Ashtāvakra Gita - digital album/ track download
Ashtāvakra Gita - text and translation
transliteration and translation by John Richards
click the link to download a word doc. of the text and
Track 1. Higher Knowledge - Chap 6
ākāśavadananto'haṁ ghaṭavat prākṛtaṁ jagat
iti jñānaṁ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ
I am infinite like space, and the natural world is like a jar.
To know this is knowledge, and then there is neither
renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.
mahodadhirivāhaṁ sa prapaṁco vīcisa'nnibhaḥ
iti jñānaṁ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ
I am like the ocean, and the multiplicity of objects is comparable
to a wave. To know this is knowledge, and then there is neither
renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.
ahaṁ sa śuktisaṅkāśo rūpyavad viśvakalpanā
iti jñānaṁ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ
I am like the mother of pearl, and the imagined world is like the
silver. To know this is knowledge, and then there is neither
renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it
ahaṁ vā sarvabhūteṣu sarvabhūtānyatho mayi
iti jñānaṁ tathaitasya na tyāgo na graho layaḥ
Alternatively, I am in all beings, and all beings are in me. To
know this is knowledge, and then there is neither renunciation,
acceptance or cessation of it.
Track 2. Boundless Ocean - Chap 7
mayyanaṁtamahāṁbhodhau viśvapota itastataḥ
bhramati svāṁtavātena na mamāstyasahiṣṇutā
In the infinite ocean of myself the world boat drifts here
and there, moved by its own inner wind. I am not put out by
that.
mayyanaṁtamahāṁbhodhau jagadvīciḥ svabhāvataḥ
udetu vāstamāyātu na me vṛddhirna ca kṣatiḥ
Let the world wave of its own nature rise or disappear in the
infinite ocean of myself. I neither gain nor lose anything by that.
mayyanaṁtamahāṁbhodhau viśvaṁ nāma vikalpanā
atiśāṁto nirākāra etadevāhamāsthitaḥ
It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the mind-creation called
the world takes place. I am supremely peaceful and formless, and
I remain as such.
nātmā bhāveṣu no bhāvastatrānante niraṁjane
ityasakto'spṛhaḥ śānta etadevāhamāstitaḥ
My true nature is not contained in objects, nor does any object
exist in it, for it is infinite and spotless. So it is unattached,
desireless and at peace, and I remain as such.
aho cinmātramevāhaṁ indrajālopamaṁ jagat
iti mama kathaṁ kutra heyopādeyakalpanā
Truly I am but pure consciousness, and the world is like a
magician's show, so how could I imagine there is anything there
to take up or reject ?
Track 3. Wisdom - Chap 11
bhāvābhāvavikāraśca svabhāvāditi niścayī
nirvikāro gatakleśaḥ sukhenaivopaśāmyati
Unmoved and undistressed, realising that being,
non-being and change are of the very nature of things, one easily
finds peace.
īśvaraḥ sarvanirmātā nehānya iti niścayī
antargalitasarvāśaḥ śāntaḥ kvāpi na sajjate
At peace, having shed all desires within, and realising that
nothing exists here but the Lord, the Creator of all things, one is
no longer attached to anything.
āpadaḥ saṁpadaḥ kāle daivādeveti niścayī
tṛptaḥ svasthendriyo nityaṁ na vānchati na śocati
Realising that misfortune and fortune come in their turn from
fate, one is contented, one's senses under control, and does not
like or dislike.
sukhaduḥkhe janmamṛtyū daivādeveti niścayī
sādhyādarśī nirāyāsaḥ kurvannapi na lipyate
Realising that pleasure and pain, birth and death are from fate,
and that one's desires cannot be achieved, one remains inactive,
and even when acting does not get attached.
cintayā jāyate duḥkhaṁ nānyatheheti niścayī
tayā hīnaḥ sukhī śāntaḥ sarvatra galitaspṛhaḥ
Realising that suffering arises from nothing other than thinking,
dropping all desires one rids oneself of it, and is happy and at
peace everywhere.
nāhaṁ deho na me deho bodho'hamiti niścayī
kaivalyaṁ iva saṁprāpto na smaratyakṛtaṁ kṛtam
Realising, "I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am
awareness", one attains the supreme state and no longer
remembers things done or undone.
