♦ The world calls me mad.
I am mad. You are mad. The world is mad.
Who is not mad? Still these madmen call me mad. Some are mad after name and fame.
Some are mad after money.
Some are mad after flesh.
But blessed is he who is mad after God.
Such a madman am I.

♦ Even if you have nothing,
It is hard to find that contentment
Which comes from renunciation.
I accept nothing.
I reject nothing.
And I am happy.

♦ Two from one!
This is the root of suffering.
Only perceive
That I am one without two,
Pure awareness, pure joy,
And all the world is false.
There is no other remedy!

♦ First I gave up action,
Then idle words,
And lastly thought itself.
Now I am here.
Ridding my mind of distraction,
Single-pointed,
I shut out sounds and all the senses,
And I am here.

♦ Liberation,
Bondage,
What are they to me?
What do I care for freedom?
For I have known God,
The infinite Self,
The witness of all things.
Without, a fool.
Within, free of thought.
I do as I please,
And only those like me
Understand my ways.

♦ All sorrow comes from fear.
From nothing else.
When you know this,
You become free of it,
And desire melts away.
You become happy
And still.

♦ I am the infinite deep
In whom all the worlds
Appear to rise.
Beyond all form,
Forever still.
Even so am I.
I am not in the world.
The world is not in me.
I am pure.
I am unbounded.
Free from attachment,
Free from desire,
Still.
Even so am I.

♦ I am the mother-of-pearl.
The world is a vein of silver,
An illusion!
This is the truth.
Nothing to grasp,
Nothing to spurn,
Nothing to dissolve.
I am in all beings.
All beings are in me.
This is the whole truth.
Nothing to embrace,
Nothing to relinquish,
Nothing to dissolve.

♦ Of the four kinds of being,
From Brahma to a blade of grass,
Only the wise man is strong enough
To give up desire and aversion.
How rare he is!
Knowing he is the Self,
He acts accordingly
And is never fearful.
For he knows he is the Self,
One without two,
The Lord of all creation.

♦ Like bubbles in the sea,
All the worlds arise in you.
Know you are the Self.
Know you are one.
Let yourself dissolve.
You see the world.
But like the snake in the rope,
It is not really there.
You are pure.
Let yourself dissolve.

♦ 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.
It is easy.

♦ But he who is truly wise
Always sees the absolute Self.
Celebrated, he is not delighted.
Spurned, he is not angry.
Pure of heart,
He watches his own actions
As if they were another's.
How can praise or blame disturb him?

♦ I am the boundless ocean.
This way and that,
The wind, blowing where it will,
Drives the ship of the world.
But I am not shaken.
I am the unbounded deep
In whom the waves of all the worlds
Naturally rise and fall.
But I do not rise or fall.

♦ The true seeker feels no elation,
Even in that exalted state
Which Indra and all the gods
Unhappily long for.

He understands the nature of things.
His heart is not smudged
By right or wrong,
As the sky is not smudged by smoke.

♦ Whatever takes form is false.
Only the formless endures.

When you understand
The truth of this teaching,
You will not be born again.

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.
You are bound
Only by the habit of meditation.

♦ The man who is pure of heart
Is bound to fulfill himself
In whatever way he is taught.
A worldly man seeks all his life,
But is still bewildered.
Detached from the senses,
You are free.
Attached, you are bound.
When this is understood,
You may live as you please.

♦ You are the endless sea
In whom all the worlds like waves
Naturally rise and fall.
You have nothing to win,
Nothing to lose.
Child,
You are pure awareness,
Nothing less.
You and the world are one.
So who are you to think
You can hold on to it,
Or let it go?
How could you!

- Ashtavakra Gita 15: 11-12

♦ Striving and craving,
For pleasure or prosperity,
These are your enemies,
Springing up to destroy you
From the presumptions of virtue.
Let them all go.
Hold on to nothing.

- Ashtavakra Gita 10:1

♦ You are wise.
You play and work and meditate.

But still you mind desires
That which is beyond everything,
Where all desires vanish.

Striving is the root of sorrow.

But who understands this?

Only when you are blessed
With the understanding of this teaching
Will you find freedom.

- Ashtavakra Gita 16:2-3

♦ It is hard to find
A man who has desire
For what he has not tasted,
Or who tastes the world
And is untouched.
Here in the world
Some crave pleasure,
Some seek freedom
But it is hard to find
A man who wants neither.
He is a great soul.
It is hard to find
A man who has an open mind,
Who neither seeks nor shuns
Wealth or pleasure,
Duty or liberation,
Life or death. . .
He does not want the world to end.
He does not mind if it lasts.
Whatever befalls him,
He lives in happiness.
For he is truly blessed.

- Ashtavakra Gita

♦ When you live without discrimination,
Desire arises.
When desire persists,
Feelings of preference arise,
Of liking and disliking.
They are the root and branches of the world.

- Ashtavakra Gita 16:7

♦ Seeing to this,
Neglecting that...

But when the mind stops setting
One thing against another,
It no longer craves pleasure.
It no longer cares for wealth
Or religious duties or salvation.

