Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 10.8 · Ashtavakra speaks
For how many births have you not done hard and painful work with your body, mind and speech! Therefore, cease at least today.
Word by word
कृतम्
kṛtam
done, performed
past participle, neuter, nominative singular, from √kṛ
न
na
not (rhetorical: 'has it not been done?')
negative particle (rhetorical/emphatic here)
कति
kati
how many
interrogative pronoun, plural (indeclinable in verse)
जन्मानि
janmāni
births, lifetimes
noun, neuter, accusative plural
The plurality of janmāni (births) invokes the Vedāntic doctrine of transmigration: the soul has undergone countless births driven by karma and desire, accumulating suffering across each. The rhetorical force — 'in how many births have you not done this?' — is an appeal to experiential recognition.
कायेन
kāyena
with the body
noun, masculine, instrumental singular
मनसा
manasā
with the mind
noun, neuter, instrumental singular
The triad kāya (body) + manas (mind) + vāk/girā (speech) is the classical trikaraṇa — the three instruments of action. All karma, whether gross or subtle, operates through these three. Their enumeration underlines that the exhaustion spoken of is total and all-encompassing.
गिरा
girā
with speech
noun, feminine, instrumental singular; poetic form of vāk
दुःखम्
duḥkham
painful, sorrowful
adjective/noun, neuter, nominative singular
आयासदम्
āyāsadam
causing fatigue, exhausting
compound adjective, neuter, nominative singular; āyāsa + da
कर्म
karma
action, deed
noun, neuter, nominative singular
Karma as duḥkhāyāsada (painful and exhausting action) encompasses all activity motivated by desire. The text does not condemn karma categorically (action that arises from the Self's spontaneous expression is different) but the accumulated karma of ego-driven striving across lives.
तत्
tat
that
demonstrative pronoun, neuter, nominative singular
अद्य
adya
today
adverb
अपि
api
at least, even now
concessive particle
उपरम्यताम्
uparamyatām
let it be ceased, stop now!
verb, passive causative imperative, 3rd person singular, from upa + √ram
Uparama (cessation) is a technical Advaita term for the sixth of the ṣaṭsampatti (six-fold virtue): the withdrawal from all non-essential activity and the consequent settling of the mind in its own nature. The passive imperative form (uparamyatām) gives the injunction a universal, almost cosmological tone.