ābrahmastaṁbaparyantaṁ ahameveti niścayī
nirvikalpaḥ śuciḥ śāntaḥ prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ
Realising, "I alone exist, from Brahma down to the last clump of
grass", one becomes free from uncertainty, pure, at peace and
unconcerned about what has been attained or not.
nāścaryamidaṁ viśvaṁ na kiṁciditi niścayī
nirvāsanaḥ sphūrtimātro na kiṁcidiva śāmyati
Realising that all this varied and wonderful world is nothing, one
becomes pure receptivity, free from inclinations, and as if
nothing existed, one finds peace.
Track 4. Dissolution - Chap 5
na te saṁgo'sti kenāpi kiṁ śuddhastyaktumicchasi
saṁghātavilayaṁ kurvannevameva layaṁ vraja
You are not bound by anything. What does a pure
person like you need to renounce? Putting the complex organism
to rest, you can go to your rest.
udeti bhavato viśvaṁ vāridheriva budbudaḥ
iti jñātvaikamātmānaṁ evameva layaṁ vraja
All this arises out of you, like a bubble out of the sea. Knowing
yourself like this to be but one, you can go to your rest.
pratyakṣamapyavastutvād viśvaṁ nāstyamale tvayi
rajjusarpa iva vyaktaṁ evameva layaṁ vraja
In spite of being in front of your eyes, all this, being insubstantial,
does not exist in you, spotless as you are. It is an appearance like
the snake in a rope, so you can go to your rest
samaduḥkhasukhaḥ pūrṇa āśānairāśyayoḥ samaḥ
samajīvitamṛtyuḥ sannevameva layaṁ vraja
Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in
disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you
are, you can go to your rest
Track 5. Knowledge of the Self - Chap 15
yathātathopadeśena kṛtārthaḥ sattvabuddhimān
ājīvamapi jijñāsuḥ parastatra vimuhyati
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.
mokṣo viṣayavairasyaṁ bandho vaiṣayiko rasaḥ
etāvadeva vijñānaṁ yathecchasi tathā kuru
Liberation is distaste for the objects of the senses. Bondage is love
of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please.
vāgmiprājñānamahodyogaṁ janaṁ mūkajaḍālasam
karoti tattvabodho'yamatastyakto bubhukṣabhiḥ
This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and
energetic man dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided by those
whose aim is enjoyment.
na tvaṁ deho na te deho bhoktā kartā na vā bhavān
cidrūpo'si sadā sākṣī nirapekṣaḥ sukhaṁ cara
You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the doer
of actions or the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally
pure consciousness the witness, in need of nothing - so live
happily.
rāgadveṣau manodharmau na manaste kadācana
nirvikalpo'si bodhātmā nirvikāraḥ sukhaṁ cara
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.
sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṁ sarvabhūtāni cātmani
vijñāya nirahaṁkāro nirmamastvaṁ sukhī Bhava
Recognising oneself in all beings, and all beings in oneself, be
happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free from
preoccupation with "me".
viśvaṁ sphurati yatredaṁ taraṁgā iva sāgare
tattvameva na sandehaścinmūrte vijvaro Bhava
Your nature is the consciousness, in which the whole world wells
up, like waves in the sea. That is what you are, without any
doubt, so be free of disturbance.
śraddhasva tāta śraddhasva nātra mo'haṁ kuruṣva bhoḥ
jñānasvarūpo bhagavānātmā tvaṁ prakṛteḥ paraḥ
Have faith, my son, have faith. Don't let yourself be deluded in
this, sir. You are yourself the Lord, whose very nature is
knowledge, and are beyond natural causation.
guṇaiḥ saṁveṣṭito dehastiṣṭhatyāyāti yāti ca
ātmā na gaṁtā nāgaṁtā kimenamanuśocasi
The body invested with the senses stands still, and comes and
goes. You yourself neither come nor go, so why bother about
them?
dehastiṣṭhatu kalpāntaṁ gacchatvadyaiva vā punaḥ
kva vṛddhiḥ kva ca vā hānistava cinmātrarūpiṇaḥ
Let the body last to the end of the Age, or let it come to an end
right now. What have you gained or lost, who consist of pure
consciousness?
tvayyanaṁtamahāṁbhodhau viśvavīciḥ svabhāvataḥ
udetu vāstamāyātu na te vṛddhirna vā kṣatiḥ
Let the world wave rise or subside according to its own nature in
you, the great ocean. It is no gain or loss to you.
tāta cinmātrarūpo'si na te bhinnamidaṁ jagat
ataḥ kasya kathaṁ kutra heyopādeyakalpanā
My son, you consist of pure consciousness, and the world is not
separate from you. So who is to accept or reject it, and how, and
why?
