Ashtavakra Gita Quotes

Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased about something.

If something can bring you great pleasure, it can also bring you pain.

You do not consist of the elements - earth, water, fire, air or even ether. To be liberated, know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of these.

All things arise, Suffer change, And pass away. This is their nature. When you know this, Nothing perturbs you, Nothing hurts you. You become still.

If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like poison. Practise tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like nectar.

Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so you are always free.

For God is infinite, Within the body and without, Like a mirror, And the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere, Flowing around a pot And filling it, So God is everywhere, Filling all things And flowing through them forever.

The third one is culturing the mind. One who has never meditated has no right to even touch the book of Ashtavakra.

You are really unbound and actionless, self-illuminating and spotless already. The cause of your bondage is that you are still resorting to stilling the mind.

Recognise that the apparent is unreal, while the unmanifest is abiding. Through this initiation into truth you will escape falling into unreality again.

To someone who is sleeping, it doesn’t matter whether he’s in a prison or in a palace. One who is asleep doesn’t even feel the bondage.

My child, Because you think you are the body, For a long time you have been bound. Know you are pure awareness. With this knowledge as your sword Cut through your chains. And be happy! For you are already free, Without action or flaw, Luminous and bright.

He who is desireless, self-reliant, independent and free of bonds functions like a dead leaf blown about by the wind of causality .

While a man of pure intelligence may achieve the goal by the most casual of instruction, another may seek knowledge all his life and still remain bewildered.

2.7 Shining is my essential nature, and I am nothing over and beyond that. When the world shines forth, it is simply me that is shining forth. -Ashtavakra Gita

For God is infinite, Within the body and without, Like a mirror, And the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere, Flowing around a pot And filling it, So God is everywhere, Filling all things And flowing through them forever.

My child, Because you think you are the body, For a long time you have been bound. Know you are pure awareness. With this knowledge as your sword Cut through your chains. And be happy! For you are already free, Without action or flaw, Luminous and bright.

Some of the verse in "AshthavakraGIta" are so powerful that will take you to the far beyond cosmos and you will feel oneness with everything in the universe and all cosmos will be projected inside you. The day you know that all the things are the object is perceivable by the subject(knower) that is you, and you are not the body not the mind but the pure consciousness that illuminates the entire world.

Someone who does not have any responsibility can feel very detached, ‘Oh, I am doing nothing. I am free.’ But that freedom has no value. If someone who is responsible for the whole of society, the whole kingdom can say, ‘I am not doing anything’ in spite of this responsible job; then that ‘not doing’ something is great. That is enlightenment.

Think about a world which never irritated you. You’d be stuck with it forever.

Attachment and aversion are attributes of the mind. You are not the mind. You are Consciousness itself-- changeless, undivided, free. Go in happiness.

only

Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless, awareness itself and unchanging - so live happily.

This existence is just imagination. It is nothing in reality, but there is no non-being for natures that know how to distinguish being from non being.

Trying to think the unthinkable, is doing something unnatural to thought.

One who attains Unity sees the world is not real, yet the world persists because it is taken by others as real.

Intentional focus on any sense experience will enhance perception and still the mind.

day’s with the next sun... If you only had ten days to live on the planet, what would you want to do? Sit

Three things change your prakriti: your food, your atmosphere, your association. Without making any fuss about it, be in it. Sāttvic food, limited and timely food is good. The body is in the right shape. If too many desires come in your mind, or too much restlessness and agitation then food, atmosphere and association have been the cause. Without a fuss, just observe and do whatever is needful. Forget about it. Relax. Ahō niranjanaha shāntō bōdhō’ham prakrateh paraha. Some unpleasant feeling comes and you feel that it should not come. By doing that, you are resisting it. When you resist, it persists. Just observe and go deep into it. Dance, stand up and dance. Be intoxicated, move intoxicated. यथा

discipline in words and speech. Do not speak any word (from your side) that would create turbulence and turmoil in the minds of others. Even if you don’t speak, some people get turbulent. That you are not responsible for, but from your side, do not speak. This is an oath you will take to begin with, for the next five days. Do not speak any harsh word. Don’t let any harsh word come out of your mouth to anyone. Do not hurt with your words, for the Divine dwells in every heart.

Arjava [sincerity] is the second thing. There are people who can go on forgiving themselves but they are not sincere. So they can be where they are and continue doing the same thing. Forget the past. ‘Yes, I did something wrong, I am also preparing to do something wrong today and I’ll continue with something tomorrow.’ There’s

What is this power of words? In our everyday routine, we use words to carry out all our transactions. If someone praises us then we get happy and if someone criticizes us then we get annoyed. If we take a closer look at this phenomenon then we will easily understand that when somebody is praising us or calling us names, that time no material comes and hits us. All that happens is, we just get to hear the sound of the words uttered by the other person. When that sound reaches our ears, our mind starts analyzing and interpreting that sound. If the interpretation given by the mind is positive then we get happy. If the interpretation given by the mind is negative then we get annoyed. It is true that the meaning of those words is already present in our mind. Words only invoke the meaning already present in our mind. This relationship between words and their meanings is known as ‘Shakti’ (power) in philosophy.

