You are Awareness, not a person | Ashtavakra Gita

The Ashtavakra Gita. As translated by Bart Marshall. This is the second chapter: The Joy of Self-Realization.

Having listened to Ashtavakra, Janaka now sees through the illusion of the persona and realizes the true Self.

In the joy of Self-Knowledge, he does not speak as Janaka, a person. The word "I" no longer means that.

Janaka said:

"I am now spotless and at peace — Awareness beyond Consciousness.

All this time I have been duped by illusion.

By this light alone the body and the universe appear.

I am Everything or Nothing.

Seeing there is no universe or body, by grace the Self is revealed.

As waves, foam, and bubbles are not different from water, so the universe emanating from the Self is not different from Self.

Look closely at cloth, you see only threads.

Look closely at creation, you see only Self.

As sweetness pervades sugarcane juice, I am the Essence of Creation.

Not seeing Self, the world is materialized.

Seeing Self, the world is vanished.

A rope is not a snake, but can appear to be.

I am not other than Light.

The universe manifests at my glance.

The mirage of universe appears in me as silver appears in mother-of-pearl, as a snake appears in a rope, as water appears on a desert horizon.

As a pot returns to clay, a wave to water, a bracelet to gold, so will the universe return to Me.

I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.

I cannot decay nor even [ever] die, though God and all the universe should perish to the last blade of grass.

I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.

Even with the body, I am One.

I neither come nor go.

I am everywhere at once.

I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.

I am astounded at my powers.

The universe appears within Me, but I do not touch it.

I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.

I am everything thought or spoken, and have nothing.

In Reality, knowledge, the knower, and the knowable do not exist.

I am the transparent Self in which through ignorance they appear.

Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery.

The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there.

I am One — aware, blissful, immaculate.

I am unbounded Awareness.

Only in imagination do I have limits.

Reflecting on this, I abide in the Absolute.

I am neither free nor bound.

The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief.

Though I contain creation, it has no substance.

Having seen for certain that this universe and body is without form or substance, I am revealed as Awareness alone.

Imagination has no place here.

The body exists only in imagination, as do heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear.

Are these my concern?

I, who am pure Awareness?

I see no differences or separation.

Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert.

To what should I cling?

I am not the body; I do not have a body.

I am Awareness, not a person.

My thirst for life bound me to a seeming of life.

In the limitless ocean of Myself, the winds of the mind roil the myriad waves of the world.

But when the wind subsides, in the limitless ocean, the ark of personhood is swallowed up, along with the universe it carries.

And how wonderful it is!

In the limitless ocean of Myself, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, then disappear, as is their nature."

Some of what Janaka says here is questioned and refined by Ashtavakra later in the dialogue.

But for now, let us consider these insights that are had at the exact moment of Self-Realization:

"I am now spotless and at peace, Awareness beyond Consciousness."

Do you remember when this search began, and you didn't even know what the word "consciousness" meant? When you thought consciousness was something contained inside this body? The sensing, feeling, knowing in this moment as it is appearing to you, that is Consciousness.

All that is seen, all that is heard, all that is sensed or felt or known. But you are not only that. Liberation is to know yourself as Awareness alone. Awareness beyond Consciousness.

The unmanifest, unconditioned, formless Reality on which even Consciousness depends. Since you, the Self, are aware of Consciousness, you can be called Awareness. Having no form whatsoever, You are spotless, perfect. Peace Itself.

All this time, you have been duped by illusion, focused on the forms, the passing experiences, trying to define yourself by what appeared later.

"By this Light alone, the body and the universe appear. I am Everything or Nothing."

The Self is formless and thus can have no reflection. Consciousness only reflects the functioning of the body.

All experiences, mundane or spiritual, are still only reflecting the capacity of the mind, which is dependent on this body. But Awareness is the Light in which the mind, the body, and this entire subjective universe appear. The Basis of everything, and yet "nothing" — in terms of phenomena, in terms of experiences. No particular thing, not an experience, not a state.

Within this Pure Light, Pure Subjectivity, some forms appear... and are known. That is Consciousness.

"Seeing that there is no universe or body, by grace the Self is revealed."

What you know as the body is not really the body. What you see as the universe is not really the universe.

Whatever is known is only Consciousness. The body and the universe are just this Consciousness — the Light of Awareness shining; made manifest. Seeing that nothing objective or subjective exists in itself, as something apart from Consciousness, And realizing the Basis of it all, The Self is revealed.

"As waves, foam, and bubbles are not different from water, so the universe emanating from the Self is not different from the Self.

