Ashtavakra Gita · Verse 9.8 · Ashtavakra speaks

Desire alone is the world. Do you therefore renounce all those desires. The renunciation of the world follows from the renunciation of desire. Now you may live wherever you are.

वासना एव संसार इति सर्वा विमुञ्च ताः ।तत्त्यागो वासनात्यागात्स्थितिरद्य यथा तथा ॥ ९-८॥

vāsanā eva saṃsāra iti sarvā vimuñca tāḥ |tat tyāgo vāsanātyāgāt sthitir adya yathā tathā || 9-8 ||

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वासना

vāsanā

latent desire, tendency

noun, feminine, nominative singular

Vāsanā — latent impressions of desire — are identified here with saṃsāra itself. It is desire (not the body, not action) that binds us to the world and generates the sense of its reality, causing reincarnation. When vāsanās are extinguished, the world's apparent reality dissolves.

एव

eva

alone, indeed, only

emphatic particle

संसार

saṃsāraḥ

the world, transmigration

noun, masculine, nominative singular

Saṃsāra is not a place but a psychic condition. Its root is desire (kāma/vāsanā), not the body or external phenomena. This is the key insight of verse 9.8: the world has no independent reality apart from the wanting-mind.

इति

iti

thus, (knowing) this

indeclinable quotation particle

सर्वा

sarvā

all (those desires)

adjective, feminine, accusative plural

विमुञ्च

vimuñca

renounce, release

verb, imperative, 2nd person singular (vi + muc)

ताः

tāḥ

those (desires)

demonstrative pronoun, feminine, accusative plural

तत्त्यागो

tat tyāgaḥ

renunciation of that (world)

demonstrative pronoun + noun, masculine, nominative singular

वासनात्यागात्

vāsanātyāgāt

from renunciation of desire

compound noun, masculine, ablative singular (vāsanā + tyāga)

The sequence is decisive: renunciation of the world (saṃsāratyāga) is not the cause but the consequence of renunciation of desire (vāsanātyāga). External renunciation without inner freedom from vāsanā is futile; inner freedom renders external circumstance irrelevant.

स्थितिः

sthitiḥ

abiding, remaining, continuing

noun, feminine, nominative singular

अद्य

adya

now, at this moment

indeclinable adverb

यथा तथा

yathā tathā

wherever, as it is

correlative indeclinable adverbs

Yathā tathā — 'as things are, wherever one is' — is the final seal of the chapter. One who has renounced desire is completely free and can live anywhere without being affected. The liberated one needs no special environment, retreat, or circumstance.