Abide in that Consciousness which you are—unconditioned, immutable, formless, serene and imperturbable, of unfathomable intelligence.” (17)

ऐसा जीवन्मुक्त विद्वान् सुख-दुःख में एक स्वस्थ भाव से रहता है। केवल अज्ञानी ही सुख में हर्ष और दुःख में शोक को प्राप्त होता है। ज्ञानवान् इनको एक बराबर जानकर आत्मानंद में मग्न रहता है।

विषयों को विष के समान त्याग कर, सत्य को अमृत जानकर मोक्ष को प्राप्त किया जा सकता है।

भूख और प्यास-यह प्राण के धर्म हैं। शोक और मोह-मन के धर्म हैं। जन्म और मरण-सूक्ष्म देह के धर्म हैं। राजन्! आत्मा का कोई धर्म नहीं है। जो उत्पन्न होता है, बढ़ता है, परिणाम को प्राप्त होता है। क्षण-क्षण में क्षीण होता है, अन्त में नाश को प्राप्त होता है। यह स्थूल शरीर का धर्म है, आत्मा का नहीं, अपने को स्थूल देह से परे कर निर्विकार होने पर सच्चिदानन्द, परम शीतल, परमात्मा का रूप प्राप्त कर, क्रियारहित हो, मुक्ति प्राप्त होती है।

आत्मा के संकल्प से यह जगत् उत्पन्न हुआ है। संकल्प हटा लेने पर जगत् मिथ्या प्रतीत होगा। अपने-आपको शुद्ध स्वरूप में स्थापित करो और क्षुद्रता को प्राप्त न करो। इसी विचार के साथ संसार में जीवन मुक्त होकर विचरण करो।

If you think you are free, you are free. If you think you are bound, you are bound. For the saying is true: You are what you think.

I am wonderful indeed-- beyond adoration. I cannot decay nor ever die, though God and all the universe should perish to the last blade of grass.

I am the infinite deep In whom all the worlds Appear to rise. Beyond all form, Forever still. Even so am I.

The animal of lust is the enemy of knowledge, and is like a thunderbolt making you exceedingly weak. It is astonishing indeed to let it take possession of you and obey it right up to the end of time! ||3-

It is surprising indeed that the one existing for and aspiring to liberation through supreme non-duality should be defeated by the twisted skillful play of lust! ||3-6

as sugar made from the sugarcane juice is entirely pervaded by that juice, so the universe, produced in me, is permeated by me, both within and

guffawing

You’re in reality pure consciousness. So, don’t be a prey to your mind’s desires.

If you want wisdom, salvation and renunciation, then you need to strictly avoid things which affect your senses.

you stop identifying yourself with your body and know that you’re actually pure consciousness, you’ll become truly happy, wise and serene. All these feelings- happiness, sorrow, love, sin etc., are attributes of your mind and not of your true Self. You’re neither the doer, nor the enjoyer of these actions. Remember this and you’ll be free. If

Ashtavakra would listen when his father, Kahoda, a renowned Vedic scholar, used to recite the Vedas loudly. One day, the unborn child found some errors in the Vedic pronunciations of his father and he softly pointed out the errors to his father. Kahoda was an egotistic man. He was not delighted that an embryo was trying to be one up on him. His anger knew no bounds. He cursed his unborn son, “You think you’re too smart, don’t you? Be born with eight-fold deformities and let’s see how you live with that.” The curse took effect. Very soon, Ashtavakra was born with eight-fold deformities. Ashtavakra, in Sanskrit, means eight-fold, and thus he was christened with that name. King

(scowled):

Don’t be bound by the fetters of your ego and I’m again repeating this- You’re an immortal, all pervasive, actionless, desireless, unattached soul who’s an uninvolved witness of this illusory universe. You’re

hanker

Knowledge, what is to be known, and the knower — these three do not exist in reality. I am the spotless reality in which they appear because of ignorance. Truly dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realisation that all this that we see is unreal, and that I am the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness.

The goal of spirituality is total and permanent freedom from psychological sorrows and sufferings. This is only possible when we will stop taking birth as individuals again and again. What makes us an ‘Individual’? The ignorance. What kind of ignorance? Our idea about our self that ‘I am an individual’.

What’s real never gets superseded at any point of time whether it’s the past, present or future.

You may recite or listen to countless scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can forget everything.

Physical and mental purification produces an indifference to one's own body, and ends one's infatuation with the bodies of others.

Right posture is to be seated in a manner both solid and relaxed.

When right posture is attained, the practice of intentional breathing then follows. 2.49 Intentional breathing controls the three phases of breath— exhalation, inhalation, and hiatus.