Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 11.4 · Ashtavakra speaks
Knowing for certain that happiness and misery, birth and death are due to fate, one comes to see that it is not possible to accomplish the desired things, becomes inwardly inactive, and is not attached even while engaged in action.
Word by word
सुखदुःखे
sukha-duḥkhe
happiness and misery
dvandva compound, neuter, nominative dual
जन्ममृत्यू
janma-mṛtyū
birth and death
dvandva compound, nominative dual
The dvandva (pair) janma-mṛtyu frames the entire cycle of saṃsāra. The jñānin, knowing both as daiva-driven, transcends identification with either.
दैवात्
daivāt
from fate, due to karma
noun, neuter, ablative singular
Past karma is the determining cause of present pleasure, pain, birth and death — a conviction that dissolves both hope and despair.
एव
eva
certainly
indeclinable emphatic particle
इति
iti
thus
indeclinable particle (quotative)
निश्चयी
niścayī
one who knows for certain
adjective used as noun, masculine, nominative singular
साध्यादर्शी
sādhyādarśī
seeing no attainable goal
compound adjective, masculine, nominative singular
Because all outcomes are karma-determined, the jñānin perceives no independently achievable object worth striving for — action continues without the motivating illusion of personal agency.
निरायासः
nirāyāsaḥ
effortless, internally inactive
adjective, masculine, nominative singular
कुर्वन्
kurvan
doing, engaged in action
present active participle, masculine, nominative singular, √kṛ
अपि
api
even, although
indeclinable concessive particle
न
na
not
indeclinable negative particle
लिप्यते
lipyate
is tainted, becomes attached
verb, present passive, 3rd person singular, √lip
Actions performed without egoism and attachment do not bind the performer. This is the Ashtavakra Gita's radical affirmation of naiṣkarmya while remaining in the world — cf. Bhagavad Gītā 3.9.