Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 5.1 · Ashtavakra speaks
You have no contact with anything whatsoever. Therefore, pure as you are, what do you want to renounce? Destroy the complex and even thus enter into the state of Dissolution.
Word by word
न
na
not
particle, negative
ते
te
of you, for you
pronoun, 2nd person, genitive singular
सङ्गः
saṅgaḥ
attachment, contact
noun, masculine, nominative singular
Saṅga denotes the clinging of the mind to sense objects. The verse opens by asserting that the pure Self has no real contact with anything — there is no relationship between the Ātman and the phenomenal world. The instruction to renounce therefore becomes meaningless: one cannot renounce what one never possessed.
अस्ति
asti
is, exists
verb, 3rd person singular, present indicative of √as
केनापि
kenāpi
with anything, with anyone
pronoun, instrumental singular, indefinite (kena + api)
किम्
kim
what
interrogative pronoun, neuter, nominative/accusative singular
शुद्धः
śuddhaḥ
pure, spotless
adjective, masculine, nominative singular
Śuddha refers to the intrinsic purity of the Self, which cannot be contaminated by contact with phenomena. Purity here is not an acquired quality but the eternal nature of Ātman — it is a core Advaita Vedānta teaching that the Self is ever pure (nityaśuddha).
त्यक्तुम्
tyaktum
to renounce, to abandon
infinitive (tumant), from √tyaj
इच्छसि
icchasi
you wish, you desire
verb, 2nd person singular, present indicative of √iṣ
सङ्घातविलयम्
saṅghātavilayam
dissolution of the complex/aggregate
compound noun, masculine, accusative singular (tatpuruṣa: saṅghāta + vilaya)
Saṅghāta is the aggregate of body, mind, intellect, and senses — the psycho-physical complex falsely identified with the Self. Vilaya is its dissolution. The instruction is not to renounce external objects but to dissolve this internal misidentification, which alone sustains the illusion of bondage.
कुर्वन्
kurvan
doing, effecting
present active participle of √kṛ, masculine, nominative singular
एवमेव
evam eva
even thus, just so
adverbial compound (emphatic particle)
लयम्
layam
dissolution, absorption
noun, masculine, accusative singular
Laya is the state in which no phenomena exist — the Absolute. It is the merging of individual consciousness into infinite being, the recognition that the separate self was never real. Laya forms the refrain of all four verses of this chapter, representing four approaches to the same realization.
व्रज
vraja
go, enter, attain
verb, 2nd person singular, imperative of √vraj