Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone | Ashtavakra Gita

The Ashtavakra Gita. As translated by Bart Marshall. This is the first part of the dialogue: Instruction on Self-Realization.

Janaka said:

"Master, how is knowledge to be achieved, detachment acquired, liberation attained?"

Ashtavakra said:

"To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison.

Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, and truth.

You are not earth, water, fire, or air.

Nor are you empty space.

Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone — the Witness of these.

Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person.

You will be instantly free and at peace.

You have no cast or duties.

You're invisible, unattached, formless.

You are the Witness of all things.

Be happy.

Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, exist in mind only.

They are not your concern.

You neither do nor enjoy.

You are free.

You are the Solitary Witness of All That Is, forever free.

Your only bondage is not seeing This.

The thought: 'I am the doer' is the bite of a poisonous snake.

To know: 'I do nothing' is the wisdom of faith.

Be happy.

A single understanding: 'I am the One Awareness,' consumes all suffering in the fire of an instant.

Be happy.

You are unbounded Awareness — Bliss, Supreme Bliss — in which the universe appears like the mirage of a snake in a rope.

Be happy.

It is true what they say: 'You are what you think.'

If you think you are bound, you are bound.

If you think you are free, you are free.

You are Self — the Solitary Witness.

You are perfect, all-pervading, One.

You are free, desireless, forever still.

The universe is but a seeming in You.

Meditate on this: 'I am Awareness alone — Unity itself.'

Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, that there is within and without.

You have long been bound thinking: 'I am a person.'

Let the knowledge: 'I am Awareness alone' be the sword that frees you.

You are now and forever free, luminous, transparent, still.

The practice of meditation keeps one in bondage.

You are pure Consciousness — the substance of the universe.

The universe exists within you.

Don't be small minded.

You are unconditioned, changeless, formless.

You are solid, unfathomable, calm.

Desire nothing.

You are Consciousness.

That which has form is not real.

Only the formless is permanent.

Once this is known, you will not return to illusion.

Just as a mirror exists both within and without the image reflected, the Supreme Self exists both within and without the body.

Just as the same space exists both within and without a jar, the timeless, all-pervasive One exists as Totality."

Now, rather than reading on, let us go deeper. Because this is the instruction on Self-Realization. A most complete and perfect instruction.

"To be free, shun the experiences of the senses like poison."

This is the first step: to not be so interested in the senses, the pleasures of the world, but to turn inwards. To look for that lasting peace. To look for what is real.

Turn to forgiveness to let go of the guilt, the blame you put on yourself and others. Turn to sincerity to give up all achievements and attributes that are not truly yours. They are the gifts of circumstance. Turn to kindness to end the harsh judgments, the self-loathing.

Turn to simplicity to give up getting lost in complicated thoughts, and all these religions. Turn inwards, with only the love for Truth, so that you can fearlessly inquire into the nature of yourself.

"You are not earth, water, fire, or air."

You are not made of the elements.

You're not made of matter. Matter only comes in the form of solid, liquid, or gas. The body is a loose collection of all three. You're clearly not the body.

You have no form. But neither are you just empty space. The mind proves that. You are filled with all manner of experience.

Sensations, feelings. Knowledge.

"Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone — the Witness of these."

You're neither the physical forms; the elements, nor the mental forms; which are these experiences.

You are aware. That is your only attribute. That is your most essential quality. Therefore, you are this Aware-ness.

"Abide in Awareness with no illusion of person. You will be instantly free and at peace."

Instantly! All you have to do is drop the idea of being a person.

And all that creates that idea, is this current stream of thought you're grappling with. Give it up! Give up this current 'incarnation'. Decline the next 'reincarnation'.

Don't turn to thought. Look at yourself. You are aware. You are just this Aware-ness.

This is true. It requires no memory, no concepts, and no external evidence. Unlike the person, which is always only there when there's thinking, and remembering, and imagining. The person is entirely an illusion.

Give it up and you will be instantly free and at peace. You will have no cast or duties. You will be unattached, formless, invisible. Yet present.

The Unseen. The Witness of all things. But not a witness as a separate thing, but as the Witnessing itself. The Witnessing is not separable from the Awareness, which is what You are.