Look closely at cloth, you see only thread.

Look closely at creation, you see only Self.

As sweetness pervades sugarcane juice, I am the Essence of Creation."

Look closely at what is seen, and there's just the seeing. And if you question what is this seeing, it is nothing other than Awareness.

"Not seeing Self, the world is materialized. Seeing Self, the world is vanished. A rope is not a snake, but can appear to be."

This is the meaning of the analogy: When the self is taken to be an individual subject or an object in the world, then the world is material, physical, a separate thing, a part of an objective reality. But when the Self is seen to be Awareness alone, then there is no separate world.

And all the forms that appear, if you look at them closely, are nothing other than Awareness.

"I am not other than Light. The universe manifests at my glance. The mirage of the universe appears in me, as silver appears in mother-of-pearl, as a snake appears in a rope, as water appears on a desert horizon."

It seems like something has appeared out of nothing.

But that something is really nothing. And what the mind considers "nothing" is Reality Itself — Pure Awareness. Which is You. Unknowable, incomprehensible, to the mind.

"As a pot returns to clay, a wave to water, a bracelet to gold, so will the universe return to Me."

There's no creation or destruction, birth or death, existence and inexistence. All forms are expressions of the one Reality: Awareness. Nothing can be gained or lost; everything must sum up to zero. And that zero is abundance, infinity, the inexhaustible possibility.

And the power to manifest that possibility.

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

Because Awareness is the fundamental Reality. That "Nothing" beyond all beginnings and endings. This is the Supreme Reality — the Absolute.

"I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration. Even with the body, I am One. I neither come nor go. I am everywhere at once."

The appearance of life, with all its variety of forms, does not split Awareness into two.

The Self remains One — the Witness. What is truly "I" in every life. Everywhere, all at once.

"I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration.

I am astounded at my powers. The universe appears within Me, but I do not touch it.

I am wonderful indeed, beyond adoration. I am everything thought or spoken, and have nothing."

Of all the superpowers ever imagined, can you think of any greater than the fact of being aware?

Take away this, and all the other superpowers are worthless. That in which the entire world appears, in which all the sights, sounds, sensations, emotions, and thoughts are known. Yet, this Power itself remains changeless. Unaffected.

Unattached to any form that flickers in and out of notice. That is the very definition of the Ultimate Reality. And you have found it here as the Self.

"In Reality, knowledge, the knower, and the knowable do not exist.

I am the transparent Self, in which through ignorance they appear."

All these distinctions must be seen through. What is knowable is, in fact, knowledge. And the knower is Pure Knowledge. Pure Knowledge is not the knowledge of something limited and local.

Pure Knowledge means Awareness — the potential to know, to contain all the other forms and variances of knowledge. That is why all knowledge of forms that appear in Consciousness can be called ignorance.

"Looking at One and seeing many is the cause of all misery. The only cure is to realize what is seen is not there.

I am One — aware, blissful, immaculate. I am unbounded Awareness. Only in imagination do I have limits. Reflecting on this, I abide in the Absolute.

I am neither free nor bound. The illusion of such things has fallen into disbelief. Though I contain creation, it has no substance."

It is all just knowledge—the knowing appearing within the Pure Knowledge, the Basis of Knowledge. Awareness.

"Having seen for certain that this universe and body is without form or substance, I am revealed as Awareness alone. Imagination has no place here."

To believe yourself to be anything other than Awareness requires imagination, thoughts, concepts, using subjective experiences as the benchmark. But to be aware is a direct, non-conceptual fact. Based on this fact alone, the Self is Pure Awareness.

You are Pure Awareness.

"The body exists only in imagination."

It does not exist as one single thing. It is not known except through sensations, sights, and sounds.

And it is only through wrong thinking that it can be confused and taken to be You.

"Heaven and hell, bondage, freedom, fear. Are these my concern? I, who am pure Awareness?"

Did any of these things exist before this mind appeared?

Before they were heard about and introduced as ideas? They are all imagination — illusory.

"I see no differences or separation. Even the multitudes appear as a single formless desert.

To what should I cling? I am not the body. I do not have a body. I am Awareness, not a person."

The meaning of "I" was misunderstood. "I" means this Awareness that I am.

That's it. Everything else is non-factual and conceptual.

"In the limitless ocean of Myself the winds of the mind roil the myriad waves of the world. But when the wind subsides in the limitless ocean the ark of personhood is swallowed up, along with the universe it carries.

And how wonderful it is! In the limitless ocean of Myself, waves of beings arise, collide, play for a time, and then disappear — as is their nature."