every way.

It needs everything to make this complex world. When thus many and all occupy the arena, they inevitably form themselves into mutual opposites. Thus, you have the good ranged against the bad. There too each runs from the lowest to the highest. Thus the worst and the best have to find their place. This is how we are surrounded by everything from good to best and bad to worst.

Some are addicted to the world; some attached to the Self. Be keen to get fully rid of the world’s stranglehold. For that, you have to get at transcendence. Distance from both world-attachment and Self-desiring. For, both pressurize the mind. Get rid of both. Let mind become pressure-free. This is how the Self dwells in the wicked and the virtuous. Be like the benign and ecstatic Self. Do not fall a victim to one extreme or the other.

Abide in the middle, be free from the duo, from pleasantness and unpleasantness. It is the safe glove for the mind to ably interact with good and bad, friend and foe. The depth and strength scintillating from such spiritual sublimity make one a High-soul.