CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
अष्टावक्र उवाच
Ashtaavakra spoke
{WISE ONE SUCCEEDS/THE FOOLISH ONE FAILS}
यस्य बोधोदये तावत्स्वप्नवद्भाति भ्रमः ।
तस्मै सुखैकरूपाय नमः शान्ताय तेजसे ॥१८-१॥
Salutations to that form of bliss, the
tranquil lustre,
when at the rise of the Knowledge of
which,
the delusion appears like a Svapna.
अर्जयित्वाखिलानर्थान्भोगानाप्नोति पुष्कलान् ।
न हि सर्वपरित्याजमन्तरेण सुखी भवेत् ॥१८-२॥
After hoarding a lot of wealth,
one has access to abundant pleasures of
senses, (believing it to be happiness.)
By renouncing all from within only (not
physically but mentally),
does a man get real happiness.
कर्तव्यदुःखमार्ताण्डज्वालादग्धान्तरात्मनः ।
कुतः प्रशमपीयूषधारासारामृते सुखम् ॥१८-३॥
Where can one get the joy of the
downpour of the nectar of tranquil state,
(called Brahman-state)
when his mind is burning in the blazing
flames of the hot sun of pain
connected to the duties one is bound to?
(As long as one laments about
the duties that bind the ego and does not let go of the ‘doership’ idea, how
can he be free of them?
To quote an example-
A monkey saw a hollow with a
tiny opening containing a lot of groundnuts.
He squeezed his hand through the hole and grabbed the nuts. But his hand
had swelled up now with the groundnuts. He could not take it out of the tiny
hole.
Either he had to drop the
nuts to free his hand; or be stuck there with his hand trapped inside the hole.
A worldly man who desires
Moksha is like that monkey only.
He cannot drop the
duty-sense; nor can he be free ever of worries!)
भवोऽयं भावनामात्रो न किंचित्परमार्थतः ।
नास्त्यभावः स्वभावानां भावाभावविभाविनाम् ॥१८-४॥
This worldly existence that is perceived
all around is
nothing but the imagination of the mind;
and not in any way real.
For those who are in the knowledge of
their true nature,
and who understand the truth of the
existence and non-existence of objects,
there is never a cessation of existence.
(Presence and absence of
objects also are some form of knowledge only.
Nothing comes or goes; but
only the knowledge of their presence or absence is there.
Like the objects perceived in
the dream, the objects of the waking state world also appear from emptiness;
and dissolve into emptiness.
How can the one who knows the
presence and absence of things cease to be ever?
A dream character in a dream
may vanish off; but not the one who is awake!)
न दूरं न च संकोचाल्लब्धमेवात्मनः पदम्।
निर्विकल्पं निरायासं निर्विकारं निरञ्जनम् ॥१८-५॥
The state of the Aatman (true essence of
all)
is without any perturbation; is not
tiring; is formless; and faultless.
It is not obtained by reaching far or by
contracting oneself.
(Aatman is not somewhere in a
self-made heaven where nothing exists.
Aatman is not just the point
within a body also.
Aatman is everything that you
see as any object, including the body which you identify with. A JeevanMukta is
not the form and name of some Jeeva ‘which has become Brahman’. JeevanMukta is
a state of pure Knowledge where Brahman shines out without the knowledge of
delusion.
That place, where a
JeevanMukta seems to exist as if is, Brahman shining as Brahman. JeevanMukta is
a Brahman who has woken up from the dream.
There is no one there; just
the emptiness shining as emptiness, empty of emptiness also; and the most
blissful state ever!)
व्यामोहमात्रविरतौ स्वरूपादानमात्रतः ।
वीतशोको विराजन्ते निरावरणदृष्टयः ॥१८-६॥
Those who have the vision freed of
covering (of all superimpositions),
shine forth like kings, freed of all
suffering.
(They are no more the wretched Jeevas
running after mirage-pleasures.)
They have just removed the delusion;
and have the vision of their own true
essence as all.
समस्तं कल्पनामात्रमात्मा मुक्तः सनातनः ।
इति विज्ञ्नाय धीरो हि किमभ्यस्यति बालवत् ॥१-७॥
Everything is of the nature of
imagination.
(Bondage and liberation are imagined
concepts.)
The true essence of all is always free
and always there.
(The true essence of all is already in
the freed state.)
When the courageous one with stabilized
intellect has understood this,
what more practice he has to do like an
immature child?
(Why should a Mukta do any
meditation or contemplation, or worship any deity,
and for what purpose? What
more has he to achieve yet?
If he still does that, he is
only trying to fool others and himself also.)
आत्मा ब्रह्मेति निश्चित्य भावाभावौ च कल्पितौ ।
निष्कामः किं विजानाति किं ब्रूते च करोति किम् ॥१८-८॥
When one has the ascertainment that
Aatman alone is Brahman;
and the existence/non-existence of
objects is
just a conception imagined by the mind;
when he is freed of all desires;
what will he understand anything as
(another),
what will he do (for gaining what
achievement),
or what will he say (as explanation of
his state)?
अयं सोऽहमयं नाहं इति क्षीणा विकल्पना ।
सर्वमात्मेति निश्चित्य तूष्णींभूतस्य योगिनः ॥१८-९॥
For the Yogi who is absorbed in his own
essence as Chit,
who sees the Self in all, and is silent
within,
the imagined ideas of ‘I am so and so’
‘this is not how I am’
are completely destroyed.
न विक्षेपो न चैकाग्र्यं नातिबोधो न मूढता ।
न सुखं न च वा दुःखं उपशान्तस्य योगिनः ॥१८-१०॥
For the Yogi who has reached the quiet
state of the Self,
there is no agitation of any sort (he
has no desires);
no intense meditation of anything (there is no
object of meditation);
no excessive knowledge (knows just his
true essence);
no foolishness (of believing in the
reality of the world) also.