ekasminnavyaye śānte cidākāśe'male tvayi
kuto janma kuto karma kuto'haṁkāra eva ca
How can there be either birth, karma or responsibility in that one
unchanging, peaceful, unblemished and infinite consciousness
which is you?
yattvaṁ paśyasi tatraikastvameva pratibhāsase
kiṁ pṛthak bhāsate svarṇāt kaṭakāṁgadanūpuram
Whatever you see, it is you alone manifest in it. How could
bracelets, armlets and anklets be different from the gold they are
made of?
ayaṁ so'hamayaṁ nāhaṁ vibhāgamiti saṁtyaja
sarvamātmeti niścitya niḥsaṅkalpaḥ sukhī Bhava
Giving up such distinctions as "He is what I am", and "I am not
that", recognise that "Everything is myself", and be without
distinction and happy.
tavaivājñānato viśvaṁ tvamekaḥ paramārthataḥ
tvatto'nyo nāsti saṁsārī nāsaṁsārī ca kaścana
It is through your ignorance that all this exists. In reality you
alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within or beyond
samsara.
bhrāntimātramidaṁ viśvaṁ na kiṁciditi niścayī
nirvāsanaḥ sphūrtimātro na kiṁcidiva śāmyati
Knowing that all this is an illusion, one becomes free of desire,
pure receptivity and at peace, as if nothing existed.
eka eva bhavāṁbhodhāvāsīdasti bhaviṣyati
na te bandho'sti mokṣo vā kṛtyakṛtyaḥ sukhaṁ cara
Only one thing has existed, exists and will exist in the ocean of
being. You have no bondage or liberation. Live happily and
fulfilled.
mā saṅkalpavikalpābhyāṁ cittaṁ kṣobhaya cinmaya
upaśāmya sukhaṁ tiṣṭha svātmanyānandavigrahe
Being pure consciousness, do not disturb your mind with
thoughts of for and against. Be at peace and remain happily in
yourself, the essence of joy.
tyajaiva dhyānaṁ sarvatra mā kiṁcid hṛdi dhāraya
ātmā tvaṁ mukta evāsi kiṁ vimṛśya kariṣyasi
Give up meditation completely but don't let the mind hold on to
anything. You are free by nature, so what will you achieve by
forcing the mind?
Track 6. Emancipation - Chap 16
ācakṣva śṛṇu vā tāta nānāśāstrāṇyanekaśaḥ
tathāpi na tava svāsthyaṁ sarvavismaraṇād ṛte
My son, you may recite or listen to countless
scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can
forget everything.
bhogaṁ karma samādhiṁ vā kuru vijña tathāpi te
cittaṁ nirastasarvāśamatyarthaṁ rocayiṣyati
You may, as a learned man, indulge in wealth, activity and
meditation, but your mind will still long for that which is the
cessation of desire, and beyond all goals.
āyāsātsakalo duḥkhī nainaṁ jānāti kaścana
anenaivopadeśena dhanyaḥ prāpnoti nirvṛtim
Everyone is in pain because of their own effort, but no-one
realises it. By just this very instruction, the lucky one attains
tranquillity.
vyāpāre khidyate yastu nimeṣonmeṣayorapi
tasyālasya dhurīṇasya sukhaṁ nanyasya kasyacit
Happiness belongs to no-one but that supremely lazy man for
whom even opening and closing his eyes is a bother.
idaṁ kṛtamidaṁ neti dvaṁdvairmuktaṁ yadā manaḥ
dharmārthakāmamokṣeṣu nirapekṣaṁ tadā bhavet
When the mind is freed from such pairs of opposites as, "I have
done this", and "I have not done that", it becomes indifferent to
merit, wealth, sensuality and liberation.
virakto viṣayadveṣṭā rāgī viṣayalolupaḥ
grahamokṣavihīnastu na virakto na rāgavān
One man is abstemious and averse to the senses, another is
greedy and attached to them, but he who is free from both taking
and rejecting is neither abstemious nor greedy.
heyopādeyatā tāvatsaṁsāraviṭapāṁkuraḥ
spṛhā jīvati yāvad vai nirvicāradaśāspadam
So long as desire, which is the state of lack of discrimination,
remains, the sense of revulsion and attraction will remain, which
is the root and branch of samsara.
pravṛttau jāyate rāgo nirvṛttau dveṣa eva hi
nirdvandvo bālavad dhīmān evameva vyavasthitaḥ
Desire springs from usage, and aversion from abstension, but the
wise man is free from the pairs of opposites like a child, and
becomes established.
