12.8

Blessed are they who attain this by effort.

Blessed are they who are such by nature.

#AshtavakraGita

12.7

Thinking of the unthinkable

One unavoidably conjures thought.

I choose no-thought

and remain here.

#AshtavakraGita

12.6

Doing and not-doing both arise from ignorance.

I know this.

And I am here.

#AshtavakraGita

12.5

The four stages of life,

life without stages,

meditation,

renunciation,

objects of mind—

nothing but distractions.

I am forever here.

#AshtavakraGita

12.4

Nothing to reject,
Nothing to accept.

No joy,
No sorrow.

Lord God

I am here.

#AshtavakraGita

12.3

It’s hard work to concentrate a distracted mind, superimposed with illusion.

Knowing this,
I remain here.

#AshtavakraGita

12.2

Neither sounds nor other sense perceptions

attract my attention.

Even the Self is unperceived.

The mind is free,

undistracted, one-pointed.

#AshtavakraGita

And here I am.

Janaka said:

12.1

Becoming first intolerant of action,

then of excessive speech,

then of thought itself,

I come to be fully present

#AshtavakraGita

11.8

One who knows for certain

that this manifold and wonderful universe

is empty

becomes desireless Awareness and

abides in the stillness of No-thing.

#AshtavakraGita

11.7

“From Brahma to the last blade of grass

I alone exist.”

One who knows this for certain

becomes immaculate, serene, unconflicted.

Attainment has no meaning.

#AshtavakraGita

11.6

“I am not the body, nor is the body my possession

I am Awareness itself.”

One who realizes this for certain

has no memory of things done or left undone.

There is only the Absolute.

#AshtavakraGita

11.4

One who knows for certain that birth and death,

happiness and misery,

come and go in obedience to destiny

sees nothing to accomplish.

They engage in non-action,

and in action,
remain unattached.

#AshtavakraGita

11.3

One who knows for certain

that adversity and success

come and go in obedience to destiny

becomes content.

They neither desire nor grieve.

#AshtavakraGita

11.2

One who knows for certain that

“Self creates All and is alone”

becomes still, desireless, unattached.

#AshtavakraGita

Ashtavakra said:

11.1

Existence,
non-existence,
change

this is the nature of things.

Realizing this,

stillness, serenity and bliss naturally follow.

#AshtavakraGita

10.8

For how many times have you done hard and painful labor with body, mind and speech?

It is time to stop.

#AshtavakraGita

10.7

Prosperity, pleasure, pious deeds…

Enough!

In the dreary forest of the world the mind finds no rest.

#AshtavakraGita

10.6

Attached as you have been to kingdoms, children, spouses, bodies, pleasures

life after life

still they are now lost forever

#AshtavakraGita

10.5

You are One—

Undivided awareness itself.

The universe is neither aware nor does it exist.

Even ignorance is unreal.

What is left to know?

#AshtavakraGita

10.4

Bondage and desire are the same.

Destroy desire and be free.

Only by detaching from the (narrative) world does one joyfully realize Self.

#AshtavakraGita