Craving the pleasures of the senses,
You suffer attachment.
Disdaining them,
You learn detachment.

But if you desire nothing,
And disdain nothing,
Neither attachment nor detachment bind you.

- Ashtavakra Gita 16:5-6

♦ Desire and aversion are of the mind.
The mind is never yours.
You are free of its turmoil.
You are awareness itself,
Never changing.
Wherever you go,
Be happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:5

♦ As a wave,
Seething and foaming,
Is only water
So all creation,
Streaming out of the Self,
Is only the Self.
Consider a piece of cloth.
It is only threads!
So all creation,
When you look closely,
Is only the Self.

- Ashtavakra Gita 2:4-5

♦ Have faith, my Child, have faith.
Do not be bewildered.
For you are beyond all things,
The heart of all knowing.
You are the Self.
You are God.

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:8

♦ The master's way is unfettered
And free of guile.
He shines.
But for the fool
There is no peace.
His thoughts are full of desire.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:52

♦ The master goes about his business
With perfect equanimity.
He is happy when he sits,
Happy when he talks and eats,
Happy asleep,
Happy coming and going.
Because he knows his own nature,
He does what he has to without feeling ruffled
Like ordinary people.
Smooth and shining
Like the surface of a vast lake.
His sorrows are at an end.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:59-60

♦ The body trembles,
The tongue falters,
The mind is weary.
Forsaking them all,
I pursue my purpose happily.
Knowing I do nothing,
I do whatever comes my way,
And I am happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 13:2-3

♦ Even when he is still,
The selfish man is busy.
Even when he is busy,
The selfless man is still.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:29

♦ When the mind is attracted
To anything it senses,
You are bound.
Where there is no I,
You are free.
Where there is I,
You are bound.
Consider this.
It is easy.
Embrace nothing,
Turn nothing away.

- Ashtavakra Gita 8:3-4

♦ Thinking
Of what is beyond thinking
Is still thinking.
Whoever fulfils this
fulfils his own nature And is indeed fulfilled.

♦ The body is confined
By its natural properties.
It comes,
It lingers awhile,
It goes.
But the Self neither comes nor goes.
So why grieve for the body?

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:9

♦ If you detach yourself from identification with the body and remain relaxed in and as Consciousness, you will, this very moment, be happy, at peace, free from bondage.

- Ashtavakra Gita

♦ Right or wrong,
Joy and sorrow,
These are of the mind only.
They are not yours.
It is not really you
Who acts or enjoys.
You are everywhere,
Forever free.

- Ashtavakra Gita 1:6

From "The Heart of Awareness: A Translation"

♦ You are pure awareness.
The world is an illusion,
Nothing more.
When you understand this fully,
Desire falls away.
You find peace.
For indeed!
There is nothing.

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:17

♦ Feeble with age,
Still he is filled with desire,
When without doubt he knows
That lust is the enemy of awareness.
Indeed how strange!

- Ashtavakra Gita 3:7

♦ The fool practices concentration
And control of the mind.
But the master is like a man asleep.
He rests in himself
And finds nothing more to do.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:33

♦ The moment a fool gives up concentration
And his other spiritual practices,
He falls prey to fancies and desires.
Even after hearing the truth,
The fool clings to his folly.
He tries hard to look calm and composed,
But inside he is full of cravings.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:75-76

♦ I am always
Without I.
So where is the one
Who acts or enjoys?
And what is the rising
Or the vanishing of thought?
What is the invisible world,
Or the visible?
In my heart I am one.
What is this world?
Who seeks freedom,
Or wisdom or oneness?
Who bound or free?

- Ashtavakra Gita 20:5-6

♦ Blame does not disturb him,
Nor does praise delight him.
He neither rejoices in life,
Nor fears death.
His mind is calm.
Never seeking the solitude of the forest,
Nor running from the crowd.
Always and everywhere,
He is one and the same.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:99-100

♦ In the ocean of being
There is only one.
There was and there will be
Only one.
You are already fulfilled.
How can you be bound or free?
Wherever you go,
Be happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:18

♦ Free from desire,
He neither praises the peaceful
Nor blames the wicked.
The same in joy and sorrow,
He is always happy.
He sees there is nothing to do.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:82

♦ The wise man knows the Self,
And he plays the game of life.
But the fool lives in the world
Like a beast of burden.

- Ashtavakra Gita 4:1

♦ You are not your body.
Your body is not you.
You are not the doer.
You are not the enjoyer.
You are pure awareness,
The witness of all things.
You are without expectation,
Free.
Wherever you go,
Be happy!

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:4

♦ The man who is wise
Knows himself in all things
And all things in himself.
Yet how strange!
He still says? This is mine?
Determined to be free,
He abides in the oneness
Beyond all things.
Yet how strange!
Indulging in passion, he weakens,
And lust overwhelms him.

- Ashtavakra Gita 3:5-6

♦ The awareness of the fool is always limited
By thinking, or by trying not to think.
The awareness of the man who lives within,
Though he may be busy thinking,
Is beyond even awareness itself.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:6350