hātumicchati saṁsāraṁ rāgī duḥkhajihāsayā
vītarāgo hi nirduḥkhastasminnapi na khidyati
The passionate man wants to be rid of samsara so as to avoid
pain, but the dispassionate man is free from pain and feels no
distress even in it.
yasyābhimāno mokṣe'pi dehe'pi mamatā tathā
na ca jñānī na vā yogī kevalaṁ duḥkhabhāgasau
He who is proud about even liberation or his own body, and
feels them his own, is neither a seer nor a yogi. He is still just a
sufferer.
haro yadyupadeṣṭā te hariḥ kamalajo'pi vā
tathāpi na tava svāthyaṁ sarvavismaraṇādṛte
If even Shiva, Vishnu or the lotus-born Brahma were your
instructor, until you have forgotten everything you cannot be
established within.
Track 7. Liberation - Chap 20
kva bhūtāni kva deho vā kvendriyāṇi kva vā manaḥ
kva śūnyaṁ kva ca nairāśyaṁ matsvarūpe niraṁjane
Janaka: In my unblemished nature there are no elements, no
body, no faculties no mind. There is no void and no despair.
kva śāstraṁ kvātmavijñānaṁ kva vā nirviṣayaṁ manaḥ
kva tṛptiḥ kva vitṛṣṇātvaṁ gatadvandvasya me sadā
For me, free from the sense of dualism, there are no scriptures, no
self-knowledge, no mind free from an object, no satisfaction and
no freedom from desire.
kva vidyā kva ca vāvidyā kvāhaṁ kvedaṁ mama kva vā
kva bandha kva ca vā mokṣaḥ svarūpasya kva rūpit
There is no knowledge or ignorance, no "me", "this" or "mine", no
bondage, no liberation, and no property of self-nature.
kva prārabdhāni karmāṇi jīvanmuktirapi kva vā
kva tad videhakaivalyaṁ nirviśeṣasya sarvadā
For him who is always free from individual characteristics there
is no antecedent causal action, no liberation during life, and no
fulfilment at death.
kva kartā kva ca vā bhoktā niṣkriyaṁ sphuraṇaṁ kva vā
kvāparokṣaṁ phalaṁ vā kva niḥsvabhāvasya me sadā
For me, free from individuality, there is no doer and no reaper of
the consequences, no cessation of action, no arising of thought,
no immediate object, and no idea of results.
kva lokaṁ kva mumukṣurvā kva yogī jñānavān kva vā
kva baddhaḥ kva ca vā muktaḥ svasvarūpe'hamadvaye
There is no world, no seeker for liberation, no yogi, no seer,
no one bound and no-one liberated. I remain in my own non-dual nature.
kva sṛṣṭiḥ kva ca saṁhāraḥ kva sādhyaṁ kva ca sādhanam
kva sādhakaḥ kva siddhirvā svasvarūpe'hamadvaye
There is no emanation or return, no goal, means, seeker or
achievment. I remain in my own non-dual nature.
kva pramātā pramāṇaṁ vā kva prameyaṁ kva ca pramā
kva kiṁcit kva na kiṁcid vā sarvadā vimalasya me
For me who am forever unblemishedf, there is no assessor, no
standard, nothing to assess, or assessment.
kva vikṣepaḥ kva caikāgryaṁ kva nirbodhaḥ kva mūḍhatā
kva harṣaḥ kva viṣādo vā sarvadā niṣkriyasya me
For me who am forever actionless, there is no distraction or
one-pointedness of mind, no lack of understanding, no stupidity, no joy and no sorrow.
kva caiṣa vyavahāro vā kva ca sā paramārthatā
kva sukhaṁ kva ca vā dukhaṁ nirvimarśasya me sadā
For me who am always free from deliberations there is neither
conventional truth nor absolute truth, no happiness and no
suffering.
kva māyā kva ca saṁsāraḥ kva prītirviratiḥ kva vā
kva jīvaḥ kva ca tadbrahma sarvadā vimalasya me
For me who am forever pure there is no illusion, no samsara, no
attachment or detechment, no living being and no God.
kva pravṛttirnirvṛttirvā kva muktiḥ kva ca bandhanam
kūṭasthanirvibhāgasya svasthasya mama sarvadā
For me who am forever unmovable and indivisible, established
in myself, there is no activity or inactivity, no liberation and no bondage.
