‘Yathasukha’ is the thirteenth chapter. ‘As joy comes, so it is,’ a natural manner that arrives through no effort and flows on its own. It stands apart from ‘Sugata’ in the Buddhist tradition, since Sugata is a moral attainment and yathasukha is a natural state. In the modern age the Japanese Zen master Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971), in his book ‘Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind’ (1970), spoke of a beginner’s mind that matches Ashtavakra’s yathasukha in a remarkable way.Textual context
At Ease
In natural ease · 7 shlokas
Janaka’s dearest chapter. Every shloka comes to rest on the same single line, “अहमासे यथासुखम्”, “I abide just so, at ease.” This is a picture of a life brought fully to rest. Nothing to want, nothing to lose.
The thirteenth chapter describes the state called yathasukha, that is, as joy comes, so it is. One mark of the free person is that he does not weigh any situation on the scale of “how does this suit me.” Every situation settles into that same natural ease. Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), in his “Upadesa Saram,” called such a state “sahaja samadhi.”
Janaka speaks, and his opening words reverse what the world takes for granted. The world assumes that joy lies in having things close at hand. He names a wellness that comes only when nothing at all is held. This is an ease that stays rare even for the ascetic seated in a loincloth, because the loincloth too is a grip, the grip of “I have renounced.” Janaka is held by neither this grip nor its opposite, the grip of indulgence. Setting renunciation and acquisition both behind him, letting go and gathering up alike, he simply rests in being, and he says, I abide just so, at ease.
Shloka 1
अकिञ्चनभवं स्वास्थ्यं कौपीनत्वेऽपि दुर्लभम्।
त्यागादाने विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम्॥
Then he turns toward the body and the mind, toward all of it that we so readily call our own. Here the body tires and grows weary, there the tongue sulks or delights at some flavor, elsewhere the mind itself grows restless. Janaka sees all of these as units, apart from himself. The one who watches all of this stands free of it. Resting in that very witness, setting all these stirrings behind him, he says, I abide at ease.
Shloka 2
कुत्रापि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्रापि खिद्यते।
मनः कुत्रापि तत्त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम्॥
Now Janaka loosens the knot of action. The one who knows the truth of things has seen from within that nothing has truly been “done” at all. The work goes on, yet the sense of “I did it” never rises there. Such a person does not run after any task; whatever comes before him to be done, he does with ease and stays just as he was before. Acting, yet as though nothing were done, and in that very lightness, I abide at ease.
Shloka 3
कृतं किमपि नैव स्यादिति सञ्चिन्त्य तत्त्ववित्।
यदा यत्कर्तुमायाति तत्कृत्वासे यथासुखम्॥
The yogis who still take themselves to be bound within the body carry a dilemma lodged in the mind: to act or not to act, whether this is right to do or that right to leave undone. Janaka stands outside this dilemma. And with it he lets go of one more pair, meeting and parting. Most of our joys and sorrows are this very game of meeting and parting. To Janaka’s eye these are all ripples on the surface; what dwells in the depths never met anyone at all, so how could it ever part? In that untouched state, I abide at ease.
Shloka 4
कर्मनैष्कर्म्यनिर्बन्धभावा देहस्थयोगिनाम्।
संयोगायोगविरहादहमासे यथासुखम्॥
Then Janaka brings in the plainest matter of daily life. Standing, walking, lying down to sleep: to none of these three is any gain of his tied, nor any loss. These acts set nothing right in him and spoil nothing. And so whether he stands, whether he walks, whether he lies down, the same even ease holds within him. The meditation we bind to sitting on a mat, Janaka finds flowing in every posture, in every moment, and he says, I abide at ease.
Shloka 5
अर्थानर्थौ न मे स्थित्या गत्या न शयनेन वा।
तिष्ठन् गच्छन् स्वपन् तस्मादहमासे यथासुखम्॥
Now Janaka touches the two extremes that shake us the most. One is loss, the jolt of something slipping away; the other is elation, the rush of gaining. Even in sleep the world carries a fear of losing something, and a greed to gain something through effort. For Janaka there is no loss in sleeping, nor any attainment from striving. Ruin and elation, these two swells, he sets behind him. You are the sky and these feelings are only ripples: with this understanding, I abide at ease.
Shloka 6
स्वपतो नास्ति मे हानिः सिद्धिर्यत्नवतो न वा।
नाशोल्लासौ विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम्॥
And at the last Janaka lays bare the law that is the root of this whole chapter. He has seen it again and again, countless times, that pleasure and pain are two ends of a single cord. Behind every pleasure pain comes trailing, behind every pain pleasure; call the one and the other arrives on its own. So whom to chase, and whom to flee? Seeing just this, Janaka lets go of both the auspicious and the inauspicious, and settles into that natural ease where no longing pulls at him and no fear torments him. I abide just so, at ease.
Shloka 7
सुखादिरूपा नियमं भावेष्वालोक्य भूरिशः।
शुभाशुभे विहायास्मादहमासे यथासुखम्॥