When you see yourself as you are, you are just this detached, affectionate Awareness. There is an affection in there, most natural. And a peace. A quiet joy. You are the Bliss.

Which is what you've always known. That if you weren't being disturbed by this experience, or that thought, you would be at peace. But you're not a person being disturbed by all this. You are the detached Awareness — the Formless Witness.

And the Witness-ing. Be happy. You are the joy, the calm.

"Right and wrong, pleasure and pain, these are not your concern."

These are the experience of the body. The material appears as the mental to you. Just because you are this Awareness. Can you stop yourself from being aware?

"You neither do nor enjoy."

It all just happens, and your presence makes it possible. You're not the one doing it all, or the one to which all this is happening. You are The Happening of it. The actual fact of it.

No experience can be separated from the awareness of it. The phenomena being perceived, the experiencing itself, is you in action — Awareness. You are the Solitary Witness of it all; of All That Is. Not just this life.

All life, all experience. You are forever free because you are not bound to any life.

"Your only bondage is not seeing This."

There's no inherent knowledge of your own nature.

You have to find it out. It's only when there's a reflection upon the Self; when the mind turns inwards, that you know This. And then there is no bondage. You are instantly free.

Have always been free. You were unaware of your own Self. But were you? You knew you were aware.

There was only an illusion on top of it. The idea of being an individual; a person. But Awareness is singular; cannot be split into parts and apportioned into individual souls. Awareness is All That Is.

And All That Is is Awareness. Forever free. Never truly attached to any of these passing forms. And the passing forms are in themselves just this Witnessing — the Awareness, i.e., You, in action.

The thought "I am the doer" takes you away from Reality. You do nothing. You are present and aware. And because of your Presence, because You are Awareness, all this can take place.

But none of it truly affects You. Be happy!

"A single understanding: 'I am this [the] One Awareness,' consumes all the suffering in the fire of an instant."

It means you not separate to the ones you love.

This is all the One Awareness. And no matter the pain and suffering, the Awareness is not truly affected. The experience passes. And in Yourself, knowing Yourself this way, what do you find?

You are Bliss. The bliss of sleep. The joy of life. The love in the heart.

These are your true feelings, when the mind is not engrossed in imagining you as this or that, and creating its emotional storms. Even when that is happening, You are the Eye of the storm. You are the Calm. You are the Infinite Capacity in which the universe appears.

But even that appearance is a mirage, like the snake in a rope. Because whatever is known is only just the Witnessing. And the Witnessing is Itself the Awareness. Now that you've heard this and understood this, don't rely on thinking.

Stop searching for anything more. There's nothing more. There's no secret knowledge. Just stop here, and be happy.

Open that tap in your Heart, and let the feeling flow. The Source of this Love, of this Quiet Joy, can never run dry.

"You are unbounded Awareness."

The distance to the horizon, the stars and galaxies in the night sky, all of space and time, are only just pointing out Your extent.

The entire universe appears within You. The entire universe is but a seeming in You.

"You are free, desireless, forever still."

The desires are just the reflection of this brain's activity.

They are not your desires. You do not do anything. You are forever still.

So,

"Meditate on this: 'I am Awareness alone — Unity itself.'

Give up the idea that you are separate, a person, that there is within and without.

You have long been bound thinking: 'I am a person.'

Let the knowledge: 'I am Awareness alone' be the sword that frees you.

You are now and forever free, luminous, transparent, still.

The practice of meditation keeps one in bondage."

There should be no practice from this point on. Just know Yourself. To know Yourself is to be instantly liberated.

"You are pure Consciousness — the substance of the universe. The universe exists within you. Don't be small-minded!"

When the thinking starts to mold you into a form, starts to cast you as what they say you are, decline that birth.

Don't be small minded.

"You are unconditioned, changeless, formless."

You are solid, unfathomable. Your depth is infinite.

You are the calm of the bottomless ocean. Desire nothing. As the desires come, know that they are not yours. You're only the Consciousness; the Witnessing of it all.

"That which has form is not real. Only the formless is permanent."

Now that this is known, do not return to illusion.

"Just as a mirror exists both within and without the image reflected, the Supreme Self exists both within and without the body.

Just as the same space exists both within and without a jar, the timeless, all-pervasive One exists as Totality."