स्वराज्ये भैक्ष्यवृत्तौ च लाभालाभे जने वने ।
निर्विकल्पस्वभावस्य न विशेषोऽस्ति योगिनः ॥१८-११॥
For the Yogi,
whose very nature is the state of
undisturbed tranquillity,
there is no difference seen is ruling a
kingdom, or begging alms for livelihood;
there is no difference in gain or loss
of anything;
there is no difference seen when amidst the
crowd of people,
or when in a forest that is empty of
people.
क्व धर्मः क्व च वा कामः क्व चार्थः क्व विवेकिता ।
इदं कृतमिदं नेति द्वन्दैर्मुक्तस्य योगिनः ॥१८-१२॥
For the Yogi,
who is free of all dual-states of the
‘perceived’ as, ‘this is done’ ‘this is not done’, what meaning is there in
Dharma (prescribed duty),
what is there to be attracted to (as
giving joy),
what wealth he has to acquire (when he
is the essence of all),
what discrimination is needed anymore
(when there is no manifoldness at all)?
कृत्यं किमपि नैवास्ति न कापि हृदि रञ्जना ।
यथा जीवनमेवेह जीवन्मुक्तस्य योगिनः ॥१८-१३॥
For the Yogi, who is liberated while
living,
there is no duty to be completed,
there is no colour of joy also in the heart
when amidst sense objects.
He lives just as he is used to.
(Sense objects are like
garments dyed with cheap ingredients.
Touch them a little, and
immediately the mind is tainted with that colour.
Mind is tainted with the
Vaasanaa of any object it comes into contact with.
A JeevanMukta’s mind is
extremely pure. It is so pure that when in contact of the sense objects, they
evaporate into nothingness.
A JeevanMukta is not bound by
duty-sense; he has no duty to perform also.
The main duty of every Jeeva
is to know the true essence within.
He, who has fulfilled that
duty, has no other duty to perform.
The ego which was bound by
the duties has vanished like the ghost at the touch of a sacred magic wand.
There is no one there as a
JeevanMukta at all.
Only the Chit, which shines
as all, keeps shining as before.
Others may see a form as a
JeevanMukta; but actually no one is there as a JeevanMukta. It is sheer
emptiness shining as Brahman.)
क्व मोहः क्व च वा विश्वं क्व तद्ध्यानं क्व मुक्तता ।
सर्वसंकल्पसीमायां विश्रान्तस्य महात्मनः ॥१८-१४॥
For that noble one,
who is resting beyond the heap of all
conceptions (called the world),
where is the delusion (of reality seen
in the objects),
where is the world at all (which has
just turned into just some knowledge shine),
what is there to meditate upon (as a
practice done within limited hours),
what meaning is there in attaining a
liberation-state,
(which is also an imagination of the
mind)?
येन विश्वमिदं दृष्टं स नास्तीति करोतु वै ।
निर्वासनः किं कुरुते पश्यन्नपि न पश्यति ॥१-१५॥
The ignorant intelligent man who sees
the world (as real),
let him take the trouble of making it
disappear
(with all his manifold practices of
Samaadhi and penance)!
What will the one freed of all Vaasanaas
do?
He does not see anything (as the world
at all), though seeing!
(He sees himself shining as the Knowledge
of all!)
येन दृष्टं परं ब्रह्म सोऽहं ब्रह्मेति चिन्तयेत् ।
किं चिन्तयति निश्चिन्तो द्वितीयं यो न पश्यति ॥१८-१६॥
Let him who sees the Supreme Brahman (as
an object of knowledge),
(and believes Brahman to be an object of
contemplation),
meditate as ‘I am Brahman’.
(He has two concepts yet; as the ‘I’ and
the ‘Brahman’!)
What will a person who has no thoughts
at all, meditate upon,
when he sees no second thing at all?
(What should he contemplate
upon, when there is no ‘I’, and no ‘Brahman’ also, but only the silence
supreme?)
दृष्टो येनात्मविक्षेपो निरोधं कुरुते त्वसौ ।
उदारस्तु न विक्षिप्तः साध्याभावात्करोति किम् ॥१८-१७॥
He, who sees his mind as disturbed, let
him strive for its control.
The Yogi who is the state of the
Knowledge expanse,
is not disturbed at all in any way.
How can he do anything, when there is
nothing at all to do?
(What will he strive to do?)
धीरो लोकविपर्यस्तो वर्तमानोऽपि लोकवत् ।
नो समाधिं न विक्षेपं न लोपं स्वस्य पश्यति ॥१८-१८॥
The wise one who has realized the
excellent Knowledge,
whose state is completely contradictory
to the state of the ignorant lot;
outwardly acts like the others;
yet sees no contemplation state of his,
or disturbed state of his,
or any defect of his.
(He is Brahman alone!)
भावाभावविहीनो यस्तृप्तो निर्वासनो बुधः ।
नैव किंचित्कृतं तेन लोकदृष्ट्या विकुर्वता ॥१८-१९॥
A Knower is without the concepts of
presence or absence of objects,
is always satisfied, is completely
without Vaasanaas,
has understood the truth,
does not do anything at all,
even if others see him as weird and
absorbed in the action,
(instead of contemplating on Brahman).
प्रवृत्तौ वा निवृत्तौ वा नैव धीरस्य दुर्ग्रहः ।
यदा यत्कर्तुमायाति तत्कृत्वा तिष्टते सुखम् ॥१८-२०॥
There is no pressure of any sort for the
Knower,
whether he is inclined towards the world
or turned away from the world.
Whatever he wants to do, he does that
and remains happy.
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