Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 9.1 · Ashtavakra speaks

Duties done and not done as well as the pairs of opposites — when do they cease and for whom? Knowing thus, be intent on renunciation and desireless through complete indifference to the world.

कृताकृते च द्वन्द्वानि कदा शान्तानि कस्य वा ।एवं ज्ञात्वेह निर्वेदाद् भव त्यागपरोऽव्रती ॥ ९-१॥

kṛtākṛte ca dvandvāni kadā śāntāni kasya vā |evaṃ jñātvēha nirvēdād bhava tyāgaparo'vratī || 9-1 ||

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कृताकृते

kṛtākṛte

done and undone

noun/adjective compound, neuter, nominative/accusative dual

Refers to the entire field of karmic activity — actions performed and omitted — which together with the dvandvas (pairs of opposites) constitute the web of samsaric existence. Liberation requires seeing beyond the duty-framework entirely.

च

and

indeclinable conjunction

द्वन्द्वानि

dvandvāni

pairs of opposites

noun, neuter, nominative plural

Life is a mixture of opposites — joy and sorrow, success and failure, good and evil. So long as the world is taken as real, the dvandvas cannot be escaped. The only exit is to realize the hollowness of the world and renounce it.

कदा

kadā

when

indeclinable adverb

शान्तानि

śāntāni

cease, become quiet

adjective, neuter, nominative plural

कस्य

kasya

for whom

pronoun, masculine, genitive singular

वा

vā

indeclinable conjunction

एवं

evaṃ

thus, in this way

indeclinable adverb

ज्ञात्वेह

jñātvēha

having known here

indeclinable participle (jñātvā) + adverb (iha), sandhi form

निर्वेदाद्

nirvēdāt

through indifference

noun, masculine, ablative singular

Nirvēda — dispassion arising from insight into the suffering and hollowness of worldly life. It is the pivot of this chapter: the recognition that neither time, age, nor circumstance will eliminate the pairs of opposites, and so a radical turning away is the only path.

भव

bhava

be, become

verb, imperative, 2nd person singular

त्यागपरो

tyāgaparaḥ

intent on renunciation

compound adjective, masculine, nominative singular (sandhi: -aḥ → -o before vowel)

Tyāga here is not mere physical abandonment but an internal orientation of non-attachment to both action and its fruits.

अव्रती

avratī

desireless, without vow

compound adjective, masculine, nominative singular

Literally 'one not performing a religious rite or observing a vow'. Such performance presupposes desire for earthly or heavenly prosperity. The truly desireless one is beyond the vow-keeping framework altogether.