Chapter 16 · Special Instruction

Verse 16.1 · Ashtavakra

“My child, you may often speak upon various scriptures or hear them. But you cannot be established in the Self unless you forget all.”

ācakṣva śṛṇu vā tāta nānāśāstrāṇy anekaśaḥ…

Verse 16.2 · Ashtavakra

“O Sage, you may enjoy, or work, or practise mental concentration. But your mind will still yearn for That which is beyond all objects and…”

bhogaṃ karma samādhiṃ vā kuru vijña tathāpi te…

Verse 16.3 · Ashtavakra

“All are unhappy because they exert themselves. But none knows this. The blessed one attains emancipation through this very instruction.”

āyāsāt sakalo duḥkhī nainaṃ jānāti kaścana…

Verse 16.4 · Ashtavakra

“Happiness belongs to that master idler to whom even the closing and opening of eyelids is an affliction, to none else.”

vyāpāre khidyate yas tu nimeṣonmeṣayor api…

Verse 16.5 · Ashtavakra

“When the mind is free from such pairs of opposites as 'this is done' and 'this is not done', it becomes indifferent to religious merit,…”

idaṃ kṛtam idaṃ neti dvandvair muktaṃ yadā manaḥ…

Verse 16.6 · Ashtavakra

“One who abhors the sense-objects becomes non-attached, and one who covets them becomes attached to them. But he who does not accept or…”

virakto viṣayadveṣṭā rāgī viṣayalolupaḥ…

Verse 16.7 · Ashtavakra

“As long as desire, which is the abode of the state of indiscrimination, continues, there will verily be the sense of attachment and…”

heyopādeyatā tāvat saṃsāraviṭapāṅkuraḥ…

Verse 16.8 · Ashtavakra

“Activity begets attachment, abstention from it aversion. The man of wisdom is free from the pairs of opposites like a child, and he lives…”

pravṛttau jāyate rāgo nirvṛttau dveṣa eva hi…

Verse 16.9 · Ashtavakra

“One who is attached to the world wants to renounce it in order to avoid sorrow. But one without attachment is free from sorrow and does not…”

hātum icchati saṃsāraṃ rāgī duḥkhajihāsayā…

Verse 16.10 · Ashtavakra

“He who has an egoistic feeling even towards liberation and considers even the body as his own is neither a Jnani nor a Yogi. He only…”

yasyābhimāno mokṣe'pi dehe'pi mamatā tathā…

Verse 16.11 · Ashtavakra

“Let even Hara, Hari or the lotus-born Brahma be your instructor, but unless you forget all, you cannot be established in the Self.”

haro yady upadeṣṭā te hariḥ kamalajo'pi vā…